XP: Time flies...pics, and a public service announcement...LONG

Totally had to laugh at the mid-life crisis car comment. When all this started to happen to me, I swore I was having a mid-life crisis. I'd just hit 40 and thought it was just throwing me for a loop. Little did I know I was getting thrown for a lot of loops!! 

Thanks again for sharing. I know it is a little unnerving to share in this public a forum, but I know people definitely benefit just from knowing they aren't alone!

Keep on keepin' on!!

Denise, thanks for your willingness to be vulnerable and share your personal struggles/journey with us.  I really appreciate it and know it will help many *****ad your story.

Your pics are incredible.  Seeing your before and after in line this way really shows off just how far you've come.  You go girl.  You are a vision of gorgeousness.

Sending lots of hugs your way.  Congratulations on three years and coming out stronger on the other side of it all.

As the class clown, most people don't believe me initially when I share my story with them. I spent so many years putting on a happy face when I was hurting that it has become second nature, but now I allow myself to feel feelings and occasionally take that wall down. It is very important for me to pay it forward.

A vision of gorgeousness--what a wonderful thing to hear from someone who is a vision of gorgeousness in her own right!

Thanks Lee!

My surgiversary is 3 Feb 2008!
You postings always make me think and evaluate how my journey is going -thank you!
I wish I could do all the Plastics I want for my body but as I preferca certain hospital and hope for a specific PS (Dr.Josef Haik),I have to accept what he is willing to do on my body [he will not do my thighs/buttocks as risks outweigh the benefits]- and all this without even knowing yet if my HMO will approve me for my boobies.
Because of this forum/board I truly believe my emotional recovery (never had buyers remorse) and I learned what to possibly expect that I think I have done as well as I have.
And that is thanks to certain posters-you being one of them!
Thank you for your revelations and honesty.
Mikimi in Israel

Happy Surgiversary to you!! I hope that you are able to get everything done that he is willing to do and that your HMO will cover it all!!

I'm so glad your journey has been a smooth one!!

I wouldn't exactly cal my journey snoot Th with NY gangrene but due ro this board I have been able to keep positive and not decide to be resentful at the way things happened.
Thank you fir your blessings -we can all use daily miracles.
Mikimi

Denise,

Thank you for sharing some of your personal struggles along your journey. You are gorgeous, but the internal transformations must be awesome. Congratulations to you for working out your challenges and emerging intact and positive on the other side.

Gail

You are welcome and thank you! It really is quite awesome to finally feel like I am coming into my own. Of course there is still work to do, but I always say that awareness is half the battle.

Take care!

you look amazing. i'm so sorry you struggled so much mentally. before surgery i had chronic depression and periods where i was constantly anxious. was on medications but they never truly helped. I was one of the lucky ones in that it solved those problems. i do have a new issue w/ alcohol, so I did get something I didn't want. but I'm working on it and hopefully it won't be a lifelong issue. we will see. losing weight sure helped me in so many ways but it does not solve alot of the underlying issues we have. I have a therapist to help me navigate those issues plus i do acupuncture and also go to an energy healer. all of that has helped me but I am always working on me! lifelong apparently.

Hi Nicole! Thank you for the compliment. Transfer addiction is such an insidious beast when it comes to gastric bypass. It is also another issue that I think is very much ignored or just barely touched on pre and post operatively. I definitely had a run with alcohol during this past year. I'm talking black-out-holy-****what-was-that kind of run. I learned from my counselor after I had a black out incident that gastric bypass patients are 85% more likely to black out when drinking. It is just a function of our anatomy. I know one reason I started having issues is because we sober up so fast I found myself doing what I called "chasing the buzz". God forbid I'd lose the buzz, so I'd drink more and do it too quickly and BAM! before I knew it I was hammered. It was also a function of the mania I was in. Yet another mechanism to numb the emotional pain when food is no longer an option. As I mentioned in another post, I am now allowing myself to feel feelings--even hard, scary or really painful ones--and I think that is one reason the issues with alcohol have eased.

Good for you for seeking treatment. I'd never really considered holistic methods, although my ex sister-in-law is a huge proponent of it and even became certified as an energy healer type person, but that is definitely something I wouldn't rule out.  

I think if we stop working on ourselves we might as well curl up in a ball and die. It is a lifelong process, but hopefully one that is filled with awareness and growth and not a continued path of looking for ways to numb ourselves.

I wish you luck as you look inward for answers. If you ever want to chat, just drop me a line! I think we are not too far away from each other logistically.

Take care!