Christopher Pruitt
I was about average size my entire life, a 175 lbs athlete. I was big into sports and working around my home helping my family with whatever needed to be fixed, pushed, pulled, and knocked down, whatever. I spent my time feeding the Horses or Cows, checking the fence lines for breaks, tossing the hay bails around, mowing the yard, and even shoveling the 1/8 long driveway so my sisters and I could get to the bus.
I was big into riding horses, rock climbing, mountain climbing ( Mt. Hood , Mt. Shasta , Mr. Rainer, 3 Sisters (no it is a mountian get your mind out of the gutter), and about a dozen more around the Western US.), kayaking k4/k5 rapids, exploring caves, hiking trails, swimming, dancing all night long, running, any kind of physical activities.
In the mid-70's I even joined the US Marine Corps. I always weighted between 175-180 lbs from about the age of 14 until around the late 1980. After I got out of the Marines, I did gain a little weight and was up to 190 lbs up until 1981 and I stayed around 185-190. However, I was involved in a very serious accident in 1981 that severely injured my back and neck. I was not able to walk for a while and I went into a deep depression and gained about 100lbs, but I was ok, or so I thought. However, with the weight gain came the pain and the inability to do any exercise and because of that my weight keep climbing and climbing. I got married to my wonderful wife, the love of my life, in 1990. I was about 250 lbs on that day. However, between lack of exercise from my injuries and good cooking by my wife. I reached my largest size of 424 lbs on June 1, 2007.
I was so big now I could not play ball or any other real physical activities with my sons. It is hard to explain to my 14 yr old son why I was in so much pain all the time and why I could not catch my breath just walking up a short flight of stairs or walking a short distance at the mall and my feet and knees were killing me with the pain.
The end result was I would sit alone at night after everyone has gone to bed and cried silently to myself because I was in a no win situation, in my life and did not know what to do next. I know an grown man crying, but hey I was in trouble but had no idea how to correct it. I was trying to lose weight but I failed each time. I hated the way people looked at me and give me those looks that hurt right to the heart. I am sure lots of you have experienced that yourself. Those stupid looks like you are some lazy person who needs to disappear and just disgust them some how.
Well around early September 2007, I was driving my youngest son to school when I saw a billboard I had never noticed before. It said “Weight Loss Surgery at Denton Regional Hospital was now being offered”. WOW, I had considered it but the closest location I knew of was in Dallas over 50 miles south of my home, so I had to check it out. Was this my answer?
I attended Dr. Stewart's free informational seminar in Mid-September and I was very impressed with him and his staff. So, long story short I am on the right road now, thanks to Dr. Stewart.
My Surgery is scheduled for Feb, 4, 2008 and I am sure that I will now live a long life, to see my youngest son graduate from college. Although I thought it was the occasion of my son's graduation from High School and College that I was why I wanted to lose the weight but mostly I am going to finally loose this weight for myself, my health and my self-esteem. I know it will be a long road but I am finally going down the right path to a better life for my sons, my wife, my family and friends but mainly for myself. Wish me luck and feel free to contact me. I love to hear other’s stories.
