April 10, 2005

It's April 10, 2005, tomorrow I will begin a journey to a new life and a new me. I will have sugery to have a Lap-Band put on my stomach to help me lose weight. Here's a link to lap-band information on my surgeon's website: http://www.svsurgical.com/lapband.html My weight history: I’ve been overweight most of my life. I went on my first diet in the 5th grade, an 800 calorie diet. I was trying to lose 10 pounds. That was first in my weight loss quest, diet after diet failed and I regained all my weight plus some. In college I finally decided to “Stop the Insanity” and simply swore off diets completely. I weighed 180 pounds and was afraid of gaining more. I married in 1990 and got pregnant with our first child in 1991, at that time I weighed 190. With each of my 4 pregnancies I gained 20-30 pounds, lost a little then rapidly gained back to my delivery weight. I had a reprieve between my 2nd and 3rd child when I went on Fen-Phen and lost 45 pounds, back down to 180. Of course I got pregnant again soon after and delivered at 225. I delivered my last child 6 years ago and weighed 253, which is exactly what I weigh today. I researched by-pass surgery 4 years ago when my friend lost over 100 pounds. Another friend lost a lot of weight too, but the reports I got from them made it sound MISERABLE. I didn’t want to be that drastic, didn’t want to permanently alter my insides. I saw a few scattered reports about lap-banding but at the time it wasn’t approved for use in the US. So I put the idea of weight loss surgery out of my mind for a time, however the idea of lap-banding simmered in my mind all of this time and I felt it was a possibility for the future, and maybe my only hope. About a year ago I started up the research again, saw that banding was approved for use in the US and started reading everything I could get my hands on. I got serious about it when I turned 39 and realized in a year I would be “Fat and Forty”. That did NOT sound appealing to me so I started my band-journey in earnest at that time. After researching many different doctors including several in Mexico, I finally learned about Dr. Hansen through an on-line support group, Utahbandsters (thanks Allison) and here I am staring weight loss surgery in the face. Tomorrow begins the real journey. I have been very sobered by the idea in the past week or so, and a little depressed. Maybe it’s because I know that my current relationship with food is about to change. Food has been my friend, my comfort, and my entertainment. I eat when I’m happy, when I’m sad, when I’m bored, when I’m depressed. I like food, and I like eating. That’s what it comes down to for me and I know I’ll have to change that relationship and it’ll be a real loss for me. Not that my life won’t be so much better for the change, I know it will, I look forward to being healthy and looking better. I am determined to be successful, I know the band isn’t a magic bullet, I’ve got some major changes to make, and I think I’m ready. Please join me on this journey, I hope my experience will be helpful to others considering the same thing.

Here is information about the Lap-Band from my surgeon's website: http://www.svsurgical.com/lapband.html