Hello All,

Making the decision to go to Mexico for a Gastrc Sleeve has been pretty loaded. I'm sure none of us saw this type of choice coming as we gained hope and enthusiasm for the latest diet miracle or relight loss research. Sigh...

Growing up in the 1970's, I had no way of knowing that I was going to be part of the generation who:

- was a test market for sugar cereals

- was drinking more sugar than any children in history

- watched home cooked meals replaced by fast food and pre-packaged foods

- was bombarded with imagery of skinny women...everywhere

- fell prey to the diet industry

I could go on and on. Bottom line, I've been on every diet known to man, have banned most food groups and items at one point or another. Finally, my head was spinning. I had no idea what the truth was: fat or no fat? Rice cakes or whole wheat? Even, water or no water?

I'm tired. Let's face it. After being treated for breast cancer in 2011, I couldn't get a grip on my already tenuous metabolism reality. Chemo killed my hormones and stopped my cycle. Then I had my ovaries removed in order to reduce my estrogen levels. The cards stacked against me, I went to my primary care doc who suggested, "why don't you stop eating anything white for a month and see how you feel?" Really, that's all you got? Skinny bitch.

I took myself to the PENN Bariatric center to hear what they had to say. I was only at a 35 BMI so they dismissed me and asked if I had ever counted calories. As you all know, the medical industrial complex is holding out on preventative gastric surgery. So, I gave it another year of suffering. I even went on a round of medically supervised HCG, which has an estrogen component that is not good for my type of cancer. I lost 20 pounds in 40 long, hard days.

After gaining most of that back, I decided to go for the sleeve. I am scheduled for 7/5/2016 in Tijuana Mexico. I have not told my doctor because, frankly, I think she has no idea about the real suffering around weight issues. I don't have time for that anymore. When I get back, I will be looking for a better doc fit.

I know it will still be a lot of work but I know I need an ace up my sleeve! LOL!

If your head is in the game (which sounds like you're there), you won't regret it.

I wish you nothing but success and happiness with your sleeve. You deserve it!

Wow, you've just told a lot of my story! Like you, I grew up with all the "bad" foods. When I did my weight history for my consult, I realized my first diet started when I was about 9 years old! I've lost many hundreds of pounds over the years. I too even did the HCG diet a couple of times one year. I got down to a healthy weight and started living my life again. Then I zooooomed back up to my heaviest weight at the end of that year. I also got breast cancer that following year and I really question whether the HCG played a role in that. Chemo put me into menopause, but despite my doctor saying it wouldn't happen, I ended up getting my cycles back about a year later.

I thought about WLS many times throughout the years, but I would read about the specifics, the way you had to eat and I thought, well I can just eat that way without the surgery and lose the weight. (Like with the HCG diet.) The problem being, I just gained it back every single time.

This past November, my 42nd birthday, I journaled about what I wanted to happen in my 42nd year of life. The whole thing really spun around the weight and how it was holding me back from living the life I wanted to live. So, I looked at WLS more seriously. It took me a month to fill out all their paperwork and get it back to them. Then I didn't get an appointment until January. I was psyched to go and found out that I had to go through the 6 months supervised diet. Ugh!

During that 6 months I have really asked myself a lot of questions about whether the WLS is the right thing for me. I wasn't 100% sure the whole time. I waited to tell even my husband until last month, and I think it was at that point I decided... I'm all in! I need this. I'm willing to do the work, but I think I need a tool like this if there is any possibility that I will be able to keep this weight off permanently. My insurance just approved it last week and my surgery date is July 27th.

I know your frustrations with the medical world. I decided to turn to the doctors at one point and see if they could offer me help from all my yo you diets. You know what she suggested? Eating pretzels! Yah! They are a much better snack than chips and such. Pretzels! There's my answer! OMG!!

And I've been told to try every sweetener and thing available in my one morning coffee. I use 30 calories of sugar in one coffee a day. That is not the reason I'm obese!

People who have never dealt with this problem really just have no clue. It sounds like you are just as ready as I am to make this change in your life! I'm excited! Keep us posted on your progress.

Wow, pretzels. Who knew? We will definitely stay in touch. Thank you for your response! I really hope this is as good a tool as it seems.

I got home two days ago. Overall, the whole experience was great! The only problem about Tijuana is that there is not much to do but go to the mall and spend money. The beach was beautiful and exciting; lots of music and color, happy people ...and amazing smelling food! LOL.

I plan on going back to indulge in small amounts on my sleeversary.

I'm down about 3 pounds since the surgery. Now 184 from 197 three weeks ago. Yay!

Yay! I'm glad the surgery went well. Congratulations on the continued weight loss. You're doing great!