M Ashley

@@Djmohr - Thank you for your kind words. Already I am happily overwhelmed by how welcoming everyone has been. This surgery seems to be an amazing thing. Although I've read a lot about loose skin and other not-so-great things, almost everyone says it's the best thing they've ever done for themselves. I so look forward to changing my life this way also. @@Cervidae - That eases my mind so much! I am VERY lucky that, besides PCOS, I have no other severe comorbidities. I am not anywhere near diabetic, no sleep apnea, and, if you can believe it, my blood pressure is actually lower than it was when I was 19 and 130lbs lighter. Weird. But the PCOS rages on. I'm right with you on the five o'clock shadow. Spiro was the third medicine I tried that I couldn't name. As you said, none of that even remotely touched the symptoms. If the surgery can relieve even part of that, I will be extremely grateful. And as for all my other relatively good health: I woke up about a week ago and realized that it IS strange and it WON'T last forever. One day there will be something, probably something tiny, that will tip it all over the edge. And that's it. If I am going to do this, I must do it while I am still strong. I went with my mom to physical therapy a little while ago and saw person after person confined to scooters because of their weight. That scared the hell out of me. When I weighed 330-ish, I was able to walk a couple of miles on the beach one day, then climb up the massive cliff to get back to the car when we were ready to go. Thirty pounds later, I went to a Halloween haunt thing at the Queen Mary and, for the first time in my life, I had to sit down between going through haunted houses because my feet, ankles, knees, and back hurt so badly. Slowly but surely, I'm coming to the tipping point. I need to do this now. Sorry for the rambling. So much is going through my mind right now.

Thank you so much. It's good to know I'm not alone feeling ALL these feelings when I'm just barely a few steps down the road. I also have PCOS and was wondering if I could ask a few questions about that: Did the surgery help any? I was put on birth control pills, then some pill I can't remember, and now Metformin for help with it and none of it made a dent. The only thing the birth control pills did was make my periods more regular, but at the same time, my mental health went in the toilet. Anyway, I was also curious if you had extra facial hair growth and if that was slowed or stopped by losing so much weight. I'm at 365lbs now and my goal, (pending what my doctor has to say about it), will probably be something around 150lbs.

Hello Everyone, Let me introduce myself: My name is Michelle. I am a writer who lives in Southern California with three fantastic mutt-dogs. I am 37y/o. Last Thursday, I finally got up the courage to ask my GP about the possibility of bariatric surgery. She almost looked relieved that I was the one who brought it up first. She said that with Kaiser, she doesn’t refer me directly to surgery, but rather to bariatric surgery orientation which then leads to bariatric classes. That leads me to my first question: Does anyone have experience with Kaiser in SoCal? If so, do you have any wisdom to share on what to expect? I made another step on my journey yesterday by calling Kaiser and asking the dreaded question: How much? I was told I would only be paying for my hospital stay at $260 a day. Not bad at all if I only stay the two or three nights most people seem to stay. That is a huge relief! It’s strange, since I’ve made these first steps, I have felt like crying a lot, (and I am not usually a crier). Has anyone else experienced this? My current thought is that maybe it’s because my body and mind are feeling relieved finally and seeing, for the first time, a real solution on the horizon. That’s it for now. I look forward to keeping up with the posts here and getting to know you all. -M.