my story

hmmm, where to begin? in 197* a baby girl was born in Wilmington, Delaware...oh wait, no one cares about THAT much history. Ok, just the basics...Hello my name is Susan, and I am a foodaholic. I am such a foodaholic that I had to have my insides surgically rearranged to keep me from killing myself. Seriously, obesity is a killer. And I used to weigh in at 310 pounds (btw i am 5 ft 3 on a good day, so as you can imagine, I was just about as big around as i was tall). I had high blood pressure, joint problems, chronic pain, sleep apnea, and the week of my WLS I was diagnosed with diabetes. So I wasn't kidding when I said my weight was killing me. I wore size 28 clothing (& they were TIGHT), I couldn't walk more than 100 yrds without getting winded, and forget about stairs! So about 7 years ago I started researching the lap band, which had only recently been approved. In my research I also learned alot about gastric bypass, but that seemed so extreme that I wasn't sure I wanted to go that route. After 2 years of researching i made an appointment with a bariatric specialist. After speaking with Dr. Wynn(http://www.chrias.com/), I decided that I needed to make a drastic, permanent change and decided on the gastric bypass (GBP) My surgery was on October 17, 2005. The day of my surgery I weighed in at 286 pounds. The weight started dropping off, I started working out regularly and in less than a year I lost over 12o pounds. I was wearing size 12's and loving life! The first few years were pretty easy as far as the weight loss went. I lost the weight and kept it off without really trying hard. But...about two years ago I started to gain weight. Just a little at a time, but over those 2 years it added up to 28 pounds! I went from my personal lowest weight of 161 to 190. The day I saw 190 on my scale I freaked. Completely. Now, I had been watching those numbers get a little higher each month, but I had good, no, GREAT excuses. Water weight, hormonal changes from my hysterectomy, medication I was taking for fibromyalgia, working the night shift, blah, blah , blah. But that is what they were, just excuses. So anyway, the day the demon scale read 190, I picked up my phone and dialed my surgeons number. The main reason I went was because I was convinced that I had stretched my pouch to the point that I was eating too much (I did seem to be eating almost constantly). Oh, and you can bet that I had read up on all of the new procedures that are available for tightening the pouch created by GBP. Ok, doc, get me back on the OR table and fix this. So imagine my suprise when Dr. Wynn said that she wasn't convinced that I had stretched my pouch, but instead she thought I was just "eating around" the bypass. I thought, "Me??? Noooo, there has to be something WRONG with the pouch, it cant be me!" She asked me 1. if I was eating my required amount of protein (umm, no) 2. was I drinking with meals (yes) 3. was I exercising (well, no) Hmmm, its me? why should I be surprised? my bad eating habits were what led me to have to get the guts re-routed in the first place. So in that moment, I had no more excuses. I had to admit it was because I had fallen off the wagon so-to speak and stopped using my tool the way it is meant to be used. For those of you who might be reading this that have not had or researched WLS, this is something that is often misunderstood. These procedures are not a cure or a fix-all. They are tools that the WLS patient has to use CORRECTLY, or else they don't work. I have known some people who had great success with WLS and wound up gaining EVERYTHING they lost back. And I had set myself up for that kind of failure. But Dr. Wynn said, "at least you came to see me when it was 2o pounds instead of 80!" Because that is actually the first rule of many I had broken. I stopped going to my regular bariatric check-ups, I did not surround myself with a WLS support system (because no matter how loving and well-meaning your family and friends are, non-WLS people cannot give you what you need to stay on track!). I also stopped following the pouch rules. But no more! I am back on track and I plan to stay here! Check out http://www.obesityhelp.com/ for great info on WLS. They offer education, tips, before/after photos, and its an online support mecca!