6 mo. post-op and Bariatric Betty's Birthday (+ pics)

Today is both my 6 month post-op appointment, and my 42nd birthday.  This is what I looked like at my birthday with my family at First Watch last year:

I had just started looking into bariatric surgery, was looking forward to my first information session and already knew that if I did it, this might be the very last birthday cake of my life.  Being diabetic at the time, I couldn't have much, but I did enjoy that carrot cake.   I was 243 pounds.

This year I celebrated my birthday with my family at an Indian's Game at Progressive Field this weekend.  My mom (the person laughing hysterically in the picture below) brought her "birthday hat" which I consented to wear for the picture.  That's my brother who was kind enough to acknowledge he was related to both of us.

When I was getting ready for the game I realized that I didn't have an Indian's shirt in my size any more.  I asked my son if I could try on one of his, a men's Medium, and it fit! Last year I would have worn a men's XL or XXL.   I had a lot of NSVs that day.  My favorite was realizing that when all the kids and I went to go to the batting cages, we could climb over empty seats and (wait for it) climb BETWEEN the bars of a railing instead of making people in the row stand up for us to get out.  I stood there looking at those bars for about 10 seconds before I suggested it.  I kept thinking "OK, those bars are about 16 inches apart.  You know you should be able to get through there now." before I really believed I could do it - and then I proved myself right! 


This morning as people wished me a happy 42nd birthday I realized that I am healthier, in better shape, and happier than I was at 22.  How wild is that?!?


Today at my 6 month post-op appointment I found out I have lost 67% of my excess weight - 60 pounds since surgery for a grand total of 89!  At 5'2" and 154 pounds the doctor was very impressed.  I told him that while I would be fine staying this weight, I'm going to keep working the program and just see where my body ends up.  My ego would like to lose 11 more pounds at least so that I could say "I lost 100 pounds!".  My brain has decided that my body fat measurement is a better indicator of success for me at this point than the scale.  My goal is to hit 25% body fat or less.  I'm at 30% right now, and weight loss has definitely slowed down.  I only lost 17 pounds over this past 3 months, but I also lost over 5% in body fat.   I'm hoping I can get the next 5% off by my surgiversary.  I also signed up to be an "angel" to new bariatric patients - being willing to talk with them over the phone about my experience, and visit them in the hospital.


I jogged 28 minutes today, even though I considered taking the day off from training with the combination of appointments and my birthday - but then I realized that keeping my momentum going meant more to me than sitting at home relaxing.  I hummed the olympic theme again to myself on my final lap, and my boys told me "Good Job, Mom!".  As a birthday favor, they didn't complain about training today ;) 


I made a new composite picture - unfortunately when my computer's hard drive died a couple months ago I lost my "doorway" preop picture (you can see it to the left of this post on the previous composite), but I found one from last Christmas that shows most of me.  This is my PreOp/ 1 month post/ 4 month post/ 6 month post-op composite picture. 

I couldn't have gotten this far without the support of my husband Albert, my family, my friends, my mentor JoJo, and my online and in-person support groups.  Thank you so much for helping me re-start my life.  I'm not done, and I'm sure I will have challenges and bumps in the road, but I can't believe how far I've come already.  In my wildest dreams I didn't imagine that this much would have changed in 6 months. 

Bariatric Betty has an anniversary, an appointment and a dream.

One year ago on November 3rd, my family moved from Central Ohio to the Cleveland area.  The overwhelming reason was to be closer to family.  My in-laws were elderly and my mother-in-law was declining rapidly.  Both they and my parents lived within an hour of Cleveland, and my brother lived 15 minutes away from the suburb that had the best public schools in the state.  Moving was very difficult (not the least of which was selling our house), but we made it.  My husband's job situation turned out to be less than ideal, so about 6 months ago he took a pay cut and now works in a better, more friendly environment.  His mother died this summer, but at least we got to see her a lot more of her for her last 6 months, and now we talk to and see his father much more than we would have been able to do from Columbus.  The kids were definitely traumatized by moving in the middle of the school year.  Going from being around places and friends they had known since birth to a brand new everything was very hard, and they struggled the last spring and summer.  Now their report cards are glowing and they have made new friends, but they still miss their old ones.  I miss my old friends too, but I feel like I'm in a healthier mental state here.  I know I had the easiest time with the move of the whole family, but I don't know if I would have pushed for the move if I knew how hard it would be on everybody.  This one year anniversary in our new home felt like a freeing experience, being able to look back and say "whew, we made it through THAT", but it's still not easy.  Worth it, but not easy.

I had my second appointment with the PA who is supervising my diet yesterday.  According to his scale I've lost 9 pounds (aha! my adjust-for-the-lying-scale plan worked!) and he was pleased looking over my food and exercise logs.  I'm halfway through the 90 days, and going to see him again in a month.  Now to keep up the progress - through Thanksgiving, which presents many challenges to those of us dieting... And the newest twist on my vegetarian, some keeping kosher, me on a diet challenged menu - my brother is dealing with a pre-ulcerous condition so he needs low acid (no tomato products) and low fat items.  Well, he's always been easy going - it's his turn to make things a little complicated ;)

Now for the funny part.  This is the dream I had last night (no psych degree needed for interpretation):  I was driving from Columbus to Cleveland to meet the rest of the family that was waiting for me there.  I had the last load of things from our old house in my car.  As I go through a small town I stop for a drink and see really ominous clouds rolling in.  I asked the owners of the town general store if I could go in their basement.  The first wave of the storm passes over, causes a power outage but otherwise, not bad.  I decide to make a break for my car and head home.  As I'm pulling away from the general store, a tornado takes the top half of the store off  and then flattens several other buildings before it dissappears.  I drove back to see if I could help anyone in the store and end up pulling several of them out.  I leave them with some of the supplies I had in my car including coupons for a free meal at McDonald's - but not my nuts because I knew that I had to have protein soon.  I got back in the car and drove towards my family knowing I was blessed to have a safe family and home to go towards.

Like I said, my dreams are pretty straightforward.  Combining the leaving our old home with leaving my old unhealthy lifestyle, trying to hide and be safe in what turned out to be a dangerous place (hiding from the risk of more sexual harrasment and assault under obesity) but leaving it behind to go where I could really be safe and happy...and trying to help a few people get out from their collapsed building too - that's pretty much me.  I'm pretty happy this morning, because I feel like pyschologically I'm pretty healthy now.  I've got my focus on the future, and I'm letting go off the bad habits of my past.  I'm moving closer emotionally with my family, and now I really will feel safer because my health won't be endangered and I'm strong enough to move obstacles (apparently including fallen beams in a dream house) if neccessary. 

I wish I could bottle this feeling for the hard days.