Memoirs of a Soon-to-Be Former Fat Guy

Wow… 200.

That’s a lot of posts. I started the blog in 2010, so we’re approaching the 3rd anniversary. Granted, I did take almost a year away from writing, otherwise we might be talking about 300 posts. So, if you counted the actual time period when I did something with the blog, I’m averaging a post every 3-4 days. Some months there are more, some months, there are less.

It’s the nature of the beast, I suppose. If I have something to write about, I write. I hate when I say I’m going to write every day for a month and I find myself struggling to write something because I can’t think of anything to say.

At least on the chosen topic.

I could always go off on a tangent about the infield fly rule, or the designated hitter, or any hot button issue. I could wax rhapsodically on pretty much anything ranging from music to movies to television.

That’s not why you come here, and while I’d like to believe I’d write whether y’all read my scribbling or not, you’re the reason I keep doing it. I appreciate everyone reading this, from friends and family, co-workers, Nigerian princes, and any other subgroup you can name.

So, onto the actual meat of the topic… support group.

We had a session last night and the guest speaker was a psychologist who works with the clinic. She had an interesting graphic showing the circles of support ranging from the center (you) to immediate family, extended family, friends and coworkers, the clinic staff and finally social media and online groups. To sum up, she stated that if you have two or three of these support levels, you’ll succeed. It was also noted that the clinic as a whole has an 85% success rate for people who get the surgery and stick with the program. It was really inspiring and it’s nice to hear that there are so many successes just in one practice.

They also announced that they are looking to pair up post-op patients who have succeeded with pre-op patients who are struggling. That’s a great idea, in my opinion, because these are people who have gone through the same process, have been fat and beaten the odds.

Supportive Partner Woman (Awesomest spouse EVER!) also managed to attend the group session with me, which really meant a lot. She got to see what goes on at a meeting and to meet some of the folks she’s only heard me talk about. She passed on sampling some of Dr. McPhee’s minestrone which was quite tasty, despite the fact that he left the pasta sitting on the counter next to the stove at home. This did make me hope that on my surgery date, he doesn’t forget to reattach anything important. His food is actually quite good, though, and sampling some of the recipes is a highlight of group.

In other news, Bariatric Physician Specialists was just recognized as a Center of Excellence in bariatric surgery, which is a pretty big deal. As comfortable as I was with the procedure, it still makes me feel better knowing they have a national accreditation. I also had the opportunity to speak with Dr. McPhee for a few minutes and he’s pretty excited for me.

In short, it’s been a pretty long road, to get to this point. It’s going to be longer after the operation. This is a change for the rest of my life. I plan to continue blogging about the journey and it won’t always be rosy, I’m sure. There will always be those who don’t agree with me taking that step. To them I say, “It’s OK if you don’t agree with this choice. I just ask that you respect my choice and we’ll be fine.”

After all, it’s my life and if I could do it another way, I would.

My journey is just beginning.

Thank you for reading.

Song of the Day: Candy-O – The Cars

If you really want to be depressed, weigh yourself in grams – Jason Love