MY STORY...

My story begins in the early 1960's. I was born, Thomasina McCullough, large baby girl born to Robert and Mildred. I weighed in at almost 10 pounds. Babies didn't come that big in those days according to my mother. I grew up to be a large child also.  I am the oldest and largest of four  "normal sized" kids. By the age of ten years old I was almost weighed in at 150 pounds.  I was the tallest and biggest kid in school. I had to wear what was then called "chubby" clothes.  It was a miserable existence for a child, being labeled so early in life. I was the "giant" or as my mother lovingly called me, "the amazon girl".    

I started my first diet at the young age of ten. I was put on a 1000 calorie diet by a pediatrician who and I quote, just knew I must have been a "big eater".  This started my life long battle with diets along with weight-loss and re-gain. For more than twenty-five years I have been on one kind of diet or another.  I made the decision not to ever diet again in 1997 when I was told that Phen-Fen was taken off the market.  I thought that nothing else would work. I was at the end of my diet rope.    

After suffering from damaged knees in an automobile accident I was forced to use a cane. Healing was the hardest thing in the world to do. I had regained the weight lost from my last diet plus a few more pounds. I was miserable. I was constantly in pain. I couldn't exercise. I couldn't walk without my knees hurting. I wanted a way out. A Rhuematologist recommended that I speak to my primary care physician about a gastric by-pass procedure. I had never heard of this before. I did some research and learned about the Roux En Y Gastric By-pass procedure that the National Institute of Health called a means of controlling morbid obesity.  At this time I didn't know that I was morbidly obese. Morbid obesity is termed this way because the obesity is at a level that, if not controlled, will eventually lead to death. I was not ready to die. I spoke with my doctor, he in turn gave me a few names of surgeons that had experience performing this procedure.  I got several opinions.

In June of 1999, I met Dr. William Marcus. He and his staff are marvelous. After having my initial consultation with Dr. Marcus, I knew that I had to have this procedure to save my life. After several months of screening and tests, on September 8,1999 I had the open Roux En Y Distal Gastric By-pass procedure. The surgery was a      success. I had no complications. My family tells me that I came out of surgery a new person, without knowing if the procedure would work or not. I knew in my heart that this day was the first day of the rest of my life.

Today, nine months post-op, I am 130 pounds lighter. I feel great. I can walk effortlessly and  I am not in any pain. There is one problem though, my family and friends say that I can't get rid of the huge grin on my face. I am so happy that I had this procedure and I am thankful to Dr. Marcus, his staff and our local WLS support group for all of their love and support. I will be posting updates monthly on my progress.

For more information on the Roux En Y Gastric By-pass see my Favorite Links.