Hi. I am part of this "class of October, 2004", and have gone from 213 to 128, size 2X to a 6 or 8. That is great, but better is that my diabetes is now under perfect control without insulin, I no longer need the handfuls of pills I used to take to control my high cholesterol, high triglycerides, the Ditropan I needed to control my leaky bladder, the pain I had in my badley swollen legs, ankles, and feet, and the cardiac medicine I was takeing since I used to be a heart attack waiting to happen. I am content at the weight I am now, but would like to drop about 7 or 8 pounds. This surgery saved my life, and made it a life full of joy. I am grateful. Congratulations to all of us! JoAnne Warner

Wowie everyone is doing so great. I'm down to 174 from an all time high of 396 and a revision weight of 310; so, I've lost 222 al2gether! I'm wearing a solid 12 right now. It's really funny that when I get into a size... I refuse to wear the previous size no matter if it still fits or not My favorite jeans are a 14, but now that I'm in a 12... they gotta go even though they still fit fine (did I just say that???). Anyway, life is good. My tummy tuck and hernia repair are scheduled for 1/27. God has really given me a gift. Take care, Jackie

Well, my youngest told Son of Satan (her bio dad) that she didn't want to live with him. He took it badly (which is understandable) and told her fine, he'll drop it. Well, I just got off the phone with my attorney and guess what? He's not. He's not persuing her living with him full time, but he wants joint physical and legal. I'm not going to let him do this. I'm fighting it all the way. Tomorrow I can get a copy of my custody investigator report and hope they'll still allow the same report. Sigh...my heart is so heavy it hurts so deeply, not for me, but for my daughter. She's going to see what true evil he has and how many lies he can tell. I don't want her seeing it. I had some advice given to me to take her to the doctor and see what they can do about giving her something for sleep. Documentation I guess. I just really don't like the idea of medicating her. I already have her drinking sleepy time tea and it's helping SOME, not much. Any suggestions out there for my baby?

Hello everyone, I'm mostly a lurker but I enjoy your posts. Surgery was 10-29-03 and pre op of 398 all time high of 525. I'm now at 197 and wearing size 30 pants and size Med. Shirts down from 64 pants and 5xlt shirts. I had PS 11-30-04 and lost 6.5 lbs and at 5 weeks I'm starting to feel pretty good. I had some major complications during my Hernia repair and belt leptomecy (sp) I lost 8 units of blood after they closed me up. Spent 7 hours in recovery due to them not awear of what had happened and almost checked out for good!. Three tranfussions and 6 units of blood later I'm starting to get my strength back. The sad thing is that I had lost 8 units last christmas due to a bleading ulcer caused by some medication I was on and almost checked out then as well. I had just got back to my normal blood count of 15 just before my Plastic Surgery and then to go through this all again. Thank God I really have a sharp Bariatric surgeon who cought it both times the Plastic Surgeon seemed to not be as awear of the risks as my Bariatric Surgeon. So If you need the reminder......Surgery has all sorts of risks and we know them, but just because one went perfectly that might not happen the next time. I would still do it all over again in a heart beat as I'm sure we all would. Keep up the progress and keep posting. Thank You Shawn

Sorry Ellen, I have not experienced chest pain, so I can't help. But please, if you are experiencing chest, see your doctor immediately! Good Luck to you! Kathy