Hello every one, my name is Kevin and I'm new to this site and my surgery will be September 11th, 2013. I will give you a little background on myself. I'm 41 years and married and together we have 5 children ages 7 - 18 and we live in Wisconsin. I have been overweight my entire life, I have never experienced what if feels like to be "skinny" nor do I ever expect too. As an adult and getting heavier, weight has always been an issue. I worked as an active paramedic for over twenty years now and love EMS. I currently work in a small rural hospital as the ER & Trauma Coordinator and I'm also the Director of Informatics for our electronic health record. In my "spare" time, I also teach EMS for one of the technical colleges and I'm going back to school myself. Being overweight makes everything so much more difficult and now that I'm over 40, I must get healthier if I want to survive and enjoy the second half of my life. At my heaviest weight I weighed approximately 435lbs and this was back in approximately 2004. I looked into bariatric surgery then and jumped through all of the hoops only to be denied by my insurance company 2 times and could not get the surgery. I was at the end of my rope and need to make a change so I tried the low carb diet which actually was a life saver for me. Over the next year I had lost over 140lbs and was feeling so much better, but as soon as I got off track and didn't stay committed, I started to regain the weight. I gained about 100lbs back. a few years later I went back to low carb and lost another 150 lbs and again feeling better until life happens and I lose focus. I again gained over 100 lbs back. Currently I weigh about 350lbs. My current job switched insurance companies about 2 years ago and they did have a benefit for bariatric surgery so for the past year I have been going through the process to get approved. I started in September of 2012 and now my surgery is about three weeks away, its very hard to believe. My insurance company denied me the first time because 2-3 years ago when I had lost some weight my BMI was 39.9% and it needed to be 40% since I really didn't have many other health issues. I was so devastated and pissed off, but I kept going and had more testing so I could get diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea. Then upon resubmittal, they approved me. I have to say I HATE THE CPAP MACHINE!!! I'm looking to put all of the struggles behind me and move forward. I really need this surgery as my tool to a healthier and hopefully much happier me. This looks like a great site and I love reading every ones stories and experiences, I have already learned many valuable things on here. I start my pre-op diet on Aug. 28th and have all of my pre-op physical and testing on September 3rd, Its coming so close. There is one thing I have to do and that is to tell the rest of my family about the surgery. Only my wife and a best friend knew I was going down this journey and I didn't want to say anything until I knew it was approved. I need to tell my children I'm having surgery along with my parents. This has been a very private and personal thing for me and I'm not sharing with everyone. I just want to have the surgery without any fuss from anyone. Well that's my story in a nutshell. Thanks for having me here and I look forward to getting to know many of you. Feel free to contact me anytime. Kevin

Hi Kevin, happy to hear that you have been approved after all the denials. It takes strong spirit to keep trying! I think you are perfect candidate for RNY, because you have proven that you have the willpower to stay on track... After all RNY is a tool that helps you to achieve the goal Congratulations on your decision and I wish you speedy recovery! Rnytalk is an awesome space and you'll get lots of support here :)