My Journey Begins

[Meljp 36]

I just started my journey last week. I am very thankful to have found this group! I will share more later. I have set up my profile and there is a bit of information about me there. I look forward to learning, sharing and all that goes with...Blessings~Melanie:)

[Helen the Cat 42]

Melanie,

Bless you for taking the initial step towards a more healthy, more fit you. A wonderful side effect of bariatric surgery, is that it makes us so much happier with ourselves! I too thought about bariatric surgery for several years. My first cousin is a bariatric surgeon, and I even went to see him for a consultation. He even offered to do my surgery for free if I could pay for the anesthesia and hospital stay myself. (He said he felt guilty about how mean he always was to me when we were growing up. We lived in the same household, and he was (is) like a brother to me.)

The problem being that our insurance company won't pay "one thin dime" towards weight loss surgery. My husband is retired, and has retirement health insurance through the union that he retired from. My theory is that since the policy is for retirees, they (the insurance company) would just as soon have us die, so they won't have to cover us anymore; So they don't pay for things like bariatric surgery, as that would make us healthier and live longer, and they would have to continue to insure us and pay for our medical care!

I finally cashed in one of my retirement 401k plans for the cash needed in order to go to Mexico and pay for the surgery myself. Which is exactly what I did on June 18, 2011! I am SO happy I did! I have lost 100 pounds (as of today). I am so much healthier. I am off my BP medicine, my cholesterol medicine, my allergy meds, my anti-inflammatory meds, my blood sugar medication. I am so much healthier, and I FEEL so much better. I have lots more energy, and I certainly feel SO MUCH BETTER ABOUT MYSELF! Nothing is the same, everything is better!

The people who frequent this web site are SO supportive and will be there for you! If you have a problem, questions, concerns, etc, here is the place to go for help.

I see your first appointment is tomorrow. I will be praying for you! Hope it goes well, and you get your questions and concerns addressed. Keep posting and let us know how everything is going! We are here for you!

Love and Hugs and Prayers coming your way!

Kathy D (Alias Helen the Cat)