It's hard to believe that one year has passed.    It's been probably the most amazing year of my life.    Here's the good, the bad and the ugly on what has transpired.

The good?   I weigh 124 pounds.   124 pounds!!!!    Never in my life did I dare dream to weigh this little.   I had 145 set in my head, and even 135 seemed like a far-fetched dream.    I can run, jump, skip and do a cartwheel.  I have been renovating a house and climb up and down ladders with the greatest of ease.   I feel like Wonder Woman.  The PA and her nurse commented at my check-up on how petite and small framed I am.   They told me  that it looks like I've never been overweight a day in my life.   I now am surprised to get what I call the "I hate you cause you're thin" glare from other women.  It's that up and down kind of look that says "How DARE you be that age and that thin?"   I know - I used to give it to women myself.   If they only knew, hmmm.......It makes me feel kind of guilty sometimes.     Men rush to open doors for me, and wait on me at the paint counter.   This sounds silly, but do you know what a church key is?   One of those little metal things you use to pop open paint can lids?    I've been buying paint for many years and have never gotten one for free from the paint man.   Since I have been rehabbing this house and buying paint frequently, I've gotten four of them!!!   When I was fat, it was "Hey, buy your own woman."   More good?  I wear a size two.   Shopping is difficult up here because I rarely find anything smaller than a six, and I am swimming in the few fours I can find.   I looked at a catalog the other day and thought to myself "I am now thin enough to wear whatever I want in here!"    I don't even have a panni to hide.  

Okay....The bad?   My labs were kind of messy - I am anemic, my protein was low, my PTH was high and she is sure that based on that, my A & D are going to stink too.   I have always had really wonderful hemoglobin, so I was surprised to see this.   It probably explains why I have been getting dizzy lately.    I have been put on Repliva for the anemia, have been ordered back on protein shakes for supplementation and she's going to confer with the internist about my PTH.     My PA also is concerned that I am still losing, even though the Tanita scale shows me to be well into the "underfat" range (13.1 body fat) and after trying to analyze how many calories I need to eat, finally threw up her hands and said "Oh - just eat as much as you can!"   (Who would thunk it?)  My family members think I've gotten too thin and keep asking me when I'm going to stop.   I did stop - my body just hasn't caught up yet.   I am hopeful that with the ten or so rebound most DS'ers experience, I will be back up to 135 or so in a couple of years.

The ugly?   Definitely still skin issues.   I have noticed some rebound since the beginning of the summer though, and my PA told me that we have some rebound for up to two years.   I need to start lifting weights too.  At any rate, I will never EVER regret the day I had this surgery.   My PA feels these are all workable deficiencies and that my body is just playing "catch-up" from the very rapid weight loss.    I am going to have to be extra-extra vigilant about this, because I don't want these issues to get out of hand.    I LOVE my DS!