Misslorlor

[font=comic sans ms, cursive]Hi- My name is Lori and I am 43 years old. I have 4 children, 2 girls 26, 23 and 2 boys 21, 19. I also have one grandson who is the LIGHT OF MY LIFE! I gained most of my weight with each pregnancy and never lost it so it just kept creeping on up. I am the oldest of four children and have pretty much taken care of everyone most of my life. My kids have grown and gone their own ways, only have one still at home. Been out of a 7 year long relationship for about 9 months now. I decided that I just wanted to start taking care of me and my body....both of which I had neglected for far to long. In the midst of my empty nest syndrome I came to this epiphany and started by going to the Dr. and treating my high blood pressure and high cholesterol. I was surprised but grateful that those two things were the only things wrong with me after how badly I had taken care of myself. By the time I have my surgery I will have started this journey 1 year ago. I first had to go to my primary Dr. to get referred to the Options classes. Options is a series of classes (once a week for 3 months) that Kaiser requires you to take. I did find them very helpful and informative. I finished my classes on Jan 6, 2012 and then had to begin the crazy amounts of tests that Kaiser puts you through. I had to have echo, ekg, chest x-ray, abdominal ultrasound, mammo, pap and also had to be cleared by my cardiologist as I have a stent in my heart. My primary has not been very supportive about this but my cardiologist was very supportive. I had to do the treadmill stress test and she said if I passed she would clear me. She even called me herself to let me know that I passed with flying colors and to go for it. So with all my testing done I still had yet to see another Dr. that actually refers you to the surgeon. After that appointment I still had to attend a support group as well as a seminar put on by the surgeon. I have to admit that after all this I still was sitting on the fence as to whether I really wanted the surgery but after attending the seminar with Dr. Suh my mind was made up. I definetly wanted to do this! Finally, I had my appt with my surgeon on March 27, 2012. My biggest concern was my stent. I have to take 81mg of aspirin for the rest of my life and from everything I had read you could not take them with anykind of gastric surgery. To my surprise my Dr. said that he recommeded the sleeve for me and that it would be able to handle the small dose daily as long as I did not take anymore than that. Whew....I also told him my worries of getting through surgery with a stent and he said my cardiologist was very thourough and cleared me and that he has done many surgeries on people even with multiple stents ( I only have one that was caused by a congenital issue) I could have gotten my surgery sooner than June 29, 2012 but I am off for the month of July ( I work for a School District) so I really wanted to have 4 weeks to heal and adjust to my new eating patterns, times and to see what my new pouch would let me tolerate. I am really looking forward to it even though I run through a whole myriad of emotions on a daily basis the closer I get to my Surgery Day![/font]