I am going to be 50 in July of this year and I have come to the point in my life when I have really had to take stock in what is important to me and how I want to live the rest of my life.  During the first 50 years there are alot of things I would change if I could, but since I can't, I am dedicating the next half of my life to not making the same mistakes again, but more importantly, I want the rest of my life to be meaningful and purposefilled and I feel this is the 1st step in that direction.

I my health story is not unlike alot of others.  I was always big.  It became part of my personality and part of my total makeup.  I was very athletic, so that saved me until my late 30's.  At that time, I stopped with the regular trips to the gym, stopped playing racquetball.  It seemed that with 3 of my 5 children I gained 40-50 pounds along with my wife and she lost the weight and I didn't.  I have now gotten to the point that I can not remember in my adult life being able to buy clothing at a "normal" store.  My appearance has always been very important to me and I and so thankful for Rochesters Big and Tall Mens Stores.  I am so looking forward to hitting my goal weight and then going crazy at Nordstrom.  Maybe for my 51st birthday, that will be my present to myself.  We'll see......................

I am a Christain and while I have known Christ as my personal Savior or over 30 years I am sorry to say that many of those 30+ years most people would have had not a clue of my belief or committment to Christ, cause while I believed, I certainly was not committed.  That fact manifested itself in many different areas of my life, I have been married 4 times. I have hurt many who have and still do love me.  I missed out on being the Dad I should have been for my kids in their early years, and so on and so on.......................But all that is changing now.

In Feb 07 I stepped on the scale at my Dr.'s office and there it was.........365.2 lbs.  I have been over 300 lbs for a very long time (10 yrs+), but in my mind as long as I was under 350 I could fit into 2XL's and could get in and out of most normal cars.  But now I was at the point that I was buying 3XL's on as regular basis and come on, the Big and Tall Mens stores only go to 5XL, I was running out of sizes............But seriously, I was now starting to feel terrible all the time.  I was diaganoised with Type II Diabetes in Sept 05, I was now having to increase my medication just to some-what control it.  My BP medication was no longer doing the job.  I was a mess!

Then the decision to have WLS was made.  My wife and I talked alot about it (she is scheduled for her surgery on 8-1-07, I am sooooooo happy for you E). The reality was WLS was the only viable answer for me.  I had tried the diet and excerise route on and off for the past 20 years and each time acheiving the same result............lose a little, gain more back.  WLS was it for me, was I nervous.........you bet, but if I was going to have any shot at being able to change some of the bad stuff that I was responsible for in my first half of life, or if I was going to be able to be there for kids and grandkids and most important, if I was going to have a shot at enjoying and building my life with my wife for the next 30-40 yrs I needed WLS.

Well, I am one week post op at the time of this writing and I can confidently say that I do feel that the 2nd half will be the best half and I hope and pray that I can help others along this road in the next days, weeks, months and years experiance the same joy and excitement I now have.  God bless you all and thanks for reading my story.