TOGA study

Hmmmm, where to begin.

Oh, well, it is quite simple. I have been fighting my weight since I graduated from high school. No more gym class, no more walking to school (seriously two miles each way), no more walking all over the building (as students we were convinced that the scheduling was done to make you walk from one end of the building to the other for each class . . . plus there were 3,000 kids in the school . . . yes, 3,000 and 1,000 were in my graduating class). So, I graduated, started working, only walked to/from the bus, sat on my butt most of the day, etc. etc. etc.

The first time I did Weight Watchers was when I got back from my honeymoon. I weighed 155 and dropped to 123. And kept it off for about two years. Then we went through all the infertility stuff which included lots of stress eating, although we did walk a lot, but both Dave and I ate our weigh through thoses years. We would go to the doctor, go to lunch. Go to the doctor, go to breakfast. And sometimes we just ate because everything was so frustrating (trust me when I say that when they give you a list of the days you are allowed and not allowed to have sex . . . frustration reigns supreme!). Plus, I got to take all kinds of drugs.

Anyway, Dave didn't gain any weight. I did though. And lost it and found it and lost it and found more of it and so on and so forth.

I figure that over the years with Weight Watchers, Atkins, grapefruit, cabbage soup, metabalife, Xenical (now there's a treat! LOL), high protein/low carb, no meat, no cheese, no everything diets, I have probably lost over 400 pounds. Seriously. Two years ago, I was at my heaviest (which right now is my little old secret). We started a WW @ Work. I lost 20 pounds. The WW @ Work ended. I gained 12 pounds. I started back at WW last November and then we started WW @ Work again and I have lost a total of 18 pounds since November.

Sometime last Fall, there was a little blurb in our local newspaper about the TOGA study. The TOGA Study is a blind study. It is a bariatric procedure in which they do not make any incisions. Instead, they insert a scope and staple your stomach. You still have to follow the bariatric diet (which ends up being about 1200 to 1500 calories a day) but you do not have the risk of the surgery complications that the other procedures involve. in fact, some people have had the procedure on a Tuesday and have returned to work on Friday. Most return to work on Monday.

I and a good friend of mine are both participating in the TOGA study through University Hospitals of Cleveland. Like the other procedures, it does require a significant change in lifestyle and diet. My procedure is scheduled for May 12. I am so very excited.

I am, however, not telling anyone at work. It is a blind study. One out of every three people do not get the procedure done. They get the anesthesia. They get the diet. They are required to do the exercises and make changes in their life. So, I am not telling anyone at work.

Oh, and the other thing about this study that is cool, is that you end up with a very complete physical and it is all free, except for two prescriptions. Free.