Opening Up Shop

I have been thinking about blogging for years. Really since my friend Karen went on a road trip a single 39 year single girl with her friend Simon and came back a married woman (to her friend Simon) and made the announcement via blog. It was a great way to share, it felt very public, yet still private -- only those of us invited to the blog were the ones to know. So I set up a blogspot page -- that was over 2 years ago -- but did nothing with it. Today that changes and I start my own very public/private journey; and I invite you to come along.

As my About Me says I have elected to have weight loss surgery -- specifically gastric bypass -- my first surgery ever. I have not yet had the procedure and it's already been a heck of a ride. Wanna hear about it? I wrote a song about it, here it goes... (showing my age, with the In Living Color reference.) Hmmm... I wonder if I now owe the Wayans Bros. or David Alan Grier some cash? Oh well... Back to the story...

Several years ago I got a dry spot on my ankle, as time went by it grew discolored (dark) and itchy and just darned GREW... a year later it was big enough for me to go see the doctor about it. And again, and again and again. No cure in site. No ointment, no pill, nothing would stop the "rash" from growing. It soon became painful and quite ugly. I'll spare everyone the dark details, suffice to say, it got dark. After a long painful tear filled weekend my friend Katrena.

I end that sentence there on purpose, I am well aware that it's a fragment. I pause here to say the hero of this story despite the fact that I am going to be the central character is Katrena. I can't say enough about what she has meant to my continued survival in this world at this time. Words cannot express it. They just can't do her justice. Unpaused.

Katrena takes me to a different doctor. a dermatologist. An angel really. Dr. Jan Schwartz -- I want to link to her practice here, but I do not yet know how -- looked at my feet and said immediately - this is what you have and these are the medications that you need. I nearly cried (those of you who know me well, know that this is a very true statement.) Then she said, I can't cure you. The only cure is for you to lose a significant amount of weight quite rapidly or you will lose the ability to walk. I heard her loud and clear. Actually I can show you what it sounded like when she said it -- THE ONLY CURE IS TO LOSE WEIGHT OR YOUR FAT ASS WON'T BE ABLE TO WALK -- message received. That was December 2009. Why you should be asking am I only now having the surgery? Well wait. That's what this blog is about... See you next time!