Should I Do it?

[Minniebeluga 0]

January 2012, my hair was falling out in gobs; all the new clothes I wore during the past three years no longer fit; and I was devasted by the passing of a beloved friend, the loss of my job, and the return of 90 pounds that seemed to have arrived much faster than overnight express. In less than a year, I went from 365 pounds to 235 pounds swimming laps, walking several miles a day, and eating high Protein meals. Those strategies no longer worked. I had no money to support my healthy habits and my 5'3' frame ballooned to 320 pounds.

I went to my family physician for help. He just shook his head then agreed to manipulate my thyroid medicine to see if that would spark my metabolism. Instead of losing weight, i developed simple hyperplasia of the endometrium without aptypia, and my OB-GYN used the results to tell me I had pre-cancer and required a hysterectomy. I got a second opinion. Another OB-GYN said I would die if I had the surgery. He said, "Your weight posed to great of risk for surgery."

After qualifying for federal assistance, I went to the Cleveland Clinic to visit my endocrinologist. He suggested that I have bariatric surgery. He said my imbalanced hormones overwhelmed my ability to manage my weigh and there was no pill known to man that could stabilize all of themt. He beleived the surgery would help remediate many of my issues and offered to prevent my insulin resistance from progressing into diabetes. Family history on my father's side proved that threat was very real.

I was open to visit the idea of having bariatric surgery, but I was not completely sold by it. My youngest sister underwent gastric bypass and later developed RA, Fiber myalgia, and depression. Although my sister lost 160 pounds, she never acheived her ideal weight and her bypass now compromised her ability to assimilate her medications. For those reasons, I decided to consider having the vertical gastric sleeve operation. It was presumably more effective than lap band surgery, but less devastating than the bypass.

My family physician agreed to set up the nine month supervised diet my insurance required to make me eligibility for surgery. unfortunately, he habitually missed recording in his notes that we had been struggling with my weight issue for months, so the start date of this diet became a little obscure. I also began a series of preliminary visits with the Bariatric Center at the Cleveland Clinic who caught on to my doctor's record keeping.

Ironically, after my first few appointments at CCF, their staff seemed to talk me out of having the surgery. I was told by their psychologist that it was wrong for me to lose more than 2 pounds a week; it was wrong to think that the surgery would ever help me achieve my ideal weight; and she believed i needed to learn to accept that i was going to be fat for the rest of my life. I conferred with the internist for the department who also told me the surgery was not really a "tool" for ideal weight loss. i was told the lowest weight I could possibly achieve may be 200 pounds.

That news was unacceptable. After enduring years of being brutally scrutinized and discriminated against by teachers, coaches, emloyers, parents, and many others who believed I should weigh 110 pounds--this news seemed to defeat the idea of using this surgery for weight loss. "At my age, the charts say I should weigh close to 125 ponds."

"You need to forget the charts," said the CCF psychologist. "They are just hypothetical."

"OK." I replied. "i have had two bioelecctrical impedance tests over the years. Both indicated that I should weigh 130 pounds."

"Forget it!" The psyhologist said. "You will never be able to attain it."

"I drove the 65 mile trip home from the clinic wondering, "Should I do it?"

CCF discovered that I had a severe Vitamin D deficiency. After having a months worth of Vitamin D at 50,000 IUEs per week, my hair no longer falls out, my finger nails are long and strong, and I have begun to lose weight--at least 40 pounds since this July. I have limited my carbs and have been eating between 100 and 135 grams of protein per day. i now have the strenght to lap swim and walk. I have begun to lose between 3.5 pounds and 5 pounds a week depending on how hard I train. "Should i have the surgery?"

My endocrinologist said the surgery would also prevent me from rebounding as fast and as much as I chronically experience. "Should I do it?"

[Jugee44 9]

Reading your story hit close to home and I really feel with you for everything that happend to you. This year I had a similar situation .... at 44 yrs old , 237 lbs with a body frame of 5'1 .... both parents diabetic , sleep apnea and being tested possitive for cancer with a genetic test , lost two sisters fo ovarian cancer , one in March 2005 & Feb 2012 , lost my dad to pancriatic cancer in Oct 2007 and my mom this past September 2012

My primary doctor had concerns about my weight and gave me a referal to see a nutritionist ( I had no intention on having any weight loss surgeries) but after working with the nutrtionist and doctor they explained the procedure of the gastric sleeve and thought it would be a good option for me .. I gave it alot of thought , did alot of research on line and saw so many before and after pictures and stories from so many people that I started to feel more convinced and finally decided to have it .

I went through about 6 months of visits to the nutrtionist , doctors ,psychiatrist and sleep apnea specialist .. After being schedualed for surgery twice and canceled for insurance reasons was fustrating especially since i was mentaly prepared for it

On July 17 2012 , I had a full hystorectomy and on Nov 13 , 2012 I had my sleeve surgery . My start weight was 237 lbs , I had to do a 14 day pre op liquid diet prior to my surgery , so on the day of surgery I had lost 15 lbs and I was 222 lbs , my surgery went very well . After a week and a half , I dropped 7 lbs . Two weeks went by and the scale did not move much , It had been about 1 month and a half since my surgery and I have now lost 37 lbs , I am 200 lbs , went from wearing a size 20 & 2 x tops , to now fitting a size 16 and some XL tops ... My goal weight is 140 ( This is what I weigh when I was first married ) I have no regrets , I am feeling great about myself ..... Don t be afraid you will be okay .

Get your life back , I am happy to hear that your losing but when we have alot of weight to lose , it is very hard to do on our own , and when we dont succeed we start to feel like failures and that is a very bad feeling , dont feel guilty about doing whatever it takess to be healthy and happy with yourself , I know that alot of insurances cover it , even public aid assistance takes it look to see what s out there Best of luck to you .

[O.T.R. sleever 3,386]

Minnie,

All I can say is, wow, you have been through the ringer this year. It's a real testament of your resolve to go hrough all of that and still come out on top. I have to say you impress me.

As far as "should I do it?". I am of the opinion, if you can continue your journey as you have been without surgery you should do just that. On the other hand, if you find that you simply do not have the endurance to complete the journey or you relapse, then I absolutely do recommend acquiring this tool.

Best of luck. And even if you choose not to pursue the surgery make yourself at home here.