rmaxwell10@kc.rr.com

Started thinking about lapband about a year prior to the surgery.  I put it off for a while but then my daughter got engaged and I knew I had to get weight off before the wedding as my new son-in-law is from Taiwan and he wanted the family to travel there to meet the rest of his family.  I knew that it would be hard to connect the belt and didn't want to shuffle through the country.  Most of their people are very thin and I didn't want to be stared at.  That's another reason why I wanted to surgery, wherever I went people stared at me.  I've been overweight since I was in the 5th grade, teased as a child, it was time to get my life on track.  It's been seventeen months since surgery and I'm down 80 pounds.  I've done it slower than a lot of people but in that time I've learned so much of what I can and can't do.  Flying is one drawback as I had to have the fill taken out prior to the Taiwan trip.  It took many months before I was refilled back to where I was prior to the trip.  I've learned a lot and my grocery shopping is not what it used to be, I buy only what I know I can eat and don't buy larger packages.  When going to restaurants most of my friends and family will let me share part of their meal, when not I always have leftovers to take home which last several days.  I'm very glad I had the surgery and would do it again in a heart beat.