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1 Year Surgiversary! I can't believe it.



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I considered wls for many, many years, but never seriously. When I was a new RN in 1997, it was fairly new and I saw people die from it, so I was always scared of it. I also never had insurance that concerned it, so I knew I'd have to pay out of pocket, and I was overall healthy, so I figured I could do it on my own. I had my son in 2010, and that's when I really started to gain a lot of weight. I had done WW before I got pregnant and had lost 45. I was down to 263. After he was born, the weight started piling on. I was sick all the time and got diagnosed with asthma. I was in pain all the time. My liver enzymes increased slowly year by year, until 2020 when my doctor decided I needed to see a liver specialist. That same January, I had my gallbladder removed and that surgeon offered to biopsy my liver and it showed Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis, with hepatic fibrosis. As a nurse I had seen people die of liver failure and it is awful. This scared me to death. That surgeon recommended wls, and he was one of the only doctors who had ever acted compassionate and non-judgmental about my weight. He told me I had very little chance of losing it and keeping it off on my own. I took his advice and made an appt. That day with a bariatric surgeon. I saw him in March and he recommend gastric bypass. I started getting the required testing and had just had my EGD when the hospital decided to let a bunch of staff go due to COVID. That surgeon was one of them. I decided to go to a different hospital and surgeon and this one recommended Loop DS. I had not heard of it, but he said I was a perfect candidate with a BMI of 69.9 and since I was paying for it myself, as it was a newer procedure that insurance didn't usually cover. I researched it and decided to go with it.

My high weight was 393 pounds. I am 5'3". I was 368.8 on the day of my surgery, July 23, 2020. As of today I am 226.4. I never thought I'd be even close to this weight again. I am hoping to lose at least 200 pounds total. I am getting close.

I was close to borderline diabetic, had just been diagnosed with hypertension, and had liver disease. I could barely get around or keep up with my active 10 year old son. My hypertension is gone, my blood glucose is normal, and my liver enzymes are now normal, so I have reversed my fatty liver disease. I turn 50 on August 2nd and this will be the best birthday ever! I am so happy I had this surgery!

I can't get my befores to post right now but I'll put them here once I do. Here is me today. IMG_20210724_144354_1~2.jpg IMG_20210724_144347.jpg

Sent from my Nokia 7.2 using BariatricPal mobile app

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Woot! Great work! Looking smashing, darling!

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Wow! That's amazing!

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Nice photo and well done! You deserve to be proud of yourself!

Edited by Elidh
Punctuation

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Awesome! Thanks for being such an inspiration! Your smile in the pic says it all!

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Congratulations @STLoser. The changes amazing & I’m not just talking about the superficial though you are looking great. The improvements to your health & well being are the most wonderful achievements. Woo hoo!

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Thank you so much, Arabesque. I feel so much better!!
And thank you to a of you for your nice comments. default_smile.png&key=c7f7f3b9d6cf127cae811ee1f47ab94bd104c6b640ca298b4b4f1076c40ef73e

Sent from my Nokia 7.2 using BariatricPal mobile app


All not a.
I may have lost weight but I still have fat fingers and can't type. Lol

Sent from my Nokia 7.2 using BariatricPal mobile app

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Congratulations! You look fantastic, and you should be very proud of the journey you’ve been through over the past year. It’s hard work and it shows! Doesn’t it feel great to be able to enjoy being healthy?

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Congratulations! You look fantastic, and you should be very proud of the journey you’ve been through over the past year. It’s hard work and it shows! Doesn’t it feel great to be able to enjoy being healthy?
Thank you! It sure does feel great!

Sent from my Nokia 7.2 using BariatricPal mobile app

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What a phenomenal story! Thanks and congratulations!

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I had the DS 6/1/21 and am so happy my surgeon recommended it! It has definitely improved my life and health! I’m still early in this journey but down over 50 lbs from preop ( 35 of those since surgery!) and it feels great! I too am a nurse and walking those hospital hallways carrying 50 lbs less (so far) is sooo much easier now! I already walk farther, faster and have a spring in my step I haven’t had for years, and I’m 63 years old! Congratulations on all you have achieved! You are doing an amazing job!

