Greetings,

My name is Veronica aka Chubarella. I'm 39, married with no kids. I live in South Texas and I work as a telephone operator at a hospital. I currently weigh 310.2 pounds. My highest was in 2008 at 363 pounds. I have known for many years that I wanted weight loss surgery. The gastric bypass was still new to me, so I was scared and never looked into it. By my mid 20s I would have liked to have done the gastric bypass but I couldn't afford it. Into my 30s, I decided to try the Atkins diet and I was able to lose 70 pounds, but once the holidays rolled around, there goes that lost weight. Fortunately, I've been able to keep half of that lost weight off. This year, the hospital I work for said they want their employees healthy and are covering bariatric surgery at 100%!!! I had to look into it immediately. I went to a seminar and I've seen the Internal Medicine doctor twice and the dietitian once. We're looking at 6 months before they can turn in my paperwork for review. I was strongly for gastric bypass surgery, but just recently decided on Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy. I hope to gain more knowledge and tips in this forum. Also, hoping to make some new friends along the way. Take Care!

I was originally supposed to have the bypass, right up till the time of surgery. Once my Doctor got inside he decided against it and gave me the sleeve instead due to an enlarged liver and severe scar tissue from an abdominal hernia I had 6 years ago. Turns out the sleeve was the best thing he could have done for me and was a choice I should have probably made all along for a few reasons. As others better educated on the sleeve can tell you on these forums, the sleeve is better for a number of reasons, mainly because you don't have to worry about the problem of your body not absorbing nutrients as you would have had to with the bypass.

Welcome to the forums and ask any questions you have, you'll get lots of great answers and advice.

Thanks, Nate!

I already have low Iron and Vitamin D problems. I don't want to make it worse with the gastric bypass.

Welcome

Thanks' date=' Nate!

I already have low Iron and Vitamin D problems. I don't want to make it worse with the gastric bypass.[/quote']

Blackstrap molasses will usually fix iron deficiencies, I think it might help a bit w/vit D also.

OTR, I'm not sure where you're from, but my Kentucky granny was always dosing her kids and grandkids with blackstrap molasses when I was little. Your post brought back fond memories!

Welcome

Thanks for the welcome

Blackstrap molasses will usually fix Iron deficiencies, I think it might help a bit w/vit D also.

I'll need to try some, thanks for the tip.