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It's such a blessing to walk this path together with people who truly understand. — Lenay
I just cant believe how much you think like me. It's very strange to have someone echo your thoughts like that. Thanks for sharing yourself with me. — Mike
I have to applaud you for being so open and honest. You are very helpful. — Sue
Through Thick and Thin #50 (October 24, 2004)
MY BOTTOM LINES
I Would Have Been Dead By Now Without My Weight Loss Surgery.
Instead, I’m celebrating my Two Year Anniversary with a long hike.
It was two years ago today that I had my Vertical Banded Gastroplasty.
According to my medical team, I would probably have been dead by now without my Weight Loss Surgery -- and its matching gifts of my 180 pound weight loss, and my transformed body and lifestyle. That’s my personal bottom line as I look back upon the path that led me to this day and milestone.
I was already at goal weight last March, when something went terribly awry in the electrical timing mechanism that controls my heartbeat. Because I had shed my excess weight, and because I’ve continued to keep my commitment to myself to vigorously exercise every day, I was able to identify the problem quickly and had a pacemaker installed. Quite literally, haven’t missed a beat ever since.
The Promise of my bariatric surgeon, Dr. James Weber of Seattle, has been kept. I’ve reaped the Precious Prize he promised me if I scrupulously followed his instructions, kept moving my body, and totally changed my relationship with food.
As I work to complete my upcoming book – an anthology of my story and the stories of several other very different patients who took the same path – I’ve been reliving and remembering every step and setback along the way. I’ve been reminded of my pre-op fears and anxieties (was I making a fatally wrong choice? would I fail yet again?); the challenges of the surgery itself and the agony and suffering of those difficult first weeks and months of post-op recovery; and the severe continuing limitations on my food choices.
My outcomes – being more fully alive than ever before, living once again in my body, the extraordinary improvement in my mobility and energy, and looking and feeling great – confirm that I made the right decision for me. They also underscore my personal bottom line on Weight Loss Surgery: it saved and extended my life. I feel blessed, grateful and so joyful!
In the distant past I would have celebrated this special occasion by “treating” myself to a fabulous feast of food. Today, I choose to celebrate my achievement by taking one of my long and most favorite hikes through the old growth temperate rain forest near my home. Afterwards, Kari and I will enjoy a hot tub together, build a roaring blaze in the fireplace, and review the photographs that chart my path from desperation to exhilaration, from sickness to health, from fat to thin.
Weight Loss Surgery is a difficult choice to make, and it’s not for everyone. It requires an extraordinary depth and consistency of commitment, strength, courage, and perseverance. It often requires a network of supportive partners, family and/or friends. It requires deep emotional work and a lifestyle transformation. It is most assuredly NOT a quick fix or an easy way out of the horrors of morbid obesity.
But for me, it’s been a life saver. And that’s the “real skinny”.
Glenn Goldberg, VBG 10.24.02, 360/180
Note: I hope you’ll continue to share my newsletters, and website, with others who can benefit – especially from learning about my bottom line. Thanks. -- glenn
Through Thick
