It feels surreal to say this, but I’m this close to getting bariatric surgery. After months of appointments, lifestyle changes, and paperwork, I’m now just waiting on insurance approval so I can schedule my Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy (VSG), a procedure where they remove about 80% of my stomach.
This has already been a long journey. I lost my first 100 pounds on Zepbound through August 2024 and into August 2025, and since then, I’ve been working with my weight loss team to build sustainable habits that will help me for life after surgery. It’s not just about losing weight; it’s about healing and being able to live without constant pain.
The main reason I’m doing this is because of the hernia I developed after my emergency C-section and the multiple surgeries that followed. My hernia isn’t the kind that can be fixed with a “simple” horizontal repair. It’s large (the surgeon said it’s a 7cm opening in my abdominal wall just yesterday, 11/4/25), and will have to be fixed vertically, and the mesh will be run from my belly button down to my pubic bone. It’s been slowly getting bigger, and it causes daily pain and pressure. I’m technically not supposed to lift anything over 10 pounds, but anyone with a toddler knows that’s impossible. Remy is two now and about 32 pounds, and I can’t keep risking making the hernia worse.
My doctors believe that by losing more weight through VSG, I’ll not only feel better overall but also reach a safe enough weight for the hernia repair surgery about three months later, so hopefully by February or March 2026. That’s my ultimate goal: to get healthy enough to fix what’s broken and keep it fixed.
To be honest, if it weren’t for this hernia, I wouldn’t have ever considered bariatric surgery. Before my traumatic birth experience, I was 340lbs but healthy overall. My surgeon says people like me, who could live with a 58 BMI without any health problems, were built to survive, our bodies working very efficiently even under all that weight. But living like this hurts. It’s exhausting. And I want to be the healthiest version of myself, not just for me, but for my family.
There’s still a long road ahead. Depending on how my body heals and how much muscle I can build, I might need additional surgeries later to remove excess skin or revise parts of the hernia repair if the tissue remains weak from the sepsis damage. But for now, I’m focusing on taking it one step at a time.
Thank you to everyone who’s supported me, listened to me vent, and cheered me on through every part of this process. This next chapter feels like a huge leap toward finally getting my health and my life back on track.