Kevin F. Montgomery, MD

I'm starting to get nervous and excited. I decided to get the gastric sleeve about 2 months ago after knowing several acquaintances that had it done and had great success as well as being diagnosed with an auto-immune disease that is not curable but is much better with regular intense exercise. It has been so painful and difficult to excercise and my GP, rheumatoidologist, and surgeon all agree that Gastric Sleeve will help me tremendously to get to a point where my weight is not such a detriment to my disease and subsequently the excercise I need so badly. I started about a month ago easing into the pre-op diet and have already lost about 21#. My highest weight was 281.

I have a full life with a supportive husband, 4 kids (ranging from my oldest 17 & 12 to my youngest 3 & 4), as well as a dream career as a Safety Administrator at a remarkable company. I just finished my masters degree last year and am at the beginning of climbing the corporate ladder and also feel that my weight will impede my career goals. I live in a beautiful area just outside Seattle and have so many outdoor adventures awaiting me and my family as we start on my (and my husbands) weight loss journey. I have so many reasons to do this and nothing holding me back.

Tomorrow I start the 2 week uber restrictive pre-op diet but I've been down to a level close to it for the last week and I think I'm ready. I'm fortunate enough that my company has fantastic insurance and I not only didn't have to do the 6 month supervised Dr's program but they are paying 100%, giving me 3 weeks paid leave for recovery, and will cover the excess skin removal procedure 100% at 18 months or 24 months if I've reached a healthy weight. My boss is very supportive as is my family so now I'm going full steam ahead.

I've coordinated post surgery services with the nutritionist, excercise physiologist, and a psychologist to attend regular therapy sessions. The surgery center I'm using is a local one - a Center of excellence and it has a tremendous success record. They provide bi-monthly support groups and require check-ins for the first year.

Clearly I'm reminding myself of all the positive and hoping that the pain will be comparable to my 2 c-sections. I've done a lot of research and don't have a ton of questions at this point, just waiting for the surgery to come.

It is sort of a big deal with my extended family as I come from a family of "heavy" people and they view what I'm doing as "radical" but they say this as they sit there with a laundry list of health problems and a fist full of medications so clearly we don't see eye to eye on it. Hopefully I will show them another side of something that they fear and don't know a lot about it.

Updated on 18 Aug 2015:
I'm one week out to my surgery and my level of nervousness is seriously going higher! I've been trying to stay committed to my pre surgery diet but it has been a challenge. (Mine is 3-4 protein shakes a day and 1 lean cuisine) Lots of water. I'm tired a lot but working on going to the gym every day.