Winning!!! Justifiable Conundrum, Surgiversary and Photo-Ho'ing

zcadden
on 4/12/11 4:46 pm - New Orleans, LA
......that smiley just about sums it up. I am HAPPY!

I know I am posting early (my surgiversary is April 19) and please forgive my rambling, but this is a total stream of consciousness post.......my caffeine level is supra-therapeutic and I just got my laptop out of the shop from a serious debugging (saved my pics...thank you very much) and I was able to choose and successfully upload some decent before pics and collect the FEW after pics I approve of to post here on OH.  The camera can be unfriendly...as we all know.  But here we go...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times....(no I am NOT Charles Dickens)....but I AM referring to this past year.  I decided to wear my filter until I arrived at a place of exhalted perspective.... A place where I could survey my situation and this whole DS experience with as little bias as possible in order to pass some pearls to the newbies and pre-ops that are researching WLS and possibly vying for a spot on OUR bench...and after my first year I feel like I CAN call it OUR bench.  I earned my spot, dammit. 

I wore my filter for so long because I felt I needed to walk a chalk line until I achieved a better understanding of this whole experience.  Earned my stripes, if you will. People asked me, early in my journey, if I regretted my decision and I would tell them...."ask me again in 6 months."  On one hand, I wanted to be TOTALLY honest about my experience...(for those of you that have read my posts....you know that brutal honesty is one of my personality "enhancements" ..... ahem.... character flaws) but I did not want to scare anyone away from what I now have come to revere as (and proclaim to be) the greatest weight loss tool that one can have in their arsenal to fight and successfully conquer the disease that we all know so well, morbid obesity.

I only posted sporadically about my complications (those complications that have only recently resolved - as of January)
for fear of scaring away some lurker, but also felt that it was a responsibility to be honest about the dangers that lurk beneath the surface in order to forewarn and prepare a surgical candidate WITHOUT the wherewithal to research and, more importantly, ADVOCATE for themselves or locate the resources they will need should a baffling complication arise.  It is a conundrum...but a necessary dialogue to engage...people's lives are at stake, on both sides of the argument.  
I felt conflicted....should I spill all my beans or only a few at a time.  I did not want to muddy the waters for everyone else until I felt I could "Go Tell it on the Mountain."  The DS is truly, NOT for everyone....but we have to fight for the right for the people that it IS right for.....just how that is done is a mystery to me...it boils down to statistics....and we cannot afford a few idiot **** ups to ruin our stats...the very stats that keep the DS a viable option for people that desperately need it to survive...to SEE their kids grow....to PARTICIPATE in their lives.....to BE PHYSICALLY available to assist when needed. 

This is a personal journey for me.  I feel I can open up here...this board has saved my life.  If I had not found OH, I would not have even known about the DS and I am a critical care nurse in a state with one of the HIGHEST obesity rates in the nation.  Lap Bands and RNY's abound...and everyone is STILL obese.  Depressing.

My dad worked 80 hours a week.....when he was off, he rested....never had the energy or time to PARTICIPATE in my life....
I saw that happening with my kids....NO energy...shortness of breath, high blood pressure causing dizziness....could not chase a ball, Hell...could barely move if it was thrown almost directly to me....could not stand to be outside in 100+ degree New Orleans heat with 100% humidity.....sleepiness after eating ANYTHING...I saw it on my kids' faces....ALL they know is that "My dad doesn't want to play with me."  They do NOT understand that I physically CANNOT....and it broke my heart. 

Secondly....my wife has fought a battle with her health her entire life.....Epstein Barr Virus infection as a child....Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Joint pain.....remission...then after my son was born....it reared its ugly head again....exacerbation....poof....hard to get out of bed...progressive weakness/joint pain....20-30 doctors later...NO DIAGNOSIS....No meds to help....4,5,6 Neurologists later, MS Specialists, Rheumatologists, Immunologists, Homeopaths, Physiatrists, Infectious Disease Specialists, Orthopedists, Miss ******g Cleo (just kidding)...HELL we even flew to Pennsylvania once for a doctor's appointment with a Lyme Specialist......NO DIAGNOSIS.  Progressive weakness, fatigue, tremors, unilateral Babinski, paroxysmal dizziness, spontaneously dropping things without warning, numbness, peripheral edema, joint pain....yada yada.....
Through this, my beautiful wife NEVER complained...she was a trooper...I NEVER knew when her "BAD" days were...she always stepped up to the plate...always performed her role....but there were signs that she was slipping...that it was increasingly difficult for her...she NEVER asked me to stay home from work to help her....she is like a Martha Stewart woman....decorates the house for each holiday...we are talking department store window quality displays....mirrors hanging from the trees behind mannequins dressed like goblins and ghosts in the garden with smoke machines and huge spiders on the house, rats on the ground and bats in the trees (Halloween is her favorite holiday because it is right around her birthday)...she bakes cakes that would BURY that damn Cake Boss....Trust me.  Well, one year, she didn't even bother putting ornaments on the Christmas tree....did I need a brick building to fall on me or what?  She feels like **** and DOES NOT COMPLAIN!  Well, we finally got it this month...a diagnosis....Multiple Sclerosis.  Finally enough criteria for a definitive diagnosis....what now?  Nothing.  WooHoo.  2 words in a chart....same symptoms...same misery.

