First year update

Hi all - long post,

I had my first surgiversary 4/15/14.  Things have gone extremely well from the surgery. Before I recap I just want to say that OH was the first
place I found for support as a pre-op and I will always be grateful for the support and information that other DS posters made available when I
was at my most scared and vulnerable as a newly minted post-op. No amount of research really helped in that initial panic of :what did I get myself
into?" but the calming voice of others experiences helped tremendously.

First the good - My surgeon considers me a poster child for the DS and is talking about setting up an "DS angel" type program for new DS'rs. I think
I will find out more at 18 months but I know it would have helped me to have someone to talk to in real life.
i was 464 right after my surgery currently at 280 shooting for 220. This puts me at 75% EWL after the first year. I did this with very little exercise
not because of the surgery but because of recurring foot ulcers that started way before my DS.

My diabetes was in remission from day 1. I know it doesn't always work like that but I'm grateful it did that for me. I stopped using my Cpap after 
about 140 pounds lost. I haven't had the tiredness I felt before so I think I am good there. Some day I will have another sleep study to prove it 
is gone. Blood pressure medication has been cut but not gone yet. I'm looking to lower it even more at my next PCP visit. I feel better and better.
It's hard for me to believe that at my high point I was at 552. I am close to literally being half the man I was.

Day to day. The bowel issues have not turned out to be as bad as my surgeon said they could be. I know in this there are wide variations among
all DS'rs. I go 1 - 2 times a day with food choices being responsible for the exception. They can be pretty smelly but not all the time. 
I am doing well on vits and labs. I'm finally so used to the vitamin schedule that it bother me more to be off schedule than it does to keep to the
schedule. I fill up a month at a time and just work my way through>

I was slightly anemic at 6 months. I had not been taking any iron up to that point so I started with iron and have been inching my way up from there.
Other than that my labs have been OK. I got my D up in the 40's by going to 100k. Once I get higher I will back off that amount. I chart all my lab
results and don't hesitate to make changes to my vitamins even for the things that are "low normal". Every Doc I've seen is fine with anything that
falls anywhere in the normal range. Not a philosophy I buy into.  

Last Hba1C was 4.3. Choleterol levels are all good except I need to raise my "good cholesterol" numbers. I put his down mostly to not being able
to exercise.

The first 6 months were harder than the second 6 months. I'm hoping that trend continues.

As for the bad. There is nothing that I consider "bad" but there are certainly ups and downs.

I am still learning not to pay attention to the scale. I now stair step my weight down instead of a steady loss. It's hard
to live through stalls and just a week or two of no loss but month by month I still see results. Early on I was badly constipated
and I hope never to go through that again. That's when I added magnesium oxide to my calcium doses and stocked up
with Miralax just in case. I got some thrombosed hemorrhoids at about 8 months that hurt like hell for about 3 days until they
burst. My Doc says I am just at that age and not related to my DS. Since my bowel movements had been fairly soft I suppose it
may have just been my time. It mostly cleared up but I still get some irritation now and again. I worry about not being done
when my weight loss window is over but I've seen enough people now that didn't stop at any set point that I am going to just 
keep at it.

So here I am. In my last set of saved "skinny" clothes and looking forward to buying new in a regular store. Working hard to get
my foot healed so I can buy myself a new bike. The one thing that I have been saving as a reward. I bought a yoga mat to do some
floor exercises and feel some real hope first time in a long time.

I have one secret longing - to hit 199 just for one day. We'll see.

I would do it again in a second.

Thanks to everyone who has supported me on the way I hope I can repay even
a fraction of that by trying to pay some of it forward. 

Pete

Hi Pete,

I'm glad your doing so well bet you feel like a million bucks you've lost a lot of weight. I hope within the next year you get off the rest of your bp meds. I love reading these posts..,.,. I too would do it again in a heartbeat!

Trish

Congrats Pete, you've done great.  All the best for an awesome year 2!! ;-)

Happy surgiversary Pete!  You are doing so awesome!

You've done a great job, Pete. :)

--gina

Pete-

You have done a great job working your DS! You also have done a great job by sharing your experience with all of us! Thank You for all your posts.

Your post inspires hope.  Congratulations!!  

wow...Congrats...thanks for sharing...im scheduled for next week...im so nervous but im ready...ready all these wonderful posts from you guys gives me courage and hope...

Thanks everybody. I appreciate all the support. Now - on to year 2. 

Hello Pete!!! Congratulations!!!! I just wanted to say how amazing it is all the work you have done with helping others on this sight. I was very scared and nervous when I first started getting on here trying to learn how this surgery was going to affect my life. Every day or so I would see you responding to others in a very encouraging way. You have no idea how much those few lines of support meant to me at the beginning of my journey. I am not even 2 months post surgery, down 76 pounds since pre surgery diet, back to work and doing well. Im very thankful for all of your input here to others like me to help us through our journey ,while continuing yours! You have become a role model to me, and Im hoping to share my info with others ,just like you do daily. Just wanted to take a moment and tell you thanks!- Mike... PS we will both make our goals!!!! I can feel it!!!