I’m over 15 years out from my RNY Surgery

Jun 17, 2018

am brand new to the group here (just joined today) but my Roux-en-Y surgery was over a decade and a half ago (16th anniversary will be August 2, 2018).

Pre-op, the most I weighed was 365 pounds (I remember that number so well because it was one pound for every day of the year).  I was so fortunate to have a great doctor who, himself, had had the very same surgery as me!  He looked great and it gave me such great confidence in him, because (as they say) he actually had skin in the game!

It is still a journey I am walking through even now (my brain, after all these years, STILL wants to eat everything it sees, but my tool (what I call my surgery) just won’t let me.  I’m so blessed to be here today.  At age 39 when I finally had the surgery, I was having such deep, sharp pains inside my brain and my heart would, out of nowhere, just start beating a million miles per hour, to the point where I HAD to sit down or fall down.  I knew that I was not long for this world and, had I not had the surgery, I’d have been dead by age 40.  I am alive and, except for a congenital back problem I have, my health is pretty good for a 55-year-old guy.

As late as the week before my surgery, I had been taking 2,000 mg of Glucophage, and I suffered from the most awful heartburn you can imagine!  Beginning on the day of my surgery, I have never had ANY problems with my diabetes and I have had ZERO heartburn ever since.  Between losing weight, keeping it off and being able to exercise, I have not had to worry about my diabetes at all!  The last A1c that I had done was a couple of months ago and my level was 5.2%...every time I’ve had it done since 2002, it has been less than 6...most of the time, less than 5.5!!

I Feel like there’s a lot to say but I don’t want to write a book here, but having the RNY was the best decision I have ever made to save my own life.  It’s not as easy as some would like to think it is, because after overeating all my life, it’s still a battle learning to deal with my new reality all these years later, but at least I‘M HERE to learn, and the feeling you get from knowing that you’ve saved your own life?

There are just NO words!

 

Here is my operation info:

Highest Weight: 365 lbs.

Current Weight: 215 lbs.

Lowest weight since 2002: Approx. 190 lbs (about 1 year out)

Surgery type: Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass

Surgeon: De. Robert T. Marema 

(https://g.co/kgs/bQTe42)

Date of surgery: Aug. 2, 2002

Hospital where surgery was done: Florida Hospital Celebration Health, Celebration, Florida (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_Hospital_Celebration_Health)

Insurance Used for Doctor and Surgery: Blue Cross/Blue Shield HMO

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