My Sleeve
I have struggled with weight most of my life and all of my adult life. The last 5 years particularly I have gained a lot of weight though. Like most everybody who struggles with weight it was a roller coaster of ups and downs, I would find a fad diet that worked for me and lose some weight, then gain it back and usually a little more with it. I have worked at an underground coal mine for 15 years, so I have had a fairly physical job and got a pretty good work out daily, but even with that I was struggling with my weight. A little over 5 years ago I was promoted to being a maintenance supervisor. I thought that now being that I wasn’t working physically like before I would have more energy to work out and exercise and I could pack healthier lunches and finally be able to lose some weight and get healthy. I couldn’t have been more wrong. I was working a lot more hours, dealing with a lot more stress and my eating habits were the worse they had ever been. My weight steadily climbed. My doctor was concerned and mentioned the idea of weight loss surgery to me and I told him that I just needed to buckle down and commit to losing weight and I could do it on my own.
“In 2015 I started noticing how easily I got winded doing anything, even tying my shoes was rough.”
In 2015 I started noticing how easily I got winded doing anything, even tying my shoes was rough. As a coal miner you are required to walk out of the mine a couple times a year and I was getting to the point that I didn’t know if I was going to be able to make it. I knew that I needed to do something, but it was hard to exercise because I got winded so easily and my body hurt because of all the weight that I was carrying. I felt like I was past the point of no return. About halfway through the year I found out that my health insurance coverage at work was going to be changing in January and the coverage wasn’t going to be nearly as good. I started really thinking about getting weight loss surgery and that fall I made an appointment with my doctor and told him I had decided to do it and asked if he thought it was possible to have it done by the end of the year. He started the paper work on his end and referred me to Blossom Bariatrics saying that they were great to work with and if anyone could get things pushed through before the end of the year that they could. I started talking to Mindi who helped me out a lot with all my questions and making sure I was getting all of the correct paper work and info in. I was so excited when she called and said “Cody, you are approved!!! When do you want to schedule your surgery?”
“I was so excited when she called and said “Cody, you are approved!!! When do you want to schedule your surgery?”
I was excited and scared, stuff just got real. Time flew by and the next thing I knew it was time to start my preop diet. It was tough I went through some major carb and sugar withdrawals the first few days, but it got easier. I just kept reminding myself of all the reasons I was doing this, my health, my family, my career…. I was going to be able to run and hike with my 16 year old daughter, wrestle with my 13 year old son, look good for my beautiful wife and be leading people out of the mine on our escapeway walks.
“The next morning, we headed to the surgery center where I was again treated extremely well by all of the Blossom Bariatrics staff.”
My wife and I drove to Las Vegas and I went to my preop appointment and talked with Dr. Umbach and had my nutrition class with Michelle. My wife and I learned a lot about the procedure and about eating. The evening before my surgery we went to my favorite place in Las Vegas to eat and had my “last meal”. I had shrank my stomach so much doing the preop diet that I didn’t eat much of it. The next morning, we headed to the surgery center where I was again treated extremely well by all of the Blossom Bariatrics staff. I was very nervous, but the nurses and everyone did a great job soothing my nerves. The surgery went great and soon we were back at our hotel.
My surgery was November 20th 2015. I weighed 338 pounds when I started this journey and am now down to 220 pounds and feel better than I remember feeling in a long time.
*These are actual testimonials, however, individual results may vary. Price depends on multiple factors including health history and known insurance benefits. Program does not include airfare or meals.
