Seven years ago today...

Seven years ago today, I executed one of the best decisions of my life.  I had bariatric surgery.  It was one of the many steps in my journey to take control of my health and reduce my risk of breast and ovarian cancer.  Five years before my bariatric surgery, I discovered that I was positive for the brca1 gene mutation which substantially increased my risk of those cancers.  I had suspected that I would test positive since there was such a strong family history of breast cancer in my family.  I knew that obesity was a contributing factor.  I had tried so many diets in my life that I looked at bariatric surgery as my last chance to get rid of the excess weight and also improve the other issues that I had.  Today, I am seven years out and down 130 pounds and maintaining well.  Of course, I would prefer to still be losing slowly but at the moment, my body isn't cooperating.  My high blood pressure and high cholesterol are substantially reduced and I am no longer pre-diabetic.  For those of you who do not believe in bariatric surgery or think that it is the easy way out, I would say that you are so wrong.  While the surgery takes about an hour, the changes that you have to make in your life are a daily struggle and must last for the rest of your life.  There are many bad habits that we all have in our relationship with food that have to be eliminated.  There are lots of good habits that your bariatric program will give you that have to be engrained in your new life.  There is the mental dependence on food as a comfort that is one of the most difficult to deal with.  There is also the exercise that we now have to fit into our daily lives.  Turning exercise from something that you loathe to something that you enjoy takes quite some time, but it does get easier as the weight comes off.  We all know someone who has had the surgery and has not been successful in the long term.  Unfortunately, I also know some of those people who are struggling but you can make this work if you are committed and have a good support team.   I am lucky enough to have a great support team, my family was behind my decision from the very beginning, my co-workers were with me all the way, my health care team kept a close eye on me as I went through the process, and I have found a great group of friends in the bariatric program for additional support.  I am also coming up on my five year anniversary of my prophylactic bilateral mastectomy.  It is also hard to believe that I am five years out from this procedure.  Losing the weight prior to this procedure made this so much easier to recover from.  I had watched my mother suffer from breast cancer and wanted to reduce my chances as much as I could.  This was a tough decision to make.  It took me several years of increased surveillance to make sure that I was ready for this but I don't regret it for one minute.  If any of you have someone considering bariatric surgery or who is brca1 or 2 positive and is considering prophylactic surgery, I would be glad to share more details of my experience.  All of my doctors are with Penn Medicine and the teams that I have worked with there are wonderful.  I wish that everyone could feel as successful as I do this evening.

Congratulations,  thanks for sharing your awesome story.  I have a friend who opted for the same preventative surgery after losing her mother at an early age.  

It's always a comfort to hear from  those years down the road that are still doing well !!

Thanks for sharing your story with us and congratulations on taking amazing control of your health. My surgery was 4 years ago next Monday and by far the best decision I ever made. Even though each day is a struggle to make good choices,we both have the tools we need to Succeed! Congratulations! 

Thank you for sharing!

Congratulations on 7 years. That's quite a feat. You are the poster child for motivation and success. I'm glad you took these huge steps for better health.