I'm a Newbie!

Hi everybody, I'm not a newbie to Mormonism, just a newbie to this message board and I'm also a newbie to wls too I guess. My parents joined the church when I was about 6 years old..so I basically grew-up in the church. My husband and I have been married for 25 years (in March) and we have been blessed with 2 sons. We have a son that is 16 and a sophmore in High School and a son that is 23 and has his own home and career now. We live in Chandler, Arizona which is just southeast of Phoenix. I had RNY November 23,2005 (the day before Thanksgiving) My surgery started out lap.but turned to OPEN when a huge hernia was found in my intestine....the dr. said they had to "chop" it out of there. They also found a peptic ulcer and removed that..we tease that I had a 3-in-1 surgery. I had a few complications including a 14 day stay...blood clot in my lung...and later an incisional wound that tried to close in a weird way. I have been under care from a wound care center and have worn a wound VAC on my belly for the past 5 weeks. I have run all the gambit of emotions during the past 10 weeks...everything from deepest dispair to unbriddled happiness. I look forward to getting to know each of you...I am quite active on the BMI over 50 board...but I really hope to feel comfortable here. Let's keep it going! hugs, Virginia aka Ginger

Good morning Ginger. Looking at the time you posted, you must get up REALLY early. My name is Melody. I live in the southern part of Idaho. I'm almost 2 years post op. I've lost over 140 lbs. I now fluctuate between 118 and 120 lbs. I'd like to lose another 8 pounds but my body is stable at the weight it is now. The losing of another 8 pounds is NOT my ideal. My neurologist told me I'm NOT too thin and I could still stand to lose another 8 pounds. (I'm only 5'2") I have a LOT of loose skin. My young children (5 and 7 years old) see me naked when I'm getting in or out of the shower and they call me fat. I teach pre-school out of my home. I got an unexpected (?) day off today when the school district cancelled school because of snow. We follow the school district school schedule. If they DON'T have school, WE don't have pre-school. We've had a lot of snow and so a snow day came as a surprise today. It's still snowing quite hard outside as I type. I guess I'll spend the day preparing my primary lesson. I teach the 11 years old. I love primary! I started out in leading the music (my first love) but I have a disability (MS) and am unable to move around as much as needed so I was given a sedentary position of teaching. My husband is a non member. We've been married 24 years. We have 5 children. A son (22 years old), a daughter 20, a daughter 18, a daughter 7 and a daughter 5. All the females are very active in the church. My son is inactive. He's a good boy though. I'm rambling. This board has been too quiet for far too long. It's good to see new interest. I encourage you to visit often and put the poker under us and post often and get us to post also. Good luck on your journey with your weight loss. It's not always easy. But in the end, for me at least, it was definately worth it. Make sure you get your water in and your protein in. I found a new protein through Susan Maria (bariatric eating) that I absolutely LOVE. It's a flavor called "cantelope". It's light and easy to drink. Good luck. Come back with questions or concerns. We'll do our best to give you our prospective about it. Melody

Hi Melody, Thank you soo much for your response. It is so refreshing to hear from you. I read your profile and I feel truly inspired. My husband was dianoised with MS in 1997. He works full-time at the same job he has had for 26 years. He has a cane, but he takes it out only occationally. He has been on Avonex since his diagnosis and has relapsing/remitting MS. He has neuropathy in his feet and my heart just breaks for him when I see all the pain meds that he is on. I have been a stay-at-home mom since we had our first son. I have run the gambit of home business during this time to make a little extra $. I've done daycare many times,tupperware, I taught sewing lessons to kids and adults in my home. I Taught craft classes in a crafts store at night. I currently have a craft business in my home and do mass productions of every project I do. Craft boutiques are really my money makers and that is from Oct-Dec. Good thing my boutiques were over for the year before my 11/23rd RNY! I didn't expect all the complications of my surgery..but things are looking up. My homecare nurse gave me her last visit yesterday and I am seeing life in a much brighter way. I look forward to going to church each week and getting the compliments that I get. My face is thinner and I'm losing my double chin. I don't even care anymore that "everyone" knows about the surgery. I thought that it would. I hope to stick around this board and see what trouble that I can get myself into Hugs, Virginia aka Ginger