Hello from Montana

[Marie Heaney]

Hello,

I wanted to introduce myself to this forum by giving you all a few facts about myself and why I wanted to be a part of this group. I am 57 years old having the Duodenal Switch 8 years ago. I live in Montana. I have done extremely well with my D/S currently weighing 140 pounds up 5 at my lowest. Except for a some hospitalizations and numerous ER visits for severe abdominal pain (they never found the reason) several years ago, I have had no complications from the surgery and I am extremely delighted with the outcome. I am a inactive member of another popular WLS web site and thought it would be more interesting and fresh if I was to join a new web-site instead of activating my old membership plus I noticed some extremely well informed old-timers on this website.


Well that's about all I have for the moment. I look forward to getting to know you all better and being an active member of this forum.


Sincerely,


Marie Heaney

 

[southernlady]

Welcome, @Marie Heaney
I LOVE Montana...saw most of the Western side this past summer. It's a beautiful state! And got to meet several DS'ers while there.
Tagging @Elizabeth N.

 

[Marie Heaney]

Wow, I did not know there were any other DSer in Montana, I am really surprised.......I prided myself on being the only one. Its been really challenging finding doctors who are willing to understand or study up on the D/S as most of them have not even heard of it. So I have had to be extremely vigilant with my research and being pro-active with my medical care. I live in Hamilton which is the banana belt, we only had 2 snow removal days this year with warmer days then I experience when I lived in California during the winter, go figure?

 

[newanatomy]

Hi again. I was born and raised in Butte. I live in Idaho currently. Where in MT are you?

 

[aaa]

Welcome. Glad you're here.

 

[southernlady]

Wow, I did not know there were any other DSer in Montana, I am really surprised.......I prided myself on being the only one. Its been really challenging finding doctors who are willing to understand or study up on the D/S as most of them have not even heard of it. So I have had to be extremely vigilant with my research and being pro-active with my medical care. I live in Hamilton which is the banana belt, we only had 2 snow removal days this year with warmer days then I experience when I lived in California during the winter, go figure?

Actually, the one I tagged has family there...she lives in NJ but spends part of her summer in Montana. Last summer, my husband and I went on a 3 week, round the country vacation and spent three days in her area. While there, I got a chance to meet newanatomy, her husband, and another DS'er who came over from Nevada. We were over near Butte.

EN has at least ONE doctor in her arsenal there in MT...she's been "training" him in the DS for a long time as she is 8 years out as well.

So it wasn't a case of all of them/us living there, we just descended on that location for small DS gathering.

 

[Marie Heaney]

I think I know who EN is, she really helped me a few years ago on the OH website when I was having serious problems with abdominal pain. I remember her mentioning that she travels to Montana each year. I would love to connect and find out the name of that doctor. Perhaps the lil black cat will email me.

 

[Munchkin]

Hamilton? OMG I love Hamilton! One of my favorite places on Earth. Doesn't hurt that they have sapphires either.

I used to travel a lot in Montana years ago for work. I would fly in and drive usually Butte, Hamilton, Missoula, and Kalispell. Every time I went through Hamilton I would stop and hunt sapphires. I would make sure I got there at just the right hour so I could do it on my own time. Once I was on that dirt road driving back from the mine and I stopped for a moose. It was a baby/yearling. I was stopped and that moose walked right up to the car and stuck his head in my window. Snuffled me a bit and then left. One side of my face was covered with moose drool...and not the beer!

Over the years I collected quite a few of those stones. And then they were lost in a move and I can't get any more.

What a cool place to live!

 

[newanatomy]

We saw this just a few weeks ago. There were three of them a few miles out of town, we had gone to the foothills to target practice.

 

[Marie Heaney]

Never had a close encounter with a moose "yet" but the wild life is fabulous. Sunday my boyfriend and I took a ride on his Harley to Darby (17 miles south) and at a rest stop we saw a pack of wild elk about 40 of them just 20 feet from where we were at. The weather is really unbelievable with many bikers on the road already. I absolutely love it here.............the Sapphire mountains are at my door step. I plan to do some sapphire digging this summer as there are still a lot of great places to find them. I also feel very blessed to be living in such a gorgeous place, the only time I leave is a drive to Costco in Missoula to buy meat, most of the fish I consume is caught locally. Come and see me sometime and I will show you some great Sapphire digs and fry up a fresh brook trout.

Marie

 

[Elizabeth N.]

Hi Marie, I think I remember you. Didn't you live in Helena at one time?

The PCP I have "in training" is with the Deaconess group in Bozeman. You have terrific doctor options between Hamilton and Missoula, what with the infectious diseases center in your backyard.

 

[Marie Heaney]

Hi Marie, I think I remember you. Didn't you live in Helena at one time?

The PCP I have "in training" is with the Deaconess group in Bozeman. You have terrific doctor options between Hamilton and Missoula, what with the infectious diseases center in your backyard.

A couple of years ago I was experiencing severe continuous abdominal pain and you thought I had a partial intestinal obstruction and your advice was extremely helpful. It did end up being what you suspected and I got better without any surgical intervention. I will always be grateful to you, thank you again. I moved to Montana about 5 years ago from California and love it here. I do know about the Rocky Mountain labs but I am not too familiar with any infectious doctors locally. I was diagnosed with an extremely rare variant of Guillian Barre with my shoulders, arms and hands partially paralyzed. It took 2 trips to my doctors and 3 trips to the ER before they figured out what I had. I am still suffering with it but am back to work. I am not sure if it was caused by the flu shot because my first symptoms appeared 4 weeks after I received the shot. Now I am just trying to build my immune system back up but came down with a bad chest cold so I have been in bed home sick for the last 2 days surfing the net when I came across BariaticFacts and found the old D/S alumni from OH.

 

[EricW]

Welcome Marie. I am a newby here as well. I live in NE Washington on Lake Roosevelt. I used to run a trucking company in Missoula in the late 80's and my son attended Carroll College in Helena. My wife and I spend a lot of time in MT on our scooters as well. I also like to tinker with accessibility options for quadriplegics and I think one of my mouth controlled shooting devices might have went to a hunting retreat for spinal cord injury patients near Hamilton. Lets keep in touch and maybe we can join you for a ride this summer. If you two ever get this way we have some great sights as well. Take care EW.

 

[Elizabeth N.]

Y'all need to plan a road trip to the Butte/Helena area sometime in July or August . I spend my summers out there.

 

[Marie Heaney]

Welcome Marie. I am a newby here as well. I live in NE Washington on Lake Roosevelt. I used to run a trucking company in Missoula in the late 80's and my son attended Carroll College in Helena. My wife and I spend a lot of time in MT on our scooters as well. I also like to tinker with accessibility options for quadriplegics and I think one of my mouth controlled shooting devices might have went to a hunting retreat for spinal cord injury patients near Hamilton. Lets keep in touch and maybe we can join you for a ride this summer. If you two ever get this way we have some great sights as well. Take care EW.

Hi Eric and Elizabeth.................a road trip would be great fun and something I would jump at the chance since I never have the opportunity to connect with other D/Sers living in Montana. I have been to many of the little towns through out the state and I love the small kinda rugged town of Butte. I don't know much about Helena but have always wanted to visit the state capital. Eric, are you an inventor of small gadgets, your mouth piece sounds really interesting. My plans for travel this year are going to mostly be local because I have used up most of my leave time being so sick this year with Guillian Barre.........but thanks for the invite your way............perhaps next year