shoppingagainnow
Hello,
I had the open RNY way back on April 6, 1999. Like most others, I have yo-yo my weight all my life. The last one before the decision to have the RNY I had lost 100 pounds taking Phen-Fen. But regained it all back and more within a couple years. I had been morbidly obese most of my life. Always the fat one from elementary school forward. My highest weight before surgery was 304 pounds at 5 foot 6 inches. When I choose to have RNY, I decided to only let my husband and kids know, and no one else. No regrets keeping it to myself. Once people started to find out, the remarks were terribly negative. "Oh, you took the easy way out", "why didn't you just diet instead?" A few were supportive, but then started the "Your too skinny, you don't look healthy, etc. I didn't have any co-morbidities, except high triglycerides was high. Insurance at the time was Blue Cross/Blue Shield and had no problems being approved by insurance. I had no complications after RNY. Lost 154 pounds within 7 months, and went from a size tight 26 pants to a size 8. Malabsorption is easy to maintain with supplements daily except for my ferritin levels. I haven't needed an iron infusion though for over the past 4 years. I became a strong advocate for the RNY for my surgeons' office and would speak at monthly informational meetings for those interested in having surgery. I stayed with my support system going to meetings all the time from the hospital to other groups held in my area. Moving forward I did divorce (my idea) to my husband of 24 years in 2005. I met my best friend, love of my life soulmate, very tall and slender man a couple years later. I maintained my weight loss for many years. Then diagnosed with low thyroid, put on depression medications, and started to munch high calorie. Over time I regained weight. Many times medications were changed, resulting in more weight gain. Finally February 2018 I had enough and broke down seeing the scale topping off at 288 lbs. I went back to my surgeons' office to discuss options I might have to have any type of surgery for weight loss. There was none. My pouch is still within normal WLS size, I still can't eat much at a time, and even still experience Dumping Syndrome! Which I am happy that I do, as it puts more thinking before I eat one bite too much. I was put on Topamax to diminish any appetite but only lost 8 pounds in 2 months. Discontinued Topamax due to the side effects of nausea, headaches, continual tingling and/or cramps in my legs and hands. The only good thing was it reset my pouch and I started to focus on eating low-calorie foods plus it was spring-summer-fall and am outside all day long working on our yard so exercise. As of November 2018, I have lost 66.5 lbs. My goal is 195 pounds, which seems high for some, but I was a size 14 pants, med/large in shirts and very happy with how I looked at that weight for me. With the holidays upon us in 2018, my goal is to maintain and not regain any of the weight I have successfully taken off again. Another 20-25 pounds left to go. I am now wearing 14-16 in pants again, and XL in shirts. I still concentrate on calories and getting protein in daily. So this is my long story. It is a forever rest of my life journey.