Plastic Update

[Guest guest]

First, my sincere thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers and

support and outpouring of love and caring. I was *really* scared and feeling

all of that coming my way really made a huge difference.

I had my tummy tuck, back lift, and thigh lift on 9/23 at s Hopkins,

Bayview Hospital, at 11:30 a.m. By 6:00 pm or so I was awake in recovery

wondering how come I felt so good! This was nothing like my open rny where

afterwards, in recovery, I felt awful -- unable to breathe, in incredible

pain, zonked out, and just crummy in every way. This time, in about 15

minutes from waking up, I felt " recovered " and ready to get to my room. I

was chatting with my nurse. I was fully awake. I was breathing normally.

At some point they wheeled me to my room and once I got settled, I called my

Mom! Boy, was she surprised to hear from me so quickly! That night was

pretty good. I had two shots of morphine and then began taking Tylox. Pain

was minimal still. I was pretty confused frankly as mostly, at this point, I

was just sleeping for a short time and then up, fully awake, ready to rock

and roll.

The next morning one of my surgeons came in and changed my dressing, with his

med students crew assisting. He was adorable when he said, " IT LOOKS

AMAZING! " He asked if I could see and I said a little bit but it was enough

to see that something VERY dramatic had taken place. And I mean, WOW! I

honestly still cannot believe that I could have such a major change. It

blows my mind till now.

They took off 12 pounds of skin and left me with lean legs, a flat stomach,

and a firm butt.

I am home now after staying with relatives for the first 3 days out of the

hospital. I am fending pretty well for myself (changing my dressing,

emptying my drains, even showered today & walked to the corner for the

paper!).

I'm so happy I did this. So grateful for the courage you gave me to go

ahead. It's like for the very first time I do feel slender.

Much love,

se

Baltimore, MD

Open RNY 11/22/99, Dr. Sweet, Reading, PA

http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/profile.phtml?N=L951569336 " >http:\

//www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/profile.phtml?N=L951569336

11/22/99 324, BMI 51

12/6/99 301, BMI 47

1/27/00 280, BMI 44

2/22/00 270, BMI 42

3/16/00 262, BMI 41

5/31/00 244, BMI 38 (no longer extremely obese... just plain obese)

7/22/00 224, BMI 35

9/23/00 220, BMI 34 (and still obese)

10/16/00 216, BMI 34

11/7/00 210, BMI 33 (65 pounds from goal!!!)

5/8/01 196, BMI 31 (new goal 157; I am 5'7 " that would give me a BMI

of 24.6; 39 pounds to go)

9/13/01 196, BMI 31 (Stuck!)

1/24/02 190, BMI 29.7 (slightly overweight!! have lost 80.2% of my

excess weight)

4/2/02 200, ARGH! Very frightening moment. Hopefully I can lose back

down to 190 quickly!

4/28/02 201 (started a starch-free, 4 hours a week of exercise

program...weighed in at the gym)