Lorie S.
I was always the skinny kid growing up and after having my two blessings in my early twenties, I was very happy to have hips ie. a figure for the first time in my life. I was a very active person and had to force myself to eat to keep weight on. I regularly hiked about 5+ miles a day because of my work. I was very happy with my weight and then the car wreck. In Feb 1998 I had a drunk driver pull out infront of my car and that was the end of life as I knew it. I spent the next two years getting over the impact of the collision as I could not hardly get dressed by myself and then dealt with the depression that came with it. Frustration is when your excited to go back to work, stop to put gas in your car and realize you can not even manipulate the gas cap because your hands are still so swollen. I was given prednisone for the inflamation and my weight blossomed from 165 -170 lbs to 257. Consequently since I had the car wreck I have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue which of course was part of the weight causing issue.
Like so many others I struggled to get weight off and did manage about 40 lbs on my own and then the last 10-20 lbs I have gained and lost a good 2 dozen times. I would feel like such a loser every time I went for my physical and I would be right back up to between 225-230 again after I had just lost it. My doctor really could not see that I had lost the weight and when all of the talk about wls came into play I took a picture from my highest weight and showed her how much I had lost and kept off but now I was stuck. I also had my diets and attempts documented since 2002.
Having the weight issues caused me to have sleep apnea, stress incontinance, high blood pressure, arthritis and then the day came they said diabetes. It was time to really do something and I struggled another 2 years trying to lose when my Doctor finally said.. why dont we try weight loss surgery. That was in late Sept, 08. I took 3 months to decide.. devouring information and speaking with a friend of my daughters on the phone who is a Gastro-enterologist. I made the decision and then tried a doctor supervised diet again for a month. It was a horrendous experience with a doctor telling me to eat food items I was allergic to and treating me as if I was a whigner because I was vomiting, had a bloody rectum from diarrhea, constant reflux and hives. I knew then that I would never do another "diet" again. I opened my computer and looked up bariatric surgeons that night and found the information for Barix Clinic filled out the information and never looked back.
My first consult with Barix Clinic was April10, 2009 and I was thrilled to feel accepted and not treated like I was a second class person because I needed help to lose weight. I followed up with my family doctor and she filled out my OCC on April 29, 09 and by May 12, I had my approval. So here I am waiting for my surgery date and looking forward to a healthier life.
Lorie
