I’ve told the story of my health journey. I’m not shy about it at all but I’m shy about others opinions. There has never been one minute that I denied or lied about how I lost my weight. I’m quick to tell you that a surgeon saved my life. Lap band, then the gastric sleeve kept me from going down a path of stacked illnesses and a life of sitting in doctor offices. I will always and forever be grateful to Dr. Fox for his ability to be tough when I needed him to be but kind when I need that as well. He has been honest and blunt at times but all the while had the graceful heart of a loving caring doctor. He saved my life and that is the honest truth in all of this journey.
When I got the call to represent his practice in a fashion show for successful bariatric women I said yes without much thought. Then a few days later that thought set in. OMgosh what in the world did I agree to? I’m not a show boat person at all. It’s one thing to sit behind a blog, Facebook or Instagram but to walk out in front of a lot of other women and strut my stuff, I just don’t know about that. I had made a commitment and I always keep my commitments. So here we are on the day of this fashion show and I’m scared out of my pants. At 7:30 tonight ready or not I’m gonna walk out in front of women that have had or are thinking about this type of surgery. My story and all the other women in this show are very different and no two will ever be the same. I never would try to impression on anyone to do this surgery. It has to be something that you know is right for you and your choice is made from digging deep and learning all you can. I did and I still had lots of surprises come up. This surgery isn’t and wasn’t easy to do. At times it was easy, but at other times it was a struggle to walk through it. I had moments of what in the world have you done LaTonya and why did you do this to yourself. All question that were answered over time and the answer was I wanted to get healthy and stay healthy. After all you have so much to live for!!
I started my day in my happy place. So tonight I’m gonna dance on the edge of my comfort zone. I’m going to walk in a fashion show and represent Dr. Fox’s practice. I’m going to let the people at the show know that it’s a hard way to go to get healthy back, but in the end it’s worth it. I’m a survivor of obesity. I will have to care for and monitor my weight the rest of my life. My surgery wasn’t a quick fix it was a life saving journey. A journey that has led me to today, I’m not sitting on the side lines I have the choice to dance on the edge of Blue Happiness. I’ll do a follow up on Fridays blog with photo’s of the show so stay tuned for some Blue Happy photo’s.
