[ChuppyGirl]

Kathy,

I'm sorry for your great lost. it must have been very hard moment to you.

I know I had hard times when Nany (Grandy) died years ago. Loosing part of the family is a sad thing.

((((HUGS))))
Hanadi

[LittleLisaMarie]

Originally Posted by yma

Hi My name is Amy I had my surgery 2/2/07. I live in Buffalo, NY and I am 37 yrs old married with 2 children. My daughter is 12 and my son is 8. Kids keep us very busy. My son is a hockey player and we travel a lot with him. Oh By the way GOOOO SABRES!!!!
I am very happy I found this site. I am on it every day looking for advice and support. Everyone is very helpful and friendly. I look forward to making new friends. I've seen that some of you are getting together in NYC would love to be included if you would have me.

YMA how old is your son> professional hockey player? you seem to young for that....I LOVE HOCKEY....i am looking at madison square garden as we speak.. LETS GO RANGERS lol.........A get together is in the works dont know what is happening with it yet though....

LittleLisaMarie

[bren]

Hi, My name is Brenda and I live in Milford KS ( right out side the gates of Fort Riley KS,) I've been married for just over 17 years to a great guy who has been in the Army the entire time we have been married. We have a daughter who is 16 and a son who is 13. We also have 3 dogs and 2 cats. I work in property manangement as an Assistant Manager and love my job and my co-workers they have been a huge support system for me as well as my family and friends. And I don't think I would have done nearly as well if it was not for this site what a huge support system.
I'm orginally from Missouri and still consider it home and go back to visit as often as I can. Most of our family lives in the same area as where I grew up. Lucky for us both of our families live in the area so we get to see both sides of the family when we go back
I've been chubby most of my life until after having my children I then just became fat as a stay at home mom. I decided to have the surgery several years ago but had to play the insurance game so didn't have the surgery until 09/01/06. I have since lost 93lbs and would like to lose another 28lbs. I've had a few complications along the way (a stricture at 2 months and having my gallbladder out this Thursday 03/15/07) But it has all been totally worth it. I wouldn't change a thing. I'm enjoying my new look (even though I find it hard to believe it is me sometimes or sometimes I just forget that I have lost so much weight until I see myself in a mirror. )
OK who is next?

[LittleLisaMarie]

Love refreshing my mind on who is who and getting to know new people..Keep on writing.....

OK who is Next??????

[earthygirl]

Hi, my name is Michele and I live in Boiling Springs, South Carolina. I'm 44 years old and have been married as of April 5 for 4 years. (my first marriage) I am a retired professional chef and a retired police/firefighter. I am now a part time paralegal. I have no children(we tried for a while, but no luck). I now have 4 cats and 2 dogs, (my babies). They are spoiled rotten.

Hobbies.....I have a few, I make my own greeting cards and paper, of course cooking; I make bath and body products,(trying to get my business going), I love to do canning, April is strawberry season here and I usually make jam or freeze around 5 gallons or so. I am now an avid gardener. I say now because I can finally get outside without wheezing. I have a big garden planned for this year. The light of my life besides my hubby is my nephew. He is going to be 12 this year. He comes to me from Maryland every year for a month during the summer. This past year was great because we also got to have him spend xmas with us in Ohio.

I have been overweight almost my entire life. At only 5'4" I had managed to keep my weight at around 190 while I was at the police department. When I was forced to retire due to injury in 1998, my weight blossomed to around 220lbs. Then....I got married. Had to go clear up to Ohio to find my hubby. Anyhoo, after trying to get pregnent, ie.. the pills and the shots for almost a year, my weight bloomed yet again and kept on going. I also found out at that time that I had developed type 2 diabetes. Then things went downhill. My weight went up to 262, as did my blood pressure and my cholesterol and my sugar. When I finally went for surgery, I was on 2 medications for the diabetes, BP meds and Cholesterol meds.

I had my surgery in a private hospital in Caracas Venezulea due to my insurance not covering. I was in a private hospital. The hardest part was that my hubby couldn't go with me. It was the first time we had been apart. However, my father did go with me. (he used to live there). We stayed at his gf house while I was recovering. I can happily say that the only meds I am on now are 1/2 a bp pill. I feel fantastic! I still have a ways to go, but I feel better than I have in many many years.

[Spikey1341]

My name is Jeanne and I am 47 years old and will be married to my husband for 25 years on April 5th. (Michele, what a coincidence) I don't have any kids, but a dog named Jigs and a cat named Alvin.

I have been overweight all my life. My mother has pictures of me and my sister when we were little. She used to dress us alike, why I don't know, she is three years older than me and blonde, I am a redhead. Anyway I digress. In these pictures you see a skinny little blonde with a fat little redhead with her belly always haning out.

In second grade I looked like a beach ball with legs. I remember I was 100 lbs in second grade (7 years old). And just kept gaining 10 lbs a year.

I am pre-op and have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type II diabetes, sleep apnea and depression. I cannot wait to get this surgery done! I am approved and the only thing holding me back is a high hbA1C count. I am going to the Diabetes Care Clinic this Thursday and my surgery center tells me they have never sent a patient there who's levels didn't come down, and all were able to have surgery.

I recently bought a Magic Bullet from e-bay and I think it is the best purchase I have ever made. I highly recommend it, especially for protein shakes.

[yma]

Hi Lisa:
My son is only 8 he plays travel hockey. I am a huge sabres fan. I guess the way I wrote that it was confusing.

Amy

[LittleLisaMarie]

8yrs awww tooo cute....


Thanks to everyone else who took some time to write a little about themselves. Im still waiting on some others...where are you??

Who is next??

[Kat]

It is so wonderful to read about everyone! I certainly have
enjoyed this post so far.
Anyone else?

[howietam]

Hello!
My name is Tammy and I live in Ashland, Ky. I have been married for 20 years. My husband is an assoc professor at our local community college. I have two sons, 4 dogs, and 2 cats. I have been a registered nurse for 25 years now, 5 years in intensive care and the rest in ER. I have homescooled my boys from 4th grade on up. They will both graduate this year, and I can retire from teaching !! I enjoy scrapbooking, reading, and I'm looking forward to hiking again this spring.
As far back as I can remember I have dieted and gained, dieted and gained. It was always an issue for me. Once during my teen years I became really ill from dieting. I have always used food as a comfort. I ate when I was upset, stressed, or bored. I eventually ballooned to 236 lbs, developed high blood pressure, asthma, high cholesterol, and hypothyroidism....not to mention all the aches and pains!!
I had 2 co workers who had GBS and lost a LOT of weight. One had no problems at all, the other had a lot of esophageal problems at first. I decided to have the surgery, chickened out and cancelled it, then decided that if I DIDN'T have the surgery, I would continue to gain weight and might not be around to enjoy my grandkids when they finally get here!
So I had my surgery 11/30/06. RNY type. The first 6-8 weeks were very difficult. I went through a lot of emotions. I asked myself on several occassions "what was I thinking!"!
I'm beginning to come to terms with food now, although there are times that I really miss eating. I'm just now getting to the point (and I'm almost at 4 months!) that I can truthfully say "I'm glad I did it". There still are a lot of issues to work through....a lot of work to do, but it's getting easier. My advice to newbies would be get support! Don't beat yourself up if you make a mistake, just get on with it. Check into this board frequently, you'll find a lot of great advice here.