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I also meant to say that I also put off WLS for years because I had taken care of patients in the ICU that died due to complications (mostly leaks) after gastric bypass surgery and it scared me badly. Fortunately techniques have changed and improved over the years and surgical complication rates are MUCH lower so after much research and consultation with friends and coworkers who had WLS I decided the time was NOW. Plus the fact my insurance now covered WLS without requiring $3000+ up front any more convinced me it was time to go for it. Still early days but I’m convinced it was the best decision I could have made to improve my health and take back my life!

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    • BeanitoDiego

      I weighed 199 pounds (90 kg) this morning! I felt accomplished and happy, and celebrated by going to the gym to lift some weights. Hoping everyone else out there is making progress, whether you are pre- or post-op 😊
      Today is 7 weeks and two days post-op for me. I've been through two stalls already, but I am sticking to the program. I want long-term success from all of the sacrifice and pain. You all know I mean!
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
    • BlSm12

      Okay so, as of yesterday my insurance company contacted me direction to say, that I was approved and have completed all the required items on the "To Do List". so, I should be getting my appointment next week for meeting with the Anesthesiologist. I'm very excited/nervous, but extremely happy too. 
      · 2 replies
      1. New To This23

        Congratulations!!! I see you live in Ashland, when I was in High School drama club we went to the Shakespeare Festival there. I hope to go back one day!

      2. NickelChip

        Congratulations!

    • BeanitoDiego

      Tomorrow will be 7 weeks since surgery. Yesterday i found that I was able to finally drink more than a sip at a time. I am SO grateful! I have always loved drinking water and it has been my primary beverage for most of my life; losing the ability to drink a lot of it was my first post-surgical regret. Being able to drink more than a tiny sip at a time makes me feel so much more normal.
      I'm eating around 500-700 calories a day, and have hit my second stall. I have begun to only weigh myself once a week. I've made to the gym twice since surgery, but I've been walking my pup and walking at work up to 3 miles a day on average.
      I've also been using resistance bands and stretching. I'm not quite ready for twisty yoga stuff yet. Or jogging. I did do a 10+ mile bicycle ride last weekend with a friend to a coffee shop where I had a cold decaf coffee with half and half. That was another activity that made me feel kinda normal.
      I'm still drinking one protein drink a day, trying to hit my goal of at least 60 grams a day. Today I got 72 in thanks to a cold G Zero with 10 grams.
      My abdomen is still a bit sore in general. The way I understand it, the inside is not fully healed until 3 months after surgery. That means sometime around November 1st. This is when I will go on the forever way of eating according to my provider's plan. I look forward to that day.
      Oh! And I should mention that I learned about a chain restaurant that is in about 30 or so states. It is called Clean Eatz, and they have a menu that is friendly to we bariatric patients. My support group last night talked about getting pizza and flatbreads from there. I checked it out and it looks like it's both eat-in and takeaway. This is the first place I'm going when I feel ready to eat out again
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
    • BlSm12

      Does anyone know, how long it takes for Medicare to approve surgery?
      · 3 replies
      1. aravenclawrebel

        I think it depends entirely on what guidelines you're being referred under. I had that kind of insurance through the state as a low-income person for 10 years and even though I was over 400 lb for 10 years they denied me. All based on the fact that I did not have diabetes. I switched insurances once I was offered a different kind of coverage from work and was approved within two months

      2. New To This23

        Medicare or Medicaid?

        They both have a serious of hoops to jump through before you can meet the surgeon. After you meet the requirements and as long as you do not run into any gatekeepers, the surgery will be okayed by your insurance pretty quickly after the surgeon clears you. One other consideration is when the clinic will actually schedule you for surgery THAT can take awhile depending on how backed up they are.

      3. New To This23

        *series on serious

    • NickelChip

      I got a little bag of samples when I saw the nutritionist last week. Turns out I much prefer the Celebrate 45 Tropical Twist vitamins to the Bariatric Fusion orange flavor, so I've placed an order for those and the sweet treat assortment of calcium soft chews, which were almost dangerously tasty. The Unjury chicken soup was better than the other brand I tried, but not enough to buy it. And their vanilla shake was vile. I just can't do artificial sweeteners, and probably not vanilla unless I add something to it to mask the flavor. The aftertaste was so strong and I had a vague impression of drinking baby formula. So far the only ones I've really liked have been the orange and peach flavored Syntrax Nectar Naturals, so I'm going to get two vegan fruit flavored options in case I have trouble with whey after.
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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