Six-year "surgiversary" !!!
Aloha to my OFF family from long ago and to the very welcome newcomers!!
I just wrote a long post and then it disappeared. I will try and recreate....sigh.
This forum has been a lifesaver for me. I joined about a year before my surgery, and was helped immensely by all the stories each of you told of the challenges and joyful rewards that came from having WLS. I spent the year before surgery taking classes, practicing eating right, and worrying...ha. With the help of you wonderful women I finally got my surgery date......July 26, 2006.
I weighed around 325ish at surgery and my life was a burden. I could NOT get down on the floor and back up without help; I could not fit into theater seats and needed an extension on the airplanes; I hated restaurants with booths.....etc. etc. etc.
Today, six years later, I weigh around 155 (I'm 5'11" tall), and my life doesn't resemble the one I was living at 325!! I CAN get down on the floor with my three grandsons (8, 6 & 4) and I CAN play frisbee on the beach with them without getting exhausted after five minutes....plus I can wear a swimsuit without avoiding every mirror. Although I do have hangy skin on legs and arms, it's a big difference from everything "waving"........Ha.
I no longer worry about chairs holding me, or stairs, or needing an extension on airplane seatbelts. In fact, I can pull through an extra 18" at least......YES!!
My most heartfelt gratitude goes to the amazing women on this forum........I could not have gone through all the ups and downs without your support, TLC and guidance. I feel guilty about not posting more often......I do read every day and feel honored to have you all share so personally about life in general.
About two years after my WLS I had a panniculectomy (tummy tuck), and now I don't have a belly to lift up when I'm showering....my belly is flat and scar is barely visibible. So very thankful for that, too.
It is 8:30 a.m. on Maui and it's a beautiful sunny day. The ocean is very smooth this morning and there are a few longboats out front with 8 rowers in each. The surfers are disappointed, but I love the ocean whether it's mirror smooth, or has 20' mondo waves which bring out the surfers by the hundreds.
Please accept my heartfelt thanks for all that you have given me over the years, and know that even if I don't post often, I have you in my heart and wish you only success and peace of mind in a healthy body!!
Let's see if I can get this posted before it disappears, too!!
Aloha nui loa,
Maui Karen
I just wrote a long post and then it disappeared. I will try and recreate....sigh.
This forum has been a lifesaver for me. I joined about a year before my surgery, and was helped immensely by all the stories each of you told of the challenges and joyful rewards that came from having WLS. I spent the year before surgery taking classes, practicing eating right, and worrying...ha. With the help of you wonderful women I finally got my surgery date......July 26, 2006.
I weighed around 325ish at surgery and my life was a burden. I could NOT get down on the floor and back up without help; I could not fit into theater seats and needed an extension on the airplanes; I hated restaurants with booths.....etc. etc. etc.
Today, six years later, I weigh around 155 (I'm 5'11" tall), and my life doesn't resemble the one I was living at 325!! I CAN get down on the floor with my three grandsons (8, 6 & 4) and I CAN play frisbee on the beach with them without getting exhausted after five minutes....plus I can wear a swimsuit without avoiding every mirror. Although I do have hangy skin on legs and arms, it's a big difference from everything "waving"........Ha.
I no longer worry about chairs holding me, or stairs, or needing an extension on airplane seatbelts. In fact, I can pull through an extra 18" at least......YES!!
My most heartfelt gratitude goes to the amazing women on this forum........I could not have gone through all the ups and downs without your support, TLC and guidance. I feel guilty about not posting more often......I do read every day and feel honored to have you all share so personally about life in general.
About two years after my WLS I had a panniculectomy (tummy tuck), and now I don't have a belly to lift up when I'm showering....my belly is flat and scar is barely visibible. So very thankful for that, too.
It is 8:30 a.m. on Maui and it's a beautiful sunny day. The ocean is very smooth this morning and there are a few longboats out front with 8 rowers in each. The surfers are disappointed, but I love the ocean whether it's mirror smooth, or has 20' mondo waves which bring out the surfers by the hundreds.
Please accept my heartfelt thanks for all that you have given me over the years, and know that even if I don't post often, I have you in my heart and wish you only success and peace of mind in a healthy body!!
Let's see if I can get this posted before it disappears, too!!
Aloha nui loa,
Maui Karen
Aloha Eileen.....Thank you for your kind words. I always think of you when I see cute kitty things...and sometimes forward them. My two little ones (Nicki and Poki) are my little family, and they make me laugh and sometimes cry when they are hurting.
I love hearing about your job and various situations. I think you have moved twice since I came to know you on here. You have more adventure in you than I have.....I'm pretty settled where I am, and they are going to have to load me on a boat or a plane to get me off this island......Ha!!
Hope you keep posting....it's reassuring to see my "oldtimers" on here. A lot of us have become less active, and I miss all of them.
Aloha nui loa,
Karen
I love hearing about your job and various situations. I think you have moved twice since I came to know you on here. You have more adventure in you than I have.....I'm pretty settled where I am, and they are going to have to load me on a boat or a plane to get me off this island......Ha!!
