My Story

I'm not sure if my story is unique, but I love to tell it!

I love to tell my story because it is all about how I got a second chance to live.

You see, I have lived more in the five years since I had the Gastric Bypass than in the 23 years before it.

It is hard to remember a time when I was not concerned about my weight. Well, eventually I stopped being concerned with how much I weighed but only because I was concerned for my health and my life.

This photo is me at almost my heaviest. I was approaching 300 pounds and found it difficult to even want to get out of bed every morning.

Like many others, I tried everything to lose weight.

I had a whole list of health problems and was taking more prescription drugs than what I would like to admit.

By this point I was only eating one meal each day, right before sleep, because I could sleep through the pains in my stomach that occurred after every single meal.

By all accounts, this meant I should be losing weight because of how few calories I was consuming.

But the weight kept coming.

And coming.

I think most of my doctors thought I was lying to them about what I was eating.

My Ultimatum

I have kept my same pulmonologist that I saw during college even after moving an hour's drive away. It turns out this decision had a great impact on my life.

During a visit in 2001 I ended up breaking down and literally sobbing when describing how my asthma and overall health had been.

This pulmonologist recommended that I see an endocrinologist in the same building and, for some reason, I set up an appointment even though I had seen more than my share of endocrinologists in the past.

At my initial visit I was not expecting much, but I definitely was not expecting to be given an ultimatum.

Take action or you won't live to see 30.

I always figured I was on a downward spiral toward an early death, but it was never presented to me in such an unapologetic fashion.

This straight-shooting doctor explained to me that I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) and that this was causing the hormones in my body to be way out of whack and that I was currently in a "borderline diabetes" state.

She then explained to me two of my options:

1. Take a cocktail of 13 different prescription medications for the rest of my life and hope for the best
2. Have the Gastric Bypass surgery

After getting over the initial shock, I asked what other options there were. Her response was simple: There are no other options.

Choice For LIFE

I had serious doubts that taking even more medication than I already was would help me at all. This left me with what I originally considered to be an unacceptable choice: "getting my stomach cut out"

But I started my research anyway. And then I researched some more.

What I found through this research was that the volume restriction and malabsorption aspects of the Gastric Bypass have been beneficial to PCOS patients.

The connection was not immediately clear to me, but it did seem that "getting my stomach cut out" could actually help!

Through a lot of discussion with my husband, much prayer, and many doubts I finally decided to go ahead and have the surgery.

My reasoning for this decision was actually quite simple: I would have this surgery and, with it, a chance at life or I was facing certain early death.

Next Steps

Making the decision to have the Gastric Bypass surgery was a BIG step, but it sure wasn't the last!

The next step was to somehow get one or both of my health insurance companies to approve me for the surgery.

It turns out this was not as difficult as I feared. Not only did both insurance companies approve this surgery, but I was told that they both approved faster than for any other Gastric Bypass patient in my surgeon's office!

This was good news, but it drove home just how poor my health was.

My Journey Begins

Early on the morning of April 30, 2002 I was wheeled into the operating room thinking that if I was going to die that day I would die trying to live. The risks of the surgery paled in comparison to the chance to live my life.

The surgery was quite successful and within just a few hours my stomach had less pain than it had in years. There was some morphine involved for sure, but I just knew that I had made the right choice.

Down the Road

My post-op life was tough, as it is for anyone who has this type of surgery.

Getting through the pain was hard, but I also had a hard time really believing that something was going to work this time. Nothing had ever worked before, so I definitely had my doubts.

The small victories kept me going. Over time I found that I was eating more than I was pre-surgery, but I was still losing weight!

I started using my inhaler less and less and started to feel good again. Now I rarely need to see my pulmonologist regarding my asthma.

It is not an easy task to ensure that I get correct nutrition, including enough protein daily as well as the vitamins and minerals necessary to stay healthy.

Check out my vitamins page to see how I have overcome some of these struggles.

Before and After

The picture below is my Before and After. I really like this photo, but it is not my favorite.

Don't get me wrong. I love how this picture shows how far I have come, but losing the weight was not my ultimate goal.

My goal was to be able to LIVE again!

My favorite pictures that show my Gastric Bypass results are the ones below.

Pregnant with my son at Disney World (May 2004)

Very pregnant with twin daughters (June 2007)

There was a time when I not only didn't know if I was ever going to be able to get pregnant, but I was also scared to death that I would be a bad mom because I would not be able to keep up with my kids.

My children are the highlight and culmination of my Gastric Bypass story.

If this is not LIVING then I don't know what is.

My Journey