The journey begins

Hi my name is Kelly and I am soon to be 46 years old.  I am a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, an aunt and am blessed with many great friends.  I work full time outside of the home at a retirement community, which I enjoy immensely.   I was never heavy as a child or teenager.  I was very active all year round, I rode my bike everywhere, I played softball in the spring, I played field hockey in the fall and I lived at the local swim club all summer. It wasn't until I graduated from school and most of my activities were traded in for college classes and work that I started to gain the weight.  My father and his mother were both overweight (grandmother would fit the description of morbidly obese and I am sure by dad would have been considered obese).   I then had a child which surprisingly I gained very little weight from.  But as I tried to lose the weight through diets, too many to even try to count, I would lose weight, plateau, get frustrated, quit, regain all of weight lost plus some.  This has gone on for the past 20+ years.  I am finally ready to do something to regain my life.   I want to go to Disney work in February 2013 with my daughter and her high school marching band and not be the person who sits on the bench and holds everyone's bags so they can ride the rides.  I WANT TO RIDE THE RIDES TOO!!!

This first post will kind of recap what I have been doing to get ready for my surgery since I didn't start this blog at the very beginning of my journey......

 These two pictures were taken in Disney World, February 2012, this is close to my heaviest weight. The lovely young woman in the picture with me is my daughter, Katy.

The journey actually began on April 19, 2012 when I attended a weight loss seminar for Dr. Leon Katz.  What sent me there was my surgeon Dr. Gabroy who I went to about a umbilical hernia I have (second one in less than one year).  He suggested I see Dr. Katz about weight loss surgery because my hernia issues would continue to reoccur if I didn't do something about all of the excess weight I was carrying.  So I thought what could it hurt to go to a seminar to hear about the surgery.   I know several people who have had the surgery and have been very successful losing weight and keeping it off.  After listening to everything said at the seminar I went home and discussed it with the hubby and decided I was going to go for it!  My first obstacle was my health insurance did not cover the surgery.  Luckily my husband's insurance covers it and I was able to switch onto his insurance without too much trouble.  So I was on my way to a new me!   Here is a timeline of all of my appointments I have had so far or are upcoming as I travel on my journey to a new me .....

4/19/12 - Weight Loss Seminar - done
5/14/12 - Initial meeting with Dr. Katz to discuss hernia and WLS done
5/18/12 - 1st Nutrition Appt. w/ Rachel  - weigh in 347 done
6/19/12 - 2nd Nutrition Appt. w/ Rachel - weigh in 330.5 (down 16.5 lbs) done
6/28/12 - Surgery consult w/ Dr. Katz - weigh in 328 (down 2.5 lbs - total 19 lbs) done
7/06/12 - Upper GI and Chest X-ray done
7/09/12 - Psychiatric Evaluation done
7/11/12 - Blood tests (10 tubes of blood!) done
7/17/12 - Gastroenterologist Evaluation done
7/17/12 - 3rd Nutrition Appt w/ Rachel - weigh in 320.5 (down 7.5 lbs - total 26.5) done
7/25/12 - Pre-Surgery Class done
7/31/12 - Endoscopy done
8/01/12 - Pulmonary Evaluation done
8/06/12 - Sleep Study
8/16/12 -  4th Nutrition Appt. w/ Rachel
8/20/12 - Cardiology Evaluation
8/28/12 - Begin 14 day pre-surgical diet
TBA     - Final Surgical Consult
TBA     - Pre Admission Testing
9/10/12 -  Appt with PCP for final approval before surgery
9/12/12 - SURGERY DAY!!

As you can see this surgery is not something you can just jump right into. By the time I have my surgery I will have had no less than 18 medical appointments spread out over almost 6 months! 


   Here is a picture of what my surgery is going to be: