Intro and beginning my journey

My name is Ginny.  For most of my life, I've been overweight.  I remember as a girl being the "chubby" one and having to wear "pretty plus" and "husky" clothes.  One of my friends in high school told me, "don't worry, in a few years your baby fat will go away."  Well, I kept waiting for something that never happened.

By the time I was a senior in high school, I was doing Jenny Craig for the first time.  I stopped when I went off to college, partially because I had been successful in losing some weight, and also because I thought surely I wouldn't be a victim of the dreaded "Freshman 15".  Well, I was right.  Kind of.  Instead, I was a victim of something more like "Freshman 30".  Sophomore year in college, I was back at Jenny Craig.  I think I was close to 185 at that point in time.  I had success again, but after eating their crap food for so long I fizzled out.  Senior year, I tried Weight Watchers for the first of many times.  I had truly settled into a comfy seat on the weight loss & regain rollercoaster.

Over the years, I think I've done Weight Watchers about 4 or 5 times, plus the South Beach Diet, Sugar Busters, LA Weight Loss, Slim Fast, Scarsdale Diet, and on and on.  In late 2007 I had reached 215 after going down to 175 earlier that year on LA Weight Loss.

In May of 2008 I got pregnant with our first child.  I really wanted to keep my weight gain in the 15-20 lb. range since I was already obese to begin with.  I succeeded in only gaining about 20 lbs., but developed gestational diabetes along the way.  Diabetes is on both sides of my family and is probably my primary concern regarding my future health.

Fast forward to 2010.  Like every year, my New Year's resolution was to lose weight and exercise more.  I had never given much thought to weight loss surgery, but I think it's because I was uneducated about it.  I was under the assumption that I could achieve long-lasting success through diet and exercise alone.  One day in mid-January, I was driving home from work and I saw a billboard for a local hospital's bariatric program.  I did some investigating and thought, wow, this could be the solution.  During my research, I decided to find out if the hopsital where I delivered my daughter (and where I had my gallbladder removed in '02) had a bariatric program.  That led me to Bluegrass Bariatric Surgical Associates and Dr. Oldham.

I attended one of the free seminars offered by BBSA and Baptist Hospital East.  I learned about the procedures they offer, and thought I would go the way of the Lap Band.  I started reading more about it and discovered how problematic it can be.  Not that many don't have success with it, but I didn't want to make a decision I would later regret, especially since I'm self pay.  Then I looked into RNY, but the malabsorptive aspect kind of scared me.  We want to have at least one other child, and I wanted to provide the best start I possibly could for our baby.  So then I thought, maybe the sleeve is the way to go.  I researched and researched, read accounts on ObesityHelp.com, and came to the conclusion that VSG was the best option for my lifestyle.

I attended my first intake appointment with BBSA on February 16.  It consisted of an educational session, lab work, a psych evaluation, a meeting with the nutritionist and physican's assistant, and information about paying for the surgery.  I met with my PCP the next day to get his "blessing".  The following week, I got the rest of my required pre-op testing done, which consisted of an echocardiogram, EKG and chest x-ray.  I had my second appointment with BBSA on March 4, where they had another informational/educational session, and I met one-on-one with Dr. Oldham.  He feels that the sleeve is a good option for me and feels that it is the "future" of weight loss surgery.  He also asked if I'd like to have an EGD to make sure I didn't have any preexisting issues with my stomach.  At the end of the appointment, I scheduled my surgery, EGD and pre-admission testing.

My surgery is scheduled for Monday, May 3.  I could've scheduled it much sooner, but thought it would be best to wait until May since April is a very busy month at my work.  Plus, having it a little farther off gives me extra time to get my financing in order.

I had my EGD this morning, and the only thing they found was one spot of inflammation that can be treated with over the counter Prevacid.  The procedure was fairly quick and I went home and relaxed the rest of the day.

I am very excited to be on the path to a healthier, lighter weight person.  I have about 85 lbs. to lose, and I am confident that I can work my sleeve to achieve my goal.  I am ready for the life-long changes to my diet and exercise regime that this will require.  I am really looking forward to being a positive role model for our daughter and other future children.  And I'll be honest, I can't wait to look better, too.  Most important though is my health.  I want to live a long life free of medical complications.