Sarah B.
One Year Surgiversary!
Nov 10, 2010
My surgiversary was last week and I'm just now getting around to writing my official 1 year post. I just...don't know where to start, really. It's kind of overwhelming to attempt to summarize what this past year has been like. The "self" of last year feels as unrecognizable to me now as the "self" of this year would have seemed on surgery day.I had a perfect, complication free surgery. An easy recovery. A surprisingly fast weight loss (though it didn't always feel that way at the time...). I lost: hypertension, high cholesterol, borderline pulmonary hypertension, GERD, and joint pain--all of my comorbs.
I reached my personal goal weight of a normal BMI at about 7.5 months out (148 pounds lost). I reached the surgeon's "goal" of mid-range normal BMI at 10 months out (166 pounds lost). My high weight prior to surgery was 317, my surgery weight was 301 after pre-op liquids, my current weight is 148 for a total weight loss of 169 pounds (I am 5'9"). I've been happily maintaining at my current weight (within a 3lb range on any given day) for the past two months. It's gotten to the place where I actually forget to check the scale for days, and when I do it's just to be sure I'm maintaining where I'd like to. I no longer dread the doctor's office scale or blood pressure cuff. I've started eating more carbs on a more regular basis (think: Halloween candy). I wasn't strictly a carb nazi during my rapid loss phase, but more sugar has crept in lately. If it becomes a problem, the simple sugars will definitely be the first to go. I've come to realize that I actually do have lactose intolerance. I only have problems with straight milk and ice cream, fine with cheese/sour cream/butter/etc. I suspect I actually had lactose issues pre-op too, and then following surgery I didn't drink milk at all and had ice cream so rarely/in such small quantity, that I thought I didn't have lactose problems. Now that I'm further out, any time I attempt to drink more than a few ounces of milk or eat more than a small scoop of ice cream I MUST take a Lactaid pill or I will dearly, dearly regret it. With Lactaid, I am fine.
Pre-op I was wearing size 26/28 tops and size 24 pants. I currently wear 8/10 (Medium) tops & dresses and 4/6 in pants (my jaw about FELL OPEN in the dressing room of Old Navy when I zipped up those size 4's). In work scrubs I went from 3x tops & bottoms to Small tops & Extra Small bottoms. If I ever have my dream plastics and have this panni removed, I'd prolly be in even smaller pants. How crazy! Speaking of plastics...someday...when I'm independently wealthy...I would like to have my arms, breasts, and tummy done. That is a dream for another day. Oh, I also lost a shoe size from 10 to 9 and my ring size went from 9.5 to a very loose 7.5 (could probably go down to a 7 now).
When I was pre-op I wrote about how I hoped having this surgery would allow me to become the active mother to my kids that I really wanted to be. I wanted to have the energy to take them fun places to do interesting things. Happily, that desire has been fulfilled. Now when we take them to the park, I'm climbing up on the jungle gym with them. I'm not constantly and painfully aware of being "the fat chick" doing something. That makes it infinitely easier to just be myself out in public, and not worry so much about looking silly or confirming some stereotype of all fat people everywhere. I no longer carry a hyperawareness of being judged by my weight. It's a weird mindgame though, because I also don't feel "skinny" or anything yet. It's just too new. I'm totally intimidated by normal sized clothing stores, so I've purchased nearly all my clothes online except for "safe" places like Target and the one pair of Old Navy pants (gotta love online Clearance sections, with coupon codes and Ebates!).
Haven't done my bloodwork yet, but 6 month labs were holding well so I have confidence in my upcoming labs. I'm going to try to get my blood drawn on Friday. It's hard working overnight shifts because it means I have to fast while I'm awake and at work which sucks because most nights I'm super hungry at work (on my days off I have the kiddos, and with as long as it takes the lab people to type in everything, print labels, and draw all the viles, I can't imagine trying to wrangle 2 year old twins in that environment).
My DS family circle continues to grow. As many of you know, I had my surgery in November. One of my uncles also had his in November 09. My mom and husband had their DSes in January '10. My SIL had hers in August '10, and my BIL just had his last week, November 1, 2010. I also have another uncle and aunt who have their consults scheduled at Abington at the end of November. :)
Ok, want some pictures??? Of course you want some pictures! Here goes:
First, the befores...
With the hubby,
A month before surgery, with one of my cousins,
One month before my surgery, with my mom,
Afters....
With the hubby in October,
With the mom (she's down 130lbs),
In those Old Navy size 4's,
And the newest photos, this past weekend at officially 1 year post-op....
With my very flat tush,
With my little munchkins,
With Baby A,
and Baby B,
And one, big, huge, whopping THANK YOU to all the vets here on the board. You've helped me more than words are adequate in expressing. Everything good and accurate I learned about the DS, I learned from y'all.
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About Me
Plymouth Meeting, PA
Location
21.3
BMI
Surgery
11/04/2009
Surgery Date
Aug 29, 2009
Member Since