One year Surgiversary (cross post from FB
I don't really come on here much anymore...really mostly just on the FB group, but, I did get a lot of info. on here as a pre-op, so I want to pay it forward to anyone starting on this journey!
I had my surgery on May 31, 2011. I am 121 lbs off from my highest in 3/2011, and 102 down from day of surgery. I have lost 72% of my excess weight. I went from a size 24/26 jean to a 14. My wedding dress from 1989 is too big for me.
My hgbA1c went from 7.4 to 6.0...not quite below the number to completely be considered non-diabetic, but oh so close. I am off my 4 diabetic pills and insulin. I am off my 2 cholesterol meds, I am off my daily aspirin. I am still on my blood pressure meds - but not for blood pressure. It is to keep my kidneys healthy. I still spill protein into my urine, left over from high blood sugar for so long. But those numbers are getting better!
I have increased my hgb to 13.4...highest it's EVER been in my life (that I know of!) Started taking ProFerrin about 4 months ago, 2 every morning. For the most part my labs look VERY good. Just a couple that are little up or down...but are going in the right direction - no concerns. I started off following Vitalady's plan and adjust it as my labs direct me to. I buy my vites from a variety of places, Vitalady is my main, but I do get Vit C and Multi Vite from Costco. Other places are Vitacost.com and Puritans Pride websites - they usually have great specials. I get my protein powder from Vitacost usually too.
I constantly have people tell me they don't recognize me. At my son's graduation party, my older sisters both said I look 5 - 10 years younger. It's been a couple of months since they have seen me. My ID badge at work looks like a different person - as does my passport photo! Renewed my driver's license in March -- I did still lie about my weight, I listed a lower weight, but now I am already lower than that!
I just got back from a trip to Italy a couple of weeks ago...never could have done that a year ago! The very last agent when we were back in the US looked at me and my picture back and forth several times, finally he said, "have you lost weight? You look different".
Last Oct. we went to Colorado and hiked all over the place...never could have done that either!
I have so much more energy...I have to remind myself, though, when I need something upstairs. It's been a habit for so long to have the kids go get it because I was too tired or just couldn't do it. I can go up and down the stairs all the time now!
I have had no problems really with my DS. Just occasional loose BM's and gas pains due to what I ate. I threw up a few times the first few months because I ate too fast. Dr. Anthone's office says I am the poster child DS patient. Don't really know about that...still have weight to lose! But I do get all my daily vites in probably 98% of the time. I get enough protein in daily as well. In the morning I have 3 slices of bacon and 3 boiled egg whites and a double protein shake. I get the rest of my protein from my diet, but do have another shake if needed at night (about 3 times a month).I do need to scale back the carbs and step up the workouts. I've let chocolate sneak it's way back into my diet too much this past couple of months. (I think since my hgbA1c is down so much, I felt I could finally eat chocolates without it affecting me so much - first time in 15 years!)
I am doing a 5K this summer...if I manage to run any of it instead of walk I will consider it a HUGE success. But just walking it with friends and family I love will be great! It is hard to motivate myself to go to the gym, but once I am there, I love it and feel great! It's nice to be able to excercise and move around and feel good doing it.
I do have a pretty good sized hernia, I am wanting to get that fixed sometime this early fall. I will probably do a tummy tuck/panniculectomy at the same time. I also need to get something done as far as my bladder is concerned, like a suspension or something and a hyster or ablation. I want to do it all at once since each surgery would be a 8-12 week recovery for me (I am nurse, so I have to be able to lift patients which means longer recovery!)
I can't really think of anything else to add, but a picture...which I will try! I will try to make sure to come out here a bit more, so if you have any questions - let me know!
I had my surgery on May 31, 2011. I am 121 lbs off from my highest in 3/2011, and 102 down from day of surgery. I have lost 72% of my excess weight. I went from a size 24/26 jean to a 14. My wedding dress from 1989 is too big for me.
My hgbA1c went from 7.4 to 6.0...not quite below the number to completely be considered non-diabetic, but oh so close. I am off my 4 diabetic pills and insulin. I am off my 2 cholesterol meds, I am off my daily aspirin. I am still on my blood pressure meds - but not for blood pressure. It is to keep my kidneys healthy. I still spill protein into my urine, left over from high blood sugar for so long. But those numbers are getting better!
I have increased my hgb to 13.4...highest it's EVER been in my life (that I know of!) Started taking ProFerrin about 4 months ago, 2 every morning. For the most part my labs look VERY good. Just a couple that are little up or down...but are going in the right direction - no concerns. I started off following Vitalady's plan and adjust it as my labs direct me to. I buy my vites from a variety of places, Vitalady is my main, but I do get Vit C and Multi Vite from Costco. Other places are Vitacost.com and Puritans Pride websites - they usually have great specials. I get my protein powder from Vitacost usually too.
