5 years

 Time seems to go so very fast.  It has already been a bit more than 5 years now since my surgery.  A lot, and boy do I mean a lot has happened in these 5 years.  Major changes within the family, marriage, cancer with my husband, the loss of a family member, various sicknesses, my mother becoming bed ridden, just so many things.  I feel like I have lived a lifetime in just a few short years.  But through it all even though there were a lot of changes and stressful situations there have been many, many good times as well.  Many times filled with love and laughter and peace and just goodness.  

As far as my surgery and weight loss goes I went for my 5 year check up in the end of September.  My weight was still up a bit and when I expressed my concern the surgeons office suggested a few things.  First she wanted me to go to my PCP and get my thyroid checked out to make sure there was no issue there.  Secondly she wanted me to talk to the medical weight loss side.  Third of all she suggested again that perhaps I see a therapist to help talk about all the things that have happened over the last few years.  I went to my PCP and the thyroid tests were ran and that was all normal which is a good thing.  So next I set up and went to the Medical weight loss doctor.  She was very kind and gave me hope.  See, over the last several months I have been exercising and doing what I can to control my eating but I have had this at times overwhelming hunger hit me that almost feels like more than I can control and it has been hard.  She asked me about that and she reassured me that basically it is not my fault.  There has been lots more research going on and they are learning more and more that genetics plays a large roll in weight control issues.  Due to my family history of major obesity she said that my genetics play a large part of that almost uncontrollable urge to eat and that my body is starting to fight because it remembers being heavy my whole life and so it is trying to fight against the weight loss.  She gave me a medicine to try that helps to get that hunger under control and calm the cravings.  I have only been on it a week but I have lost 5 pounds so far.  I am so hopeful that this is going to help me get these few pounds back off and get back to my goal weight.  I have also made an appointment with the therapist that works with the weight loss program and so I know that piece of the puzzle is going to only help me that much more to get the emotional side of things worked out.  I am thankful and hopeful tonight.

People often ask that if after these 5 years if I still am glad I did the surgery and I can say without any doubt that it is still the best thing I have ever done for myself.