Friday, May 30, 2014

Two Year Out, Checkup

I had my two year checkup yesterday with my surgical team. All tests came back very good. The dizziness I have been having sometimes they feel was because I was a little dehydrated. I am still within 6 pounds of my lowest weight and that is fine and to be expected. They weighed me dressed of course and even with all my cloths on I was just a fraction over my desired BMI. But I normally weigh on each Tuesday in my underwear and then I am within normal on the BMI scale.

I have been taking a medication for cholesterol. Because my tests came back and my cholesterol was so low they felt I should not take that medication anymore. So other than the meds I take for heartburn, I have no prescription medications at all. What a change from the days of taking a tray of meds and insulin shots 3 times a day.


The past two years have gone by very fast and the changes in my life and corresponding health have been amazing. I just hope it all continues and feel good about the prospects.  

Friday, May 16, 2014

WLS and How Long You Will Live

There have been many benefits I have had because of my weight loss surgery. I have talked about many of them on this blog before. Other than the heartburn problems which I am working with my doctors to find a cause and cure, things have been pretty uneventful for me. 

I really believe that by now without the surgery there would be a good chance that I would not have been living, or at least living a greatly diminished life . The weight was causing heart failure and the diabetes was getting way out of control. Yes I was dieting and losing some weight and felt I was on the right path when I found out about WLS, but if history is any teacher, I probably would have regained the little weight I had lost and added more. That had been my pattern for most of my life. 

Now two years out, when I tell people what I used to weigh they can not believe it. I never thought I would be one, who does not want to tell people about my past weight loss. I used to scoff at those who got upset when relatives or friends tell other about their weight loss. But now I can see that we want to be looked at as just normal weight persons and don’t want to concentrate on past problems. That my be sticking my head in the sand, and maybe I am over confident about my ability now to stay at my weight, but after 2 years of not gaining much back I am feeling much more confident about it.  

In thinking about my mortality, I always felt I would live a long life as many of my ancestors lived to be very elderly. My mother for instance seen here on this page is going to be 96 this summer. My grandfather also seen here, was 98 when he passed. And as a genealogist I can tell you that I have had many relatives in the past live to close to 100 years old. So I always thought I would live long. But I never really thought about the fact that most of those who lived long lives including my mother and grandfather were slim people and did not have things like diabetes. I liked to ignore those facts when considering how long I might live. But being more realistic I can see that my chances were not that good unless I lost the weight and taken care of my other health issues.   

My grandfather
he looked pretty much like this
when he was in his 90s
My mother as she was in her 70s
Of course non of us can predict what the future holds for us. Just this week two neighbors were on vacation in Hawaii and were killed in a car crash. Unforeseen circumstances can change for us almost over night, but considering that if you are living with excess weight and the other health issues associated with it, your chances of living a long productive life are greatly diminished. Do not fool yourself into thinking as I did that family history will take care of you, because it wont.