Surely you are someone outside of your surgery and struggles with our weight. You have interests and dislikes and families- jobs and hobbies. And honestly- yes it is exciting to have this stool and to be on the journey- but hasn't there been enough focus all our lives on just our weight?

I know VST is dedicated to our VSG stories, but I sort of think that who we are makes our VSG surgeries that much more meaningful.

So I'll go first...

I'm Danielle. I'm 27 and I have three sisters and one nephew. I am unmarried and have no children. I work full time running the office for a respiratory company. This semester I am also attending college full time via online classes. I'm now also trying to squeeze in going to the gym three times a week.

I suffer from PCOS and had this surgery to help increase my chances of having a family of my own one day.

I am a TOTAL girly girl! I love the color pink, I like Hello Kitty the way others like Betty Boop or Tinkerbell, and I HATE HATE HATE spiders! I'm not much of an outdoorsie person- my idea of roughing it is five girls and one bathroom. That being said I do love to garden and can't wait for spring.

I love anything to do with 16th century european history and am a total fanatical nut when it comes to Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn and Elizabeth I. My favorite movie and book of allllllllll time is Gone With the Wind. I love watching old movies with my mom- our favorites are Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, anything with Doris Day and the Tammy movies. We also make a point of watching A League of Their Own together whenever it is on tv. I'm close with my Dad but sometimes I feel like we don't have anything in common.

Prior to surgery I loved home cooked food! (Along with chinese and pizza hut haha) I still enjoy cooking for my family (One sister, my parents and I all live together for economic reasons) and resumed cooking them meals within a few days of coming home from the hospital. I have a dog, she is a chihuahua/yorkie mix. Her name is Gypsy and well... she is sort of a monster!! I <3 her tho!

Now it's your turn!! Tell us who you are!

Hello...my name is Jane....I am 54 and have finally started to come to terms with me and my world. I come from a large family of 12 brothers and sisters. Life was hard and it is not a short story...so I will go on.....I am married with 2 amazing children, girl 33, a boy 28 and a husband ( Roy ) of 35 years. I have an incredible grand daughter who is the light of my life and I spoil her beyond reason......My weight started to escalate in elementary school when food became available to me and the rest of our clan ( family ). I lost all my weight when I was 15 and kept it off for only 4 years. It has been a up hill battle to rebuild myself and learn to deal with the issues that made me who I was for so long. I am told by people that I have changed a lot over the last few years...maybe I finally started to find myself. This is the biggest change for me...the last part of my old self I have to work on.....It is the one thing that has held me back from really living....

On a positive note. I started to write and have appeared on an authors blog. I enjoy it so much I feel like I have found my knitch....I write short stories and poetry.......

I have 2 gorgeous Golden Retrievers named Max and Bailey and they are great company for me.....

I am looking forward to riding horses and kayaking and having the energy to play with my grand daughter. Or if they get busy...grand children..lol..

Thank you!

Good morning all!

My name is Donna, however most of my adulthood friends call me Kaj- hence my nick here. It is a sort of split identity since I am Donna to anyone who knows me from childhood (and I have lots of those friends still) and professionally; but Kaj to those who know me as an adult and in many ways mirrors a sort of "rebirth" for me as a person as I went college at 40 and for me it was a rebirth. I became much more confident and "found" myself. That time also was when everyone I became friends with started calling me Kaj. So...I guess what I am saying is call me whatever you want, I'll answer.

Lets see...I am exactly 59 years and 11 months old today. I am married to my 2nd husband and we will Celebrate 35 years on Halloween. He is my rock and biggest fan and best friend. (He is also a "feeder"). we live on 2 very steep acres at Lake travis in austin, TX. We have 3 grown sons - ages 40, 33, and 29. My eldest is single and childless having had a few long term relationships after a 10 year marriage and is sort of focusing on himself nowdays. My other two sons are married to the perfect woman for each of them and we have 3 grandkids between them, ages 11, 6, and 4. All live within 45 mins of us. They are awesome and smart and fun filled and adored ...and after a few hours with them, I am really REALLY glad my kid raising days are over!

