Introduce yourself

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southernlady

southernlady

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I'll start....I am Elizabeth, aka southernlady or southernlady5464 depending on where else you may know me.

My husband and I both had weight loss surgery (the Duodenal Switch) about 3 years ago. He had his 3 year surgiversary in Dec, mine is the end of this month.

We live in Western North Carolina near family. But we are emtpy nesters...okay except for all the furchildren (6 cats and 2 dogs). I'm 59 years old.

I was on 11 medications pre-op including an insulin pump as I WAS an insulin pump dependent type 2 diabetic. Now, I maintain a 100% EWL, am on only 2 prescription medications (both unrelated to needing surgery). The insulin pump is long history.

I chose the DS for two reasons, I needed to be able to take NSAIDS as I have severe arthritis in my back. And I wanted the BEST shot at resolving my diabetes.

Come introduce yourself!
 
Hi, everybody, I am Jackie and have also been known as MultiplePetMom, only because the number of birds I had when I first made up the name kept changing. right now I have 3 old dogs but the avatar photo is random, off the internet. :p

I had VSG in Mexico in 2008 and had an atypical experience in many ways. I read the posts of many, many other WLS peeps for years and feel like I have a good idea of the variety of successful plans and also those habits and actions that end up not succeeding.

I went to Mexico because I was private-pay and my then PCP thought getting a lap-band was the best idea. I have since learned so many reasons why it wasn't, and I am extremely grateful that I found a better alternative.
 
Hello I am JJ the Jet Plane- JJ works.
I had the DS in 2011
I have currently lost 308 pounds, still going down the scale, slowly, after the 2.5 year mark.

I love to cook and laugh and work out. We spend a great deal of time outdoors or on the water. Look forward to meeting y'all over here.
 
Hello...schnazzy new site we've got here! I'm Tara, otherwise known in the past at karatemomx4. I'm going on 5 years out from DS surgery with Dr. Anthone in Omaha, NE. Start weight 325, current 160 ish...total loss of about 165 lbs. No complications here, either. :)
 
Hello! I'm Sandy. Some of the long-timers may recognize me as Samaro. I had a DS in March 2007 with Dr. Peter Crookes at USC in Southern California. The surgery and recovery were complication-free. I'm one of the DSers who never got close to goal in my weight loss despite tight compliance with low-carb/high protein eating. After 2.5 years of working this in every way I knew how I finally realized that I just wasn't going to lose anymore weight. I now live my life to maintain the loss I did have. At almost 7 years post-op I bounce withing a 10 pound range of my lowest post-op weight. I monitor my labs every 6 months and supplement accordingly.
 
Hello, I am DeeDee. I am 59 years old, am a mother to four adult children, grandmother to eleven adorable grandkids, and my husband and I recently became empty nesters for the first time when his dear mother moved after living with us for 21 years. At the time I had the DS in September of 2012, my only goal was to reach One-derland and my 60's.

I had thought about WLS often through the years. I started researching in earnest after receiving disability and learning that Medicare will cover wls. I originally sought Gastric Bypass. I had never heard of the DS until my surgeon suggested that it was a better choice for me due to Diabetes, a BMI of 61, my need for NSAIDs, and the long term success of the procedure. I had a lot of fear of surgery in general, but eventually my fear of "dying young" won out over those fears. I believe having the DS surgery was one of the best decisions I have ever made. So far I have lost 206 pounds and my current BMI is 27.

My journey to a healthier & happier me, has not been easy, but it has been, and continues to be, so worth it. I am very grateful for my weight loss tool and hope to always treat it with the respect it deserves.
 
Hello all- wow, great format! I'm an GBRNY to DS revision from Fall of 2013. My revision didn't go so well, as I went septic and spent two months in the hospital. I did use a well-vetted surgeon, but prefer not to focus on names. What I'd rather focus on is the fact that surgery, particularly revision surgery, has risks and that it's ok if things aren't all rainbows and unicorns. I have had a lot of complications, but am determined that every day will be a little better than yesterday.
 
KennyK here.
I first used this name since I had not lurked. Now? To late. Everyone that knows me from proboards just knows my name so I won't change it.
Virgin DS April 8th 2013 with Dr. Subhash Kini at Mt. Sinai.
Knew nothing about DS and I am not a big fan of WLS for weight loss. I saw my SIL stop shooting insulin 5 times a day to off meds in a month. Decided to track her a year and see. I was referred to Herron but he was not in my insurance plan so I used Kini. I did not know from vetted/experienced etc.
I was lucky. He did an awesome job, fortunately I was a basically low weight Virgin DS.
I started without a support group and never thought I would make it. 2 months in I found proboards and saw the advice I was getting was more bypass/lapband specific

8 months later my BMI is 24.9 (my self imposed goal) and all is getting better and better.
Kenny
 
Hi,
I'm Kirsten or kirstabelle on most forums. I decided to get WLS in 2002 when I was 24. I live in the UK where WLS is funded by the NHS, however it is very much pot luck and at that time if you lived in the West of Scotland you were given a gastric band or in the East (like me) a VBG.
I was young with no 'recognised co-morbities' but I had PCOS, crippling depression and anxiety. Oh... I was also 378lbs.
I waited for 2 years to get my op (gotta love the NHS) and the more I read about VBG the more scared I got, however I had no choice and it was that op or no op.
Every time I phoned to find out if I had moved up list I was fobbed off by the surgeon's secretary who guilt tripped me about bothering them, when the surgeon was busy saving lives.
I was at the end of my tether. I had no life. I had moved back to live with my parents and I could no longer work due to mental health issues. I was not living, I was existing.
My grandfather passed away and my inheritance was just enough to cover private WLS (much cheaper in Europe). I was a member of a wonderful WLS forum in the UK and so I knew about all the other ops but I had never researched them in depth since I wasn't given a choice on surgery. Now that I could choose I read and I read. The DS fascinated me but scared me. There were about 4 active DSers in the UK at the time and they seemed like a different breed to the rest of us WLS people.
I contacted Jacques Himpens in Belgium to enquire about surgery. He was half the price of UK surgeons but 10 x more experienced. I enquired about the RNY and he mentioned the DS.
2 months later I flew to Belgium with my mother and her friend, not really caring if I woke up from the op. I didn't fear the surgery but I was terrified about fitting in the seat on the plane.
My experience with Jacques' medical team was superb and I was bowled over by Jacques himself.
1 week post op I flew home and when I landed on the runway at Edinburgh Airport I burst into tears. It was only then that I realised I hadn't believed I would make it home.
I am now coming up for 10yrs post op, I've had a little regain (still 140lbs down from day of surgery, major deficiency issues (mainly reversed after some amazing VET support) and still in love with my DS. I always paid it forward, unfortunately I didn't really know my stuff until I had to learn about it the hard way.
 
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I made it! Hey all. I'm SwitchedUp AKA Mindy AKA Josie and I had a DS in November of 2011 with Dr, Buchwald in Minneapolis. No complications and life is grand. I'm having a little trouble keeping my vite levels up, mainly ADEK. On a personal level, I'm happily married with 5 kids. I have parrots and 2 great danes as well. I haven't been posting as much on these boards since I've been living life and I'm busy, but hope to get in more! I'm on facebook a lot so you'll see me there much more, probably. Awesome board going on here and whoever wrote those TOS owes me a keyboard.
 
Hi and thanks for the invite! I'm Dana known as cajungirl on various WLS sites. I had RNY on Feb. 21, 2005, starting weight 260.5 lbs, currently 123.4. I'm looking forward to continuing to learn and share with other WLS peeps. I truly believe that staying active in the WLS community has been a key component of staying below goal.
 
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