Hi Everyone,
My name is Kelly and I am at the very beginning of my journey. I have been overweight my entire adult life and while I knew that I needed to do more than diet I just never did, I guess I was afraid. Well after being told I have a hernia (I just had a hernia repair in 7/11) my surgeon asked me if I ever considered WLS. I told him yes but never acted on it. So he suggested before we made any decisions about the hernia repair I should see the Dr at the bariatric surgery center near my home. I was supposed to see the new doctor last Friday but there was a mix up with my insurance I had to reschedule for this coming Monday. I switched to my husband's insurance after I learned that the insurance that my employer offered excluded WLS regardless of any comorbities you may have. So Monday I have my appointment which is technically to talk only about my hernia but what I want to know is if he would be able to do the gastric by pass suregery and the hernia at the same time or what order he recommends the surgeries to be in if they can't be done at the same time. I have attended the WLS information session that the bariatric center wants everyone to go to before they schedule their first appointment and it was very helpful. And the crazy thing was there were like 7 people at this session and one turned out to be someone I work with! So she has seen the nutritionist already so she is a little bit ahead of me in the journey, but it will be great to have someone I work with who is going through the same thing.

I have several friends who have had WLS over the past few years, all have been very successful and all said that it was the best decision of their lives. One has had a sleeve gastrectomy and the others all had RNY.

I am so glad I found this group. I have been reading posts for the past several days and all of the posts have been encouraging and filled with very useful information.

I am 45, height 5'4" and weigh about 345 (I haven't weighed myself in months) and luckily I do not have diabetes or high blood pressue but I do have osteoarthritis in both knees. I want to be able to enjoy life, I want to walk and not get tired, I want be able to walk up a flight of steps without feeling like I am dying, I want to be able to sit in a chair and not worry if it will hold me or not. I want to go to Disney World with my daughter (trip scheduled for 2/2013) and be able to ride the rides and not worry if I will fit in the seat or not.

I look forward to sharing this journey with everyone here!