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Surgeon: Dr. Robert Rabkin, San Francisco, CA
Surgery date: July 2, 2001
Pre-op weight/BMI: 340

by Kitri:

I have been very lucky in my life. Even though I have been overweight all my life, I think I was the last person to know. I grew up in a small town that was growing up itself in the early 70’s. I made lifelong friends that I still have today. If people made fun of me or didn’t like me because I was fat I really had no idea. I charged right into life with not a clue that there where things that I could not do or places I should not go. I think it all started to change in my early 20’s when I would notice how people treated me when I would go out with friends, or I kept getting passed over for jobs. Then in my late 20’s my health started to break down. I could no longer push through life full speed ahead. I noticed that little things where turning into big things and taking me longer to get over.

Around the age of 30 my husband and I started talking about having a family but my weight was at a all time high of 350 and doctors just laughed at me when I told them I wanted to have children. So I went on yet another diet in a long line of diets that took the weight off but never kept it off. This time was different though, I was feeling a lot of pressure with my health getting worse, my clock was ticking, I was having a hard time getting around at work, I was not sleeping well. But I pushed forward and I did manage to lose 100 pounds in about 12 months. But even loosing 100 pounds didn’t make me feel any better, I was still struggling to feel better but not one doctor could look past my weight to think that something might be wrong.

I managed to keep that weight off for about a year but I was struggling at this point to just get out of bed each day. As I look back now I realize that for the next two years I just continued to close myself off to the world. My weight was on the way back up, each day there where less and less things I could do, I needed to tell someone but I felt such shame that I had let it go this far. And then the bottom fell out.....

When I awoke on Aprils Fool’s Day 2000, I had a fever of 103 and my left leg was swollen to my thigh. And because it was fool’s day I acted like a fool and told my husband I was fine and sent him off to work. I then proceeded to drag myself to work but only made it to the car before I knew I needed to go to the emergency room. So acting like the fool that I am I drove myself to the emergency room and let them give me a shot and send me home (the doctor never looked at me). I spent the next two weeks in bed sleeping before I thought maybe I should see my family doctor. Well it turned out that I had a blood clot in my leg with a staph-infection. Taking aspirin may have saved my life.

The next few months my health continued to go down hill. Each day I struggled more and more, I just kept waiting for the day that I would be better or at least back to normal but at this point I was loosing sight of what was normal. Then in October 2000 when I felt that I was at the end of my rope, I awoke on a Sunday morning with another fever and now my right leg was swollen to the knee. My husband was not going to be put off this time, he called my doctor at home and drove me to the hospital. Once in the hospital they checked me in for the next 8 days and discovered that I had diabetes that was way out of control, I had sleep apnea, I had another infection in my leg and a fever over 103. My life would not be getting better until I took stronger action.

Over the next few months, my life would become about my health, or I should say the lack of it. I had to stop working, I struggled to get up everyday, I started to feel a little better once on medication and a cpap machine but I was 34 years old and could not figure out how my life was going to go on this way. Then a close friend of my husband approached him about WLS. Someone close to her had just had surgery and she thought I should check it out.

So I started on the road to WLS and I was scared but I was more scared of what my life was becoming without it. I had to wait several months to change insurance companies. Then I had to wait several months to get my first appointment. Then I had to wait for the insurance to make up there mind. Then when I thought I was seeing the light at the end of the tunnel (I had my approval from the insurance) I was told that I would have to pay for the doctors fee’s up front and wait for insurance reimbursement. I didn’t know what to do...... we did not have that kind of money. My husband once again was not going to be put off, he told me that we would just have to do one thing I had worked my whole life to avoid...... tell friends and family the truth. Yes my husband broke the code of silence, he walked with me through the shame that I felt and we went to our family and friends and told them the truth about how bad it was. We shared with people what my life was like at 34 weighing 340 pounds....... I told the truth and I bared my soul.

Within two weeks we had all the money we needed. I had money and prayers coming in from friends and family that loved me and some from people who chose to remain anonymous. I thank God each day that so many people loved me when I couldn’t love myself. So today I am counting the days till July 2, my new birthday. I am dreaming of a better life and planning how to better use my life.

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