I wanted to send you this letter to give you an outline of my weight history and to the present day.

As a child growing up, I was always at the top end of the charts for size.  Taller than most, and a couple of pounds more than most.  At the age of 10, I weighed approximately 100 pounds.  By the time I reached junior high and senior high, I was approximately 180lbs. at full height of 5'6" tall.  I struggled with my weight through my teen years and by the time I graduated from high school in 1980, I was approximately 226lbs.  I also got married that year. 

 Along with a new marriage and a husband that didn't want me to work, I stayed at that weight for another year.  One day I woke up and realized that I didn't want to be that weight any longer and proceeded to lose weight.  I joined TOPS and won a couple of awards at the Provincial level.  In the mean time, my husband no longer had a job so I began working at the local swimming pool as a Lifeguard and Instructor.  I continued to slowly take off weight.  Within a year, my husband got a job in another city and we moved.  By the time I was living in there and working for the City of at the local Pool, my weight got down to the lowest ever at full growth and that was 149lbs.  I was not comfortable at that weight and found that around 165lbs was best suited for me.  

It was as though I had unzipped myself and stepped out as a different person.  I was very active playing volleyball, wallyball, fastball, slowpitch and worked out on a regular basis.  There wasn't a day that went by that I wasn't doing an activity or riding my bike to work.  I continued to maintain my weight and then went through a divorce in 1986 at 24 years of age.  No children involved so all was well.  I moved on to single life and kept my weight in the lower 150's.  It all seem to agree with me.  My only downfall was that I smoked approximately 1 pack per day.  I maintained this weight until approximately 1988. 

I was still involved in sports and many activities and moved in with the man of my dreams.  With life slowing a little and not going out every night, I became comfortable in my relationship.  A few pounds would creep up, then a few more......still maintaining activities but also indulging in a little more take out food and a little more home cooking.  The late night pizza cravings caused more pounds to appear.  Every lunch hour I would ride my bike and take my dog for a run, play sports in the evenings and on weekends.  In 1990 we moved to another part of the city where I could no longer get a cardio workout on my bike, but still walked my dog.  The pounds seemed to appear out of no where.  By 1991, my weight was around 250lbs.  It was difficult but I still kept quite active. 

In 1993 we got married and my weight was 260lbs.  I miscarried our first pregnancy in the fall of that year.  I had quit smoking but had started again once I miscarried.  I stayed at that weight until January 1997 and found out I was pregnant again.  I gained approximately 14lbs throughout my pregnancy and was eating very healthy and had quit smoking.  I gave birth to our son in September of 1997.  I was breast feeding him from day one and continued until he was 10 months old.  Throughout breast feeding, I thought I was invincible and eating for two and thought I could eat anything I wanted......well I was wrong.  My weight soared.  After I had stopped breast feeding, I started smoking for approximately 5 months and quit due to bronchitis.  Eight months later, in the summer of 1999, I started smoking again and continued until the end of December.  I quit again due to bronchitis and have never started again.  I started to gain weight again. 

By 2002 I was over 300lbs.   It was at that time I decided to come to you for help.  I wanted the weightloss surgery.  After having a referral from my doctor, It was quite a stretch of time before I was even able to get in for my first appointment.  At the end of August that year, I was in a car accident and had suffered with a severe case of whiplash.  I was basically unable to do anything for approximately 6 months.  I tried to go back to work in December but found that I could not deal with the stresses of work, having gained weight through the sedentary time after the accident and the pain that I was still experiencing.  By the end of January in 2003, I was dealing with anxiety and I started taking Celexa, as well the Occupational Therapist in consult with my GP had determined that I should take some time off of work.  I was off of work for a couple of months and was taking aquafit classes and trying to keep up some kind of physical activity.  I had my second visit with you in 2003. 

In April of 2004 I injured my lower back and was unable to work again for a while and again, instead of losing weight, found the weight to be slowly creeping up on me.  Throughout all of this time during these years, I tried different diets, I went to Weight Watchers for a few months, lost weight, but happen to find it again later.  I tried a couple of times with WW's and just could not lose the weight I needed to lose and to only find that I would put it back on again.  With my back injury, I was very diligent about getting out and getting to Aquafit and spending a lot of time trying to watch but my level of activity just wasn't able to be maintained for any length of time.  

