Before & After

There are currently no before and after photos for this member.

See these instructions if you wish to submit your own Before & After photos.
Latest Surgery Support Comments

  • Comment by kymma29 on 5/5/09 12:47 am
    Kathy, Be well and live HAPPY!!!! Congrats on your surgery.. kymma29
  • Comment by levittown_loser on 5/4/09 3:40 pm
    Well I didn't make it over here before surgery but I just heard you made it through with your DS and heading to recovery. Here's wishing you a speedy recovery Kathy! Hope I can check in with you next week! Cheers!! Welcome to the darkside! Tom
  • Comment by jharrington8172 on 5/3/09 8:38 pm
    We will be thinking of you tomorrow. I will move over to make room for you on the bench.
Click here for the surgery support page


In 1987 I had a VBG with mesh and was, for a while, successful in keeping my 135 pounds off. Over the course of the last 22 years, I've regained all but about 15 pounds. I am scheduled for a revision to a DS with Dr Greenbaum in New Jersey.

I'm here at OH learning how I can make this surgery my final WLS, and make it successful. I'm ready to be free of the weight I've been burdened with, and ready to begin living my life the way a life was meant to be lived.

There is so much to be learned, and I've only scratched the surface. But the more I read and the more I research, the more I'm convinced that the DS is the surgery that will give me the best chance at long-term success and the best quality of life, post-op.
kweb4's Blog
kweb4's Blog


No posts have been made



Archive

Tags
  • None
My Story



I had a VBG 22 years ago, and lost 135 pounds. Over the course of the following 8 years, I regained nearly every pound I lost. I finally said to myself "ENOUGH!" I'd done something as drastic as WLS and *still* I was fat. I finally "forgave myself" for being fat and just lived my life. I maintained my weight at about 270 for a very long time, and traveled the world at that weight. I didn't let it stop me.

Then a few things happened, and all within the last three years. First, my knees began to show the wear of a life of walking around as a morbidly obese person. Then, my mom died of lung cancer at age 69. She and I both come from VERY strong stock. Most of the women in my family live into their 90s, but here was my mom ... gone before she was 70 ... because of her life choices. That got me thinking. My mom defeated her strong genes with smoking, and I was doing the same with my weight.

So... the thought was sort of hanging there for a while. And then, about four months ago, I thought I was having a heart attack. I seriously did. It turned out to be arthritis in my neck, and all my chest muscles were tensing up to protect against the pain. But it dawned on me, then, that at age 47 and at a weight of about 300 pounds, it easily COULD have been a heart attack.

That's when  I seriously started considering a revision, and agressively researching it as an option. I began thinking that the RNY was my only choice. Then someone ... and I wish I could remember who, because I'd love to thank them... posted in one of my inquiries, "hey, Kathy, have you considered the DS?"

I hadn't even heard of it, but once I started doing my research, it became very evident very quickly that *that* was the surgery that was going to give me the very best chance for long-term success with the highest quality of life, post-op. I would not feel as deprived with the DS as I would with the RNY, and I know myself well enough to know how *key* that is to my success, long-term.

I am now gathering all my tests and paperwork for submission for a revision to a DS with Dr Gagner in Miami. I'm fortunate that my insurance covers revision WLS and the DS. Now, it's just a matter of doing the work to get the surgery, and then doing the work to make it successful!

Wish me luck, please!