Guess what....******
I am not worried about me....I WILL survive.....I did this for my family...I need to be there to throw AND CATCH the ball...AND to get on the ladder to hang the ******g mirrors in the tree for HER.  THAT's why I had the DS.  I will be taking care of HER in the wheelchair eventually.  I need to be able to PARTICIPATE and BE PHYSICALLY ABLE to do it ALL.  IT breaks my heart but...it is MY reality. 

The DS did that for ME!!!!

Thanks to everyone (especially the Vets and the Vets in training and even the Wanna-Be Vets, too) on the DS Forum.  I have learned so much because of your gracious commitment to paying it forward.  Because of you guys, I was able to make a fully informed decision that the benefits outweighed the risks and I would do it again tomorrow if necessary. Your contribution to the community is priceless and truly appreciated.

We may be meanie DS'ers to some of the spineless, ignorant, non-compliant fucktards who cannot see the forest through the trees....but they are ******g with my family and the rest of the patients and families out there that NEED the DS.  There is a greater good, for which we all fight. 
We DEFEND our surgery to the end. 

Statistics make the world go around.  Remember that when you decide to reach for the Platinum Ring....

DSFACTS.com will only START your journey.  

Can you please get that camera out of my face?



Me and my Little Man, Zachi, May 2009











Had trouble with uploading pics...if these are too small, please check out my profile.  Thanks!

D U S T I N  

 
SW/BMI: 303#/50.4    CW/BMI: 162#/26.9 

Start your Journey @ DSFacts.com

 

Fran-I Am
on 4/12/11 9:12 pm
Sounds like you and your wife have been through hell. I am so happy for you with your success. Your pics, though tiny, are great. You look wonderful!


    
SW 1012/11 265#  CW 10/10 142#
zcadden
on 4/13/11 12:36 am - New Orleans, LA
Thanks Fran.  Your screenname reminds me of a comment my 16 year old daughter made to me the other day.  She said "Dad, do you know how they have 'Big and Tall' stores....well are there any 'Short and Scrawny" stores where you can shop?"

D U S T I N  

 
SW/BMI: 303#/50.4    CW/BMI: 162#/26.9 

Start your Journey @ DSFacts.com

 

Fran-I Am
on 4/13/11 9:03 pm
LOL That's a teenager for you! Someone once said that a teenager was a natures way of helping paents get ready for the empty nest. It's so true!!

    
SW 1012/11 265#  CW 10/10 142#
Blank Out
on 4/12/11 9:46 pm
 Happy for you!  I know it's been a rough year!  I hope all those things you dealt with are behind you!  Onward and forward!  Congrats!
     
HW/ 302  SW/287  CW/140  GW/135

zcadden
on 4/13/11 2:34 am, edited 4/13/11 4:12 pm - New Orleans, LA
Thank you!!

D U S T I N  

 
SW/BMI: 303#/50.4    CW/BMI: 162#/26.9 

Start your Journey @ DSFacts.com

 

Janine P.
on 4/12/11 10:51 pm - Long Island, NY
You look Fa-buuuu.

 

Janine   Me on Youtube 

 

zcadden
on 4/13/11 12:36 am - New Orleans, LA
Thanks Janine!

D U S T I N  

 
SW/BMI: 303#/50.4    CW/BMI: 162#/26.9 

Start your Journey @ DSFacts.com

 

Naked_Lizard
on 4/12/11 11:03 pm - West Haven, UT
WOW, what a journey, and you look AMAZING!!
Toni
HW/298 ~ SW/285 ~ CW/161~ GW/140
OnederLand & Century Club - 11/29/2010
    
                 
zcadden
on 4/13/11 12:36 am - New Orleans, LA
Thanks, Toni.

D U S T I N  

 
SW/BMI: 303#/50.4    CW/BMI: 162#/26.9 

Start your Journey @ DSFacts.com

 

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