Coming out of the shadows.....
.I've decided to quit being such a lurker, and come out and meet you all.
I had (REALIZE) AGB surgery on 9/15/08, and doing well so far. I go for my 1st fill on 10/28. I REALLY wanted the RNY, but due to previous DVT/PE complications 3 yrs ago after bunion surgery, both my doctor and I decided that lap band was probably the safest for me at this point in my life. I'll just have to work a little harder at getting to my goals.......that's all.
I live in Massachusetts now, but was previously from north of the Detroit area most of my life. I have 2 grown sons, one who is married (31 yrs old) and living in Kansas with his wife and a 5 yr old son, and the other (22), attending his last year of college at MSU and engaged to be married next summer.
Hubby (Tom) and I have lived in Massachusetts for 2-1/2 years with our "babies" - Peanut (dachshund/jack russell mix - 5 yrs old) and Jasper (yorkie - 2 yrs old).
That's it in a nutshell for me right now! Hope to get to know you all a little better, and make some new friends.
Have a great day!!
Vicky
"You must begin to think of yourself as becoming the person you want to be." ~ David Viscott 
50 isn't so bad...in fact I like being in my fifties. The part of 50 I don't like is that I feel slower with more aches and pains...but I believe that's because I am obese. That will all change soon once my surgery is done and I'm on the bench with all the GREAT OFF Friends here.
You family sounds beautiful. I have 3 children and 5 grandchildren. Oldest daughter and her family live in Virginia, my second daughter and her family live in Minnesota and my son is in Grad school in Southern Indiana.
Welcome and hope to hear alot from you.
Alice
I love Spring!!!!!!
Thank you for the warm welcome, Alice!
I can relate to the aches and pains of being over 50. Those are just one of the many things that brought me to the final decision to do something about losing these extra pounds for good! So far I am down 30 lbs from my highest weight, and am already feeling some relief in my hips and lower back. It can only get better from here, right?
"You must begin to think of yourself as becoming the person you want to be." ~ David Viscott
I have lost over 30# as well and I do feel better already. It can only get better, I believe. It took me awhile to decide to have this surgery. I've been a nurse for 37 yrs and I tend to look at it from both perspectives...patient and nurse. I was very new to this concept alittle over a yr ago. I did alot of research and asked alot of questions everywhere. I'm scheduled for lap rny Dec. 10th. I am ready. Just have to get my home in order before then.
take care,
Alice
I love Spring!!!!!!
Hey being over 50 is not such a bad thing, kind of learn to roll with things better by this time in life and with the children grown, it's a great time to focus on ourselves and what we want to do with the rest of our lives, so welcome to the OFF.
Everyone here is pretty friendly and quite supportive of one another and over time many of us come to consider this a family of choice, so glad to have you join us and looking forward to getting to know you better.
As for me, I am 53, live in SWNJ, had RNY last October, still losing, but down a total of 78 lbs., I have 3 grown children, a son (35) who is married, with a 3 yo son and 16 mo girl, currently working and living in Germany (back this next year), when home he lives near me in NJ, two daughters, older one (33) has a 10 yo girl and 7 yo boy, the youngest of my girls (31) is in her 2nd semester of nursing school and my girls live in Florida. . . I am an extreme commuter, as I am originally from NYC and still work there 4 days a week, but love my little home in NJ and having WLS is one of the best decisions I've ever made. If you want, feel free to check out my profile.
Once again, welcome to OFF. Laureen
My Mantra is that I do not determine my success by the number hanging in my closet, nor will I let the scale determine that success either. . . It is through trial and error I will continue to grow and succeed. . . Laureen
"Success is a journey, not a destination." Ben Sweetland
Hi Laureen, and thank you for introducing yourself!
I have "come to terms" with being over 50... it sure beats the alternative of NOT making it to 50!! Which almost happened for me.......
In Oct 2005 (I was 49) I decided to have bunion surgery. You know how they always give you the "risks" associated with any surgery, right? Well, of course, the risks included blood clots, etc etc. But don't all surgeries include blood clot risks? I didn't think twice about it. Six weeks after surgery, I developed a DVT (deep vein thrombosis, aka blood clot) with PE (pulmonary embolism). I later found that as many as 200,000 people die from PE each year, 25% of those suddenly and without warning. I was one of the lucky ones... I survived. But not without incident. Blood clots broke loose from a DVT in a vein in my leg, traveling to my lungs (about 200 PE per the radiologist estimate), one got stuck in a hole in my heart and needed to be extracted by open heart surgery (I never knew I had this hole, but I now understand that about 25% of us are born this way - it's called a PFO - and many never know they have it), and another stuck in a vein in my toe, causing the toe to die and had to be amputated. Anyway.......... that's the condensed version, lol.
So..... I'm happy to say that I am now 52 years old! Because odds were against me making it this far.
Congratulations on your weight loss so far! I took a look at your pics.... PHENOMENAL success!!
"You must begin to think of yourself as becoming the person you want to be." ~ David Viscott
I am married to my childhood sweetheart, Jason and we have 2 grown children and 4 grandchildren. I had lapband surgery on 8/12/08 and have lost 42 lbs. My DH was in the US Navy for 24 years and we have now retired and are back in our hometown in southeastern NC. Our son is in the Navy and stationed in Norfolk, VA and our daughter is graduating from UNCW in Dec. with her BA in Business Administration with an emphasis in Accounting. She is working part-time with an accounting firm now and should go full-time after graduation.
Enough about me!! I hope to see you post often so we can get to know you. Good luck with your 1st fill. I was scared to death but it was actually very easy.
I don't post a whole lot either and I am relatively new here too. My surgery is coming up still, on Monday.
You will really like this forum, it has the nicest people who are the real deal! I have a birthday coming up in January, I'll be 52 then. Glad you spoke up!
Hugs,
Patti
hw268 sw244 cw155 gw150
Hi Patti,
Thank you for telling me about your "favorite name". I have a funny story my mom used to tell.... she grew up always wanting to name her daughter VICTORIA LYNN. So, when I was born she decided that was going to be my name! However, as she was writing out the birth announcements, she kept writing Victoria Lynn... and would then look over at me laying in the basinette... and finally she just ripped them all up and started over, saying... "such a long name for such a tiny baby!" HAHA!! It made me laugh. So here I am.... just VICKY LYNN on my birth certificate!
Have a great day!
"You must begin to think of yourself as becoming the person you want to be." ~ David Viscott
