What happens to the “old” surgical patients?

Feb 10, 2022

I will be 20 years postop in September! Where have I been? Mostly busy. The last two years obviously have been consumed by the ugliness of the Covid pandemic, I am a nurse and  it has been overwhelming. Still is with dealing with anti vax nonsense and anti maskers.  I have been incredibly fortunate to have come through it healthy and been able to have been vaccinated Early on and to have received my boosters and not have aquired covid up to this point.

Physically, my weight is steady, I have hovered  in the same 10 pounds that I've been in for years on end. I continue to struggle with an auto immune disease that will probably never go away. I am thankful that I am not morbidly obese and dealing with the pain that accompanies this auto immune disease.I have mild kidney and liver failure related to the disease.

I made the not so difficult decision to remove the breast implants that I had done back in 2007, they had been giving me problems since about the first week that they were implanted. I had the implants and the scar capsule surrounding them removed and they were not replaced. As the doctor said it didn't leave him a lot to work with, I have a very streamlined new figure.It is taking some getting used to for sure, and my body image mental load is getting quite the work out. It's been about two months since this surgery and things are improving significantly. I had learned that as well as the mal positioning and capsular contracture scar tissue that the implants that I had were recalled by the FDA and the manufacture due to to an increased risk of anaplastic large cell lymphoma associated with these implants.

Overall I have a sense of a tremendous weight being lifted off of me having them removed.

Being a post gastric bypass patient at this point in my life is probably one of the least important/least interesting  parts of my life,

Part of the reason I haven't posted in so long is that I honestly really don't think about it very often. My eating habits are fairly ingrained into my dear daily life and I don't have to think about them a whole lot.

The reason I don't have to think about them a whole lot is because initially the first two years after surgery I thought about them very much. I logged virtually every single bite that I put into my mouth for two years, I looked at the nutritional breakdowns, I've studied what might have been good choices and what might have been better choices and I incorporated that knowledge into my future choices until I felt like it was a reflex action on what to eat daily.

I eat every food group, including an occasional cookie or ice cream. I definitely use moderation. My surgery was clearly very well and properly done, 20 years later I still have significant restriction. (Thank you Dr  Eric Schlesinger)

I feel like I eat like a normal thin person.  exercise... embarrassing to say - much less than I should   Quit the health club in March 2020 when lockdown hit and haven't gone back   Im working on sorting out my best path forward on that.

Very much looking forward to the 2022 OH event in Costa Mesa.  Say hi if you see me.  

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