Describe your behavioral and emotional battle with weight control before learning about bariatric surgery.
Losing weight to be healthy and fit is a battleground that I have been well acquainted with for over 40 of my 52 years. I have had periods of tremendous success in losing weight and thinking/feeling that I had finally conquered being overweight for good only to find myself in as heavy a condition (or more often heavier) at a later point with little consciousness of how it happened.
Despite my yo-yoing weight, up to age 40 I had been able to cope with being heavy, then thin, then heavy again with a fair amount of success. I did complete my bachelor’s and master’s degree, convince a beautiful young woman to become my wife and bear our children, been reasonably successful in my career, was able to ride a bicycle and greatly enjoyed the annual “Ride the River” event with my family as well as a variety of other activities and have owned the homes, cars and accoutrements that have made our lives fairly comfortable.
What was (is) the worst thing about being overweight?
Around my 40th year, I began to experience ever increasing limitations and debilitations related to my excess weight. Back pain has prevented me from riding a bicycle, canoeing, fishing, rowing, and a myriad of other activities that I once tremendously enjoyed. I have sleep apnea, and although I do use my CPAP religiously, I have not been able to sleep in a bed for over 5 years. Travel via bus, train or plane is a very uncomfortable experience for me and anyone unfortunate enough to have a seat next to me. It is a extremely rare theater seat that is even minimally comfortable.
About 5 years ago, the leg and back pain became unbearable. I was referred to the Genesis Pain Clinic and had two spinal steroid injections that provided a very temporary relief but no long term solution. Next stop was to see a neurologist about potential back surgery. From the CT scan, xray, and MRI results he could not see any particular cause for my trouble and suggested that there was less than a 30% chance that he could provide any relief to me at this point in time. He did refer me to physical therapy and followed my progress there for six months. PT was moderately successful in reducing the leg and back pain to tolerable levels and enabled me to resume working out. I worked out with a personal trainer for six months and now have been working out frequently (3-5x week) at the Eldridge Fitness center since November 2011.
Accompanying this leg and back pain was a sense of hopelessness and resignation. The only thing anyone could ever suggest was losing weight, and it hurt so much to move that losing weight was a very difficult.
In the spring of 2011, my blood pressure was high so my General Practitioner started me on a medication to bring it down to more acceptable levels. While discussing my desire to lose weight with my Dr in the spring of 2011, he once again suggested the Center for Weight Management at Genesis, emphasizing that in addition to the surgery they also worked with people to lose weight. I went to the clinic in May of 2011 and started working through their process. I was able to lose a bit of weight pretty quickly after starting at the Clinic, but after a few months hit a plateau.
After 40 years of yo-yo weight-loss followed by gain, I can accept the reality that while I can be successful in losing weight, I am unable to maintain that loss for any lengthy period of time. This acceptance is a key to my decision to pursue a bariatric procedure. As I have contemplated this procedure I have had moments of doubt and fear. These have been overwhelmed by a sense of hope that what I have struggled to do for nearly 42 years could actually be accomplished via a bariatric procedure. Eleven months post-surgery I am so incredibly grateful for this opportunity and pray that I will continue to thrive and maintain this loss.
If you have had weight loss surgery already, what things do you most enjoy doing now that you weren't able to do before?
Oh my, this could go on, and on and on... eleven months out I now weigh less than I have EVER weighed as an adult - even less than when I wrestled in college!
The non-scale victories have definitely been the sweetest... sitting comfortably at a movie theater where the seats were once VERY uncomfortable... amazing amount of room behind the steering wheel in my car where I once felt "trapped with the wheel at my belly and the door and armrest uncomfortably tight against my arms & belly... being able to mow my entire yard in one day without collapsing totally exhausted... The list goes on and on...
I RARELY dressed well when obese - I did for the most essential "public image" days when interacting with the power structure or formal events, but otherwise wore what I thought "hid" my morbid obesity. Once I got down to my goal weight I have made a VERY conscientious effort to totally revise my public image... shaved my beard, new glasses, keep my thinning hair cut neatly, wear a tie almost every day... new shoes (that fit and look stylish), etc., etc., etc.
Career-wise I now have a sense of hope that I had LONG ago abandoned. I had resigned myself to being stuck in the same job until retirement... while that might well still happen, it won't be because of my appearance or a lack of trying to move up or into a more interesting/challenging position - notions that I had truly given up on in my early 40's as my back/hip pain contributed to my overeating and subsequent morbid obesity.
jimjayhawk
