36 YO, BMI 37-38, 5'2", 210 HW- Southlake, TX

I've been following RealSelf and all your stories for a few months, and been thinking about a sleeve for about a year. In high school I went from 140-150, graduated at a size 8, which is overweight for my height, but I was always athletic and never felt fat, just a little thicker than most of my size 4 friends. In college I went up to 165, in grad school I went up to 180. Even at this weight, I was still pretty confident and didn't feel fat, just "pleasantly plump." In the last 8 years, I've yo-yo'd between 180-195, with a few pounds being put on each year. I thought I'd never break 200, and when I did I was devastated. I started to feel unattractive, the way I dressed changed, I stopped wearing heels, I felt tired and had back, hip, and knee pain. My 8 year relationship has suffered, as I just don't feel sexy and my libido has dropped. Nearly all my pants are stretchy or have an elastic waist. I stopped going out with my friends as much because I felt like the biggest one in the group and never felt like dressing up. My highest weight has been 208, a couple weeks ago. In July, I finally went for a consult for a sleeve. My insurance has an exclusion, so I'll be paying $11,700 which covers surgeon, hospital, anesthesia, and pre-op counseling and nutrition services, and 1 year of post op. I am getting all the testing done that my doctor required and am hoping for a mid to late September surgery date. You guys have been a wealth of information and I feel like every day I am on this site I get a better idea of what to expect and how my life will change, so THANK YOU all for being so honest and open. I hope to write often so others can use my journey as I have used so many of yours.

I can't tell you how excited I am to have this surgery. I went to my consult about a month ago. My insurance does not cover weight loss surgery, so I am paying myself. On the plus side, I don't have to jump through all the hoops insurance companies require. My labs are done and I have my psych eval tomorrow. I'm leaving on vacation (more on that later) tomorrow, and when I get back next week I have my consult with a gastro to schedule my EGD, and a RUQ sonogram. The sonogram is not routine, I've been having right upper quadrant pain off an on and we want to make sure I don't have gallbladder stones. If I do, it will be removed at the same time as my sleeve. I'm hoping there are no surprises and I can have my surgery late September or early October. The day can't come soon enough.
So I mentioned I'm going on vacation this week. My partner and I are going to Turks and Caicos. I love the ocean, love beaches, and love scuba diving. My weight has affected me in many ways, one of which is during travel. While I'm not large enough that I don't fit in plane seats, my weight does contribute to neck and back pain, and flights are brutal for my pain. I usually spend the first day or two on vacation on anti-inflammatories and muscle relaxers, and the pain is so fatiguing that I sleep a lot, which is such a waste of valuable vacation time. I wear bathing suits without cover-ups at the beach, but of course I'm not happy with the way I look. This is horrible to say, but I find myself looking for people around me that are larger so I can at least say I'm not the biggest person there. We take so many pictures of the beautiful locations we've visited, but I hate the way I look in them so I hardly ever share them. My diving is affected as well. With scuba, you need to wear lead weights in order to descend, and as fat is buoyant, the more fat you have the more weight you need. So I have to wear 14-16 extra pounds of lead on me, which is very hard to wear out of the water. To put it in perspective, my partner who is about 190, he only needs about 6-8 lbs. I've also avoided certain types of travel that I know my weight would make difficult - things like camping, hiking, safaris, skiing. Last year I went to Colorado with about 12 members of my family, and my dad and I were the only ones who didn't ski, something I used to love to do. I can't wait to see what opportunities open up for me as this weight comes off. I feel like I'm starting a new life. And how exciting to know that this may very well be the last "fat" vacation of my life!!

I went to see a psychologist today for an evaluation as required by my surgeon. I expected it to be an hour long visit, but 15 minutes through, she said she didn't have anymore questions for me and would send my clearance right over to him. That was easy! I think because I am in the medical field, and I explained how much research I've done on sleeves, she felt I was ready for it. I hope the rest of my consults go as easily. As I said in an earlier post, I'm leaving on vacation 8/18-8/25. The day after I get back, I have my consult to schedule my EGD, and that Friday I have my right upper quadrant sonogram to check my gallbladder for stones (I have been having pain there). So one down, two to go! Once this testing is done, I can schedule my pre-op visit for more labs and ekg and nutritional visit, and get my surgery date! Yay! I hope to post some pictures from my vacation, hopefully I can find the courage to post some bathing suit shots.