I worked. My dad’s had open heart surgery multiple times. I guess open-heart one time lots of stents grew up very-very heavy along with the bulk of the rest of my family. So same with my mom. Mom dad both had high blood pressure, diabetes. Mom went into had quadruple bypass and rested twice on the table never fully recovered, spent six months in hospital and finally went home in hospice. So I think it’s pretty easy that’s probably my trigger point by definite. I gave myself a month or so to grieve and that was it. We had a birthday party for my wife in March of last year. Took photos through all the fun. I woke up the next day. Looked at the photos and said okay that’s it I’m done and that was the day I stopped. I kind of gave up everything at that point and completely changed my lifestyle and it wasn’t long after that before I found Dr. Ganta.

I’m a research guy man. I’m a data techno geek. So lots of research online, looked at reviews, people’s comments, who’s had surgery it pretty much any data I could find on surgeons etc, etc. went back and forth even on procedures. So I found it he’s one of the best and highly recommended here in Austin that’s what led me to his doorstep. If I’m going to have someone cut me open and do something I want the best. I’m I believe in you get what you pay for.

I had the gastric sleeve done on August 15th of 2011. At my heaviest I can’t believe I’m saying this was 380 pounds. Total I lost about 80 before I had anything done and I’ve dropped let’s see about a 107 after a little bit more than that we’ve got to be more than that yeah that’s about right I guess 110 after surgery.

After surgery there’s some discomfort. I mean it’s an abdominal surgery. So there’s some pain associated to it. It wasn’t bad it was very minimal. I never felt in agony. I never felt like I was hurting. For me the toughest part was clear liquids for two weeks afterwards right. So in the grand scheme of things for the benefit there’s no question. I’d do it in a heartbeat a thousand times over.

Feedback from people I think it ranges all the way in probably in different categories. One everyone treats you very different. That’s that’s a good thing but I think there’s a I don’t think there’s a stigma associated with being heavy and people develop an opinion by the looks of you versus by who you are and being someone completely different looking very different their opinion is right off the bat change. So friends and family they run the gambit. In most cases I’ve had overwhelming support and happiness from my family not all of them would choose to go this route. Even though maybe they it might be a viable option but ultimately they’ve been supported. Friends it runs the gambit but I don’t think you go through any one of these things and you do it for – you can’t do it because friends and family and you’ve got to do it for what’s right for you and make your own decision really except for you immediate family.

Ganta is amazing surgeon. I would highly recommend him. He is thoughtful. He is calculated. He is honest. He’s going to recommend something that’s right for you. We’ve had lots of discussions in terms of different options and procedures and down to the point we were thinking one thing based on my success and where it got me we changed the procedures.

I don’t think there’s any doubt in my mind that the risk is ten times higher if not more than that for not having or not losing the weight whether you choose surgery or not it’s not just the medical risk. There’s quality of life and fullness of life that most of us especially if you kind of grew up that way and became that way whatever you don’t realize that you’re missing it. This is not there but it is we miss out on lots and so I think the risks are much higher not finding a way to lose the way or not leveraging technology which is very much the way I view these procedures rates, very different than cellphone. It’s a tool. It’s not the thing that’s going to make you change. It’s just one piece of the pie so to speak.