Searching the Soul For Plastic Surgery

I am overweight.  But I'm not as obese as I used to be.  I am 5'8" and at my heaviest, I weighed 322 pounds.  Standing on that scale was a wake-up call.  So since that moment 8 years ago, I have been losing weight.  I'm down to 245 pounds but that has plateaued out and I'm stuck.  My abdomen is covered in loose skin and under my arms are more sagging skin.  Now I lost the weight on my own with no gastric bypass surgery.  I have lost 77 pounds, which is like dropping a 10 year old off my frame.  So what do I do about all the leftover sagging skin?  

I talked to my PCP first and she said there really isn't a way to get rid of it except for surgery.  So she wrote a referral for me to see a Plastic Surgeon.  I was referred to someone who didn't take my insurance and was told that even if they did take my insurance, it wouldn't be covered since I didn't have gastric bypass.  I felt as though someone ad locked me in a prison.  So I called my nurse case manager at my insurance company.  She told me not only would they pay for the consultation, but would most likely pay for the surgery!  She is going to get back to me on Monday with a name of a covered surgeon.  

I confess I am very excited about this, though surgery really isn't anyone's first choice.  But there are physical health reasons I want to do it, not just the mental ones.  I am still carrying a lot of weight in the extra skin which is affecting my posture, balance, and causing me back pain.  In the summer I get heat rash under them.  I would be so much happier if I could get this skin removed.  

I broke the news to my mother last night and surprisingly she wasn't against it.  I told my father tonight, and I was so sure he would vehemently be opposed to it, I was shocked to hear him be supportive.  Not because he's a bad dad, but just because he doesn't blieve in unnecessary surgery.  But I think my parents know how much this would mean to me and can see the benefits of helping me.  

I have had a little bit of negativity, but I haven't definitely decided to do it.  I want to meet with the surgeon first and see what he/she has to say about it.  

So I've been doing a little bit of soul searching, and after all, it's not to make me look more beautiful, it's to make me healthier.