Hi all,

I have been reading up on all y'alls posts for a few weeks now and finally have gotten up the nerve to post myself.

I have been overweight all my life. It runs in my family. My father had WLS when I was in high school (2000). Long story short, he has had some complications over the years, but is doing okay right now.

My sister had a gastric bypass a few years later. She has been successful, and while she still has to work at it every day, she is happy and healthy.

I had lap band surgery in 2005. I was successful, or so I thought, for a while. I hit my goal weight, but realize now that I was not healthy. I was frequently burdened with acid reflux and severe restriction. In one instance, I ended up in the emergency room on the 4th of July in the middle of the night because I could not keep Water down and I was severely dehydrated. I had been dealing with a doctor that I didn't particularly mesh well with, and who I felt was not terribly concerned with my health, but more with the money (my father had paid out of pocket for my surgery). That night in the emergency room, I was able to get in touch with my sister, who had me give the emergency room staff her doctor's name. He and his partner were a God's send. About a month later, I called him again because I was having restriction issues again. He was able to see me immediately and was able to see that my problems had been stemming from the fact that my band had slipped. He immediately rushed me into emergency surgery to remove my band. I was still not covered by an insurance that would pay for a surgery, and both my parents were out of the country at the time, so we held off on making any decisions on future surgeries.

I tried to keep the weight off myself. I knew I couldn't realistically keep it all off, but I hoped to be able to keep a majority of it off through exercise and nutrition. It worked for a while. I had a personal trainer and went to the gym every day. I eventually ended up in a very destructive relationship. I became severely depressed and ended up gaining back all of the weight I had originally lost. I ended the relationship a year and a half ago, and a year ago my ex passed away, having lost his battle with alcoholism.

Getting another surgery has been something I have been thinking about for a long time but had not been in a good place mentally or emotionally. I did not want to jump into a decision while I was dealing with so much happening in my life.
I feel ready now and I have pretty much decided on the sleeve. It still scares me though. It took me three days to finally pick up the phone and call my doctor's office to make an appointment. I have an appointment next month and have already started a list of questions to ask him.

I have not told my family yet that I am thinking about doing this again. I know they will be supportive, but I also want to be absolutely certain before I involve any of them this time. Thankfully I now have insurance that covers the surgery. My biggest concern is taking time off work and people I don't want to tell finding out. I work in a very customer facing business, and I don't know yet how I am going to handle all the questions I know I am going to inevitably going to get from my clients.

I look forward to getting to know some of you on this journey, and all appreciate all the support.

So glad to have you here. You've conquered your fear now and I know good things are ahead for you. I'm almost four years post op sleeve and love it! Looking forward to hearing from you.

Good luck with your decision. When I made my decision, I mentally prepared myself for people that might try to talk me out of it. I was surprised at the support I got from friends and family.

And you can use my standard line when people ask about the weight loss. I just tell them that I've drastically cut back on how much I eat and I get out and walk more. (they don't have to know every detail) :-P

And here's a list of excuses to explain the surgery scars:

http://www.bariatricpal.com/blog/9018/entry-31422-girl-you-aint-gonna-believe-this-or-how-to-explain-your-vsg-scars/

My personal favorite: "Oh, these?" *embarrassed face* "I know they look horrible, but the sex was INCREDIBLE!"

Hi Knitlil09, welcome to the group and congratulations on making your decision. I'm newly sleeve 6 weeks but I am so happy about my decision. I was overweight my entire adult life and I was up and down with various diets. I am excited about the permanency of the sleeve because I don't want to be a yoyo dieter ever again. If you are ready for a life style change, this is the surgery for you. I wish you all the luck and hope you will be active in the forum. This is a support group, as well as a source of information. It's a great site. I love it.

Thank you all for being so great. I don't know if this was around when I had my first surgery, but if it was, I wasn't aware. Definitely makes me feel less isolated. I look forward to getting to know some of you better :-)