The beginning of my journey to a better life!

Mar 21, 2009

I woke up Wednesday morning  with the fogginess of a left over migraine. Having been in bed unexpectedly the night
before left me exactly half an hour to get packed, dressed and on my way to Utica. That would be because I invited my mother to come with me, (mother, daughter bonding time)... my mother decided we needed to leave by 9 am to get to Utica for a 4:30
appointment. I love her dearly but we are so very opposite in our ways !  She loves me too...when I'm sleeping..her famous
quote!! With my procrastination we didn't leave Ontario until 11 and I still had plenty of time to visit a friend at St Luke's hospital, who was already recovering from by pass surgery and to check into the Holiday Inn before meeting Dr.Fitzer.
I was very apprehensive about my decision . I wasn't sure if a gastric bypass was what I really wanted to do. I knew it was
a life time commitment...sort of like my marriage! I wanted to be sure it was the route I wanted to take. I attended the seminar with a number of candidates of which almost half were Canadian.  I met Michelle and Kayla. They took time to introduce themselves, answer any questions we had and just chat. Dr Fitzer came in a gave a very informative chat about weight
loss surgery choices. I knew what my choices were and now what I wanted to do, however I was still uncertain as to the
huge commitment I was about to embark upon. I was afraid of entering back into the world without that weight watchers
support group. I was afraid of being on my own to battle the weight monster and that's what it has been for a great deal of
my life, a monster lurking behind my self esteem, complicating my social life and being plain nasty with the attitudes of some
of the people around me.I spent some more time visiting my friend at the hospital who was very very excited with the results of the surgery, amazingly up and moving around and in a great frame of mind even after 5 days without solids.I went back to my hotel room and slept on it after eating pizza with my mother and daughter, dealing with yet another migraine headache and visualizing the pizza I ate being in my stomach. It was pretty easy to visualize after doctor Fitzer used the imagery in his informative talk. Did you know a normal stomach can hold half a medium pizza? Me neither, and I thought I was the only one who could do that ! In waking up the next morning, I was excited to be able to mix business with pleasure. Applebees, St Michael's, Walmart, then eucher back in the hotel room with my daughter, my friend Sarah and her spooning father Fred. I had the opportunity to read all through Sarah's gastric bypass binder before I went into the office the next day.I was 70% sure I was going to commit to a life style change but meeting with Dr, Graber and Dr. Fitzer's  team cinched it ! I realized I would not be alone on my journey. I knew I had a caring and supportive team to help me. There were support groups in Canada close to where I live and an amazing website. Just like weight watchers, true friends to share in my journey, in my successes and to help me over the hurdles along the way. This is a decision  to  prolong my life, to live in good health and long enough to support my children through their disappointments and successes in their lives. It is a decision, where I'm putting myself first for a change!

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