Paying it forward...

     Hey Y'all, thanks for reading.  I am thinking this is gonna be a fairly short post, not a whole lot to report this week.

I am in the choir at the church April and I attend.  The last few years they have done a special men's choir for Father's Day.  I have been in it the last two years.  This year the dress code for the services was a single color button down shirt and jeans.  I love being put in a position to have to buy new clothes and this was one of those times.  I had to get a new shirt because I had long since shrunk out of all my button down shirts.  I know I still have a long way to go but compared to what I used to look like in dressier shirts I gotta admit I looked pretty good.  The men's choir at church along with bar-b-ques with the family made for a really great first Father's Day for me.

Saturday morning I took part in the panel of patients who had already had the surgery at Dr. Snyder's info seminar for those considering surgery.  There were seven of us, I was the second most recent surgery and I was still the largest among the group but I also had by far the highest starting weight among them.  It was fun to be there, show off a little bit to the staff, remember when I had been there sitting in the audience (A day I remember VERY clearly).  It was neat to hear some of Dr Snyder's updated stats a year later.  The national average for deaths per surgery for gastric bypass is around 1 in 200, Dr Snyder's current rate is 1 out of 3800 (that one was actually not due to surgery but happened within his six week statistical window so he still counts it).

It was also neat hearing the testimonial of the others on the panel.  They all got pretty good reactions, especially those that brought pants that were now way too big to show off.  I think I got the strongest reaction though just because my situation be somewhat unique with becoming a parent 3 months after having the surgery.

I told them about me researching and considering surgery for over ten years but how stuff just seemed to get in the way or didn't work out.  We all have lives and sometimes they can be complicated but that shouldn't deter them from going thru with the surgery and if I can get thru it with 2 huge life changes so close together then they most likely could handle the surgery and whatever else life decided to send their way.

So this week I am down to 294 pounds, another 4 pounds this week (4 pounds a week seems to be sort of the norm for me it seems).  That makes my total 121 pounds lost, which of course means more comparison pictures.  I continue to be amazed when I look at the pictures and can see the changes that even 20 pounds can make.

And of course I couldn't post new pictures here without posting some of my Son Evren.  Hope y'all enjoy.
That about does it for this week.  Thanks for reading and of course thanks for the thoughts, prayers and support.