texasredleg
I was overweight since I was a little boy. Suffering the taunts and abuse of elementary school, I developed a jovial "laugh-it-off" persona and was able to grow to adulthood with a fairly positive outlook on life. I played varsity sports through high school and was active in high school and college Army ROTC. I maintained a decent weight through my Junior year in college (fluctuated from 210 - 220) when I injured my knee on a military exercise and ballooned up to about 250. Crash diet at 23 enabled me to enter the Army at around 220 and finished basic training at 205. I gained weight during my time in the Army and battled with weight at the end...left service at about 230.
I married soon after finishing my bachelor's degree in 1989 and started my civilian career. Long days doing physically demanding field work kept me from gaining too much weight, but career progression had me spending more time behind a desk and my weight creeped up to around 250....then to around 270. Numerous diets and programs (slim fast, atkins, lean-cuisine, etc.) kept me hovering between 250 and 270 for several years.
Continued to creep up and by age 40, I was probably "stable" at around 275-285. I've remained around this weight and have been lighter/heavier, but fairly stable. I started investigating WLS about 5 years ago and just never persued it. I was diagnosed diabetic this year and have had minor hypertension for about 4 years. At 44 I suddenly went from no medication to 6 or 7 pills a day. I definitely started feeling like I was falling apart....that my body that had always carried the weight fairly well was now betraying me.
I scheduled to attend a WLS seminar with Foundation San Antonio in September 2006. I had always considered the Lap Band, but I came out of the seminar relatively convinced that a permanent solution was what I needed--I needed to commit mentally AND physically. I know it works great for a large number of people, but to me, the Band seemed like 1/2 a committment.
I scheduled my first visit with the surgeon's office and went on December 28, 2006. My wife attended the appointment with me (she's a Physician Assistant) and we moved down the road toward a decision. At that appointment, Dr. Duperier first mentioned VSG as another surgery option. My wife and I were immediately intrigued by the idea of restriction without the malabsorption. Part of me wanted dumping as a tool, but given the stats on RNY patients who don't dump (like 30%), I didn't think tha I wanted to "rearrange my plumbing" without a high likelihood of having dumping as a tool. Further, many VSG folks report symptoms similar to dumping. Thus my ultimate selection of the VSG procedure.
I was given some pre-surgery requirements: Upper/Lower Endoscopy; Sleep Study; Gall Bladder Ultrasound; and lose 15 pounds. I managed to accomplish all requirements and was scheduled for surgery. I began my "new life" on April 23, 2007...and I'm now about 5 pounds over my goal weight. I'm now 18 months post-op and I've been maintaining at/near my goal weight without serious effort since about 9 months post-op.
