6 years ago today

Six years ago this morning I had DS surgery in Celebration Fl with Dr Keith Kim. I had no idea how much my life would change from then to now. On that morning I weighed 500 lbs. Today I range between 260 to 285. I lost over half my body weight. At 500lbs I really had no life. Today I have a great life. This past weekend my wife, daughter and I went snorkeling on Saturday and spent all day Sunday at a Florida Theme Park..Six years ago I would have never tried to do either, much less both on the same weekend.  Six years ago I slept using a CPAP and took several different prescriptions from blood pressure to depression meds. I haven't used a CPAP since the night before surgery and I am off all meds except for my vitamins/ calcium etc and a potassium supplement. 

I will not tell you it has been an easy road. Makes me mad when someone makes the comment that WLS is the easy way out. Just shows their stupidity. This has been a tough journey and I deal with it daily. But if I had to walk the 200 miles to my surgeons office for him to perform the surgery again, I would be on the road walking now. I would not ever go back to my previous life. . I have to constantly make good food choices, remember to take all of my supplements and exercise.

I will tell you I was scared to death the morning of surgery, but I realized this disease was way beyond my ability to control and I needed medical assistance. Without it I do not believe I would still be living today.

For me this was the best decision of my life. I would not change a thing other than I would have had surgery long before I did. If you are considering this route I encourage you to do lots of research about your options, and then do extensive research of your surgeon. Get comfortable with your decision and then go for it.

If you are on this journey and have any questions, please contact me. I hang out here 3 or 4 times a week even if I don't post very often. Just reading about everyone else keeps me motivated.

By the way..... THE DS ROCKS.... :)

Charlie
 

 Thank you Charlie!  What a great post!  I am so happy for you!  I like what you said about your realization before surgery.  That this was beyond your ability to control, and you knew you needed medical assistance.

Not only does the DS rock but you ROCK Charlie. You're an inspriation!! Thanks for the update,as a preop it is wonderful to read stories like yours.


Ruby

Thanks for the great post - very encouraging and hopeful to read for us newbies.
Congrats on maintaining your loss and finding joy in your life!

Kelly

Thank you Charlie!

You rock!! It is so inspiring when people like you post about your experiencesin the long turn. It just serves to get me even more excited and ready for my approval to hurry up and get here already!! Thank you so much for posting~ it means so much!

shannon

What a great post!

Congratulations on 6 years, Charlie and for reclaiming your life! It's great to have input form the vets that are a few years out. We need that perspective to help us along.

I wish Dr. Kim still performed the DS. Florida is in such need of a good DS surgeon.

Happy Surgiversary, Charlie!  Great to read about someone who has been living the DS life for so many years, and is doing well.  Congrats.

Thanks so much for sharing your six year journey! It's so inspiring and encouraging to see someone that is farther out post about their DS successes and even their setbacks. It's all good! Congrats on your surgiversary and may you have many many more wonderful days ahead.

Thanks for the great post and Congrats on your many successes!

For those of us wanna-bes, would you be willing to talk about what parts made it such a tough journey? Was it the many changes required, or emotional stuff or?

Megan