Kim L.
Why I was where I was and Why I’m where I’m at!
I recently sat down and went through several boxes of pictures and many pages of pictures of my childhood and first few careers. I was a small baby at birth and maintained the low weight through high school. I found pictures of hiking as a scout up and down mountains. My weight was in control during these times. I found one of my first pilot’s license from 1971 and I weighed 145 pounds while standing 6 foot two.
During my years in a mid-western college the weight seemed to start adding on. It looks like I left college around 180 pounds. It seems that after college and the start of sedentary jobs my weight kept creeping up a little each year.
Married life must have been satisfying as my weight went into the 200’s and never looked back. During these years I remember trying all kinds of diets, including injections of some strange things and then a lot of pills and book diets. These just seemed to maintain the weight and the yo-yo effects were great.
In 1997 at the age of 44, I had my first heart attack. I had an excellent Cardiologist that put a stent in and kept me ticking until the next few attacks led me into the OR for a quad by-pass in 2000.
Well the weight went over 300 and didn’t stop till around 375, the highest I remember in 2006. I have for the past years always been in the position of being a caregiver.
During 2006 I was put to the challenge of whether I wanted to continue to care for kids or be cared for in a bed or dead. After the death of one of our kids in 2006, the decision was made that I would become a caretaker. I finally realized that something had to be done for me to continue being a caregiver. During 2006 and the preparations for this procedure that would take me into a new journey of my life, I had several tests and hurdles to clear. As the surgery approached several mores situations arose and they were tackled and now I’m on the loser’s bench.
I look back now at the obstacles I faced as an overweight person:
~ Not fitting into airline seats and using seat belt extensions;
~ Using tables in restaurants and not booths;
~ Clothing selections looking like I got them at a tent sale or they were tents;
~ Not being able to stay up with or play long with the kids; not feeling like exercise or walking or helping myself.
~ People’s opinions voiced vocally and loudly. My surgery day weight was 348 on November 22, 2006. Before the surgery my life was a journey with a fixed destination. This journey is not the easy way out. This journey is only a path to a new life style that will have to be maintained with diet and support.
My life is now a journey with unlimited roads and paths to follow in the years ahead ... ... ... ... Not a destination.
