(Be sure to read Part 1 of Larry’s Story first…)
My wife Beth and I discussed having weight loss surgery in early 2008. We had heard good things, and bad things about it. As far as I know, we only knew one person who had actually had weight loss surgery. That person was not very compliant, and didn’t receive much education about her procedure and follow-up. She didn’t have a very good result, in fact she ended up having her band completely drained and is living with no restriction at all… and consequently little to no weight loss.
We didn’t want to be like that. We didn’t want to fail. From our research online we found that people who have gastric bypass surgery lose weight! Compliant or not, they lose weight. Not saying that a person couldn’t drink milkshakes and eat cake and ice cream, and defeat the surgery, they can. But, a large percentage of people who have gastric bypass surgery lose a significant portion of their excess weight. We knew that we aren’t the most compliant folks you’ll meet, so our only choice was gastric bypass surgery.
Hello! I’m Larry, and I’m a Former Fat Dude.
I’ve never been to an AA meeting before, but that first line sounds like what they say there. My name, and an acknowledgement that I was morbidly obese. The difference between AA and FFD is Former Fat Dudes don’t have to attend monthly meetings, at least not FFD meetings. But, the analog between AA and FFD is pretty stong. Us FFD members have overcome a pretty big (pardon the pun…) problem in our lives just as successful AA members have overcome theirs. And just like them we have to be constantly vigil to keep from slipping back into our old habits and end up back where we were.
The story of how I became a fat dude to begin with starts back in the first grade, or there abouts… Just prior to the first grade I had a tonsillectomy. Before that I was a scrawny, sickly little kid. After getting those offensive tonsils removed I “sprouted”… And during the first week of the first grade Mrs. Thompson marched our whole class the two blocks to the Public Library and had us fill out library cards. That library card would be well worn by the time I reached puberty.
Category : daily life
Tags: co-morbidity, cold, dumping, excess skin, hair loss, introduction, lap-band, operation, pouch, pre-op, rny
Originally published November 12, 2008
Tonight was my first meeting in awhile regarding the WLS. It was a group intro session… they had a staff person from Unity talk… and she is 7 years post-op herself. BTW, I realize these posts are getting long and maybe boring… but what do you want me to do? I’ll try to start finding some sort of inspirational or maybe at least humorous images to go along with these posts in the future.
I got there just in time for the meeting. I don’t think all the people there were possible patients… folks are encouraged to bring a support person with them. There were maybe 9-10 guys out of the over 50 there… including myself. The presenter mentioned knowing what it was like to be “here”, to be sitting in this room, all nervous. I’m not though.
My name is Tim Grayless and I’m from Indiana. I used to weigh 385 pounds until I had my RNY surgery on August 5, 2009. I have discovered so much about a disorder that used to control my life, and from time to time I will share those ramblings with all of you her at FFD.com
I am married to my lovely wife Doreen, who is the Director of Scholarships at Indiana University, South Bend, IN.
We have three children: Megan, who is 27 and going for her PhD in Communications at the University of Kentucky. Erin, who works for IBM in San Jose, CA, and Andrew who is finishing his certification for becoming a Physical Therapist. Andrew and Erin got their BA’s from Purdue, and Megan got he BA at Columbus State in Geogia, and her Masters at the University of Arkansas.
I am a part time United Methodist Pastor, and currently on disability. In the near future, God willing, I will be off disability and back to full time work.
Enough for now…see you on formerfatdudes.com.
