Oh hai!

First things first!

The "SMO" in my blog title refers to the fact that I am (as of writing this) Super Morbidly Obese, which is defined as having a BMI of over 45. My current BMI is about 60, down from an all-time high of 65 a few months back. Three weeks from tomorrow, on January 19th 2010, I will climb onto an operating table and a very nice lady will rearrange my insides for me (laparoscopically, if all goes according to plan) so that I will, hopefully, lose a whole lot of weight. I need to lose about another 100 lbs (from my current weight) just to get to the point of being "regular" morbidly obese, about 200 lbs to be classified as "overweight", and about 230 lbs to reach "normal" status, which would be about 150 lbs on my 5'6" frame.

Having weight loss surgery is a pretty drastic step, but as you can see, I am drastically overweight. I am lucky that I have relatively few health issues as a result of my weight. My blood pressure is high and I have some joint issues, as well as asthma (which is mainly caused by allergies, and pre-dates much of my weight gain, but I am sure the extra weight isn't helping). But my cholesterol, A1C, fasting blood sugar, etc are all solidly in the normal range. I know that if I continue to be this heavy, that's not going to last forever. I've done every diet known to man, I took PhenFen, Meridia, and that stuff that makes you leak oil out of your ass. None of it has worked. I hope that this will.

I have a couple of major reasons for wanting to do this. The biggest one is that my weight is really, really slowing me down. I calculate my actions based on my weight. I avoid going to places where I might not have a comfortable place to sit, or where I might not fit in the seat, or where there will be tight spaces, or stairs, or long walks due to parking. I rarely go to the mall, or a museum. Concerts are iffy, because if they're sit-down ones, I might not be able to fit in the seats, and if they're standing ones...well, I'd have to stand. I only go to certain movie theaters, where I know the armrests flip up. I don't fly.

I want to be able to move, to walk, to go places without considering the parking situation, to travel. I am tired of being stared at by strangers, pointed at by children, treated rudely by salespeople. I am tired of being tired.

The second big reason is that my husband and I would like to start a family in a couple of years. At my current size, I am more likely than not to have major complications during pregnancy. Yes, having had WLS can also cause complications, but the statistics show that most women who wait the required amount of time to get pregnant have normal, healthy pregnancies.

This is a major commitment. I will have to eat a certain way for the rest of my life. I will have to take a pile of vitamins every day for the rest of my life. I will have to go to follow-up appointments, blood draws, support group meetings. To me, that's all worth getting my life back.