JBarger

I've been over weight since I was about 10. When the lap-band commercials started popping up on tv I started thinking about weight loss surgery. I was still in high school at the time so all I could think about was lossing the weight so I would be prettier and fit in better. Sure the kids in high school weren't as horribly mean as the middle school jerks, but it was still hard. So, I tried the diets, I saw 3 different dieticians, and I was enrolled in no less than 3 weight loss programs. But, it just didn't work.

During college, things got better. I still felt isolated because I was the biggest person out of all my friends but the walking between classes and campus gym helped me get to the smallest size I'd been in my older teen/young adult life (16) so thoughts of the surgery completely disappeared.

Unfortunately, the working world is not the same as college life and the weight was quickly regained. Still, the surgery was only a distant memories. Then one Easter, every thing changed. My dad's oldest brother died of a massive heart attack at the ripe old age of 49. He was by no means a large man or particuraly unhealthy. Which, luckily, my dad mentioned to his amazing doctor. Fast forward a little and you find my dad having triple bypass surgery on his heart.

Clearly something is in the genes. A point that should have led my dad's younger brother to get tested too. He didn't...then he died. He was only 45. Needless-to-say (but I'm saying it anyway) this all has me VERY nervous. Looking at my mom's side of the family only makes the picture darker. Cancer, diabetes, and strokes...oh my!

When I told one of my best friends that I am having the bariatric surgery he asked, "Is it dangerous?" My reply, and I still believe it with all my heart, "Not as dangerous as staying this size any longer." So that's where I am now. After 6 months of hopping through insurance hoops and trying to find a protein drink I can tolerate, I am now on count down to surgery.

Oh so Nervous but [u]Excited[/u]!!