Happy Star Wars Day! May the 4th be with you!!!
Two years ago this morning I was sitting in my surgical suite waiting to have my weight loss surgery. Today, I'm preparing for the publication of my book about that journey that has turned me into an entirely new person. My oh my what a two years it's been.
To celebrate the launch of the website, my two year surgiversary, and the growing mailing list we're compiling (have you signed up? Why not?) - I'm going to present to you here today an excerpt from #SLEEVELIFE. Specifically the moments before my surgery.
Excerpted from #SLEEVELIFE, pages 67-68.
As soon as the conversation was over, my nurse was there and told me it was time. I looked around the suite for my wheelchair or gurney. Nope. We were walking to the surgical suite. WALKING. Like on the way down The Green Mile.
We walked down a hallway and turned a corner into the oper- ating room. There was the operating table, complete with arm board and straps. Essentially a lethal injection table. I felt my heart thumping in my chest like a bass drum.
“Just hop up on the table and scoot down. We’ll get you secured.” I lay down on the table and my breathing was elevated as was my blood pressure. I could feel the pulsing in my head. I was starting to freak out. Before I had a chance to think, here came the mask.
“Just breath deeply for me.”
Now my brain took over.
Hey. You know what, man? We’ve lost fifteen pounds through the preoperative diet. That’s not so bad. It was manageable. Maybe we just keep doing that. Yeah. Let’s do that. We’ll just stay on the preoperative diet and go home. Maybe we just cancel this thing.
“Okay, time to think of something pleasant.”
Oh shit.
Next thing I remember, I was sitting in a chair in the dark in my preoperative suite, barely aware of anything, except for one really important fact. I was alive.