On September 19, 2003 I met with Eric Schlesinger, M.D. of the Bariatric Treatment Center in Scottsdale, Arizona to discuss bariatric surgery. After my meeting, I did some online research and came to the conclusion that he was the doctor that I preferred to have do my surgery. My appointment time was scheduled for 90-120 minutes, but ended up lasting 3 hours. I had arrived with a packet of my personal information that included my diet history, medications and supplements, past medical history, reports from important past tests (heart, gallbladder, colon, etc), I even included photos of my genetic history to show that I came my my excessive weight quite honestly. The staff at BTC was very friendly and took their time answering my questions. I am quite excited about the prospect of finally shedding my excess weight. As I mentioned on the first page of this new section to my website, the next step is waiting for insurance approval. I will be calling the BTC insurance office on Monday or Tuesday of next week (September 29 or 30) to make sure that they are aware that our employer is changing insurance providers the first of the year. I hope that I can be approved and have the surgery before the end of the year. I don't know if that is possible, but I can hope.
The decision to have bariatric surgery was not an easy one for me. I have resisted even researching it for a long time now. Initially I had the idea it was the easy way out or the lazy way out of this horrid weight situation that I find myself in. I know now that is not true. What I have is a disease that is genetically predisposed. I can look at my grandmother, her mother and grandmother to see where my fat came from. I have included their photos as part of my story. I never used the fact that these women were very obese as an excuse to eat, but did understand that it played a part in why I could not lose weight successfully.
Over the years I have tried numerous diets to lose weight. I have starved myself so many times in my effort to lose those horrid pounds. I have had success at times too. In the mid-1970s I lost over 50 pounds by joining T.O.P.S. (Take Off Pounds Sensibly) and doing the Dr. Stillman (high protein diet) to get to my smallest size since the birth of my second child. I looked awesome!! I weighed in at 144 pounds. But, alas that did not last all that long. I started gaining weight almost immediately and within 18 months had put on more than I had lost originally. I repeated the Dr. Stillman diet in the mid-1980s to lose about 50 pounds, but that had me no where near the 144 from the last big diet push. I believe I ended up around 230 and then I developed a kidney stone and promptly quit the doctor who had put me on the diet and stopped the diet. That was the LAST serious diet attempt that I made until March 2002 when I joined eDiets.com and began another effort to lose weight sensibly. In eighteen months I have lost about 30 pounds from my high weight. That is not anywhere near what I have to lose and it has been a major struggle with hunger and pain that has interfered with exercise. I have also done Weight Watchers a couple of time over the years, I tried the liquid protein in the late 1970s (horrid stuff!), and I tried Jenny Craig. The end result is that I ended up at 303 pounds at my highest recorded weight with a doctor. I count myself blessed in that I did not try the various prescription plans that have been available over the years and that have damaged so many people. I did not want to put medicine in my body to lose weight because I instinctively knew it would not work long term.
My journey to a healthier Sandra has involved working on the psychological issues that started me turning to food for comfort. I can happily say that I have reached a point in life where I don't gain weight any more. But, I am really going to miss being able to turn to food for comfort or celebration. It is going to seem very strange when I must not celebrate with food. I try not to as much as possible now. I don't bake for holidays and have not for many many years now. I try to have healthy holiday meals, but even this will change dramatically post-surgery because I just won't be able to participate in enjoying much of the food. It does sort of take the fun out of cooking it. So, celebrations will have to be handled by someone else because I am going to take care of number ONE when it comes to food.
The most difficult part of my decision to pursue surgery was Steve. He does not want me to have this surgery. I understand his fears, but if I don't have this surgery the end result will be that which he fears most - my early death. I can say that he is doing his very best to be supportive and he is accompanying me to my appointments, viewing the DVD that BTC sent to me, listening to me when I find some interesting bit of information and reading what I specifically point him to. We have made many journeys together over our 30+ years of marriage and this is just another. We will come through on the other side loving each other even more than we do now.
My surgery is scheduled for December 8. From the time that I met with Dr. Schlesinger until surgery date is less than 3 months. This has been a very speedy insurance approval and scheduling process. I am grateful to not have to wait and wait for this. |
