s.brunet
Have always been a heavy girl from childhood into adulthood. By age 30, I had been diagnosed with diabetes, and hypothyroidism and had my gallbladder removed. Things continued on from there, with efforts made along the way to slim down, but it always came back two fold as we all know. I then dreaded to be 40. Those decade years had never been good to me, and this one did not let me down. I was referred to an internist for something minor, just an opinion when she suggested Bariatric surgery. I was so excited, I could barely contain myself. Then three weeks later, at 40 years and 3 months of age, I have a minor heart attack. I love that they use the word minor, since it was not minor in my mind nor my body, not life that came afterwards, but I suppose it's a better outcome to the word major! I'm still alive! Thanks mainly to the wonderful care I received at the Ottawa Heart Institute where they found an artary blocked at 99%. They fixed it with a stent, put me on a wack of meds for everything under the sun I'm sure, and on my way to bouncing back from this event I went. With one draw back. My Bariatric surgery I was told, would be put on hold for one year due to the attack, and the blood thinners that I must be on for that time period. I was devasted. But I threw myself into my new regime of dealing with my heart. I got healthy, I exercised daily, I entered a 10km walk for charity four months after my attack, I quit smoking, I was on a roll and feeling great. And throughout all of this wonderful stuff, I PUT ON WEIGHT! This weight thing belonged to my thyroid and no longer to me! My doctor could not believe it, and actually didn't because my exterior self had redistributed itself that it looked like I had lost alot of weight. In my posted pics, there is one where I am very large with long black hair. That was pre heart attack. All the others are afterwards, and it's easy enough to see that I do look slimmer. In fact, I'm actually heavier! Yes, the extra muscle has accounted for some of that, but certainly not all the weight gain. So finally the day came, one year later, and I quickly put this journey back on the right track. New tests at the heart institute revealed that I had no major blockages in any of my artaries, and the cardiologist was more than willing to back up the decision made my my doctor here and to go ahead with the surgery. Things finally started looking up, and they are continuing to look up! Life is at it's best right now. There is love in my life, and my girls are the best, my family support is oustanding, and I'm finally on my way of being the person I've always imagined on the outside. There are so many things that I want to dream, and do....................................to be continued!
