Daily Post--6/26/08

Who is your biggest inspiration, pre- or post-op?

it is a collective group of folks from all the different support groups I attend. No one person is out in front. I have gotten inspiration for all sorts of folks along this journey and I'll take it all - wherever I find it.

Several groups and a couple of friends give me support. It's hard to pick just one person. Different people are good at different types of support. Oh happy daaaaaaaaay. ---jan--- jj_in_CA

I have a couple, first and foremost my family, they tell me all the time how proud they are of me, and how far I have come. Secondly it is my co-workers, there are 2 ladies at work who have been with me for this entire journey, one even spent the entire day at the hospital for my surgery as my mother could not be here. They are my rocks!!!!

I have 2 friends that are each 4+ years post-op and each have maintained over a 100lb weight loss. Both gained some weight back (one 20lbs, one 50), and both are trying to lose it, but both have maintained a huge loss.

Every person I have met that has WLS has inspired me in some way shape or form, and they continue to do so each and everyday!

I guess I would have to say my mother in law is my biggest inspiration. She has been dead for over 6 years now, and she's not a weight-loss inspiration, so much as just a how-I-live-each-day inspiration for me. She lived with us for her last 4 years, after she had suffered a stroke and really couldn't communicte very well. Regardless, for the 25 years that I knew her, she taught me to see and appreciate so many things that I had taken for granted before that. She loved trees and birds and marvelled at everyday things. She was always happy, even when she was sick. She had a strong constitution. I could go on and on. Just this morning I was thinking about how when she watched our oldest daughter while I worked (she's now 27), she told me that if Heidi walked while she had her during the day, she would never tell me, so that when she walked for my husband and me, it would be the "first time." She never did tell me if Heidi walked for her first. I always figured she did, but she never denied me that special moment by saying it happened with her first. Those last 4 years were tough because she couldn't be left alone, so our family couldn't do much during that time. But I loved her then and I miss her a lot now.

My DH is and has been both pre and post-op

My kids both pre & post op. I did this as much for them as I did it for myself. It wasn't fair to them that I couldn't keep up and play with them. Now, we have so much fun and I don't get tired easily!!! Another inspiration both pre & post-op is a woman I used to work with. She and I shared a special friendship; she became my second Mom and was a huge support through out the process of getting to surgery and then post-op as well. We went through the whole process together. She had her surgery 3 weeks after I did. Now that I'm at a new job I miss her dearly!! We don't talk nearly enough and day to day I miss her 10 times a day.

My mom had WLS two years before I did - at 63 years old. She lives 1100 miles away, so I didn't get to see her often, and was always shocked at her loss when I got to see her. She surprised me by showing up here the day before my surgery to help out. My daughter has also been wonderful, losing 60 pounds on her own by adapting her diet to mine.