Well, does the world really need another bypass blog... I'm not sure, but I think I need one, so here we are... lol. These things might be more (or less) interesting for people thinking about undergoing different bypass surgeries if they detail the whole process from the beginning, but sometimes that just isn't possible.
My "Life Sans Stomach" (Or at least a large part of it) began one week ago, June 7, 2011. It was the first step, at the end (beginning?) of a long journey. I am having a bit of the "what did I do!" that many bypass patients have the first weeks post-op, thankfully it's not as bad as it is for a lot of people, so I feel as though I can reflect upon it with a pretty clear head at this point.
Here's my story in a nutshell. It's not going to sound all that novel. If you are reading this, you either know me personally, or probably have something in common with my story, so you won't be hearing anything you probably haven't heard at least in part before. I grew up in a small town, the biggest of a lot of small girls, I was healthy but never really realized it until I left town, still the biggest of a lot of small girls, and as I grew up, I grew confident, but never really comfortable in my own skin. I liked myself, others seemed to like me, but I was not "that girl" nor was I active or health conscious enough to know how to lose weight successfully, I loved eating and food and events where they all came together, so being a little overweight was not really the bane of my existence.
Graduating from college, fast forward about five years, I started teaching in stressful inner city schools, food became solace and survival, means to an end, and exhaustion at the end of my "just getting through" meant that my weight rose while my energy plummeted. I just did not know what to do. I was about fifty pounds heavier at that point than I had been when I'd graduated college. The weight had slowly slipped on, ten pounds at a time, until I almost didn't recognize myself. Then, I met my first husband, and everything exploded. Literally. We were fat and happy, as I fell into the role I thought I should be. All hell broke loose and I gained almost 100 lbs. over the next three years feeding him and myself comfort foods, our relationship fell apart and as I fell into a deep depression I found myself in a place where I no longer recognized myself. We divorced and I was left with nothing, just a sob story and almost 150 extra pounds of dead weight.
Over the next few years, a lot of healing took place, I had to trust in myself again and find some happiness. I gained my confidence back and various people helped me discover aspects of myself that had been lost through my tumultuous breakup with my ex husband. One of those things was discovering that I really enjoyed bike riding. I purchased a bicycle and began riding that summer every day. Without even dieting, I had lost 25 lbs. by August. There were some "false starts" dating wise and I made some bad choices, but I was slowly identifying what my problems were. Eating habits were still a mess, but I was active for the first time in MANY years. The next year I met the man who would become my fiancee and we had a serious talk about our various health issues. He talked honestly about his concerns about my weight (he is a Virgo, it was a little tough love) and I countered with his smoking. But I took it as a challenge, and the next day I went and joined a gym. I used my extra money to hire a personal trainer and God gave me the best man in the whole world, Eric. I worked with him for over a year and a half, and he helped me find my strength. I believe if my eating habits were more in control during that time, I would have had MUCH better weight loss success, but he showed me what I was capable was. Even so, I was able to lose about 40 lbs. with him and show myself what I could do physically even at that high weight.
My now-fiancee and I eventually decided after dating long-distance for two years that I would move to live with him. His Navy post moved him to rural Virginia, and I made the difficult decision to join him, and leave my life and job in Missouri. It was a very difficult year and transition was hard. The one bright spot was that we were able to be together full time for the first time. I found a great job that had great insurance benefits, where finally I realized that the option for bariatric surgery had become available.
Next: Before the nitty gritty: biases about weight loss surgery
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