My Decision.. My Life..

22 years ago I I took one last look at my family and was wheeled into a surgical suite to have Ruen Y Gastric Bypass. I made the decision after I became type 2 diabetic and passed out from a diabetic coma. I remember going to my PCP and felt really sick he took my sugar and it was over 300. He said let's get a weight on you. Welllll the scale would not even register my weight. So I'm the corner was this scale that looked like something from UPS .... I could feel my cheeks getting hot from embarrassment. At that time it read 402. I had a business suit on so he allowed for clothes. So I'm guessing I was 380. He looked at me and said you need to get this weight off or your kids will be burying you in 5 years. He handed me the business card of Dr, Neil Hutcher. The weight loss guru. He had made a name on TLC for doing gastric bypass on one of the heaviest people in the world. Well it did not take me 2 seconds...sign me up!!!!! I did do my homework and studied the lifestyle, prepared my house for when I got home. Well I took this very serious. I started out walking to my mail box week one after surgery, by month 3 I was down 100 pounds and running 5 miles a night. 30 min of cardio then dancing for 30 min. People think this is the easy way out. It's the hardest thing I ever done. My lowest weight was around 110 I was shooting for 105. I went to see my NP at the Gastric bypass office and she about fainted. She said omg are you eating.... of course I was. Well I was doing 3 protein shakes a day and my exercise routine was too much. She told me to gain 20

Pounds. 20 pounds!!!!!! No freakin way. I looked good, I died my hair blonde, men were giving me attention.... but one thing it did was break up my marriage. It's a fact that 40 % of marriages don't survive WLS. And it was my fault. But we won't get into that except to thank Doug Champion for pushing me to run harder, run faster. For catching my vomit.., which does come from the surgery if you over eat. I've been lucky , no complications.... I have maintained my weight, I'm 5.6 now due to my osteoporosis and 135 on my best days. Thanks to all my WLS friends for the fun we have had over the years. Time moves on and now we are the grand doms... leaving the new patients to the clubbing and clothes shopping. Thanks to my daughter for her encouragement. If I had one wi**** would be for my dad to have gotten to see my success. As 3 days before he died his last words to me were" I love you but your just so fat" 3 days later he died from a massive heart attack. Life goes on. I still watch what I eat. I'm thankful to God that this surgery was available to me. God speed to the new bees..... It's not for everyone. And to those that think your a failure because your not a size 6 . Your hero's for having the guts.....great pun... for even going through this. Thanks to all !!! It really is better to be healthy then eating that great big burger.... not saying I don't eat burgers. I just don't eat it all. Food is fuel. Now off to celebrate and remember our hero's.

actually, about 40% of ALL marriages break up, I think! But my theory is it's more noticeable after WLS because it's at the point where they're losing weight and feeling good about themselves - gaining self-confidence (and possibly attracting positive attention from others) that they realize they don't have to put up with the BS from a crappy marriage anymore - so they leave.

I think a lot depends on how your relationship is before WLS. Mine was strong to begin with - so I never had this issue. In fact, my husband was (and is) really active and liked to do lots of things, and I couldn't do a lot of it with him because of my weight. But a few months after my surgery, I could! I think if anything, it made my marriage stronger. So I think a lot depends on how strong (or not!) the relationship is even before you have surgery.

anyway, congrats on your success! Envious of your running so soon after surgery. I still can't run, even after losing over 200 lbs! (although I have pretty bad arthritis...). I do exercise almost every day, though...