Why Surgery, Why Now

Sep 24, 2014

These are questions that I get from family and friends. Why surgery? Like many others I have struggled with my weight since I childhood.  I remember going to the doctor with my mom and he would tell her to stop feeding me so many potatoes. (sad face) As an adult I have 30 plus years of weight loss history that goes something like this: Start diet, lose weight (20 - 40 lbs), quit diet, regain weight, repeat.  Add to that the weight gain from quitting smoking two, yes two, times (2001 and 2007).  For me it is time to try a new approach.  I clearly have issues saying no to myself when it comes to food.  I see the surgery as a tool that will force me to limit what I eat for a period of time during which I need to work on my emotional relationship with food.  Further as I lose weight it will increase my ability to exercise.  Why now? I am tired of being tired.  I have sleep apnea and it is getting worse.  I came to a cross road where I needed to either loss weight or use a C-Pap machine.  For reasons that I can't even fully explain, I have zero desire to wear a C-Pap mask to bed.  I decided that I would rather incur the medical bills (co-payments and deductibles) for the surgery than for the sleep study.  PLUS all of the other health benefits that come from weight loss.  

I would like to be clear that "NOW" was not a quick decision.  I have been thinking about this for better than a year and finally went to the info seminar in May.  I then met with my surgeon and left his office with the lengthy to do list of pre-op requirements.  I worked my way through the list over the summer and finished it up in September.  Insurance approval then took about two weeks.  I finally have a date.  :-)  My RNY surgery is schedule for October 20th.

3 Comments