Here We Go....

Well, Hi, and welcome to my new blog!  This is my first blogging experience, so bare with me. 
My name is Manda, and I have been trying for a year now to have weight loss surgery done, and have gone through a lovely rollercoaster, with still no results. 
Today was a particularly devastating day, so I decided I needed to vent and express myself some, and maybe someone out there would wanna hear about it, or heck, maybe even benefit from it. 

Ok, so about me: 
I am a big girl.  Ha, bet you couldn't guess that!!  I am a goof, I love to laugh and smile, though I admit, I don't always do it.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE animals of every shape and size, and have my own personal zoo at home.  (I'm sure I will be referencing them sometime).
I am an Army wife.  One of the biggest influences on this rollercoaster ride, is the military insurance and hospital. 
I love to scrapbook and make cards, and well, anything that gets my creative juices flowing.  It's an addiction, I admit, but one I love!!

Since I was about 9 maybe, I started to get chubby, and have struggled with my weight my entire life.  I have a couple contributing factors; I have PCOS - polycystic ovarian syndrome.  http://women.webmd.com/tc/polycystic-ovary-syndrome-pcos-topic-overview
PCOS (imbalance of hormones) for me has caused weight gain, insulin resistance/pre-diabetes, infertility, and I'm sure some other lovely things, but those are the biggies.
I've also had 2 doctors now suggest I may have Lymphodema in my legs.  Joy.

I have gone on many diets many times, and was most successful about a year ago with Weight Watchers.  I lost almost 55 lbs.  I attribute a large portion of my success to my husband being deployed, because I could control what foods came into my home.  Between him coming home, and my hurting my foot, over the next year, I put it all back on.  (I'm not blaming my husband for my weight gain, its just a factor.  He can eat anything without gaining a pound, and we can only afford one set of groceries, ya know, anyways.)

Regarding hurting my foot- in summer of 2009, I was doing WW and training for their 5k challenge.  To train, I'd go to the gym, and every day I would walk the 5k as fast as I could.  Well, I already had Plantaar Fasciitus, so I wore orthodics, and had a lot of pain after being on them a while.  Then I began walk/running and one day, my foot got to hurting like it always does, and the pain never went away.  I saw a doc, and the xray showed a heel spur.  I went to a podiatrist, and he said I have a torn ligament, so I was put into a cast for 6 weeks.  I still had pain, so now he thinks its ligament and nerve damage. 
That's where the WLS (weight loss surgery) came up.  A nurse at the podiatrist shared her story with gastric bypass, and she and the doc agreed that my losing a significant amount of weight would help my foot issues. 
So, around January 2009, I made a pro/con list, talked it over with my husband and decided to pursue gastric bypass surgery. 

ok, I have a housefull of hungry animals, so I will continue in another post!
TTYL!!