this might be exciting

My parents came up last week and spent several days with us, helping us get settled into our new house.  Mostly, they watched the kids while we got stuff done.  It was so nice!

My dad loved playing with my husband's new iPad so he decided to order one for my mom's birthday.  Don't you love getting things for your birthday that your husband wants?  Hehehe.  Before leaving, he said, "You know your mom will probably need you on-call as tech support, right?"

Sure.....(eyeroll).

So the very day after leaving, I got a text from my dad that said, "Call me when you get a chance."

Here we go, I thought, slightly annoyed.  I mean, if my 4 year old can figure out an iPad, why can't my parents?

So I called my dad.

He had questions about surgery.  He is thinking about getting it himself.  I was so surprised!

So I asked, "Do you want this or does Mom?"

He said, "Oh I'm just so impressed with how great you look that I'm thinking about getting it too."

Let me back up for a second and say that my mom had high hopes when I got my surgery last summer that Dad would see my success and want it too.  But so far he had said nothing.

When my parents were in town, my mom caught me alone and asked if Dad had mentioned wanting to get surgery.  I said "no."  She asked me if I could talk to him.  Now, honestly, I'm not one to push anybody into anything, especially something like WLS.  But I agreed, just to make her happy, but I didn't plan on saying much to him.

About an hour before they left town, my dad and I were driving back to my house and about 2 blocks before arriving home, I asked, "Have you thought about having surgery?"  There was a kind of long uncomfortable pause (he always takes a long time to answer ANY question).....so I filled the silence by joking, "Is Mom still thinking about you having surgery?"  His only response was that my mom has not bothered him about it at all.  So then I just told him that it was the best decision I ever made and that it is so much easier to manage my weight now.  It still requires effort and thought, but it doesn't require perfection to be successful.

And I told him how I never feel deprived.  Food tastes richer, flavors taste more bold, sweets taste sweeter, so that makes me satisfied with less.  Have I ever mentioned that to y'all?  Plus, hunger comes on more gradual.  It used to come on quick, strong, and without warning.  Now it comes on gradually so I can start thinking of a healthy snack before getting desperate and grabbing the quickest thing.

Anyway, that's about all I said, at the most, I might have said less, but my dad said nothing.  To tell you the truth, I pretty much instantly regretted saying anything because I was afraid I'd hurt his feelings.

So I was super surprised when I called and that's what he wanted to talk about!

He'd already been on the internet trying to figure out if Medicare would cover the sleeve.  He also has private insurance, so he was trying to figure out which insurance company to go through.  I told him to just ask the surgeon, that they were used to jumping through insurance hoops and that they would know the best way to go about it.  I told him to call the office and schedule himself for one of those information sessions.

My guess is that my dad's BMI is between 35-40 (he didn't say).  But he has hypertension, high cholesterol, and acid relflux.  He said he wakes up a lot at night so I suggested getting a sleep study because sleep apnea almost guarantees qualifying for surgery (or so I've heard).

I'm so excited for him.  And it has nothing to do with "looking better" or anything like that.  I  know how much BETTER I feel---no back pain, less fatigue, etc.  I can just DO MORE than ever.  I can run around the yard with my kids!  And I'm thrilled he could soon experience the same thing.  :)