PalmettoCrab
1 year Bandiversary!!
Feb 02, 2011
February 3, 2011
Our 1 year Bandiversary
One year ago today Evan and I started our lives over. We made the very difficult and complex decision to get Lap-Bands to improve our health and our life expectancy.
One year ago, Evan was suffering from out-of-control Diabetes. His hemoglobin A1C was 9.9 at one time (normal is 4.0-6.0). He was on two different medications for diabetes and more were being added to his daily regime. Since the day of surgery, Evan has been on no medications at all. His A1C is now 5.4 and completely normal. He went from quarterly visits to his doctor to “See you in a year” on his last visit.
A year ago, I was suffering from Diabetes, PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome), sleep apnea, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, migraines, infertility, and NASH (nonalcoholic steatohepatisis) which was found during my surgery. I was on so many medications, I couldn’t seem to get a pill organizer big enough. My A1C was 7.5ish. It is now 5.8; completely normal. The only thing I take medicine for now is migraine prevention (I don’t even need a pill organizer for that one pill). All other symptoms and ailments are gone! My cholesterol is down 100 points, my blood pressure is normal, all of my lab work is within normal ranges.
Evan has lost 83 pounds and 64% of his excess weight. I have lost 41 pounds and 52% of my excess weight. Evan has 48 more pounds to lose and I have 39 more pounds to lose. We are losing slowly but steady. The slower the better; statistics show the slower you lose the weight, the more likely you are to keep it off.
We started the Couch to 5k program in August. We love that program and highly recommend it. Evan ran his first 5k on October 2nd. I was so proud of him! On October 16th, I ran my first 5k. Evan was so proud! I came in last, but I still finished! On December 4th, we both ran over the Savannah River Bridge. It is a 5.5% grade for almost a mile. I ran the 5k which was once over the bridge and Evan ran the 10k which was twice over the bridge! We are in training again. I am training to run my first 10k in the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston (Evan’s running that too)! Evan is training to run a half marathon. He will be ready by June, but he may not have a race to run in until the fall. We are also starting to cross-train with weights, yoga, aerobics, swimming, and various exercise machines.
We are very pleased with our first year. This has been a major lifestyle change. Everything else we tried, would only be successful for 1-3 months and then we’d fall off the wagon. This time, we are changing forever!
