Spotlight Reader – Introducing GLINIS!!

September 24, 2023
Linda Donaldson
Bari Health
0 Comments

My name is Glinis. I am 32 years old and was born in Venezuela. I came to the United States at the age of 8. I spent the first year and a half in Puerto Rico, we then moved to Tennessee in May of 2001. I have been overweight my whole life. I remember the feeling of “not feeling pretty.” People including my biological parents would tell me that I needed to lose weight not for health reasons but to get cuter clothes or get married one day. I was bullied in school because I carried my weight in my mid-section, which meant people always thought I was pregnant. I was then sexually abused for 2 years by my biological father. When I did decide to tell a teacher, my mother did not believe me. I only say that to say, food was the one thing that was always there for me. Through thick and thin food was always nice to me and did not fail or belittle me. However, with food being my comfort I started having health issues because of the weight. I have asthma, bilateral knee surgeries, PCOS, arthritis, PTSD, anxiety, depression, insulin resistance, gout, insomnia and ADHD. Not all these issues were due to my love for food, but one thing contributes to another thing flaring up.

I met my now husband after a failed first marriage. There was nothing major that happened within the first marriage, but we were not supposed to be each other’s forever. Sometimes people are in your life for a season to teach you a lesson and then they go their merry way. The lessons I took from my first marriage triggered me to start on a self-healing journey. My now husband has always encouraged me to do what was best for me. He has loved me at every weight that I have been and through a twins pregnancy and the postpartum craziness.

While my husband was gone for a year with the military, I was working at a doctor’s office. I found out in May of 2021, that I was 240 pounds. That is the heaviest weight recorded that I remember and at that time I decided to make a serious change. I had thought about getting bariatric surgery before but always talked myself out of it. I did not have surgery until May 2023 so as you can see it still took some time. It was the end of 2022 when I seriously started to do EVERYTHING I needed to do to be a healthier version of me. Every step of the way my husband was supportive in whatever I decided to do whether it was surgically or on my own. He has truly loved me at every single stage without complaining or making me feel a certain way about it. I started therapy in February 2023, which has been essential for my new journey. After 6 months of monthly visits with my PCP, which was a requirement per insurance, on May 8, 2023 I had the vertical sleeve gastrectomy. The journey was rough at the beginning but because I have a great support system, I feel like it makes the journey bearable.

I now have more energy to chase my toddlers around and I am not running out of breath outdoors, have more energy, I’m truly falling in love with myself, I’m a better friend, a better daughter (adoptive family), better sister, better wife and mother. Because of my childhood I will always have mental health concerns, however, I am improving my life not only for me but to be a better mama than what I had growing up.

Spotlight