My incredible year

[DevilBlueDress 189]

Today, I'm celebrating my first surgiversary! 105 lbs gone from my HW. Time to share my story:

I was morbidly obese for the majority of the last 20 years. I'd diet and lose 30 only to regain 40. Sound familiar?

My ankles and left shoulder were in constant pain from old injuries, bone spurs and edema. I could barely get up from a chair without assistance. Exercise was very difficult. I thought that having surgery to repair my ankles would be the answer to getting moving again. In January 2012, I had surgery to remove bone spurs and repair my left Achilles' tendon. A week later I had bilateral pulmonary embolisms. Luckily (obviously), I survived, but even with the surgery, my left ankle isn't any better.

It was during 2012 that the start-up my husband worked for was acquired. Starting in 2013, we'd have insurance that would cover WLS. I made a plan to get a lapband with my family doctor and he was very supportive.

With the new insurance, I had to have 6 months of documented visits with a nutritionist. For those visits, the nutritionist recommended changing one or two habits per month. I'm a gadget girl, so the first one I tried was to log my food into MyFitnessPal. I'm proud to say that since March 2013, I have only missed 1 day logging my food. Other habits changed during that time included cutting out soda/carbonated drinks, no straws, eating more frequently, measuring/weighing my food, chewing 30 times, separating liquids from meals, etc.

At month 4 pre-op, it was time to finally meet the WLS clinic team to start their process which included a psych eval, meeting the WLS nutritionist and my surgeon. My surgeon told me that a sleeve or RNY would be a better option for me than the lapband. I had an upper endoscopy which uncovered an issue (Barrett's Esophagus) which ruled out the sleeve. RNY is was!

I was fast tracked to have my surgery in August, but the week before the boot camp WLS class, my husband was laid off. In the severance package, the company was going to continue coverage for us, but there would be a month where it would appear that we didn't have insurance. Ugh. Then the morning of the boot camp class, I got a call from my family doctor's office that I had appendicitis and needed to go to the hospital at 1 pm to possibly have it removed. The strangest part was that I wasn't in any pain! It turned out to be a false alarm (duh) from a CT scan I had done.

Once insurance was straightened out and the RNY was approved, my date was set:10/2/13

For all the worries I had about the RNY surgery and recovery, that was the easiest part for me. Nothing dramatic or even remarkable happened. I was back to work at my desk job 10 days later.

I've followed the clinic's plan and have lost pretty steadily with only the typical 2 week stall and a month stall in July.

I could exercise a bit more. I found that I will stick to an exercise plan for a month or so, but then I get bored, busy or both. I just signed up to learn to be a Strong Women leader (it's an evidence-based exercise program for middle-aged women to build strength as we age. ) Two of my co-workers and I are planning to lead free lunch time classes for our colleagues probably starting in December. I think if I'm teaching, I'll be more likely to keep up with it. Plus it will be fun!

I was a fashion merchandising major as an undergrad, but it was expensive and difficult to be fashionable when I was obese. I'm having so much fun now shopping for clothes in the local thrift stores. Recently, I've had to buy all new shoes because I'm now a size smaller.

Another unexpected bonus is that I've made some new amazing friends through the local WLS support group. We eat dinner at great local restaurants once a month. It's pretty funny when there are leftovers from 5 people sharing one pizza. :-)

One fear pre-op I had was that I would lose interest in my favorite hobby: cooking. I'm happy to report that cooking is still my main hobby, but what I cook and how I cook has changed dramatically. Now that I get full so quickly, I want everything I eat to be tasty and nutritious. I'm no saint, but most of the time I'm satisfied and my family is as well. We just don't have the junk around. Everyone is reading labels before deciding to buy or eat. I was the only obese member of my nuclear family, but we've all gotten healthier as I've lost post-op.

Health wise, my ankles are still problems but less so because the edema is gone now. I now don't have to have help getting up from a chair. Pre-op, I took Celebrex for swelling and pain. Since a week post-op, I've only taken 6 Tylenols. I think 100+ lbs gone has lessened the strain on them.

If you've stuck through this long, rambling- thank you for listening. I hope that a pre-op or two will see similarities in their story and that this gives them some hope!

Molly 

[Wynnie 186]

I love your story and you have done an amazing job!

[DevilBlueDress 189]

Thank you!

[joy59 81]

Thank you so much for sharing your story. I love how you know that you loss interest in exercise so you are are finding a way to be successful and will be helping others while being accountable, genius!

You are truly an inspiration. Thank you

[dcostella 14]

You look amazing!!! Great job!

[AuriP 420]

Thanks for this. I had surgery 10/2/14 so I am exactly a year after you. I hope to do as well as you have!

[DevilBlueDress 189]

Just have confidence and follow your clinic's plan! Everyone I've met who had WLS has thought they might be the one who it doesn't work for (including me).