Deborah W.

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Well I am a little late in posting this, but life has gotten in the way between the birth of my second grandchild (on my surgery date no less, another reason to celebrate the day) to my husband having knee surgery it has been a full week, but I am happy to say everyone is doing great.
It seems like only yesterday I was getting ready to be wheeled into surgery, with all the nerves and hope, wondering if I would be one of the few that nothing seemed to help or if this was actually going to work. I am so happy to report that it has surpassed all of my expectations, I have lost 140 pounds in that one year, 152 from my highest weight the month before.  I had a dream recovery (back to work in 2 weeks to the day), I am off my high blood pressure meds, I was going to have to start taking meds for diabetes but my blood sugar is now well within normal, my cholesterol is the 80's down from almost 200.  The only thing I really have to watch out for is that I don't get enough fat into my diet, and frankly I don't see how that is possible, so I make sure I use full fat everything and a lot of it, how bad is that to have as a problem? I am still within normal of my fat soluble vitamins but they have come down, hence the  need to monitor my fat intake and supplement a few of them, again while within normal range I now supplement with Iron because it is down as well.
Complaints can't really say I have any, everything is well worth it.  If I have gas, well I ate something I shouldn't have, if my stomach is off one day, it will be OK the next. I get to eat what I want and I thank God I was able to get my dream surgery the DS. I saw this on a health channel about 6 years ago and KNEW it was the one for me, especially after I did all of my research, boy did I do research.  I had to wait a number of years for my insurance company to cover it and a fantastic surgeon (Dr. Daryl Stewart) to come to my area, but every time I almost decided to settle for the RNY, something said don't do it, you will not be happy that you didn't get the DS, I was right I couldn't be happier with my choice, and I am so glad that I waited for the right surgery for me.
Looking forward to plastic surgery because, I would like to look like I have my shape-wear on even when I don't , but you can't be as big as I was and not have loose skin, well not at my age and being as big as I was for as long as I was.  I still have 6 months to go on my DS weight loss window and I only need to lose about 35 more pounds to be totally ecstatic with my weight, right now I am just overjoyed.
So for those of you that are thinking about WLS, this is just my 2 cents do it!  Research your options choose the best surgery for you, fight for what you want and just do it!!!

It has been 6 months since my D.S. surgery, and all I can say is Wow!!! I was officially down 100 pounds, just by the skin of my teeth, but it was officially 100 pounds!!!  I have since lost another 6 pounds this week alone.  There have been no problems so far, I haven't had any more bathroom issues than I did before surgery, well except for more gas if I eat too much white flour, and I would be lying if I said the poo didn't stink, it does -but a small price to pay for over 100 pounds. I haven't had my labs run for my 6 months yet, but I feel great and was really blessed by not losing my hair as some people do, so far I have had a dream surgery and recovery so far.  I really think that this is going to work, and after  most of my childhood and all of my adult life being over weight to severely morbidly obese it is a dream come true.
The DS allows me to eat great tasting food, and it is fantastic not to have to worry about fat content of my food, because I only absorb about 20% of it and then the rest just leaves my body, basically in one end and out the other, this was for me a true dream surgery.  I can't wait to see where this journey takes me.
Best wishes to all,
Deb

It has been 3 months since my surgery and things have been going great, am right at the 70 pound mark since surgery. I do need to put a new Avi up since I don't look much like this one any more, it was from my heaviest and that was almost 85 pounds ago.  I haven't had any problems to speak of, except trying to make sure that my clothes don't fall off. LOL, and THAT isn't a problem.  I am so happy that I had this surgery, the few draw backs that I have  are nothing compared to the pluses.  Still have that fear in the back of my head, will the weight loss just stop, am I going to lose the weight and will I keep it off? Truthfully if I make it under 200 I will feel like a success, I haven't weighed that since I was 19 years old, and that is more years than I like to think about, but to be truthful I am wanting to be greedy, I want to be thin for the first time in my adult life, I was fat for most of my childhood and all of my adulthood, I sure would like to try thin for awhile.  If you are thinking about this surgery, all I can tell you is that the sooner you do it the happier you will be, GO FOR IT!

Well it is officially one month since my surgery, and I have lost 36 pounds, I have seen the scale dip under 300 for the first time in over 5 years and have just hit the 280's which has easily been 8 years.  My recovery has been so much easier than I thought it would be, so this is one of those boring posts, I have had a textbook case of recovery with no complications and no drama, and am so thankful for it.  I had my 3 week stall right on schedule for about 5 or 6 days when the scale didn't budge, and truthfully while logically I  knew that this was normal and to be expected there was that part of me that said look something else that you failed at, but I took people's advice, upped my carbs for a day and then the weight started to fall off again.  It is funny I have lost more weight in this one month than I have ever lost, but there is that part of you that says look at how much more you have to go and it is all head games really, it is almost like you don't want to get to hopeful and case this doesn't work out.  Again I have been told this is normal so I try not to feel to crazy. I can tell you this  I DO NOT regret having this surgery!  My brother saw how little I put on my plate the other day and he was "Aww Deb", but it is like I told him, I eat what I want and I just get full faster, it isn't a burden it is a blessing, and I truly feel that way,  I have been blessed, pounds are coming off, I feel like I stay full all the time and I am not starving myself, I have an awesome support group, the support of my family, and everyone on OH to get me over the stupid and not so stupid stuff.   

I now have an October 19th surgery date.  I am praying that I will stay healthy enough to make this one.  My strenght is coming back and I am feeling more like myself, but every twinge in my chest and I think is the pericardial cyst causing problems, should I have had them remove it?  Second guessing, and I am more in tune with every beat of my heart.  I have just over 5 weeks to be totally 100%, so I can get this done.

I have to wait until the Dr. clears me for surgery after my recent hospitalization, and then I should get a new date.  I am so very dissappointed that it has been put off for a while.  I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason but doesn't mean I am always happy when they do.

9/9/09 seems a wonderful date to start on doesn't it?  I asked Leah at Dr. Stewart's office to give me the quickest date she could and this is the one that was available.  I have to admit I was really wanting to have it done before the end of summer break, but I will just have to take the time off after school starts back up. I will have 10 days added the 1st of Sept and I have 6.5 days saved up from this year,  that should get me through surgery and at least part of the follow up visits before I start going into no pay days, but it is worth not having to wait until next summer to do it.  I called everyone I can think of to tell. LOL