A letter from OH and Awesome Gifts....
#1 .... the gift of life and health and mobility. Five years post weight loss surgery I am maintaining seamlessly for life ... and I am grateful ... No more hypertension.... no more diabetes.... no more sleep apnea... no more gastroesophageal reflux ... no more dyslipidemia/hyperlipidemia... no more joint aches and pains or impaired mobility.... no more shortness of breath... I RUN ... I WALK... I SWIM... I DANCE.. I PAINT.... I SEW... I SHOP AND I SOW ..... and to think I did all these things before until I could no longer swim or run or walk in the measure that I wanted to.... In 2011 I ran five 10Ks, four 20 Ks, and six 5 Ks.... I am loving living with health and mobility ....
#2... My DH, DS, DD and awesome uncle presented me with a lovely card at lunch yesterday and in it were 5 big bucks ... 5 bills ... one for each year ... I would have thought of any number of things to squander that gift on.... but it will become a double gift ... because I am adding it to my love offering .. an egg of love and hope that I am putting together to send forward to a sister as she battles for her life having recently being diagnosed and beginning aggressive treatment for her illness... it came right on time ... a double gift on my 5th year surgiversary....
#3... THE GIANTS WON .... YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY awesome gift...
$4 ... This morning I opened up my mail to a form letter from OH ... THANK YOU!
From: ObesityHelp Services
To: Martita xxxx
Sent: Monday, February 6, 2012 2:38 AM
Subject: Happy WLS Anniversary, Martita!
Congratulations, Martita!
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY !! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY !! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY !!
How have you been?
According to information you entered into your profile with us, it was on this day, 5 years ago that you began your new life as a post op.
Congratualtions on that rebirth!
Now, in writing you, I have no idea how far bariatric surgery is behind you. Some post ops are forever eager with boundless energy to share their story with peers. Others have totally moved on in life and cringe at the very thought of being reminded of the topic of obesity. Presumably you are somewhere in between.
Regardless of where you would place yourself, I'd like to extend to you a sincere thank you.
I don't know if you and I might have personally emailed or chatted on line since I created ObesityHelp.com in 1998, but I must tell you, our work (my programming and the participation of people like you) have gone a LONG way toward helping people. We had over 175,000 members at the end of 2003. (Do you remember how many we had when you were first active on the site?) We get about one million page hits every day. We've educated hundreds and thousands of health care professionals in the country, helping take a big bite out of obesity discrimination. It's really been much more than I had ever expected when I started the site.
The reason I wanted to thank you is for having set an example for others to follow. To this day, there is fear and ignorance surrounding the topic. People like you who took the brave step of moving forward and doing something positive in your life stand out as an important role model to others.
I'm not sure how easily those days before your surgery stand out by now, but every hour of the day, hundreds of your peers years behind you go through profiles such as yours for inspiration, hope an encouragement. While you might have have grown (or be growing) lightyears away from your previous life, the mark that you left behind on my web site has touched and continues to touch tens of thousands of people.
For that I am eternally grateful. Without your input, I would not have been able to help my members the way that I have over these years.
Thank you, Martita!
Updating Your Profile
Could I get you to update your profile? Our community has had no shortage of recent post ops. What is in really high demand, however, is the current wisdom of people 2, 3, 4, or 5 or more years out. Simply updating the comments on your profile page would constitute an outstanding investment. Both the general public as well as health care professionals alike are skeptical about the long term outcome of bariatric surgery. Telling them what it is like on the other side is a precious contribution.
We have a number of important new sections on the site for which we are collecting information. Below are just a few:
- Post Op Clinical Survey : how have your co-morbidities decreased over time?
- Hospital Survey : what can you tell others about your hospital?
- Professional Surveys : have you told us about your PCP, Dietician, Psychologist, etc?
- Surgery Reimbursement Survey : did your insurer reward your hospital for supporting a bariatric surgery program?
If our community has been of value to you at all, please take the time to return the favor by sharing your experience with us. Your knowledge is unique and important!
What's your experience with plastic surgery?
We are actively developing a plastic surgery section of our site. Chances are good that you might have some experience with that. If so, please share it with your peers who might be from 6 months to several years behind you in the bariatric surgery experience. In particular, do you know any plastic surgeons that you would recommend? If so, please add them to our database, or if already in our database, please post your review.
Or, perhaps you might be actively researching plastic surgery for yourself. Most people are ready for this within about 18 months after surgery, if not before. Losing the weight is great, but walking around with 20 or more pounds of excess skin left over from your pre-op past life can be a real drag (especially, in a literal sense, if you are into biking or swimming). In any case, please stop by.
Check up on your peers
How many friends do you still keep in touch with who had surgery the same time that you did? Did you know we had surgery dates listed on our site by month?
Be sure to stop by and drop some of your peers an email.
Share Your Photos!
Do you have any pre-op photos from your past life saved that you can contrast with more recent photos of yourself? We LOVE to show off the success of our members. Can you help us?
We have a very active photo volunteer corps which would love to accept your photos via email or mail. We look for photo pairs from people who look like they've lost 100 pounds or more. See if you can add yourself to our before and after photo gallery. You're welcome to submit your photos to [email protected].
How are you doing on post op nutrition?
Vitamins, liquid diets, protein powders ... what's your experience? Be sure you check out our nutrition forum. We've got thousands of reviews on over one hundred products posted by the public. If you have any experience with nutritional products, we'd love to see your experiences. Interested in discounts or free samples? Sign up to be notified.
Support our Site
Have we been of value to you? If so, there are lots of ways you can help us out.
I hope you are doing something special to celebrate your anniversary today.
Best of wishes,
Eric Klein
Founder, ObesityHelp.com
RNY 2/5/07 no regain having implemented lifestyle changes....
Thank you for being such an ever present loving and kind inspiration for long term success with WLS!
"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls the butterfly." Richard Bach
"Support fosters your growth. If you are getting enough of the right support, you will experience a major transformation in yourself. You will discover a sense of empowerment and peace you have never before experienced. You will come to believe you can overcome your challenges and find some joy in this world." Katie Jay
