r the day we met just to confirm Gastric Bypass is what you were going to go with?"
"Yes sir, I was scared as heck to tell you yes, in my gut, I wanted the sleeve."
"Well I remember telling you, that YOU are the kind of person this surgery was meant for, you were bascially a healthy person, with a sudden organ failure in the near future, I told you the surgery was going to save your life. It was created to save peoples lives. Each case that comes through here, each person has its own reasons, but its those who are doing it to literally save their own life, thats who it was meant for."
"Yes sir but has it saved my life? Has it worked?"
"I tell you what, if your liver is not heathly, I will donate my own" (with a few chuckles, he went on to say...) "Through studies we know most people with Gastric Bypass lose 50-60% of their excess body weight within the first year, thats with 60% being not so common. You lady, are 5 months post operation and have lost 56.4% of your excess body weight. I am no liver specialist, but from what I have seen in my line of work, anything over 40% loss can make a huge impact on the liver."
These words made me tear up... It was around this time last year that I sat in the office of a liver doctor who told me my liver was failing at a very young age... I did not expect at all what he would tell me and I didnt handle it well. He told me he highly suggested Gastric Bypass as a form to quickly get the liver to a state where it can rebound and bounce back to life. I left that office PISSED. Who the hell was this quack telling me I needed that.... Yes I was 300lbs, but I was in good health... My liver hadnt failed yet, maybe all the tests were wrong... HE HAD TO BE WRONG....
4 months passed and finally one day I told Joey, I was ready to attend the Gastric Bypass seminar... He supported me from well before I accepted I was going to go with it. He knew in the end I would choose what I had to... and that was to save my own life. I was the only one who could make the decision, it had to come from me. Soon enough, January 9th 2013, my life changed.
In this past 5 months, I have lost 92 pounds (since my journey offically began in October 2012, Ive lost over 100 pounds). But more than the pounds lost, I have gained information about myself that if I ever knew, I buried it deep within me, not letting it out. I now know the reasons I weighed 300 pounds with a failing liver at 29 years old. For all the knowledge I have obtained I hope to NEVER return to that point. Unlike what other people think, there is possibility of weight gain years to come... Everyday, I hope that I am learning the right things to keep me from ever going back there. I hope for the strength to keep this up, 2, 6,12, 20 years from now... I know that because of my decision to go through with this surgery I have saved my life, I may not be given the chance a 2nd time...
Heres a picture to leave you with....
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