My First Attempt And My Big Surprise...

My journey to having weight loss surgery has been a long one. Back in July of 2008, I started the process of my 6 month supervised diet that is required by my insurance. I can remember that during my 2nd weigh-in I had a cough and I mentioned it to my doctor and she said well lets just see what it does. I do not remember if I asked her about it at any of the next monthly weigh-ins until the last. It was December 9th. I said, "You know, that cough I have has never gone away." It was a dry cough, never producing anything, just a light little cough through out the day. And as I look back on it, I can remember when I was lying down and turning side to side I could feel something moving in my chest. Kind of like when you have a sinus thing going on and you can feel it move when you switch which side you are lying on. Ok, I got off track there... so, December 9th... After I mentioned it to her, she said well we can do a chest x-ray, you will need one before the surgery anyway. I went to the x-ray room and then came back and waited for the results. My doctor came in the room with tears in her eyes and said, "Michelle, there is something there." I don't remember much of the conversation or of her showing me the x-ray until I stopped crying and said... "What do I need to do? Dying is not an option." I made some follow up appointments and a few scans and a biopsy latter, I find out I have Hodgkins Lymphoma. I met a wonderful oncologist and searched EVERYTHING I could about the cancer and the treatment choices I was offered. I did 6 months of chemotherapy and 20 days of radiation. As of January 2011, I have been cancer free for a year and a half. I have not had scans for a while, but will get them in July or before the weight loss surgery if I am approved.