DeezUU

Click click.... "Just 1 more click" the ride attendant said as he bounced on the restraint to make the light turn green. I wasn't giving up... this was our first visit to Hershey and I couldn't let my boys down. After 4 minutes of total pain and the inability to breath, it dawned on me : I'm outta control!! 

Sure, I wasn't one of those people you feel sorry for because they've gotten so far down this path that they had to use scooters or had to constantly take breaks but I was driving down that road. I had friends that were bigger than me, heavier than me, and more miserable than me. Hell... I was pretty damn happy! I had a beautiful wife, great kids, a decent job, a roof, chicken in the pot, yada yada yada... but I was falling apart. My knees were starting to hurt, my back always hurt, my work performance had suffered for quite a while, and yes there were things I just couldn't do (like put on a harness to go on ropes courses with my family). I couldn't sleep without a CPAP at a pretty high setting. My blood pressure was flirting with hypertension. I was sure diabetes was right around the corner. Let's fix this!!

I was totally against surgery. "it's the easy way" and "my aunt had it and failed" and many many more naysayer opinions popped into my head literally every time the idea was tossed at me. After a stern warning from my sports physician (for my knees) and my GP, I decided I'd just go see what they had to say. I was a little skeptical still but had a few friends that told me that times, they are a changing! And it was true. It was no longer a "here's your surgery > good luck!" deal but it's now a total life commitment with education and support for life. I really liked the sound of that and the phenomenal support they were showing current and previous patients. 

So I went for it. I scheduled my classes, went through all the evals and appts, and tracked everything I ate until the day of my surgery. I knew this is what I needed and this would save my life before things got too bad. I had my first class on March 15th 2017, my VSG was scheduled for July 11th 2017, and I met my personal goal weight of "Normal" on March 3rd 2018. That was MUCH faster than I had expected and was pretty worried about the outcome, but my Nut advised me that some people are just like that. I followed every rule (well, almost every rule) to the T and everything I do now is with my health in mind whether it be for mental health, physical health, or a little of both. I do eat things that aren't healthy IN SMALL QUANTITIES and ON OCCASION. I stay active (although I need to step up that game) and I've gotta tell you... I'm happier than I was even in high school!! No more CPAP, no more knee problems and most importantly... that harness now goes "click click click click click click click.... click click"