Day 211: Seven months out

Well, today is my seventh month post-op and I thought I would talk about my journey right from the beginning. I could start from the surgery, but I think I should start from where it starts for real. About 2 1/2 years ago, Cindy told me she wanted to get the lap band surgery for weight loss. Like me, she has had a problem with weight for a long time and she was always determined to get the surgery even if she had to take out a loan to do it. I was fully ready to get behind her and support her through all of it, but I knew I couldn't afford the surgery. But I was willing do whatever she needed me to do to help her get through it. Well, a little more than a year ago, she found out her insurance would cover the surgery and she started the procedures to get qualified. One of those procedures was attending a seminar for the surgeries. Well after the seminar, she decided she wanted the sleeve instead. More importantly, she found out that my insurance covered it as well. I called my insurance and confirmed and I reserved a seat at the next seminar. After the seminar, I knew I was getting the sleeve as soon as I got fully qualified. I had to go through blood work, a class, a psych eval, and about a dozen visits with my doctor to get qualified but I did it and I finally got to my day of surgery. Almost six months ahead of Cindy, due to the difference in our insurance requirements.

It wasn't an easy road to follow, either. In that six months we started having problems and we broke up. We decided to break up before we got to the point where we were hating each other and not wanting to see each other ever again. It was hard on both of us, but it's what had to be done. Looking back now, with the experience I've had over the last 7 months, it's been better for us. I went first and I found out about all the little pitfalls and traps and things to avoid. The most important one I came across was the emotional storms. At seven months out and getting testosterone treatments, my storms are under control now. Unfortunately, Cindy is now starting to realize the power in the storms because she's dealing with them herself. Worse, all I can do is sympathize because we're not together. I can't really be there to hold her hand and help her through it. I don't think her current significant other has fully grasped the awesomely destructive capability of the emotional storms and I'm not exactly inclined to give him any advice on the subject. Let him figure that out on his own like I did. I was lucky in that I was solo on my trip so the only person I could go off on was myself. I learned to identify the storms and develop my own ways to deal with them and weather them until they pass.

But as I said, I'm seven months post op now, I'm 171 pounds lighter overall, and 148 pounds lost since the surgery. On the average, I've lost 21 pounds per month. That's completely amazing to me. That also averages to 5 pounds per week which is healthy, I think. I've lost 4 shirt sizes and 7 pants sizes. My face is really thinning out now and I look completely different. I'm within 49 pounds of my goal weight and I'm feeling really good about things right now. I will reach my goal, and more than likely sooner than I expected. When I started the journey on January 10th of this year, I would have been happy to have lost 100 pounds in six months including my preop weight loss. I'm 7 months out and I've lost far more than that. People at work are seeing me differently. Hell, people when I go out treat me differently. I'm no longer invisible, hidden by my fat. I suppose that a big part of that invisibility was shrinking into myself, keeping away from people so they wouldn't notice the fact that I was fat. The problem is I got so good at it, people just didn't see me at all. But now I'm out there, projecting myself, making myself seen. Sharing myself with the rest of the world. And why not? I'm awesome, you know (remember, your not-so-humble scribe)!

Anyway, I've rambled on enough for tonight.

Signing off now.

Do Svidanja!