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I received a serious health diagnosis last year. Interesting to learn that my liver is not doing well and that my digestive and endocrine systems are off. All of these euphemisms to describe what's going on. But essentially I was told I wouldn't live out my 7 year old daughter's favorite play acting where I'm babysitting her kids. So the good news is that I'm at Mayo Clinic, where the word "unique" does not feel like a compliment.

The working hypothesis is that a significantly lower BMI will help my liver to regenerate. Unfortunately, the converse could occur and my liver could conk out. But we'll be monitoring the weight loss and my weight.

So I'm undergoing a bariatric surgery called gastric sleeve, where they'll remove 80% of my stomach. At the same time, they'll remove my gallbladder and biopsy my liver, possibly removing parts of weird spots. Inpatient 5 days.

But I'm staying really positive, hoping that Mayo Clinic is being very conservative. My hope is that it's going to be the best of all scenarios. I'm not even 40 and I'm a single mom.

I'm doing really well on my weight loss. I had to maintain my weight really high (36 BMI) until surgery was approved on 12/31/2015. I've done remarkably, focusing equally on behavior modification, nutrition changes (Mayo Clinic Diet), cardio, and strength training.

This is God's 2nd chance at life and I'm taking it. If God wants to give me the chance to babysit my grandbabies, I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure I won't be missing it. There will be no better babysitter.