8 Years ago... A new begining.

As I laid on the gurney that would transport me to the OR, I was terrified. The surgeon was late, and they sent the Chaplin over to try to calm my nerves... yeah just what one who is undergoing MAJOR surgery needs to see... a Man of God. Please do not get me wrong here, but he was the last person I wanted to talk to just then.

My doc showed up, with a BoomBox on his shoulder, and I went night night.

They had to pry my fingers off the gurney rails in the OR to get me onto the table... the Doc still calls me WhiteKnuckles to this day!!

4 hours later I woke up, with rerouted innards, to see Clark sitting by my bed, and I knew everything was going to be ok.

Those first few weeks after were hard. I had to learn how to eat again, or should I say eat to live not live to eat.

I was 252 pounds of Me when I checked in that morning, and I will forever be that fat girl in my mind. She lives there always reminding me of how things used to be. I have lost many pounds, but I have not lost her. I can honestly say that she will be with me to the end, and that is really ok. She keeps me grounded. She helps me remember the struggle that this process has been, and why I did it in the first place.

This journey has been a long hard road, with many ups and downs, but it has been worth every second, because I truly believe that had not decided to have Gastric Bypass, there would be no Turtle. I know there would be no Me.

So here is to the past, the fat girl I was, and to the future, the possibilities.