I'm so happy to be banded!

I had an experience today that I won't soon forget: I buy my protein shakes from a lady whose husband had a gastric surgery 20 years ago where most of his stomach was removed. He would have died 19 years ago but his wife has learned everything she could get her hands on about medicine and has miraculously kept him alive on protein shakes and other tasteless food. Well today his intestines finally stopped absorbing food altogether (she says) and nothing is working. They are afraid he's going to die. I was mortified for them. He's such a wonderful man - what a terrible loss if he dies. But I realized how grateful I was that I chose an option that didn't involve risks like that one. I heard a statistic that 1 in 100 people die from the gastric bypass. What odds!

Really, losing 55 pounds has done SO MUCH for me already. I never felt like I was low energy, but now I'm really feeling a difference! I ran the other day. RAN! I fit in airplane seatbelts without the extender and I have ROOM TO SPARE! I can shop in the Newport News catalog and buy hella cute clothes. People are nicer to me... no, really! Men open doors for me now and some even strike up a conversation! My skin is clearer. I can exercise for an hour at an intense pace EVERY DAY! I can plan an adventure trip to Guatamala and not worry that I won't be able to do the zipline or horseback riding because I'm too heavy! I'm more confident in everyday conversation. I fit easily in all the rides at Disneyland. I don't worry all the time that food won't be available to me where I go. I don't choose my vacations based off the food choices. Etc. Etc. Etc.

This is just what I could think of in the 80 seconds that I wrote the above paragraph. There really are so many things that make me grateful to have this band. I think it's the second best choice I've ever made in my life!