Introduction

Thank you for looking at my blog. In case you’ve somehow stumbled on this accidentally, my name is Bruce Toews. I thought I’d make my first post to the blog an introduction, explaining what I’m doing and why I’m doing it.

I am very obese. I have been all my life. The matter was really brought home to me a while back, though, when I wanted to get some surgery done on my leg. The surgeon said he’d be willing to do the surgery, but only if I dropped a hundred pounds. Jenny, the nurse who has been helping me at my clinic, has told me that I’m a candidate for bariatric surgery. It’s an idea I’ve dismissed in the past, but no more. I want this surgery on my leg. I have to lose weight to get it. As long as I’m losing weight anyway, I want to go even further, so getting the surgery on my leg is going to be a major step along my weightloss journey, but by no means is it going to be the last one. I want the increased mobility, I want the increased comfort, I want the increased quality of life, that goes with the weight loss. I also see this as God giving me one more chance to do this voluntarily.

So why am I going public? I know this is going to be extremely difficult. Right now, in fact, it seems quite insurmountable. I’m going to need help – and that means the encouragement, thoughts and prayers of those who care about me. Going public about this is a very humbling experience – saying to the world, “My name is Bruce and I have an embarrassing problem” is not exactly my idea of a good time. But I need the accountability, and I think this is the best way to get it, by being held accountable to those who believe in me.

Tomorrow I have an appointment with Lisa, the dietician at the same clinic. So tomorrow, the journey begins.

I want to thank a bunch of people before I go on. I want to thank Jenny, Lisa, Dr. Melnyk, and all the staff at Klinic Community Health Centre in Winnipeg for believing that I can do this, and for the help and encouragement I have been promised along the way. I want to thank my family for all the love you’ve shown me for the entire 49+ years of my life. And, of course, I want to thank my wife, Caroline, for her incredible love, for her faith in me, and for working with me on this journey. Finally, and most importantly, I want to thank God for giving me this opportunity to turn my life around, for giving me the love of friends and family, and for giving me the medical resources and professionals I’ll need to make it happen. I am so blessed. Thank you all for coming along with me on my journey.