5-year Post Op check in

Oct 12, 2012

Five years. Five years?!!

I had my surgery 4 days after my youngest granddaughter, Molly, was born. My journey through post-op surgery has been a bit like watching Molly these past five years. There were the uncomfortable, colicky newborn weeks; the growing in confidence months as I grew stronger and weight started falling off, similar to Molly's confidence in growing her skills and abilities. And learning (discovering, really!) what I CAN DO ... just as Molly was discovering the world around her and how she can participate/interact with it.

I've had rough days and "Life" happens! We all have challenges in our lives. Mine have dealt with aging parents, finishing raising children, trying to help a child through meth addiction and starting her life completely over, losing a job I've held for 10-1/2 years, marriage counseling (we're surviving!), etc.

Life is not necessarily better because of weight loss surgery, because life is about what you put into living. I thought my weight was holding me back. Eventually my weight would have physically kept me from "living." But mostly it was my thoughts that held me back. Weight loss surgery has given me confidence, yes, but it didn't change who I was or how I thought. I highly recommend Byron Katie's book, Loving What Is. I think of all the books I've read, this has helped me the most in changing my thoughts and telling myself the truth.

The surgeons don't operate on our brains and mindsets. That takes conscious effort to work through. I think we need more follow through in that area of weight loss surgery. We need to know WHY we eat, how to avoid/overcome triggers, as well as learning a new way of eating along with a new way of examining what we are thinking/feeling. 

I don't know if anyone reads this blog of mine, but if you do and you have questions, just shoot me a private message.

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