edthurman

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Today marks one week on the liquid diet. Yeah, what they say is true. It's pretty rank and it bites that you can't eat ANYTHING. On the upside, I have lost 16 pounds as of this morning. One more week!

I started my liquid diet yesterday. 2 weeks of THIS???? Ugh..Not an easy thing to do but it actually helps because I know I HAVE to instead of NEED to. Just 12 more days. Getting very scared but bouncing between scared and excited.

I'm so excited......nervous...but excited. I just got my call that everything was approved and the surgery date has been scheduled. January 10, 2013 at 3pm. I am SO STINKING STOKED!!!! WooooHoooo All these months of jumping through hoops, EKG's, chest x-rays, blood work, supervised dieting, sleepless nights worried about all this and then to finally hear those words, "You're approved"!!!

I'm 47 years old. My mind tells me I'm only 25 but my body tells me I'm somewhere around 80. I've been fat my whole life. I weighed 9 lbs, 8 1/2 oz when I was born and by the time I was 10, I weighed 150. The day of that doctor's appointment was the day our family physician explained to me what "obese" meant. 

My whole life, pre-teen up until now, has at one time or another been on some type of diet. Oh sure, I had my weight losses. In celebration of said losses, I always gained it back. In later years, I'd learned to make peace with being fat. I justified it by saying to myself, "As long as I'm a fat guy, at least I'm a do-able fat....not the guy who looks like he's on a fast track to a heart attack." 

I had smoked 2 packs a day since the age of 15 (31 years) when I finally quit in April of 2011. At that time, I weighed roughly 285 pounds. Of course when I quit, the weight packed on...FAST. Just 4 months later, in August of 2011, I had a mild heart attack. I weighed 315 pounds. All the while, trying diet after diet and exercising with a medium degree of frequency didn't change things. 

Eight months ago, I decided to have bariatric surgery (since I found out it was covered under my partner's policy that now insured me. I have been to countless doctor's appointments, had chest x-rays, blood work, EKGs, and have been under 6 months of doctor supervised diet and exercise regimens. I have finally jumped through my final hoop and I now await my approval and surgery date from the insurance company. I'm very scared but I'm also very excited. 

I want to "feel" what healthy "feels" like. I want to be able to run, jump, and stand up or sit down without grunting. I want to walk from the door to the car without breaking a sweat (it's 20 feet) or without being so winded like I just ran uphill for an hour. 

Throughout all of this, I'm blessed to have my partner of 20 years by my side. I don't know what I'd do without the love and support of him or my big sister. They're all I have now since everyone else is gone. I want to get my health back so I can stay healthy for myself and for them.

Ed