navygrrl
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 13, 2023
- Messages
- 215
I wanted to start a new journey in case someone like me finds this board and ends of spending way too many hours obsessing about WLS and DS and couldn't find nearly enough blogs (not counting YouTube).
I'm currently 47 (soon to be 48), with three children, one husband, one ex-husband, and three cats. I am a high school English teacher, which is simultaneously as horrifying and wonderful as you might fear. I've only been teaching in public schools for two years. I was an English department lecturer at the university where I received my MFA in Creative Writing, but that was not a tenured position and paid even less than public school teaching.
As mentioned in a previous post (maybe - I have ADHD and use it to my advantage at times to forget things), I served in the US Navy. I've held a lot of jobs (something else to blame on my ADHD) from chiropractic assistant to CNA to office assistant in a grocery store. I like to learn new things and get easily bored (ADHD again - perhaps a pattern?).
I have struggled with my weight most of my life. As I look back on childhood photos, I wish I could tell that little girl that she was beautiful just the way she was, and that whatever unattainable beauty standards my mother had for me had nothing to do with that young girl's worth. Unfortunately, it took me pretty much until now to figure that out.
I have tried most diets and all sorts of exercise. I was actually making good progress in 2017 when I was wearing a size 6 and training for a half-marathon. Then I broke my ankle. I was hopeful, though, that I could ease my way back into running.
Then my son died.
Since then, I've struggled against a tide of ever-present grief and ever-increasing weight. Food was my comfort, my joy, and my best friend. Eventually, with therapy, medication, and my actual best friend's support, I got to a place where I realized my weight was out of control. I had been merely obese for decades, but I had finally crossed the threshold into super morbid obesity. I had to lose weight! So I started weighing and measuring and logging all of my food. It worked in 2017, so obviously it should work again.
But it didn't. I had to eat less than 1000 calories a day to see any movement on the scale, and I couldn't live like that. Literally - it was affecting my health. So I decided on weight loss surgery. I had thought about getting help and even looked into medication, but my PCP told me that I should just "eat less and move more" and that he "didn't believe in that other stuff." He was so helpful.
After falling down the Google rabbit hole, I found that OtHer site, which led me here. I had been leading towards the SADI after attending a weight loss information seminar, but after doing more research, I decided the DS would be the best option for me: think twice and cut once.
Anyway, long story less long, I will be getting the DS from Dr. Ng at Rex Bariatrics. I got started a little late in the year, so while I'm trying to get my surgery done before school starts in the fall, I know that it will not really be up to me. Letting go of that control is difficult, but I'm doing my best to do all that I can to push things.
First consult: 5/23
My pre-surgery scheduling checklist:
3 nutrition classes - been to one, scheduled for second, have to wait until the next one to schedule the third
cardiac clearance - waiting for the cardiologist's office to call me back, they said it would take about a week
psych clearance - completed today
blood work - completed 6/4
PCP clearance and 5 year weight history - scheduled for 6/9
Upper GI - scheduled for 6/14
My insurance doesn't require any specific waiting period for weigh-ins or anything, so I'm good there.
I'll update more as my timeline progresses. I actually have more to write, but I'm doing this at work (it's testing time and I'm done so I just need to pack up my classroom), and the bell just rang so I'm going home to finish reading Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King.
I'm currently 47 (soon to be 48), with three children, one husband, one ex-husband, and three cats. I am a high school English teacher, which is simultaneously as horrifying and wonderful as you might fear. I've only been teaching in public schools for two years. I was an English department lecturer at the university where I received my MFA in Creative Writing, but that was not a tenured position and paid even less than public school teaching.
As mentioned in a previous post (maybe - I have ADHD and use it to my advantage at times to forget things), I served in the US Navy. I've held a lot of jobs (something else to blame on my ADHD) from chiropractic assistant to CNA to office assistant in a grocery store. I like to learn new things and get easily bored (ADHD again - perhaps a pattern?).
I have struggled with my weight most of my life. As I look back on childhood photos, I wish I could tell that little girl that she was beautiful just the way she was, and that whatever unattainable beauty standards my mother had for me had nothing to do with that young girl's worth. Unfortunately, it took me pretty much until now to figure that out.
I have tried most diets and all sorts of exercise. I was actually making good progress in 2017 when I was wearing a size 6 and training for a half-marathon. Then I broke my ankle. I was hopeful, though, that I could ease my way back into running.
Then my son died.
Since then, I've struggled against a tide of ever-present grief and ever-increasing weight. Food was my comfort, my joy, and my best friend. Eventually, with therapy, medication, and my actual best friend's support, I got to a place where I realized my weight was out of control. I had been merely obese for decades, but I had finally crossed the threshold into super morbid obesity. I had to lose weight! So I started weighing and measuring and logging all of my food. It worked in 2017, so obviously it should work again.
But it didn't. I had to eat less than 1000 calories a day to see any movement on the scale, and I couldn't live like that. Literally - it was affecting my health. So I decided on weight loss surgery. I had thought about getting help and even looked into medication, but my PCP told me that I should just "eat less and move more" and that he "didn't believe in that other stuff." He was so helpful.
After falling down the Google rabbit hole, I found that OtHer site, which led me here. I had been leading towards the SADI after attending a weight loss information seminar, but after doing more research, I decided the DS would be the best option for me: think twice and cut once.
Anyway, long story less long, I will be getting the DS from Dr. Ng at Rex Bariatrics. I got started a little late in the year, so while I'm trying to get my surgery done before school starts in the fall, I know that it will not really be up to me. Letting go of that control is difficult, but I'm doing my best to do all that I can to push things.
First consult: 5/23
My pre-surgery scheduling checklist:
3 nutrition classes - been to one, scheduled for second, have to wait until the next one to schedule the third
cardiac clearance - waiting for the cardiologist's office to call me back, they said it would take about a week
psych clearance - completed today
blood work - completed 6/4
PCP clearance and 5 year weight history - scheduled for 6/9
Upper GI - scheduled for 6/14
My insurance doesn't require any specific waiting period for weigh-ins or anything, so I'm good there.
I'll update more as my timeline progresses. I actually have more to write, but I'm doing this at work (it's testing time and I'm done so I just need to pack up my classroom), and the bell just rang so I'm going home to finish reading Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King.
