A month or so ago, I shared a rather personal experience that I did not think I would post on this blog. I wrote about my experience with bariatric surgery. At the time I was not sure if I was comfortable sharing this with the world. In the end I forced myself to post it so I couldn’t hide behind it. Today, I have no problem telling anyone and everyone about it. It changed my life. And it likely saved my life.
So let’s start with that last statement. Am I being over-dramatic? Here’s how Dr. Louis “The Best Doctor in the World” Christifano explained it to me. About 5 years ago I started high blood pressure medication - this after a lifetime of being 120 over 70. About 3 years ago I started cholesterol medication - this after a lifetime of 160 to 170 cholesterol levels. If this was not fun enough, I could look forward to diabetes, joint pain, and if I was lucky, I would dodge the risks associated with the heart disease. He definitely opened my eyes. I was killing myself. Sure, I might live to my retirement, but I was decreasing my odds.
My thoughts turned to what’s most important to me – my family. If I prematurely made my wife a widow, she’d kill me. And then there are my two beautiful girls. While I am not looking forward to paying for two weddings, I am counting on being there to walk them down the aisle and to dance with them at the reception. Lastly, I saw my father dream about a life in retirement, only to have those dreams stolen from him by dementia. I may not be able to prevent dementia, but I can do something about my current situation.
So I asked Dr. C about bariatric surgery. He did not even pause. He said go for it. The benefits far outweigh the risk and complications. He had numerous success stories, most of which resulted in the patients going off their blood pressure and cholesterol medications. Many suffering from diabetes are now a picture of health. That’s one of many reasons why I think he is the best. He never preached to me about weight. He instead continued to focus on my health, how I feel, and complications/issues that likely lie ahead for me. More doctors should be like this.
So now I go back to what maybe was holding me back from telling my story. I hate the term “weight loss surgery.” It promotes the misconception that surgery is a solution to being overweight. The fact is that no one wants to be overweight. No one consciously wakes up each and every morning and says “I want to be fat!” There are dozens of reasons why people suffer from obesity. Some are physiological. Some are psychological. Some are emotional. None are solved by someone who is healthy and fit saying, “Quit eating so much and get some exercise.” It may sound that simple, but believe me, it’s not. It makes about as such sense as me saying “Quit being such an a__hole and get a decent personality.”
I refuse to call it weight loss surgery. I call it life-saving surgery. I didn’t make the decision to have this procedure to lose weight. I made the decision to do it because I want to be healthy, and I want to dance with my girls at their wedding.
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My FB friend Julie sent me this. It is six weeks from my pre-surgery heaviest, and I’ve lost a 5000 BTU air conditioner. Not sure I want to lose any more. I don’t want to have to discuss the next tier.
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