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Monday, July 5, 2010

What's been going on

I haven't posted here in a while and I need to more often so I can share my progress with those in my life. Since my last post a lot has happened and a lot has changed. On March 26, 2010 I had Gastric Bypass surgery. It was a choice that took a lot of thinking, research, prayer, and strength! I am now 3 months out from surgery and can honestly say that this choice was the best choice for me. Since I was about 10 years old I've been overweight and I've spent my adult life continuing to gain. No matter what I did I continued to gain and it became not only frustrating but dangerous health wise. After hurting my back in 2003 and Being on medication that made losing VERY difficult I became worried that I would never be able to lose what I needed to in order to live the life I wanted. I used to think that if I had surgery to help me lose weight, I wasn't strong enough to do it any other way. Now that I've been through this process I know that's not true. It takes a really strong person to come to this choice, to admit that they need help in order to save their life. The changes since surgery are drastic and amazing. I'm no longer on high blood pressure medication, I'm able to stand longer, walk further, move better than I have in a VERY long time. Watching my clothes fit better and even get to big has been such an experience. I've lost 76 pounds and am at a weight I haven't been in almost 4 years! I fit better in chairs, I feel more confident and am starting to come out of my shell for the first time since before I hurt my back. The last few years I became very depressed and secluded myself from society for many reasons. I didn't leave the house but on a few occasions and I spent most of my time in pain and uncomfortable. I notice I smile at people more, I make eye contact and don't look down or away as much. I've had a few minor complications in the past three months, but it's nothing that I haven't been able to deal with. This is a learning experience and a complete life changing process. There are people who tend to think that Surgery is the "easy" way out and that couldn't be further from the truth! I've had to relearn my relationship with food, my body, my thinking and it's challenged me in every way possible. I meet with my surgeon this week for my 3 month follow up appointment as well as to address the issues I'm having with my gallbladder. This could and more than likely will result in another surgery to remove my gallbladder. Over all I don't regret my choice to have surgery and I know that my quality of life and my health will be better than they have been for many many years. I'm excited for what the future holds and for all the changes that are happening. I'm attaching a link to my update blog on obesityhelp.com so that those who read this can look at the progress and my thoughts in the last three months. If you click on the title of this post it will take you there, or you can copy and paste the following link.
http://www.obesityhelp.com/member/mandajolyn/

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