My husband and I basically switched jobs a few years ago and he quit his job and became a house husband and I became the wage earner. He does all the cooking and cleaning - the traditional "woman's woek"; I go to work and bring home the bacon. I am a Social Worker employed with the Veteran's Administration working with homeless Vets. We are very interested in self sustainability and my husband grows our vegies, we have chickens for fresh eggs and he raises goats for milk and meat. He is curretly re-doing the interior of our home with reclaimed materials so my house is in a constant state of construction! We also enjoy hunting and fishing and own land in the Chihuahua desert along the Rio Grande river. We are anmal lovers and active in rescue. Our "breed" is the Great Pyrenees dog and we live with 3 Pyrs, a pit-lab X, a Lhaso X, 2 cats, and the assorted livestock and visiting animals that cycle through our home.

I am very, very new here - I will go for my first info session on the 18th. No reason to go into detail regarding my weight battles right now as I am sure my story, all though my own, is much like everyone else's. Ultimately the long and short is that I want to be as healthy as I can be, I want to live as long as I can, and I want to avoid travelling the same health path my relatives have travelled! Plus-I'm tired of hurting all over, of attempting to exercise daily and feeling guilty when I stop because of pain, of gaining weight if I *look* at a picture of food and of riding the up and down roller coaster of the thrilling victory of weight loss and the crushing defeat each time I gain it plus all back again. I'm tired of being tired! I want to spend my weekends hiking and goofing and playing instead of laying on my bed trying to rest up enough to be ready for the comming work week. My life is more than woek and laying on the bed and damnit! I want to enjoy my time off!!

Soooo...umm ok.

Hi y'all!

Kaj

Hi my name is Danielle danni for short and I'm a mother of three boys from scratch and then I also have an additional 4 soon to be step babies all under the age of 13..My soon to be husband and i have been together for 10 years. I have tried all things diet and exercise. Lost....gained back and then some over and over. Now im unable to exercise as well due to a chronic back issue so losing this time around has been nearly impossible. I also have PCOS although getting pregnant was never hard for me..I do have friends with PCOS that have been unable to get pregnant and I feel for them. I do however have the gross icky makes you feel less than a woman hair growth . I live in upstate NY and I will be getting my endiscope on Halloween. Also, my surgeon submitted the paperwork to the insurance company last Friday. I'm here for support and also here to give it.

Thanks and nice getting to meet you all!

APPROVED FOR SURGERY...YAY!

Minimo... you are doing great! I am so happy for you. It will be a new adventure for you... happy trails.

How have you been since your surgery? Mine is next week and I hope for a speedy recovery for me and everyone else.

Thank You for your kind words! I am doing great, bored with all this time off! Good luck on your own surgery, its a breeze..............

Hi I'm Lei. I'm 29 years old, married, and a working IT professional for Geisinger Health System.

Surgery outlook in possible March/April timeframe, pending I'm green lighted (no reason why I shouldn't be according to my nutritionist). Enrolled in the bariatric surgery program at Geisinger Medical Center in PA. Dr. Gabrielsen will be my surgeon (he took out my gallbladder and specializes in bariatric surgery, so I trust him and had a great experience with him previously). I've been enrolled in the weight management clinic for roughly 6 years (off and on, successes and failures) and after a meltdown on a Ryanair flight, I've had enough of my waistline dictating my life.

Thank you for reading!

Hi everyone my surgery as of tues went great. I go home today I've been up walking sitting up I feel really good not to much pain. The doctors say I did great and don't even look like I had surgery which is a good thing so I looking forward to going home in the next's couple of hours. So wants I get home and settle we will talk more thanks. Andrea

Way to go and congrats!!! Keep us posted. What was the biggest suprise for u so far?

