You know, some people who have never been obese, or have not had or looked into surgery, just simply do not understand.
I had a great example from today. In my public speaking class, we were to do a 4-6 minute researched speech. A tall, lanky guy who runs on the college's cross country team picked obesity as his topic. And it was not well-informed. I was angry, and I could hear my teacher behind me scribbling like crazy on his evaluation. I'd love to know what she wrote!
I've been "recovering" from social anxiety for a few years. Part of what I did myself was put myself into jobs where I was in the public, working with them. It was like acting every day. I was on medication for a while, but I decided to stop taking it and see what happens. That was when I realized it's not really so bad. It's just like the first day of school, which always ended up okay for me. I did see a counselor a few times about it, which was helpful. The biggest thing was realizing what I was really afraid of, which boiled down to a lack of confidence. This is quickly improving as I lose weight!
I still think about unwanted attention. Honestly, I think when I lose more weight I'll blend in more, rather than sticking out as the big fatty people are looking at and talking about.
I do have friends who were skeptical about me going through surgery (some of the people I know are not so well-informed...), so I used it as a chance to educate them and go over everything I knew about my surgery! A few people still weren't so keen on the idea, but they ARE my friends and so were glad to know I was and am doing okay.
As far as your doctor goes, you really just need to talk to her. My PCP agreed with me about pursuing it, and was happy to give me the referral. She wanted me to lose as much weight as I could to be able to fix my other problems. She doesn't know much about the sleeve, but she is learning, since I'm her first patient with that type of WLS.
Also, I believe most insurances count the BMI from the start of the six month diet. But call your insurance and ask to be sure. You pay your premiums, so let the reps on the phone work for you!
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Highest/Day of Surgery/Current/Surgeon's Goal
342/286/257/140
Info Seminar: 02/09
Consult/First Weigh-in: 5/19/09 307 lbs.
Second Weigh-in: 6/23/09 310 lbs.
Third Weigh-in:7/22/09 306 lbs.
8/19/09 300.5 lbs
Started Pre-Op Diet 9/6/09
9/9/09 295.5 lbs.
9/18/09 290 lbs.
9/30/09 279 lbs.
10/21/09 265 lbs.
Ins. Approval: 8/25/09
VSG: 9/21/09
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