In the latter part of 2004 and into 2005, I was closest yet to being a candidate for surgery, but had to back away because of the poor health of my father.  I let it slide and didn't return to see you again, I think, until 2006. I also found that I was diagnosed with Sleep Apnea and Diabetes.  It had already been determined that I suffered from high blood pressure as well.  I was a mess.  At that time, my weight was well into the 300's and no sign of losing.  I started Sureslim and found that I was quite successful on their diet, and dropped over 40lbs.  I was back to coming to see you, and to start my process over again, but I met with you a couple of times and thought, with Sureslim, I could do it on my own.  Hmmmmm........that didn't stay off for very long.  I found I just didn't have the "Turn Off and Stop Eating" button that was necessary for success in weightloss. 

In the summer of 2006, my parents came to live with us in our two bedroom suite in our house.  At that time my father's health was not good and my mother was his only caregiver.  My father was 87 years old and my mother was 77years.   So the weight goes on......I started coming to see you again.  After a couple of meetings and research, I was more than determined that surgery was the best route for me to take.  Our visits were very few between and very lengthy time waits when I would come to your office.  I was told that I was in a cue and would have to wait as there were many people still awaiting surgery as well......and so I waited......and waited.......had an appointment.....talked to many happy people that had successful surgery, but I still waited for mine.  My understanding was that some of the hold up was due to funding being allocated equally to different areas of the province, but since the surgeries were taking place in Victoria, there became shortfalls here and that delayed surgeries.  As well, the government not feeling that this surgery, in the long run, would help to eliminate or reduce the needs of medical services for the morbidly obese had not allocated enough budget or did not take this seriously enough to put it up to a priority.  If this surgery was going to assist me in reducing my need for the medications, that would save money for the province right there......just one person.  How could they not think that whole process through.......spend a little money now, save a ton (pardon the pun) later.....

I got the call, I finally got the call.  I spoke with Elsa and she said that she and a coworker were going through the files and came upon my name and the length of time I had been waiting for the surgery.......the ball was finally rolling.  Things were falling into place.  I was already off of work due to a herniated C7 disc in my neck.  It was very frustrating to know that I really needed an MRI and couldn't have one.  I didn't fit in the machine and I exceeded the weight limit.......I had a cat scan but only because it needed to move only just past my shoulders and it was possible but because of my body mass, some of the results were inconclusive.  I really did need the surgery from you.  Losing any weight during this time was next to impossible because of my injury and because of the weight I was carrying around.  Having the surgery scheduled for September was something to really work towards.  I had researched and studied the documentation on the surgery, the recovery, the necessary lifestyle changes that both my family and I would have to make, attending the support groups and talking to people really had charged my battery and had focused me in the right direction. 

I wanted more things in life than were I was at.......I wanted to fit into just one seat on the plane and not have to squish my son in the seat next to me; I wanted to be able to go to the washroom on a plane; I wanted to walk into a room and not have to worry about what chair I might be able to sit in or whether or not the chairs would be sturdy enough to hold me; I wanted to be able to have an MRI done if I needed it;  I wanted to be able to get into someone's car and have the seatbelt fit;  I don't want to take all of these medications;  I don't want to have to sleep with a C-PAP machine for the rest of my life;  I wanted to get into an elevator without having to first step on both the floor I was on and the elevator without it dropping down;   I wanted to stop making excuses about why I couldn't walk as fast as everyone else;  I wanted to be able to live long enough to see my son graduate and have children......there were so many things that I wanted to be able to do but couldn't at the weight I was now at............this was my time.

Unfortunately, with the summer moving on and the date getting closer, we lost my father on August 17th.  Things have come up in the past and I have not had the surgery, but I know that with all that has taken place, it is still the right time to have this surgery done and to start reliving for myself and my family.  Could the surgery even help to assist in the faster recovery of my C7 disc?  Everything happens for a reason.

I feel that I have given you a 'Cole's Notes' on how I have lived and yet not lived over many years.  Please feel free to forward on my information to anyone that may need to hear what I have to say.  If it could help anyone else to hear my story then please pass it on.  I give my full permission.  I have probably eliminated some of the finer details and event dates may be a bit off but I have given this information to the best of my recollection. 

Thank you so much for the time you are taking to have me as a patient and the surgery you will perform......it is, as you can see, very much appreciated by both myself, my family and my friends.

TL