LindafromFlorida

Weight has been the focus of my life. Dieting, eating, loving food, growing up in a home where biscuits and gravy were a nightly ritual of love. Today at 67, the chicken & dumplings, biscuits & gravy, mashed potatoes, fried chicken, represent what made me happy as a child. Especially today when most of my family have passed away. At age 50 I lost the battle with the weight. My husband lost the battle with his weight at birth. Fat baby, toddler, 10 year old, teenager, adult. He lost 100 lbs. two separate times on Optifast - $5,000 each time. Only to regain it faster than he lost it. As we got older, he would go a month without eating (drinking broth). I would sneak off to the drive thru for tacos or batter fried fish, starving because I did not want to cook and have him smell food. Pure craziness. Starve and stuff ourselves. Life was miserable. Health was spiraling downhill fast. He has been Type II diabetic 30+ years, heart blockage, cellulitis, neuropathy, HBP, back and leg problems so bad he could barely walk. By 2013 I had HBP, asthma, neuropathy, knee replacement, swelling of my ankles and could barely walk as my weight crept to 220. I retired and was afraid to travel as we planned. I was afraid I would find him dead after one of the annual nights of waking to find him unconscious with a blood sugar of 40, calling Rescue again, and back to the ER again.
We went to weight loss seminars 10 years, but he was afraid of the gastric bypass and the band. Our final seminar led us to a wonderful surgeon, and I discovered I was also a candidate due to my health problems. I made a decision then and there, June 2013, I was going for it or he and I both would be in a nursing home and die. My husband looked like he wanted to die, and I was giddy with excitement. He followed my lead, and I never ever felt unsure about my decision. Our surgeon told him with his co-morbidities he could die, yes, but he had more risk of dying without the sleeve.
We were sleeved 2 weeks apart, me first in November 2013. He decided we would tell no one, except my daughter, a nurse friend, and a friend who had WLS. We hibernated thru the winter, scared and happy. Without Bariatric Pal, I might not have gotten through this LOL. I am so thankful we are happier and healthier, each of us off a BP medicine, I am off Metformin, and my husband is on a very low dose of insulin. Before the surgery, he ate an extremely large bowl of fruit every night so his blood sugar would not bottom out during the night, and when he had the episodes of low blood sugar he would be grabbing sweet cakes. We have no more junk food or even fruit in our home, no bread, no cookies or crackers. Those memories are bad. Now he eats nothing at bedtime and I can sleep soundly.
I no longer see the two of us glued in the recliners til we are wheeled to the nursing home (which is what happened to two people that we know). I am fighting to take care of the two of us so that we have some extra time on earth because the love is so sweet. Honestly I am glad I don't have to be such a food police because he is able to eat healthy and we no longer crave food. God is good.