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In 1976 I underwent what, at that time, was a radical new approach to weight loss. It was an intestinal bypass procedure that was referred to as a jejunoileal bypass. This procedure was abandoned a few years after its inception because it was a flawed and there were many complications and patient deaths. Many - if not most - people had the procedure reversed. Mine is still intact, although I stopped losing weight many years ago and then gained quite a bit back. In 1976 I weighed almost 500 pounds, so it was a Godsend to me and I did lose approximately 250 pounds over the course of about 3 years. My weight ultimately went back up to 337 pounds when I was able to get a referral into the bariatric program with Kaiser.

Kaiser put me through a 3 month course that, at first, I thought was a waste of time but it was mandatory and I had no choice. Within 2-3 weeks, though, I really began to gain more insight and knowledge about nutrition and dieting that I had learned through my lifetime of failed diets. I really kicked my efforts into gear and ultimately was able to lose 51 pounds in the 3 month course - so much that I started wondering if surgery was really necessary. I didn't hesitate, tho, because I'm 64 years old and this is my last chance at being "normal", since 65 is a cut-off point for eligible candidates.

My surgery date is 10 days from now, March 28, 2012. I am having some pre-op jitters mainly because they are not sure whether or not they will be able to perform the procedure laproscopically (sp ?) or not. I won't know until I wake up in the recovery room. I remember my first operation many years ago and the recovery was very slow and very painful because there was no such thing as laproscopic surgery back then. (More to follow)