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A 2nd Chance at Life

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First time posting on these forums, so hello everyone. Glad to have found this space to talk about my experience as I find it very hard to communicate with everyone else in my regular day to day life.

I'm exactly 15 days post op (Gastric Sleeve) as I type this. And honestly, after reading many replies on here, I almost feel survivors guilt, but I do feel blessed as I thankfully did not experience many issues whatsoever. 24 hours after surgery I walked out of the hospital on my own, sore, but proud. I guess my biggest issue has been sleeping as I move around a lot while I sleep and at the beginning it would wake me up from pain for twisting and turning while I slept, and even then, that's no longer an issue. But, I never had nausea, or vomit, did not take any pain medication past the first 48 hours, I'm not trying to brag, just feeling fortunate after reading some stories on here.

Everyone has their own stories and journeys, for me I was obese my whole life. This was ok through my 20s as I felt invincible, and eventually those checks I was writing on my body came back to collect. Back pain and diabetes were first. But it wasn't until a week before the world shut down that things went really off the wall. A long term relationship ended, and as the world closed, it kept me from my support groups, and led me down a dark path of basically eating and drinking myself almost to death with nowhere to go. At my absolute heaviest I thought I would die at a staggering 407 pounds. Poetic as that's the area code for my city lol.

Knowing I had to make a change or I would not make it to 40 I went to a doctor, which led to a cancer scare. At that moment my life changed, and I knew change needed to happen now. I began diet and working out and made it down to about 375-380 where I had been hovering for over two years. Bariatric surgery is what I knew I needed to help me, and after fighting with insurance for two years, I finally got a new job last November, and the insurance there covered the surgery 100%! So I began the process in January. And on May 30th, 2024, at 10AM, I went in for surgery.

To say that life has changed, for the better, is an understatement. In two weeks I have dropped almost 30 pounds. I'm feeling amazing as far as my stomach (kinda weirds me out to say pouch lol) is concerned post surgery. Still in the liquid diet though looking forward to chewing something this weekend, as I'm absolutely sick of Jello. I am still not hungry, and almost feels like a miracle. My blood sugar is stabilizing without medication. My blood pressure is improving almost daily. Walking a mile a day does not leave me searching for oxygen, and I can't wait to start the gym on June 30th and really kick this into high gear.

TL/DR: This is a second change at life, and I will not waste it.

Look forward to learning more from others through this process. Onwards and upwards.

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Top Posters In This Topic

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  • Hiddenroses
    Hiddenroses

    Hello and welcome! Also -- congratulations!! How exciting it must be to be at that stage of seeing the weight peel off, and past the point of initial recovery, and past the point of choosing which sur

  • Bypass2Freedom
    Bypass2Freedom

    I am so glad that you made this decision for yourself, sometimes it is the hardest thing to do. I remember getting to the point where I just shut myself indoors and I couldn't face going outside

  • summerseeker
    summerseeker

    Well done for getting the surgery you so badly needed. Its amazing isn't it. A little word of caution though, You will be eating tiny amounts and this will not sustain hard core exercise. You

Featured Replies

17 hours ago, UnknownJorge said:

Lets go! I know that feeling of dying. At my heaviest I was prepared for heart failure at any moment. Now we are past that. I see you've dropped over 100 pounds! You've shed an entire person! I'm so proud of you! Onwards and upwards!

i shed an entire person, weight and personality wise. im a new man.

i should have done this in 2011.

use this to push yourself forward and be a new person.

Edited by cokey

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