Hello,

My name is Madeleine and I am happy I found this site.

In 2014 I finally got good health insurance. One thing I wanted to do was have bariatric surgery since my best friend had it a few years before and it was working very well for her. I went to orientation in March and I found I weighted 437. I knew I weighted a lot, but that was higher than I have ever weighted so I went in the Pre-op diet with some passion. I had a great surgeon, Dr. Im at Kaiser, and he said I needed to get below 400 before he would do the surgery. I went to the classes and worked hard and I got down to 410, but those last 10 pounds were real hard. I think as I got down close the surgery became a real possibility and I panicked. The psychiatrist for the program, Dr. Z., talked to me and helped me realize I really wanted this and I had to get my butt in action. After that it was easy and by the time I went into surgery, Oct. 14, 2014, I was down to 388,

The surgery itself was not bad. I was a bit nervous, but everything worked out ok. My big post surgery issue were my feet. Within the first week my feet were killing me and it was hard to walk. The surgeon said it was likely due to the position of my feet during surgery. It took awhile to go away, but I am now able to take walks. At first, though, I was not sure what exercise to do since I had figured I would do a lot of walking. Finally I used a recumbent bike and that allowed me to exercise without hurting my feet.

I am now 7 months out from surgery, down to 265, and very happy I did this for myself. I am excited to explore this site and get to know other people who are on this journey too.

Madeleine

Wow! You are doing an amazing job! I just had my surgery today , I can't wait to do an update on my weight in a few months???? reading your post gives a lot of encouragement. Ty!