I’m not sure why since I’m a pretty private person, but for some reason I want to share my story here. Honestly even if no one reads this, I think just writing it will help me feel better? This first thing people should know is that weight loss surgery has saved my life and I have not even had surgery yet! How? Well it’s a long and winding story. Grab a Protein Shake and settle in… In January 2020 (you know, back in ancient history pre-covid), my insurance changed and started covering bariatric surgery. I had thought about surgery before, but my wife was set against it and especially considering the out of pocket cost, had decided it wasn’t for me. With the change, I decided to investigate it more. In February of that year, I booked an info session at the biggest bariatric center in the state. They let me know all the things I’d need to do before I’d be approved, so I started the dietitian visits, started booking appointments with all my various doctors, and just generally trying to be as prepared as I could. Among the approvals I’d need from my various doctors, one was with my cardiologist. I was born with a bicuspid aortic valve, which can mean nothing, or can very serious. The biggest challenge is that over time, the valve can become calcified, causing an already reduced blood flow to become much worse. Since we knew it was potentially dangerous for me, my surgeon insisted we get full approval before proceeding. At the cardiologist appointment, he decided further testing was needed. By early April 2020, I had some CT procedures to get a better idea how badly the valve was blocked. Things were not looking good, so I was scheduled to undergo a cardiac catheterization procedure to see if I was a candidate for valve replacement via cath. Here’s where things take a turn for the worse. During the cath procedure, the doctor noted that my left anterior descending artery was 90% blocked. In the medical world this artery is known as the “widow maker” because blockage will cause a heart attack and the survival rate for widow maker heart attacks is only about 12%. I’ll stop here for today. (Yes it’s a cliff hanger, but spoiler alert, I’m still alive!) I think you can see how I can rightfully say bariatric surgery saved my life, even though I have not even had surgery yet. Had I not decided to have the surgery, I probably would never have had that cardiology visit, meaning I would not have known about the blocked artery.