Danielle

Right now I'm just taking everything in I can't be leave I'm sleeved .i haven't been hungry but I've been making myself eat something and drinking as much water as I can. But other than that I fell really great. Heavens been sick at all which is a blessing. But knock on wood . Lol so I got to the doctor two weeks from now and see what's next.

Yay! VERY encouraging. My husband and I went to an info seminar last night. Still just dipping my toes in before I jump right on in to the whole thing.

My surgery was 2 days ago and it couldn't have gone any better. No nausea, not a lot of pain... of course the morphine helped..lol

All in all I was pretty comfortable. Thanks to my heating pad... I highly recommend taking one.

Nice, Jill!! SO encouraging. Thank you for sharing and congrats...you are on your way, girl. Won't be long before you're two-stepping at Billy Bobs.

Hi All!

I'm Cathryn and I'm having the vertical sleeve surgery on Halloween Day! I keep thinking how brilliant having this done, this time of year is. So much of the holiday season is centered around eating yummy foods with the family and this will be a real test of my self control. I'm doing Thanksgiving this year and fully intend on filling the table with healthier versions of our favorites. I'm nervous about the surgery which I know is only natural. I trust my Surgeon immensely and know he'll keep me breathing. It's just the idea of it. Being under anesthesia freaks me out. But, I've come this far and beyond the anxiety is a Woman who is bursting at the seams with excitement. To feel at home in my own skin, to buy clothing that I actually like, to be a great role model for my girl, all of these things, life changing!

I find myself being far more mindful of late, very emotionally in tuned. Almost, spiritual. My somewhat daily walks at the beach, not only make my muscles feel loose but help me to clear my head and breath deeply. I love the concept of being aware of one's breathing. A tool brought forth in our Mindful Eating classes at Kaiser. For a very long time, I saw myself as simply a Mom and a Wife, losing my own identity in the process. I know exactly why I've gained this weight and in gaining that knowledge I can continue to work on new ways to fill the voids with things other than food. I find myself in my leisure reading more. It's a love of mine. Music fills my life in almost every aspect. I look forward to being out and about more. Going to concerts, plays, the theater. Being able to walk longer distances, travel. Be rid of the worries that being overweight can create.

In this mindfulness I am finding that my overall view of myself is improving. So much of my self-esteem was centered around my outward appearance. As much as I hate to admit it I was really down on myself throughout the years and have wasted so much of my life being unhappy and feeling unattractive. I'm looking forward and feel incredibly lucky to have this tool, the surgery, to assist me in becoming an improved version of myself. Good luck to you all and I'll enjoy reading everyone's stories and updates.

I started my clear liquid diet today. Surgery will be next Wed. Hope I can handle this diet. So far it is not bad but I am sure it will get harder later.

Friday night we have a big restaurant of the month meeting with my scuba club. I am trying to figure out how to handle that without looking obvious. Any suggestions beside just not going?

It gets easier. I was able to have veggies and got a salad. I brought a Blender Bottle with me for my drink at a party and filled it with strawberry kiwi juice and ice. I don't watch people eat.

Hi I am Janet and from eastern PA outside Philly. I love to eat. I can't wire my mouth shut so I am here. I was sleeved the 15th and love how I look now at 229lbs although I want to get to 160 eventually. I am happy as hell to be out of plus size clothes or only have a few 1x that I look great in. I am 5 8 and had three plastics already breast lift neck lift and neck lipo and a tummy tuck. When I am all done my plastic surgeon is fixing the rest if needed. I have had my teeth redone with veneers. I am a little obsessed with it I guess but just like to look and feel young since I am 43

I work full time at a big pharma firm go to Drexel part time have a wonderful hubby and three dogs. I love to travel! Have been a lot of places and going on a cruise to Europe over Xmas NYE

I don't look at this as a diet but a tool to keep me from eating the left side of the menu!

Nice to meet you all

Thank You for your kind words! I am doing great' date=' bored with all this time off! Good luck on your own surgery, its a breeze..............[/quote']

I am impressed you are doing this at a young age!! Good for you girlfriend!