18 months out and feeling great!!! :-D

today is a day of reflection for me. i am a little over 18 months out from a surgery that has forever changed the scope of my being. though i will never be her again, she will forever be a part of my soul, double burned into my vision. this is the girl that i see in the mirror... no matter what. this is the girl that i am deep down inside, in my heart.

**sigh** so... i have been super morbidly obese, i have been on the verge of being too thin (but have never crossed that line) and today i am proud to say that i am healthy. i woke up this morning and the scale said 110.0. exactly. i was tempted to go to the bathroom to try and force it down just a leeetle bit more so it would say one-oh something (one-oh ANYTHING!) but then i realized that it doesn't matter. my lowest was 105. my highest that i fluctuate between right now is 115. so, 110.0 is EXACTLY in the middle. i'm happy with that. did you hear me? maybe i should say it one more time just in case you missed it:

I AM HAPPY WITH THAT!!!

last tuesday was my 18 month surgiversary (wahooey!!! ) wednesday of last week i went to see my nutritionist and to also do the "inbody 520" again. if you guys haven't ever done this it's this neat little machine kinda like a scale and they have you stand on it barefooted and you hold these little bars out to your sides and it sends electrical impulses through your hands and feet and it tells you how much your right leg weighs and how many pounds of that is fat, how many pounds of that is muscle, how much water weight you have, and blah blah blah on through your whole body.

if you click the links below it *should* bring up new windows. the first one is just the page that tells kind of how to "read" the results of the tests. the second one will bring up a new window that shows the results from when i did the inbody at my one year follow-up appointment which was 6 months ago. at that point in time i was told that i needed to lose 5.1 pounds of fat and gain .4 pounds of muscle, lols. then if you click the third link it should pull up the current one which shows that i am now... PERFECT!!!

instructions

initial

current

before i had surgery i was prediabetic with insulin resistance, i had severe obstructive sleep apnea (my rdi was 138.5!!!!), i had GERD's, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, osteoarthritis, back, hip and joint pains pretty much CONSTANTLY, i suffered from social anxiety disorder because i was depressed and distressed over my physical appearance, i was angry ALL the time (because you know, it was the WHOLE WORLD'S FAULT that i was fat, RIGHT??? )... gosh, i could go on and on and on about what all was wrong with me before i had surgery.

26 days after surgery i had a perforated ulcer and had to have emergency surgery to repair that and was in the hospital npo (nothing by mouth) for two weeks while that healed. since then i have had strictures, had my gall bladder removed, had an internal hernia repaired, had abdominal adhesions removed and "clips" removed from my abdomen as well as other minor "complications" such as nausea, diarrhea, difficulty with certain foods, vitamin deficiencies, dizzy and fainting spells, etc, etc.

knowing all this though i can honestly say that i did the right thing... for ME! i cannot tell you or anybody else if rny or any other wls would be right for YOU. i can only tell you MY story and let you gather from it what you will. this has been an incredible journey and i'm ever so grateful that i had this opportunity and that i had the courage enough to stand up and become the person that i am today.

thank you so much to everyone on oh.com and myspace. you guys have touched me in so many ways and i couldn't have done this without y'all. loves, hugs and kisses to everyone!!!

















here's the measurements that go along with this...

first pic (brown shirt & pink skirt ~ before)
weight: 254
bmi: 49.6
bust: 43 1/2"
waist: 44"
hips: 56 1/2"
buttocks: 57 1/2"
thighs: 34 1/2"
upper arms: 16 1/2"

last pic (khaki blouse with denim ruffle skirt and tan boots 5/27/08)
weight: 110
bmi: 21.5
bust: 29"
waist: 24"
hips: 31"
buttocks: 34"
thighs: 18 1/2"
upper arms: 9"

so that means i've lost
weight: 144
bmi: 28.1
bust: 14 1/2"
waist: 20"
hips: 25 1/2"
buttocks: 23 1/2"
thighs: 16"
upper arms: 7 1/2"
for a grand total of 107"