My Success Story Has Just Started

I'm a 36-year-old wife and mother who lives in Washington state. I have a great career and love my life. Well, that is except for my weight.

In November 2005, one month after our son was born, I was diagnosed with Crohn's Disease. I started the journey that many crohnies do of trying one medication after another to try to stop the symptoms of Crohn's (chronic diarrhea, stomach pain, etc.). I ended up on high dose prednisone/steroids (60mg) to reduce the inflammation but my disease progressed. I was now 50 lbs heavier thanks to the steroids.

In July 2006 my health took a turn for the worst. I ended up in the hospital for a month due to complications with my Crohn's. I developed a rare lung disease that was ultimately treated with chemotherapy and VERY HIGH doses of of prednisone. I was on 1 gram (1,000 mg) of prednisone IV. The chemotherapy and prednisone saved my life but...

A lot of complications came with this course of treatment. I'm sincerely not bitter about this; I'm just sharing. I continued to take steroids for another year after being released from the hospital. I kept gaining and gaining weight. I subsequently developed Avascular Necrosis (bone death) in 6 bones. This is a common side effect to steroid use. I ended up having surgery to fix or remove 3 of the bones. I had my right ankle fused, my left hand had three bones removed (proximal row carpectomy) and my left hand had one bone removed along with fusion of the remaining hand bones. I still need to have surgery on my left ankle and will eventually need both knees replaced.

It's been five years now and I still haven't found the will power to battle the belly (among other rolls). Haha!

My success story started at 284 lbs. I'm almost a week in and have lost 5 pounds.