1 YR Post Op Today

[Guest guest]

Good morning everyone!

Today is my 1-yr anniversary and I'm glad to be able to

officially " belong " to the group. I joined back when I was pre-op

as I wanted to understand what some of the issues were that people

faced the further out from surgery they are. I know at 1-yr that I

am just entering those stages but am glad there is a knowledgeable

group to help me through the process.

A little about me. I'm a 43 yr old female with 3 fur children,

Chesapeake Bay Retriever's - Zoe, Moka and Max, one significant

other who will likely become my husband at some point and his 3-yr

old son. My surgery was Feb 3rd, 2003. I was 442 lbs at my highest

on Jan 16th, pre-op testing day, and as of today I am 224 lbs. A

loss of 218 lbs. It's still hard to fathom that number. I am 5'9

and carry my weight, considering everything, quite well and am

shooting for a goal weight of 200 lbs. Being 24 lbs from goal

weight is truly unimaginable a year ago. Heck, even today. I

started out in 34-36 pants and 4X-6X tops. Today I am wearing 16

pants and L tops. I cannot even remember the last time I wore these

sizes - maybe as a 2-yr old. LOL

I will be having the first of at least 2 plastic surgeries on Feb

23rd. I will be having a full extended abdominoplasty and lateral

thigh lift. The combination of both procedures is typically

referred to as a lower body lift. Trust me there is plenty of loose

skin to lose and plenty of remaining tissue to lift. LOL It will be

a 9-hour surgery which does not excite me but it will be worth it

when I see the end results. Even with all the pain, cuts and

swelling after surgery I will still look so much better. Then in

early May I will be having the 2nd stage of an abdominoplasty above

my waist. I have strange anatomy in that my waist never stretched

out and so I have a smaller panni above the waist and a larger one

below. Typically they cut down low and pull everything down but in

my case they would not be able to pull the upper tissue down past my

waist. Also because it is so stretched out it would never lay

flat. So in the 2nd procedure they will do another horizontal cut,

probably circumferential, and cut out that excess tissue as well as

the excess hanging on the sides and back of the bra line. I may add

in doing my arms or some sort of breast work with the 2nd surgery.

Need to discuss it further with the plastic surgeon. I will likely

need a thighplasty also, but I'm not real excited about that one. I

will see how things settle out after the lateral thigh lift and

decide then. Most likely that will have to wait till 2005 or my

employer will have a heart attack with how much I'm off this year.

I've planned 2 vacations also. Now that it is comfy to fly I cannot

sit home. LOL

Well I guess that's enough about me. I'm looking forward to getting

to know all of you!

Take Care, D.

DOS - 5'9 " – Age 42 – BMI 65.3

442/224/200 lbs

-218 lbs as of Jan. 17th – BMI 33.1

21 lbs before surgery, 197 lbs after

Open RNY-150 cm, 1/2 oz pouch - Feb 3, 2003

Surgeon - n, MD - Neenah, WI