Earl C.
My Story
On June 17, 2004 I had RNY Gastric Bypass Surgery at the age of 44. I weighed in at 358 very large pounds. Not really my heaviest weight ever, since I’ve weighed as much as 397 pounds (when I could find a scale that went up high enough to weigh me). I’m sure I weighed over 400 from time to time. I just couldn’t find a scale that went high enough to find out for sure.
I was always a big boy, weighing 150 pounds in kindergarten. I was already taller than my teacher in the second grade and had a mustache by the sixth grade. By my freshman year in High School I was 350, not so lean and mean pounds. I was what I call an active fat person. I lifted weights, played football and competed in Track and Field, throwing the shot put and discus. I was pretty fast for a fat kid. I could run a 40 yard dash in 5.0 seconds.
Even at the tender age of 14, doctors told me I had high blood pressure and an enlarged heart (I found out during testing in 2003 that “fact” was not true). Every time I visited a doctor, I was warned I was going to die young. I basically turned to booze and drugs for a number of years, since I thought my life was going to be short lived anyway, I thought…let’s party. I woke up around the age of 28 and thought “Crap (cleaned that up for all the young readers.), look at all the years I’ve wasted.” It took about another 10 years to build myself up, self esteem wise, career wise, and financially.
Then I hit 40 and all those years of high blood pressure and being overweight started to take its toll. I developed and was on medication for type-2 diabetes, increased high blood pressure, pulmonary hypertension, sleep apnea and high cholesterol. My grandmother and father had both died of complications from diabetes. I was getting a little concerned about my health, but I thought medication would take care of it.
I had continued to lift weights all those years setting a few powerlifting state records and winning the Masters Nationals Bench Press competition. I had a lot of muscle and strength, but I had a ton of fat too and was grossly out of shape.
My wake up call came in September 2003 when he was walking out to get the mail. I couldn’t catch my breath and had this pressure on my chest. I thought I was having a heart attack. I was 43 and thought I was going to die young like my father had. While not a heart attack, I had suffered a pulmonary embolism – a sudden blockage in a lung artery, usually due to a blood clot that travels to the lung from the leg (I had accidentally kicked a fence post while cutting the grass). I recovered, but was told I needed to lose weight or I was going to die.
That night, while lying in the emergency room and sucking on a nitro pill, I thought about my Dad. After he had died, after years of suffering through multiple heart bypass surgeries, (mainly caused by complications from his Diabetes) my Mom was cleaning out the medicine cabinet in the kitchen one day. She had filled up a huge paper back full of his medications. It was the pill band wagon, take one pill for whatever is wrong with you and have to take another pill to undo the side effects of the first pill. It’s a never ending cycle once you get started. I did not want to get on that cycle.
At that point, the decision for me to have weight loss surgery was a no-brainer. I already knew everything I needed to know about the Bariatric Surgery Program at OSU Medical Center because I had researched it with my (now ex) wife, the year before. My ex wife had the surgery and had lost 125 pounds. On June 17, 2004, I had the surgery and never looked back. Contrary to what many think, surgery is not the easy way out. It’s just a tool that helps an obese person shed excessive weight.
I honestly believe that having the surgery has doubled my life span. Another plus for me is I’ve been off all the medications I used to take prior to surgery. My blood sugar and blood pressure levels are lower now than when I was on the medications. I’m finally off the pill bandwagon and am feeling good.
Below are a few links to some articles I've written...enjoy.
Obesity Help Fitness Members N Motion page
http://obesityhelp.com/forums/fitness/cmsID,8231/mode,content/
GetUP! A newsletter about throwing and training. I'm in Vol IV Issues 1,5 and 9 so far. And mentioned in Vol V Issue 4.
New one published 11-23-07 Vol VI Issue 5
http://danjohn.org/thx.pdf
http://danjohn.org/getup.html
Come post your workouts or ask questions on the new Fitness Forum for Weight Training
http://obesityhelp.com/forums/fitness/a,messageboard/board_id,5104/
