A Primary Journey to Start running Five Miles a Day

I reached out for help from my primary care physician many times and was repeatedly shot down. The cure all in my doctor’s opinion was that I needed to push myself away from the table and start running five miles a day. If I had a dollar for every time he had given me that response I’d be a millionaire.

I had three family members and two close friends that had bariatric surgery a few years prior to our move to Florida. I spent those years as a support person for my family and friends knowing that surgery was something they desperately needed to survive. I researched all surgical options and educated myself as much as possible so I could become their best support person. I searched the Internet for countless hours reading every Web site and study I could find pertaining to surgery, the life changes, eating habits and why people chose to have bariatric surgery.

I became infatuated with the Web sites designated for weight loss patients. I couldn’t wait everyday to read their personal stories, view before and after pictures, see discussions about the WOW moments and the everyday trials and tribulations. I was overjoyed at how this surgery had such a positive effect on so many lives. My family and friends were benefiting from weight loss surgery and they deserved it after all the years of countless yo-yo dieting and co-morbidities (diabetes, high blood pressure and other health problems related to obesity) too long to list.

Driving into work one morning, a voice came over the radio. It was a young woman discussing her health, how it had deteriorated, her co-morbidities and how it was affecting her physically and mentally. I could hear the desperation in her voice when she described how she felt when she couldn’t do certain things with her family and how upsetting it was.

When the commercial was over there was a phone number to call to obtain a copy of her story in the mail. With no hesitation I picked up the phone to call and ordered a copy. I felt like I knew this person’s voice on the other end of the radio, and her story was so familiar but I couldn’t figure out why. When I received the video I waited until everyone was a sleep, popped in the DVD and sat in my recliner with a bag of popcorn eager to learn more.

Check back soon to hear the rest of my story. You can see my "before" picture in this story. If you would like to see me now, please click on my name under the post title!


Original Published Link A Primary Journey to Start running Five Miles a Day

#Blog, #WeightLoss #GeneralSurgerys

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Breast Cancer Survivor Uses Her Experience to Help Other Women

Image
On a typical day at  Johns Hopkins Medical Imaging at Green Spring Station , patients coming in for imaging tests such as  MRIs ,  ultrasounds  and  mammograms have a comforting advocate available in the waiting room. Kate Pisano is a patient liaison — there to meet the needs of the patients by providing resources and support. With Kate’s smile and cheerful attitude, it’s not obvious that recently she too was a patient sitting in the waiting room confronting her own major health challenges. Two years ago Kate was fighting breast cancer and facing it alone as a single working mother of two teenaged sons. Months after a painful divorce, Kate noticed a lump in her breast while getting undressed. “I was afraid of what the lump might mean, so I waited several weeks before finally making an appointment with my doctor,” she said. That appointment led to a mammogram followed by a  biopsy . In April of 2012, Kate’s greatest fear was confirmed: She had breast cancer. “The diagnosis was a complet
Read more

Having pancreatic cancer a suspicious tumor on your pancreas

Image
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=15&v=QDwctWY-DOQ Joseph “Cook” Edens III doesn’t let pancreatic cancer get in the way of living a full life. Edens was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and underwent a Whipple procedure at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. Unfortunately, a bout of pancreatitis returned, and in 2015, surgeon Christopher Wolfgang and his team performed a total pancreatectomy on Edens, removing his entire pancreas and spleen. The Arlington, Virginia, resident is now cancer-free and back to a busy lifestyle of work, sports and family time. About Johns Hopkins Pancreatic Cancer Care Having pancreatic cancer — or a suspicious tumor on your pancreas — is a frightening diagnosis. Johns Hopkins experts, some of the most experienced pancreatic specialists in the country, are working to dispel fear and create hope in patients with pancreatic disease. Pancreatic cancer, tumors and cysts are being treated with dramatic success at Johns Hopkins. The first step when dealing w
Read more

Howard's Weight Loss Journey

Image
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfmgTU6L524 HOME››ABOUT LAHEY TEXT SIZE | SHARE | PRINT Howard's Story “I thank them for helping me get to where I’m at, and they keep telling me that it was all me doing the work. But, I know that if I wasn’t coming every two weeks to see them, I wouldn’t be this way.” They say timing is everything, and in April 2011, Howard Jardine was eager to change his life. Weighing in at 405 pounds, he decided it was finally time to join Lahey’s Medical Weight Loss program. Looking back, Howard says it was one of the best decisions he has ever made, as he found support from a team that encouraged and motivated him throughout his weight loss journey. At 405 pounds, Howard was the heaviest he had ever been, and the heaviest that he wanted to be. He was starting to feel the strain that the weight was causing on his relationship with his five-year-old daughter, and he didn’t want to miss out on her milestones. Howard’s mother was overweight and suffered a stroke a
Read more