Hello from the Yukon Territory

Yukon Kara · October 1, 2011

My name is Kara and I will be having my VSG surgery on the 19th of October at the Puget Sound Surgical Centre in Washington State.

I live in the Yukon Territory, Canada in a small remote community of just 400 people. My husband and I have been married for the last eights years and we have two young boys, aged 2 and 4. We have lived all across Canada's northern territories over the last eight years. I just turned 32 this month.

Currently I weigh 316lbs and have been obese my entire life. I spent the winter researching weight loss surgeries after feeling like I had tried everything for weight loss as I am sure most of you have felt at one point in time. I settled on VSG and found the closest centre to my home in the Yukon, which is still a heck of a long ways away down in Seattle. Going outside of Canada to have my surgery means that we are paying for the entire surgery and associated costs on our own. Thankfully we are in a position where we can do that.

My husband is a nurse in our remote community that does get doctor visits a couple of weeks each month. I worked as an Adult Educator for colleges around the north before deciding to stay at home to raise our boys. We spend a lot of time hunting, fishing, quadding and camping. My mobility in is definitely lacking when it comes to my favorite activities and I want to be around for a long time. Right now I have no extreme health issues normally associated with obesity, but I know that I am right on the cusp of them taking over my life.

Tomorrow I will be starting my pre-surgery diet plan and am scared, nervous and excited all at the same time for how my life will change this fall.

I would love to hear from anyone out there, especially if there is anyone on here from Canada or northern Canada! Please share your stories or advice; it would all be appreciated. I am looking forward to checking out this forum and hoping it will help enhance my VSG experience!

Kara

And I have attached a photo of myself from our family hunting trip from early this September. Check out that snow!

Courage · October 1, 2011

Hi Kara,

I live in Vanvouver, BC and I had VSG at Puget Sound Surgical on April 6 of this year. I am almost 6 months out now and have lost a little over 80 pounds and have about 80 more to go to my goal. VSG has been the best thing I have ever done for myself, I feel fantastic and wish I had done it sooner. They are so wonderful at PSSC, Dr. Landerholm performed my surgery.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Leann