I constantly have people tell me they don't recognize me. At my son's graduation party, my older sisters both said I look 5 - 10 years younger. It's been a couple of months since they have seen me. My ID badge at work looks like a different person - as does my passport photo! Renewed my driver's license in March -- I did still lie about my weight, I listed a lower weight, but now I am already lower than that!
I just got back from a trip to Italy a couple of weeks ago...never could have done that a year ago! The very last agent when we were back in the US looked at me and my picture back and forth several times, finally he said, "have you lost weight? You look different".
Last Oct. we went to Colorado and hiked all over the place...never could have done that either!
I have so much more energy...I have to remind myself, though, when I need something upstairs. It's been a habit for so long to have the kids go get it because I was too tired or just couldn't do it. I can go up and down the stairs all the time now!
I have had no problems really with my DS. Just occasional loose BM's and gas pains due to what I ate. I threw up a few times the first few months because I ate too fast. Dr. Anthone's office says I am the poster child DS patient. Don't really know about that...still have weight to lose! But I do get all my daily vites in probably 98% of the time. I get enough protein in daily as well. In the morning I have 3 slices of bacon and 3 boiled egg whites and a double protein shake. I get the rest of my protein from my diet, but do have another shake if needed at night (about 3 times a month).I do need to scale back the carbs and step up the workouts. I've let chocolate sneak it's way back into my diet too much this past couple of months. (I think since my hgbA1c is down so much, I felt I could finally eat chocolates without it affecting me so much - first time in 15 years!)
I am doing a 5K this summer...if I manage to run any of it instead of walk I will consider it a HUGE success. But just walking it with friends and family I love will be great! It is hard to motivate myself to go to the gym, but once I am there, I love it and feel great! It's nice to be able to excercise and move around and feel good doing it.
I do have a pretty good sized hernia, I am wanting to get that fixed sometime this early fall. I will probably do a tummy tuck/panniculectomy at the same time. I also need to get something done as far as my bladder is concerned, like a suspension or something and a hyster or ablation. I want to do it all at once since each surgery would be a 8-12 week recovery for me (I am nurse, so I have to be able to lift patients which means longer recovery!)
I can't really think of anything else to add, but a picture...which I will try! I will try to make sure to come out here a bit more, so if you have any questions - let me know!
HW/SW/CW/GW: 294/288/170.2/150 ht: 5'2" (06/03/2012)
Part of that I owe to my surgeon. He leaves us with a longer common channel than most...weight usually comes off a bit slower, and sometimes we don't get quite as much off either. But the trade off is that he usually has fewer post op complications with his patients. Also, just from talking with his patients that I know and other patients on here, we seem to have fewer bathroom and gassiness issues as a group.
Now ANYONE who doesn't take care of themselves is going to wind up in a mess. That same fear for me, having my labs tank, made me super uber careful about taking my vites. I just filled my monthly vites, I use the monthly sorter that a lot of people use on here, and out of 31 days, 4 portions each day, there were only 4 times I didn't get my vites in. That is 4 out of 124 opportunities. Plus I was out of the country for 2 weeks of that. Now sometimes at bed I need to take my dinner and bedtime ones, but I get them all in.
I am a nurse, so I am maybe more sensitive to keeping myself in a good place. I drank like crazy at first to keep from getting dehydrated. Plus I get a copy of all my labs, make a spreadsheet of all my labs, plus another one with the most important ones to be able to look at in a glance. I am usually the one to spot trends of labs going up or down and act as needed before my Dr.'s! I put all of these in a binder that goes with me to my Dr. appts. The binder also has the diagram from my surgeon with all my measurements and configuration on it. When I travel, I take the lab spreadsheet and the diagram for emergencies, plus my surgeons info.
Now ANYONE who doesn't take care of themselves is going to wind up in a mess. That same fear for me, having my labs tank, made me super uber careful about taking my vites. I just filled my monthly vites, I use the monthly sorter that a lot of people use on here, and out of 31 days, 4 portions each day, there were only 4 times I didn't get my vites in. That is 4 out of 124 opportunities. Plus I was out of the country for 2 weeks of that. Now sometimes at bed I need to take my dinner and bedtime ones, but I get them all in.
I am a nurse, so I am maybe more sensitive to keeping myself in a good place. I drank like crazy at first to keep from getting dehydrated. Plus I get a copy of all my labs, make a spreadsheet of all my labs, plus another one with the most important ones to be able to look at in a glance. I am usually the one to spot trends of labs going up or down and act as needed before my Dr.'s! I put all of these in a binder that goes with me to my Dr. appts. The binder also has the diagram from my surgeon with all my measurements and configuration on it. When I travel, I take the lab spreadsheet and the diagram for emergencies, plus my surgeons info.
HW/SW/CW/GW: 294/288/170.2/150 ht: 5'2" (06/03/2012)
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