5 years Today!

Five years today I put my faith in Dr. Aarts and went to sleep with regular guts and woke up with re-arranged ones. smile emoticon My journey wasn't easy. The RNY itself was three hours longer due to a malfunction in the staple gun. Since then I've had my gall bladder removed, a panniculectomy, emergency bowel obstruction surgery, a minor repair to my panni, which turned into a full revision of it, 18 iron infusions (ferritin was as low as 2), I am borderline osteoporosis in my spine, hip and neck and had another repair to my bowel two months ago (twisted bowel and hernia repair).

Now that the bad is out of the way here is the good. I went from my highest of 242 (231 at surgery time) to my lowest of 126. My personal goal was 135. Last year at this time I was 131 with 17% body fat. I have completed three half marathons, three full marathons, two half IronMan races and did my first full Ironman last year (4km swim, 180 km bike ride, and full marathon 42.2 km run). I'm currently training for my third half Ironman and will be taking on the West Coast Trail this summer (full on backpacking in quite rugged terrain with animals nearby eek! You must be fit enough to take on the 75 kms).

All of the above I NEVER would have dreamed I could do prior to surgery. After my Ironman I fell into a slump (and ongoing stomach issues lead into my most-recent surgery didn't help). I am still pushing to get my get-up-and-go back, and it's there, just not as enthusiastically and before. I still struggle with food and have to stay away from certain items or I go all out. I am probably 10 pounds up from where I was last year and that's not great, and it's much harder to lose now than even a year ago, which is interesting!
All-in-all I am still grateful for this surgery, and I will help others who have made their own decision and have done the research on the self-advocacy it can take. It doesn't fix the head, I was told that from the start, and that the work I will always have to do.

I take my vitamins, I get my protein in, I get my water in, I obviously exercise. Most of all. I enjoy life! Here`s some pics! They are huge for some reason!! Sorry about that!

Before

Congrats on your 5 years!  You certainly have had some journey and still came out victorious.  Sounds like you had your struggles and still persevered!  You look like you have such a positive and vibrant spirit about you too!  

Thanks for sharing, now let some of that spirit rub off on me! (haha)

What an incredible journey! Congrats on your 5-year anniversary...you have accomplished so much. Be proud!

Tammy :)

Happy #5 and thanks for giving back so much to our little WLS community all these years.

Yeah For #5  !!!!   Hopefully all bumps are over and done with and its smooth sailing from here out.

Your achievements are outstanding ......and so is your smile in those photos.  Keep up the good work !!!!  You are an inspiration!!

So proud of you! You were an inspiration when I began my journey and you continue to inspire me!

Congratulations!

Annette 

Hello old friend!   How are you?

Way to go Kelly!

Fantastic success Kelly!

Thank you Sir!