I made the initial appointment out of curiosity, because they had told me on the telephone that you had to be at least eighty to one hundred pounds overweight to qualify for the surgery, and I didn't believe I would quite make the minimum weight requirment.
Well, I made the initial appointment, where I met Carla, who has since become a good friend, along with all of the other ladies at Neweigh�.
They interviewed me and then weighed me�..I made the grade. I thought I weighed maybe forty or fifty pounds overwieght, but ended at a petite 452 pounds!
Well, to say I was living in denial would be kind of an understatement. I decided right then that I wanted the surgery, however life couldn't have been so simple. I had to first get approval from Neweigh, and then from my insurance company.
Well, after many trials and travails, I got my approval from both and surgery was scheduled for July 13, 1999 at the Bellaire Medical Center Hospital in Houston at 10:00 a.m.
I got to the hospital early and did all the intake paperwork, and the anesthesiologist came in and doped me up. The next thing I knew it was late evening and it hurt.
I stayed in the hospital for two days and was discharged on a thursday. I went home and my son, Austin came over to help me while I was recovering from surgery. I was mobile, but not able to get up and down from a lying position for a few days without help.
I returned to work the following week, and began my regimen. For the first three weeks, I was restricted to a liquid diet only, consisting of SlimFast, water of course, juices, etc. After that I was allowed to return to soft solids for three weeks, and then to introducing regular foods one at a time to see how well I tolerated them.
I had dreaded the prospect of being on liquids for the first three weeks, not sure how I would be able to survive on that . I was used to hitting the local chinese and mexican food buffets a couple times a week, and the kids at Jack in the Box knew me by the sound of my voice over the drive through. At all 53 locations in town.
Well, I survived, and eventually went back on solid foods, and have done great. I have so far gone down over 150 pounds and counting.
A lot has happened in the last year. During one of my pre-op visits to the doctors offices at Neweigh in June of 1999, I met another patient, Cheryl Carter in the waiting area. We hit it off and began dating, becoming engaged at Christmas. We were married on June 24, 2000 with many Neweigh friends attending. I also lost my son Austin in a traffic accident in February of 2000, at the age of 18.
So, life has not been all easy to this point. The good has been incredibly good, and the bad has been devastating. I'm not being trite when I say that such is life.
A part of our journey through weight loss and a healthier lifestyle is being able to maintain weight loss through the daily stress that life will throw at us. It's not always easy, but then nothing worthwhile ever is. Stay tuned for further updates as the weight comes off. Also, check out the links at the bottom for more information about Neweigh and their after care support. There's also a link to OnlineVBGSupport, a support group for surgical weight loss patients that I help moderate. Thanks for visiting, and come back in! Caio for now. John
