Barbara L.

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Well another six months have passed. I am so busy all the time! How did I ever do so little before?? I have settled around 146 pounds lost and I feel great! This was my high school weight, 40 years ago! (SMILE) I can do anything I want... my doctor says I am now a "controlled" diabetic! YEAH!! Hope everyone is doing well. Remeber your exercise, water supplemenst and eat proteins first!! (SMILE) AND have a great day!

Well it's been a year and I feel great! I have lost a total of 142 pounds. 57 was before surgery (liver shrinking diet) so 85 since surgey. What a great new life! I can walk, I can move, I can do things without pain. I am only on a few meds now as opposed to the 15 I think I was on previously! Still have adult diabetes - have had it since 1986 and was on insulin for several years, but my insulin dose is WAY down - from 700-800 units a day down to maybe 25 units a day most days! I also have high blood pressure still, aas it runs in my family, but all other meds are gone.... (SMILE) Having a blood test to see how things are doing there next week. But so far the good news is I feel great!! Have a greta day everyone!! (SMILE)

Well today was my six month anniversary! I have lost a total of 117 pounds since starting on the journey to good health! I lost 57 pre-surgery - and 60 since. I can move again. I can wear my old clothes! I am generally well! I still have to be careful to chew my food more, and I ate too many carba during the holidays, but all in all I did well. I even lost 5 pounds since/during the holidays. I look in the mirror and I don't recognize myself. My daughter, however, said "this is how you always looked to me..." which made me very happy! I lost a lot of my hair in the last two months. I knew it was going to happen, but I was still surprised by the quantity of it. Hoping that will start regrowing soon! My hair is long and now it is so thin!!! OKay that's all today. May everyone have success on their journey to good health! (SMILE)

He was so impressed!! Said he wished he could bottle my enthusiasm to sell to some of his patients! (SMILE) The nurse gave me a printout of my weight at all the Clinic visits since 2005 - what an eye opener to see how my weight had gone up about 10 pounds a year, soley because of the amount of insulin I took! My eating never was more than before. What a vicious circle! I was surprised to see that my high came in Febrary 2009 - I thought it was 6 months earlier! I was having So much pain in my back then.... My incisions are looking better! I am almost finished with antibiotics!! Have a great day!! Fall is almost here!! (SMILE)

I have had a nagging pain in my side the last few days, and also my big incision started leaking. It had been closed up so this was a surprise. Saturday night I changed the dressing and saw pus! Not good. I poked it a bit and MORE pus. First thing Sunday I called Dr. Ellner. She told me to go to the ER for infection evaluation. So off we went. The doctor was concerned about MRSA, as I guess it has been showing up in town. So I got an IV - 900 mg of Clindamycin. Came back 8 hours later for another IV dose of Clindamycin. They cleaned up the incision and sent me home with Clidamycin oral and Augmentin oral. I slept better last night than I did the night before. Also ate sliced turkey and had no problems. YEAH! The first and second time I tried deli-sliced turkey I got sick - maybe it was bad? Today I feel better some. Took my dose of Clindamycin - no problem.

I have been one of those people who seemed to fight my weight my whole life since puberty at the early age of 9! By 8th grade I already had a potbelly that wouldn't go away. I think I first tried Ayds diet "candy' then. High school and the weight was still climbing. I was so shy and not very good at physical activites. By my junior year I weighed 195. Then I had a huge crush on a boy and stopped eating dinner! I lost 30 pounds and looked pretty good at 165! In college my highest weight was 235. I came down to 193 and stayed there for several years, but i was a poor college student then, riding a bicycle a lot, to work and school. Then I married and came to Alaska from California. I weighed 218 when I found out I was pregnant with my daughter in 1980. I gained 45 pounds with her! After that I gained fairly rapidly until I was about 300 pounds in Oct. 1986, when a doctor said I was diabetic. I had also had high blood pressure since college. After I found out why I had craved sweets, I made drastic changes in my diet and over a period of a few years i lost 70 pounds and kept if off for several more years. Then in 1995 I had to get more aggressive with the diabetes meds.Avandia and Metphormin, in particular, started making me regain weight, even though I was eating the same food! Very frustrating. Also started having swelling leg troubles from the Avandia. (Eventually I stopped it) Then I had to go to Insulin - and being so Insulin Resistant, I had/have to take a LOT of insulin..... my weight ballooned! 300 and more.... in 2008 I reached my highest weight ever, 336. By then I had been diagnosed with Osteoarthritis that was causing me pain walking and lots of neck and lower back pain.

Currently - I was approved after a year for gastric Bypass with Dr. Julie Ellner in San Diego, CA. My surgery is scheduled for Aug. 4, 2009.  I have so far lost 42 pounds total on her Liver Shrinking and now liquids only diet - pre-op rules. I feel better just from having even that amount of weight gone! SO now the real story will begin to take shape!!

Till next time, Barbara