Pound4Pound
Yet Another Story
Oct 14, 2008
October 14, 2008I am here to start a journey, and hope it a long and fruitful one. I have the same story as everyone else here. Childhood = fat. Teens = fat. Adulthood = fat. Yo-yo diets.... weight up & down. Blah, blah, blah.....
I am on a firefighting team here at the mill where I work. We are required to have annual physicals. The doctor performing them wanted me to come see him in his office for a "complete" physical. I had not been to a doctor in ummm... let's see... hell I don't know, but it was a freaking really really long time ago. Anyway blood pressure was low, heart was fine, lungs great, blood work was pretty good except for cholesterol was slightly high. All in all the doc said my health was excellent, but "it" was coming. "It" being all the health problems associated with morbid obesity.
My family history indicates him to be correct. My uncle just passed away in June of 2008. He was a lot like me. Very active to be so big. He amazed me at how he got around. That poor man was 5'10" and (no joke here) 550 pounds. And healthy! He was 53 when he died of a blood clot on his lung. Yet my grandfather had that beat. He died when I was three. Believe it or not, I do remember him a little. I remember how big he was. It must have been quite an impression on a three year old. My dad (who is strangely "normal" in size) told me that my grandfather was about 6'5" and weighed about 580 pounds when he died at 45 of a heart attack. This man worked a farm! Walked from sun up to sun down behind a mule! I don't even like pulling the weeds out of my flower bed.
I am 38 years old, and am actually fairly active. I get around better than a lot of my co-workers that do not have weight problems. Most people are astonished when they first see the things I do. I can climb just about anything. I get myself into tight places, and work on equipment. I have never really had any pain in my knees or feet. So you are probably asking yourself "What's the problem?" Well, at my "complete" physical I discoverd something that really scared me. The most I have ever weighed was about 300 pounds. I tipped the doctor's scales at 344 pounds. Can you say wake up call?
I have always been the typicl hard headed male. I thought I was Superman. Other people are weak, and I am strong. Like I said earlier, my co-workers are used to seeing me have no problems doing the job I do even at my weight. The truth is that as I have started aging, it is getting harder and harder to do. Everything is starting to hurt more and more. First my knees, then my feet. Now it is my back. God my back is killing me! I am too proud to let anybody see my pain so I grin and bear it. I have to do something. I have dieted just like everybody else here. I even lost 110 pounds once. I lost it, but I soon found it. I am scared to death that my life has come to this. I think WLS surgery is extreme, but I feel it may be my only way. I have two children ages 9 and 4. I don't want them to barely remember me like I remember my grandfather. Plus my beautiful wife deserves better. I can't stand the thought of the man she replaces me with when I'm gone. I must live on so I can kick his ass first. J/K
1 Comment
About Me
Prattville, AL
Location
26.2
BMI
Surgery
11/06/2009
Surgery Date
Oct 14, 2008
Member Since
