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WELCOME to
the Metamorphosis of the Angelic Butterfly.
You may be wondering who
is this Angelic Butterfly I speak of. It is me.
That is how I
see myself.
I wrote my life story in the form of an allegory back in
1995,
and entitled it, The Story of the Angelic Butterfly.
If you
want to read my story, my friend Cryssy honored me
by putting my story on her website:
Cryssy's Ascii
Art
.
I see weight loss surgery as a metamorphosis for me.
This
is my WLS journey from the cocoon of obesity
to the splendor of the Angelic
Butterfly.
I want to share my journey with you. I hope you enjoy my
site.
ABOUT ME
Hi there! I
am Katie, AKA the Angelic Butterfly.
I am a 45 year old homemaker
living in Lansdale, PA.,
a suburb of historic Philadelphia.
I am
married to my life partner of 19 years, Allen
and we have 2 fur babies (our
cats) Angel and Peanut.
I have a lot of interests, some of which are
writing poetry, singing, playing guitar
and learning how to be a gardener
with green thumbs instead of brown ones.
I am creating this site because
I am beginning to embark
on a journey
that is really a major lifestyle change for me.
I
am in the pre op phase of weight loss surgery, or WLS for short.
I am
having the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass procedure sometime this fall,
as soon as
I get a date for surgery scheduled.
I want to share my
journey,
all the
highs and lows with those who may consider WLS.
If I can help just one obese person,
I will be
fulfilling my goal.
MY
LIFE-LONG STRUGGLE WITH WEIGHT
When I was 9 years old, my
battle with weight began.
On September 30, 1966, both my parents
died.
My maternal grandparents adopted my 2 younger sisters and
me.
Since I was
the oldest,
I felt that I wasn't getting the love I
deserved from my grandparents.
They seemed to dote on my younger
sisters.
As a result, I turned to every kind of junk food imaginable
for the love, comfort, and
nurturing
I "hungered" for, but didn't get, or so
I felt.
I became, at the age of 10, what I have called a "junk food
bulimic."
I would binge on junk food and do it
privately...
in a closet, in the garage...
anywhere I could gorge myself
without getting lectured about it.
Afterwards, I would purge
then begin the cycle all over again.
For the past 35 years
since the death of my parents,
I have ballooned as high as 275
lbs.
My highest weight was 295 lbs in 2001.
I have tried
every diet known to humankind.
I would lose for a while only to have
the lost weight come back
with lots more.
When my parents
died, I was the big sister,
parent to my grandparents,
and was care giver to everyone
but me.
It seemed that I didn't exist for Katie!
The stress was unbearable.
As the stress grew, so did I.
I was called such horrible names by the
kids at school
and in the neighborhood,
and I began
to turn to food for love, comfort...
everything I wasn't getting from my
family.
I just began to isolate and withdraw from everyone and
everything except food.
I had an obsession with stuffing my face every
chance I could.
I was, in fact, "living to eat, not eating to
live."
In December of 1981, I was a
homeless street person
through some unfortunate circumstances.
Just a few days before Christmas,
my depression was so bad that I decided
to act on my thoughts of suicide.
I took a massive overdose of
some prescription medication
and began sinking into a coma.
The police
thought at first I was drunk.
When they finally came to check on me, I
was nearly dead.
At this time I was down to about 180 lbs. I was
a really sick girl!
I was hospitalized for 8 weeks and once I got out
into the "real" world,
my bad eating habits started up again,
and my weight was well over 230 lbs!
It was
at this time that I met the man who would become my husband.
I was so
ashamed and humiliated about my looks.
I didn't even have any
self-esteem to talk about.
Allen looked beyond all that
and must
have seen something of value that I wasn't able to see.
A year and a
day after we first met, we were married.
That was 19 years ago!
Not a day goes by that Allen,
in some way, doesn't
remind me of just how special I am ON THE INSIDE!
In
my attempts to lose weight,
I have gone through a lot of the major ones
known...
Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, Richard Simmons to name a
few.
At 5'3" and at 265 currently I got sick and
tired
of being sick,
tired, depressed, and in constant pain.
I was at the point of
anything...then WLS began calling out to me.
I figured, what have I
got to lose except for the extra 130 lbs I am carrying.
I have been
researching WLS for about a year
and one night the
advertisement
for the
Bariatric Treatment
Centers
was on television.
I copied down the web
address and logged on to BTC's web site
and found what I thought I was
looking for.
I got information from the site that really got the ball
going.
I have found a lot of useful
and helpful
information from other
sites online as well.
I finally got the literature from the Bariatric
Treatment Center.
I shared the brochure with Allen.
He was
the one who urged me to make the call
for
an appointment for an initial consultation with a bariatric surgeon.
THE INITIAL
CONSULTATION
On June 20, 2002,
I had an
appointment at the Bariatric Treatment Center in Langhorne, PA.
I had paperwork
to fill out.
I first met with Amy, one of the medical techicians
on staff.
She took a complete health history
as well as my diet
history, comorbidities and all my vital signs.
We had a good rapport, and it was
Amy who broke the ice for me.
Then I met Dr. Neil S. Marymor, the man who
will be my surgeon.
I don't know why I was so nervous.
Dr.
Marymor was through in his explanation of the RNY procedure.
All the
questions I asked were answered
and I came away from this inital
consultation with Dr. Marymor
more confident of my decision to go ahead with
WLS.
Dr. Marymor's manner was straightforward with no punches
pulled.
He was calm and reassuring in his explanation of the procedure
and calmed whatever fears I had.
I was of the mindset that it
wasn't a matter of "IF" I had the surgery,
it was just a matter of
"WHEN."
My day wasn't finished
yet.
After I met with Dr. Marymor,
I met with Joyce, a patient
counselor on staff at BTC.
Joyce is a post op wls patient
herself.
She gave me a no holds barred picture
of what life will
be like after I have surgery from her personal viewpoint.
She
showed me her "before" picture, and wow, what a big change!!!
Talking
with Joyce gave me hope.
I will see Joyce at the monthly support group meetings held
at BTC.
June 20, 2002 was
the beginning
of a wonderful journey for me!
I
took the first step on a journey
that will see a wonderful transformation take place for
me.
It's just another chapter in
the
Story of the Angelic Butterfly
(that's ME!)
I don't know what lies ahead,
but I will definitely look
forward to the road ahead of me.
TSF Vote Banner Exchange
Web set is
courtesy of Yummie Lil Creations
Thank you
Malisa!
Yummie Lil Creations
