Hi Everyone,

Today has been a banner day because this morning I saw my Primary care doctor for the final time required by my insurance . Let me step back in time 6 months .

Like so many others on this board I have a lifetime of being plus sized. I have many reasons over the years not the least of the is that I have a congenital disorder that requires me to live on steroids. This has always made weight loss difficult but not impossible. So over the last 2 decades i would go up and down more up then down. Then this strange thing happened called menopause and the ups kept happening and the downs got harder and harder . Hours in the gym would result in weight gains. I felt like as long as I was healthy and active then I would be okay not everyone in this world was meant to be thin. I have a great life so i was content with the state of this for a really long time . Then I Quit Smoking and changed medicine and the menopause at the same time and I gained a lot of weight very quickly. This tipped my scale so to speak . I Started having serious medical problems . i kept saying to myself I am only 4_. This will get better but it did not . Then 6 months my insurance changed and I had to get a new Dr. She did a physical and a full on battery of test to "see where I was" . 2 weeks later She called to tell me i was diabetic and needed to be on medication asap. My Grandfather, My Father and My partner of 12 years all died of complication to diabetes , I know that road. i hung up the phone cried for 10 minutes . Picked up the phone and made an appointment for a consult with a surgeon. i was not letting that disease control my life.

I was ready or at least I thought I was. My Insurance company had a few things to say about that.

They have had me jumping thru quite a few hoops. I have never seen my primary care doctor so much in my entire life!!! I have had go and talk to her about diet and exercises once a month for the last 6 months. The Funny thing is as far as the insurance company is concerned I have to go and get on a scale talk about diet but if I do not loss a pound that confirms for them that I "NEED" the surgery. Whereas My surgeon will not do the surgery unless i loss between 10-20 pounds. In the middle of all of this my original doctor Dr Jossert left the practice and I had to switch to his partner.Dr Cirangle.

What made today a banner day is that the day i called I had no Idea what i weighted because my scale only went up to 330 and I was over that. The day I arrived at LapSF I weighed 327 pounds . Today I weighted 314 pounds . I lost the last 3 pounds over the weekend and because i did i got a Surgery date of Nov. 29 today. As long as the insurance approves everything that is my date. So that is my story to date... more to come i am sure

Congratulations! I had to fight for a year and three months before I finally got my surgery! Keep your head up!

Congratulations on achieving this first step in a succession of steps. You will soon be on the other side of surgery and on the loosers bench. I know more room is being made as all the previous loosers keep on losing the weight and making room.

Lily

It sounds like the hoop-jumping is nearly over! That's a big accomplishment in itself. Congrats on your weight loss so far, and on your surgery date. I hope your insurance approves you soon, so you don't have to worry about it anymore. Welcome to the board, and hopefully we'll see you around a lot!

Congratulations! You will not regret your decision. For me, this is the best thing I have ever done in my life!

Congratulations! You are in the home stretch. Menopause kicked my a$$ as well. Watch out, my Dr. said sometimes women in menopause pop out and can get pregnant after surgery! You are going to love your new life, almost there!

hoop jumping is fun huh?!? Congrats on loosing the weight and getting through all the hoops!

Congrats and welcome!

wow -- sounds like you've been through a lot -- I'm so thrilled for you that you're finally looking at the end of the road -- keep us updated!