Kahkeetsee

I have been overweight most of my life, and morbidly obese by the time I was an adult. That, along with parental figures who were abusive, made life bleak.  I tried countless diets, losing hundreds of pounds, only to gain it back again. Four years ago, I went through an excellent bariatric program in Park Ridge, IL, but allowed my family and my primary care doctor to talk me out of it after losing 80 pounds pre-op, just 3 days prior to surgery. For the next four years, my weight all returned, my arthritis and related pain became severe, and I became severely depressed. In 2016, I gave away most of my belongings, took care of my financial affairs, and planned to end my life, as the depression, pain, the fact that I had just become an empty-nester after being a single parent for 8 years, and on disability made me feel I was at the end of my usefulness.  Fortunately, I found the presence of mind to get myself into counseling, on medication, and after some time, into another bariatric program in my current state.  While the program is not as supportive as the one I was in previously, I am now post-op and losing weight. The arthritis pain is already less, and though I am already dealing with a lot of flapping skin, I hope to actually have people notice my weight loss soon. When you are as heavy as I have been, it takes a while for people to notice a difference.  Each day gets a little better, and I have hope now.