Mr Mom
So where do I start?
Well my name is Craig & I am a 51 year old super morbidly obese man. I have been in the this particular weight category for about 12 years now. I have suffered with all the usual co-morbidity's (sleep apnea, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, anxiety, reflux, water retention, shortness of breath, damaged lower lumbar disc(s), joint and muscle pains, etc.). I can't say it's been all that fun either. Somehow I've had my self convinced for years now that since I love food and I love to cook food, that I'm some kind of damn food connoisseur & that this somehow justified the unhealthy path I've been traveling!
I've been on and off diets more times than I care to remember. I've always had success in loosing the weight but my love of eating large volumes of the wrong foods, for long periods of time, has always undermined my success. As I've grown older and more and more unhealthy, I've found myself simply accepting my lot in life and fully expecting to die young, and very soon.
So back in late Dec of 2008, 2 days before New Years, I'm at home alone during the day and I feel one of my "anxiety" episodes coming on. But this time it feels different and I get a bit more scared about my symptoms. The hell of it is that it's hard to tell the difference between an anxiety attack and a actual heart attack. So after a about an hour or so of taking my meds and trying to get past this episode I finally decide to drive myself into the ER. Long story short, they do an EKG in the triage & get pretty excited about my readings. So I'm admitted and this time it seems to be different from all the other times I've been through this. Well I'm writing this so I obviously didn't die, but it sure took a lot of meds and several days in the cardiac wing to bring me back to my usual unhealthy state. I was released on New Years Day of 2009. My wife JoAnn and I had a quiet little celebration a few days later. No ball drop, no fireworks, no big feast, & no alcohol, just a moderate meal and some intimate time together.
Fast forward 8 months later.. our baby girl Emily is born via emergency c-section (Mom had gestational diabetes & baby had an irregular heartbeat while in the womb). Yes, Moms also severely morbidly obese! The baby spends a few weeks in the NICU and off we go home to raise our baby.
So now I have a whole new outlook about my declining health. I somehow have to eek out 20 or so more years of life if for no other reason, so my new baby doesn't have to grow up without a Daddy!!! My near death experience, along with our little gift from heaven, Emily, gave me pause and made me come to my senses about food. So I attended a WLS seminar at the Bridges Center in May of 2010 and started my journey back to a healthy life.
On Nov 25, 2010 I started preparing for my surgery using the Medifast diet program (406 Lbs). By the time I went to surgery on Feb 10, 2011 I had lost significant weight and weighed in at (366 Lbs) the day of surgery. I have never had any regrets about my decision to undergo WLS & thanks to my VSG I'm feeling great!
Wishing you all the best possible result with your own WLS... Craig 
