1 year post op

May 05, 2004

January 15, 2004
Happy New Year Everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday Season! We enjoyed every minute of it. I was able for the first time to get in the floor and play with my daughter and her Santa goodies. I can't tell you how that felt. I went to the safety deposit box on Monday and got my mothers first set of wedding rings out to see if they would at least fit my pinky finger and guess what?? They fit my ring finger. I was just bawling! They lady at the bank just looked at me like I was loosing it. Sarah, my five year old said to her, "it's okay, mother just does this!" Then I had to start laughing!!! I'm sure she thought I was crazy then. Cry one minute and laugh the next! Tuesday I worked in the house all day and when my son got home from school I went outside to help clean up the leaves since it was so pretty out there. Bradley said, "Mom, you can't do this." I just looked at him and told him that "can't" is no longer in my vocabulary! There are things that I am not suppose to be doing right now because of my arthritis and fibromyalgia, but if I feel up to it, I am doing it. I was exhausted the next day though! Well, I did not make my goal of being under 200 by the first, but I have lost 120 pounds in 9 months. (wt 206) Praise the Lord! It is slower now, but I will get there with the Lords help. Well, I will close for now. May God continue to Bless each of you. Love, Rebecca

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A YEAR MAKES




May 6, 2004
Hello Everyone. It has been a while since I updated my profile and I do apologize for that. So much has been going on it just seems like the computer is the last place I go and then it is only for a second. My weight is still coming off, slowly but surely. I have lost 136 pounds in one year.(wt. 196) I now wear an XL pant and an M to L top, just depends on how it is made. I still would do this all over again as long as I had the same surgical team. Dr. Bryan Freeman and his staff are wonderful. I find myself in Wal-Mart (and other places) drumming up conversation with fluffy people just so that I can tell them how this procedure and this doctor has changed my life. It is like after you have allowed the Lord to come into your life, that feeling of wanting to tell everyone, wanting everyone to share in your happiness. Well, that is me! I am no longer held captive by my weight and I don't want anyone else to be either. Most all of my co-morbidities have gone away. I still have problems with fibromyalgia and arthritis. It is not as bad as before but it is still there. My fibromyalgia has really been acting up for the last month or so. I attribute that to the stress that I have been under. On March 29 I lost my very dear and best friend. My Dad. The Lord saw fit to call him home, but it has sure left an empty place in my life. I talked on the phone to daddy 5 to 10 times a day and any opportunity to go to Tennessee, I took it. There is nothing like being a daddy's girl. I thank the Lord that my dad did not have to lay and suffer that He took him suddenly. I also thank Him for allowing daddy to see the new me. Daddy would never say anything about my weight. When I would mention it he would say, "Why can't you be happy the way God made you?" I would tell him that God did not make me this away. After the weight began to come off I would go visit and he would just grin from ear to ear. I went home in February to stay with daddy so mother could go see The Gaither's in concert and he said to me, "Sis, I think you have lost enough weight!" I just smiled back at him and said not yet daddy!! I just ask that you remember me and my family when you pray. It is hard to loose anyone that you love and love so dearly. I lost my grandmother and my daddy in less than 7 months from each other. I have been staying in Tennessee with my mother since daddy's death. I plan on coming back to Alabama on the 14th of May until mid June and then the children and I will go back up for a while.

I guess I had better close for now. I wish each of you the very best with your journey. If I can be of help to anyone please don't hesitate to e-mail me at [email protected]. May God Bless each of you -- Love, Rebecca



May 28, 2004
Here is hoping that everyone is doing well. My family and I are adjusting to life without Daddy and I must say it is so hard. The Lord tells us that our days are numbered, I just wish He could have left daddy a little while longer. I guess He just needed another Angel to help in the gardens. On May 15th I received a call that they had found my dad’s brother dead. They said he also died of a heart attack. Daddy was 60, his brother was 57. He had another sister and brother to die of major heart attacks. His sister was obese but his brothers were not. That is really scary, they all died at such young ages. I miss my dad! They say every day gets easier, but I would have to disagree. I think it gets harder! I feel very close to daddy when I am out working in the yard. So guess what I have been doing, working in the yard. Daddy loved the outside and he loved flowers and so do I. I just thank God for Dr. Freeman and his staff for without this wonderful tool I would not be able to work out in the yard. It has so dramatically changed my life. Things that I once could not do I am doing them tenfold. I pressure washed the deck, the front porch and side walk, the curbing in front of the house and the driveway on Wednesday. I was outside from 7AM until 4PM and I am OK!! Other than being burnt from the sun and a little sore, I have no complaints; I am still able to move. I've been cleaning house the last two days; my father-in-law is coming down today and will stay until Tuesday.

I have really been working hard on our support group, "New Beginnings." I see the potential for it to grow and be a beacon of education for this community. So many people are still so uneducated about this procedure. If only they could come and listen to what our members say, I believe they would see that it is not a quick fix or an easy decision, but it is a decision that saved our lives. It has given many of us our lives back. A chance to live again, to play with our children, to be a wife, to enjoy the amusement parks, a chance to just be us! I walk away each month from those meetings feeling very Blessed that I have the opportunity to associate myself with such wonderful people. These are people who have touched my life. I am sure they will never know, for what we say in those meetings we don't know whose life it touches, but I can assure you that it touches someone. Someone can relate to where you are or where you have been. I think it so important to be active in a support group. You may think it is not for you, but think of it as you helping someone else. If you can't find a group in your area if you will let me know I will try and help you locate one. Also, if you would like to e-mail me recipes to go into our cook book you may do so. I hope to have them ready for sale by October. Another thing, if Dr. Freeman and staff and this wonderful tool has changed your life you may want to participate in the book of letters that we are putting together for Dr. Freeman to be presented to him at the Ball this year. If you would like to participate you may e-mail me your letter and it will be included. The deadline for this will be August 31, 2004. If I can be of help to anyone please feel free to e-mail me. May God Bless each of you no matter where you are in your journey.

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