Welcome to me...

What does the modern woman do when faced with life changing and altering events? They BLOG! With a push of support from my very wonderful significant other....here I am. He will be now called "Q" in any posts to spare the poor man's identity. It's bad enough he has to deal with crazy me.

***Warning*** This blog will be an honest and upfront place for me to reveal my innermost thoughts and feelings on everything I am going through. It is in no way, shape or form a way for me to hurt my friends and family. They are my opinions and feelings. You don't like it...don't read it. :)  (Isn't everything nicer with a smiley face at the end of it?)

The cannonball name? Well, let’s just say that is an inside joke between some good friends, and this theory. Sometimes you have to just dive in, but I prefer to just CANNONBALL! I kind of just blast through life. Why do it any other way?
So you are probably wondering what this "life changing" event is that has me purging my soul to the anonymous people of the world wide web? Gastric Bypass, specifically Roux en Y Laparoscopic Bariatric Surgery.

Get that picture you have of me out of your head now that I have said that. I'm not what you think. There is a stigma with the word “obese” and it is not always a good one. I am clean, not lazy, and I do try hard at staying healthy. That is why this is so MIND BOGGLING that I am doing this. I am what you call a "light weight" in the Weight Loss Surgery World.

How did my weight start packing itself on? I was a curvy 8…happy with my body. When did it go downhill? Since the birth of my second son...my weight has been an issue. I have tried every single thing you can think of. I had tried tons of fad diets. These may work for some people, but they DID not work for me. And I stuck with them. Here are some of the few:

Weight Watcher
LA Weightloss
SlimFast
Southbeach
The Juice Diet
Some nasty supplement of grass diet
and my last and final attempt was with Get in Shape for Women.

That is when I knew there was something wrong with me. I was getting the snot beaten out of me 3 days a week. Each day consisted of 30 minutes of cardio and 30 minutes of strength in different areas of the body. That coupled with nutritional support was supposed to work. It didn't. I followed it to a "T". The man who ran it even came to my house to poke around my cabinets to see that I wasn't cheating. It was defeating.
After that fiasco I went to my Dr. They ran me through a gauntlet of tests. First I had PCOS...next I had a blood sugar disorder...next it was my hormones? I was all over the place and had no answers. Doctors had no answers for me.

Fast Forward to 1 year later. The dreaded yearly physical. (insert scary music here) We had just moved into our home and I had changed over to a new Dr. in the area. I came prepared with a list! I was hopeful this new Doctor would try something new or have that magic answer!  Of course my weight was the last thing on the list, lol.

Here comes the part where it would have been easier if he just clubbed me with his clipboard. "Have you considered weight loss surgery?" he says to me as we are finishing up. Let's just say it’s a good thing they took my blood pressure before he dropped that one on me.

Truth is I hadn't though of it. I’m not that big! At least I don’t think I am? Do I have some warped image of myself that others don’t see? I can still tie my shoes! Why do I need to consider weight loss surgery???
But obviously I have now...so here is where I am today. I have done all the necessary appointments and have been cleared by my surgeon and insurance to go through with the surgery. I am booked for April 27th. I’ll tell you more about my Surgeon and the process in another blog…another day. This was just meant for the basics.

I am hoping with these posts that 1, they help me stay sane and 2, they help someone else out there who may need a laugh, or know that they are not alone.

I also want to send a big thank you to Q,J,S,K,M and T. You know who you are and what you mean to me. Plain and simple. Without your support, I know I couldn’t do this.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy my blog.