Jeremy Smith
I started considering the weight loss surgery back in about 2005. I have been gaining and losing weight for about 6 or 7 years now but never really with any great success. In 2004, I weighed right around 365 pounds and went to the Duke Weight Loss Center for 2 weeks. The site and facility were great, and all of the staff was wonderful, but the biggest problem was me, not them. My head just wasn't into it. I lost about 20 pounds but quickly put it back on.
After the Duke center, my family and I moved to Los Angeles. I quickly got back up to 365 and stayed there for a year or two. One day it hit me and I started to eat better and exercise. By 2006 I had actually lost about 45 pounds and was doing really well. I decided to move back to North Carolina, and then things got progressively worse.
I was back in NC by May of 2006. The problem was, all my old habits and places to go eat were near me again. I was very familiar with my surroundings and I started going back to McDonalds and other fast food joints and basically lived off of fast food and soda. It seems like those were the only things that I ate. I slowly crept up to 380, then 390, then by the time I knew it, I hit 400 pounds. 400 pounds was a very very sad day. My depression kicked in at an all time high, and I just didn't feel like doing anything anymore. I would avoid even family events, wake up late, not do work on the house, nothing. I just didn't want to do anything, and I didn't . We all know that feeling. I didnt have a very positive outlook on life, and just focused on work, that was it. It came to be that's all I did was work, and nothing else.
In August of 2007, I actually had be researching the WLS for quite a while and was half-heartedly deciding on doing it. I was to the point where I was convinced that I might as well go through the process of getting all the insurance stuff behind me, and if I hadn't lost the weight by then, I would seriously consider it. So I went through 3 months, and then I missed November, which really made me somewhat mad. So I started again in December, because I needed 6 months of visiting my primary care physician.
In January 2008 something odd happened that really snapped me out of my "trance". My father met me for breakfast at Mimi's and said, "this is your intervention". It struck me as odd, but looking back thats what my driving force began as. I realized that my family truly cared for me and they wanted me to do this surgery. It helped me understand that what I was doing to myself was not only hurting me, but the people around me as well. That's when I decided that this is what I needed to do.
So I went through my 6 months, and in May I thought I was ready, and oh boy was I wrong. Here is why. First, my primary care physician was so backed up, it took him a month to get the dictation notes over to Dr Enochs. I was frustrated and furious, but I had to wait. Looking back, it really wasn't that bad over all, I was just impatient. I was supposed to travel in July and it was May. It usually takes 3 to 4 weeks for approvals to come back from the insurance company, so I was cutting it close. Then there were problems with the approvals, and problems getting all the correct information in and so finally I gave up on having the surgery before I traveled.
During my travels, I got a phone call saying that the surgery had been approved and that my date was August 18, 2008. A date that has changed my life forever.
