Two years ago... [long]

[Guest guest]

Two years ago right now, I was in the elevator at Ballard Swedish being

taken up to my room. Here's what I just posted to my WLS journal.

In two years, I've accomplished the following:

* I've gotten to ten pounds BELOW Dr. Weber's weight goal for me

and have been stable there (or have weighed even less!) for over a year

* I'm two or three sizes, depending on the day and cut, below my

dream size

* My body fat has dropped from 49% to 23% (or 18.5%, if you

believe a different calculator that I found)

* My BMI has dropped from 53.9 to 23.9

* I can physically do any basic life activity that I want to, and

often find that I am fitter & healthier than others around me

* I am free of the crushing stigma of being morbidly obese,

socially, professionally, and in my own heart

* I've completed several hikes recently with a 35 pound pack that

would have literally killed me at 310 pounds

* I live in a three-story house and take the stairs virtually

everywhere I go... I realized yesterday that I don't even KNOW where the

elevators are in a four-story building that I frequent at work

* I continue to deeply research the health issues that affect

post-op RNY people and am seen as a resource by post-ops across the

country

But there's more to it than that. Last night sums it up nicely... I

went to the Cheap Trick/Cake concert at the Showbox in a mini-dress and

boots with a 3 " heel. No seats there, so I was on my feet and dancing

from 7:30 until 1 am... my feet hurt a bit because I'm not used to

heels, but I am not at all exhausted. At 310 pounds, I would have been

begging for a chair after 20 minutes, even if I was wearing jeans and

sneakers - if I'd been brave enough to go to a concert in Seattle in the

first place. The difference blows me away.

I've had my struggles. Anemia. A little stoma trickiness. Dumping. A few

plateaus. Some low blood pressure. Vitamin B-12 deficiency... but how do

any of these struggles compare to severe asthma, deteriorating joints,

moderate sleep apnea, stress incontinence, and a few others I've

actually forgotten? They don't. Nutritional stuff can and has been dealt

with, the blood pressure thing has straightened itself out over time,

I've learned how to be nice to my stoma (and really, that's easier than

being nice to my knees was in the past, with fewer rules), and dumping's

a good thing though I've yet to learn to do it at a convenient time. :-)

Would I do it over again? HELL YEAH. Would I do it differently? Maybe.

Now that I know that I can and will follow a vitamin, mineral, and

protein regimen, I might have had a " proximal " distal instead of a

medial, but since I didn't know that I could trust myself to stick to

the supplements, I did the right thing for me at the time. The only

mistake I made was not absolutely insisting on transection. Live and

learn... maybe I'll get the more distal bypass someday after all. I'm

not hoping for it, but I'd deal with the trade-offs.

I've had mostly wonderful and definitely highly skilled medical

professionals throughout. I fired every doctor I dealt with that was

either an asshole, a fat-basher, or not willing to research or learn

about our issues. Luckily, there were only a couple of those. I've had

great coverage from my employer's insurance, and though it seems like

I'm expensive sometimes, with the blood work and all, it's nothing

compared to what I would have cost had I continued to need emergency

asthma rescue treatments, more sleep apnea treatment, treatment for high

blood pressure and high cholesterol, surgery to deal with the

incontinence, on and on. It only SEEMS more expensive.

I've created a great support network, one which I believe is crucial to

my success. Between starting EMOSS in May of 2001, and joining AMOS in

March of 2001, I've made many, many dear friends, people that I would be

glad to know even if we didn't share bariatric surgery as a

transformation in our lives. If you look at ANY person who has been

successful with this surgery long-term, you will find that they either

had or built a good support system for themselves, so if you want to

make it and keep the weight off, throw away the scale and spend time

cultivating real, caring friendships in our community.

Goals for the next year? Stay the same size for another whole year (with

the cooler weather, I'm having the simply stunning experience of being

able to wear last year's clothes again... THEY ALL FIT!!!), climb to the

tippity top of Mt. Si, if I start feeling like a real masochist, climb

to the top of Mailbox Peak (and if I do that, I'm leaving before and

after pictures in the " mailbox log " !!!), and become yet more " normal " ...

I fight the urge these days to tell people who are meeting me for the

first time that I used to be fat... they don't care, and they don't need

to know. What I'm finding is that I miss the attention and praise, so

it's back to talk therapy and the good ol' support network.

That's all for now. Thanks for being along for the ride with me. It's

been great, and I hope it just keeps getting better.

Z

Open RNY 09/17/01

Plastics 07/22/02

http://www.ziobro.us/index.html

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 9/17/03 3:31:38 PM US Eastern Standard Time,

juliaz@... writes:

> Would I do it over again? HELL YEAH.

Me too . Once a year if I had to.

Congratulations on your great success.

hugs,

Ann