Christina's Story
The decision to have gastric bypass was not a quick or easy decision. I started researching weight loss surgery seven or more years ago when my dad said he was going to have the surgery.
I kept trying other diets and nothing worked. I struggled with staying motivated and feeling like I wasn't trying hard enough or staying committed to the various diets when I saw minimal results on the scale.
I have hypothyroidism and PCOS, both of which make losing weight challenging. It felt like an overwhelmingly hopeless task and on some level I think I got to a point where I gave up and said what is the point, I am doomed before I even start.
The year before I had my gastric bypass I was at 320 lbs. By far the heaviest I have ever been in my life. I had muscle aches and moved around like I was 20 years older than I really was. I couldn't mow the lawn in one shot. It took me all day and many breaks to get it mowed.
Slowly I started pulling away from friends because I was ashamed of how much I weighed. I only went out when it was absolutely necessary. I didn't want people to see me or to see the look on their faces when they saw me. I wouldn't look in a full length mirror or allow pictures to be taken of me. I wasn't living life I was merely existing.
My path to finally deciding that the gastric bypass surgery was the right thing for me to do came in phases. I want to have children and I knew that at 320 lbs, I was in no shape to even try to become pregnant. I needed to lose lots of weight if I wanted to have a serious chance of having a family. The fact that I felt 60 instead of 36 made me so angry at myself. Angry that I let myself get to the weight I was. Angry for what I thought was lack of will power. Angry for letting myself become a hermit in my house.
The final deciding factor was after I got the results from my pre-op testing. When Dr. Peterson told me I was pre-diabetic my decision was made. I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt this was the right decision for me. I have a family history of diabetes and have seen first hand what it can do to your body. Of all the diseases out there, diabetes was the one I feared the most.
I can tell you that having the gastric bypass was by far the best decision I ever made. I have lost 150lbs and I feel absolutely wonderful. I never realized how bad I felt before and now that I feel so great I realize how bad it was.
I have more energy than I know what to do with. I no longer feel 20 years older than I really am. I feel 20 years younger! My PCOS is under control for the first time in years and there is real hope for children in the very near future.
I just want to leave this thought with those people who are still straddling the fence about weight loss surgery — I read a lot of blogs about people who had the surgery, and it seemed like all the blogs were bad. Some people had to have second surgeries and some, even a year after the surgery, had not been able to get their lives back.
I am out there living and enjoying my life. I have reconnected with some old friends and actually enjoy hanging out with them. My one regret is that I didn't get the surgery sooner.