My name is William Godfrey and I am a 21 year Army retiree. I currently work as a Culinary instructor and also part time at the Home Depot. My journey has been up and down with weight struggles since retiring. I quit HD back in 2017 to get my culinary degree and during that time I hit an all time high of 303 being 5'6". I've tried all the diets and the last was keto. Before retirement I got a disc fusion from my bulging discs and with this extra weight it just made the pain worse. Going through the VA, we tried just about everything until they told me that VA was authorizing gastric surgeries and doing that would help me release weight and pressure from my back. So here I am after almost 2 years of going through their program requirements, hold ups from COVID, and other issues...I received gastric sleeve surgery on 22 Feb and am now in the loser's club. I'm looking forward to longevity in life and less pain..moreover time with my kids and grandbaby.

Glad you were finally able to have the surgery. Hope you are doing well.