03-22-01 - Hello! Wow, It's been quite a while since I've updated this journal.  Mostly because life as it relates to my weight loss and gastric bypass surgery has become very "ordinary".  I am only 10 lbs away from my own personal goal...and will keep that goal in my sights until I hit it.  When I was 307 lbs I would have never thought that I would see the day where I could say I only have 10 lbs to my goal of 160.  Yes today, I'm 170 lbs....thats 137 lbs lighter than I was 1 year and four months ago.  So all in all, I feel like a tremendous success.  

The Abdominoplasty went well.  I now have a flat belly.  Still have a little more work to get my butt in the shape that I desire, but for the most part...I am happy now with my body.  

I did not have the breast reduction surgery.  Somewhere between the day my surgeon originally evaluated me and send the letter to my insurance company for approval and the day of surgery, my boobs disappeared :) Actually, the loss I experienced during those months all seemed to show in my chest, so if we had removed the amount of tissue that the doctor had anticipated, I would have had virtually no breasts at all.  So we cancelled that portion of the procedure.

The Abdominoplasty was painful.  Not initially.  When I woke up after surgery...I felt wonderful.  I didn't realize at the time...it was the morphine they had given me.  But trust me the weeks to come were very painful.  The drains were a nuisance, but I just kept the end result in mind and I could bare all the emptying and cleaning of the drains.

I am still having a bit of trouble with my ulcer which seems to have re-surfaced since taking the pain meds after the Abdominoplasty.  I am also now taking B complex injections and really trying to watch my iron to keep the anemia in check. But I feel wonderful, and would do it all over again in a heartbeat.

Take care and check back with me from time to time.  I anticipate my updates may be further apart now, but I will try to continue to keep the page and my progress logged here.