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Today Is My One Year Surgiversary...
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Just thought I'd post a quick update for my family here at VST. Today I am exactly one year out from surgery. On August 30, 2011, Dr Patrick Domkowski changed my life and introduced me to Rex, my new sleeved tummy. The short of it is that I'm now 117 pounds lighter than I was last year. I'd have given my eye teeth to lose that weight before surgery, but I just never managed to do it! Rex and I have had one heck of a ride and I couldn't have predicted how this year went if I'd have tried.
I lost a best friend. She died suddenly in January, but she was one of my biggest supporters every single day. I'm proud to tell Lynn that I have lost more than her entire body weight. I've lost a couple of other friends along the way. They are still alive, but jealousy has eaten both of them alive. I wish them both well on their journeys. Mine is going a different direction than theirs apparently.
I've gained a TON of family, right here on VST.
I want to thank all of you for your support and well-wishes this year and I will continue to try to give back to those who are following in my footsteps. It's wonderful to come here and post the absolutely most bizarre questions and KNOW that someone here has experienced the same problem. You guys have been MY support group even when no one else in the world seems to understand! 
Thank you all!
So, I'm still about 50 pounds away from my surgeon's original goal for me, although he thinks I'm completely successful. I've lost over 1/3 of my total body weight, more than 72% of the total weight I wanted to lose, and I'm still working my plan. I will get to my goal...then I'll reach the goal the plastic surgeon set for me.
I'll post pictures tomorrow. My house was hit by a tornado on Monday and I've spent most of this week cleaning up from that. I am very lucky that my damage is minor and that no one in my community was injured. My final act of clean up was to go through my closet, which got drenched, and sort through my clothing. Everything that's in there now is either the correct size or too small (for the moment) and I'm sending another six bags of freshly washed, dried and folded clothes off to bless someone else.
I have to work tomorrow, so I'll take and post some pictures after I get dolled up for that!
Again, big hugs to everyone here and, for the newbies, THIS is why I had surgery. So that I could live my life without being held back by anything. All this week I have worked from sunup to sundown on cleaning up, repairing and helping others. Pre-surgery, I could barely walk from my front door to my car. This week, I've proven that I am capable and able to do ANYTHING I need to do, from hauling tree limbs to climbing on a roof to help patch it. I'm living, not merely existing. I love life!!!