The Man Cold strikes again …….

Giving birth, bariatric surgery, brain surgery, and dental surgery are just a few things that are less awful and painful than the man cold, according to men literally EVERYWHERE. Like, what even is this? Also, I now have the cold. Marriage really is the gift that keeps on giving.

In other news, I went back to work this week. Still not the full days I was doing which is huge for me. I had always put my career on top of the life pyramid, with me and everything else coming second, third, fourth…… you get me. I swear to God, turning 40 unlocks something in your brain that helps you reflect on your priorities list, being diagnosed with NAFLD was also a defining moment.

So, the elephant in the room. Why did I choose to do gastric bypass surgery? Something that you don’t hear a lot about when you’re overweight is how genetics plays such a huge part in the weight challenge. It’s just an endless stream of advice that doesn’t work for most. Eat in a calorie deficit, reduce carb intake – no not that carb, that one is good. Eat three meals a day, eat six meals a day, drink five litres of water, cardio, no cardio weights only, stay away from dairy, eat full fat dairy there is less sugar… Oh you have PCOS, good luck. Sure these might work for some, but if you’re like me (clearly not Gods favorite), there was no smoking gun. Cue the vicious cycle that ensues.

There is still a stigma about surgery to help combat obesity, the more time I spent researching it’s obvious that progress is happening. But, there’s a lot that can be done to educate people on their options and not enough being talked about in our health care system. If I didn’t have the means to do a private surgery, I would have had a three to four year wait. Who knows how much more advanced the diabetes and everything else could have been by then. The hoops you need to jump through to have life saving surgery blows my mind, even though there is more than enough compelling evidence on the benefits of bariatric surgery.

So, I did what all control freaks do and I took my control back, took my life back. Even at three weeks post Op, I will be forever proud of myself for taking this step. More importantly, I feel like I can use my voice to tell other people what I have learned, that there are options, that you are not alone. That surgery isn’t the easy way out, but for some of us, it’s the only way out. Be kind to yourself, don’t take shit from anyone and know your god damn worth.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to try and find my caregiver give a shit and check on my husband. Thoughts and prayers are in order.