Hope you keep posting....it's reassuring to see my "oldtimers" on here. A lot of us have become less active, and I miss all of them.
Aloha nui loa,
Karen
Aloha Karen,
Congratulations on your surgiversary. That is awesome. I am coming up on my six year surgiversary in a month. While I have yet to reach goal, I am enjoying a lot of the benefits of losing 100 pounds, especially the seatbelt on the plane issue.
You are a special person here. I'd love to save the money to go to Hawaii someday, and enjoy the beautiful scenery, and to meet you.
Hugs,
Trish
Congratulations on your surgiversary. That is awesome. I am coming up on my six year surgiversary in a month. While I have yet to reach goal, I am enjoying a lot of the benefits of losing 100 pounds, especially the seatbelt on the plane issue.
You are a special person here. I'd love to save the money to go to Hawaii someday, and enjoy the beautiful scenery, and to meet you.
Hugs,
Trish
Seek always to do some good, somewhere. Every man has to seek in his own way to realize his true worth. You must give some time to your fellow man. For remember, you don't live in a world all your own. Your brothers are here too.
Albert Schweitzer
Albert Schweitzer
Aloha Tri**** is so nice seeing you regularly on here, inspiring and sharing your own struggles.
I did NOT realize that we had our surgeries just a month apart. It seems in some ways a LONG time ago, but then again, there are times when it seems like yesterday and I still expect to see a tall HEAVY person when I glance into store windows.....and feel a shock to see half of me GONE.....HA. I tell my friends that I lost a whole big man who had been riding around on my back!!
Thank you for sharing your life's experiences with us, so that we can see how you use your tool and change your life for the better.
Aloha nui loa,
Karen
I did NOT realize that we had our surgeries just a month apart. It seems in some ways a LONG time ago, but then again, there are times when it seems like yesterday and I still expect to see a tall HEAVY person when I glance into store windows.....and feel a shock to see half of me GONE.....HA. I tell my friends that I lost a whole big man who had been riding around on my back!!
Thank you for sharing your life's experiences with us, so that we can see how you use your tool and change your life for the better.
Aloha nui loa,
Karen
Hi Karen:
Happy Surgiversary! When I first became a member you were indeed posting more often...I am envious of your great weightloss achievement...you show that it can be possible to get skinny at our advanced age for surgery; mine was at age 62 and my weightloss has not been as brilliant as I had hoped for, but at least it is still off despite a regain, and had I managed that on a diet by now I would be another 100 lbs more and gaining...Ate a 3 cup salad for lunch ( salad chews into nothing when you give each mouthfull at least 60 chews, well maybe just 35 as I intend to exaggerate, so 3 cups greens and radishes and avocado mulches into nothing) and marveled at how full I was 2 hours later, so the restriction still works..trouble is my taste buds still like food so wish there was a surgery for that!..
Please keep posting, keep telling us you are now 155 lbs and 5'11", 'coz you inspire us! Man, you are one skinny chick!
Happy Surgiversary! When I first became a member you were indeed posting more often...I am envious of your great weightloss achievement...you show that it can be possible to get skinny at our advanced age for surgery; mine was at age 62 and my weightloss has not been as brilliant as I had hoped for, but at least it is still off despite a regain, and had I managed that on a diet by now I would be another 100 lbs more and gaining...Ate a 3 cup salad for lunch ( salad chews into nothing when you give each mouthfull at least 60 chews, well maybe just 35 as I intend to exaggerate, so 3 cups greens and radishes and avocado mulches into nothing) and marveled at how full I was 2 hours later, so the restriction still works..trouble is my taste buds still like food so wish there was a surgery for that!..
Please keep posting, keep telling us you are now 155 lbs and 5'11", 'coz you inspire us! Man, you are one skinny chick!
Aloha my friend on OFF........You make me laugh! Delightful thing....laughter!! I, too, still have taste buds and brain signals that tell me I HAVE TO HAVE something or I'll die.....LOL. Sometimes that feeling will go away if I grab something healthy (like huumus and veggies....my current favorite snack), and drink a big thing of water, and sometimes it doesn't work and taste buds and sneaky brain "force" me to indulge in cheesecake with lemon curd.......Oh dear!! Thankfully I can usually only eat about 4 or 5 bites, but that does the trick. Amazing how we can trick ourselves into ways of getting what we want and figuring out a way to get awayl with it!! WLS peeps are not dummies.....!!!!!
I, too, was of "advanced age".......62....when I had WLS!! I think I gave myself an extra 10 to 15 years of quality life by just doing that simple thing. Skinny chick, eh? Rather like that handle!! Thanks...... and good luck in everything you do.
Aloha nui loa,
Maui Karen
I, too, was of "advanced age".......62....when I had WLS!! I think I gave myself an extra 10 to 15 years of quality life by just doing that simple thing. Skinny chick, eh? Rather like that handle!! Thanks...... and good luck in everything you do.
Aloha nui loa,
Maui Karen
Most Active
Recent Topics
