Metaphysician, Heal Thyself, redux.

Hiya, folks. I've only recently returned to perusing these fine pages and posting here. I'm not a Facebookhead  and plan to hold out as long as possible. It's been 4 years since I last posted in my now-archived blog. How time flies, and most of it has been a little TOO eventful.

One year ago today, I had a vertical sleeve gastrectomy, VSG. It's an operation that removed 80% of my stomach, turning it from melon-shaped to banana-shaped. I've lost 80 lbs as a result. Since I lost 40 lb leading up to the surgery, I'm down a grand total of 120 lb. My BMI dropped from 50 to 30 and I've lost 2/3 of my excess body weight.

It wasn't easy, and I was one of those rare patients with a surgical complication and then a medical  complication because of the 2nd surgery 4 days later. In spite of all that, I'm very glad I did it. I haven't felt his good, or been this active since my 20s. As many of you know, I've had Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and fibromyalgia since I was 30 and that hasn't changed, but I'm much better able to cope with them.

The high blood pressure I experienced in recent years is gone, along with that medication. My pressure is now back around it's previous neighborhood of 105/60. My A1C, which charts blood sugar control, is back down from 6.6 to a normal 5.5, and my resting heart rate is in the low 50's. I use much less pain meds than before. Still plenty of pain because of the fibro, but at a level I can block out most of the time. I try to get to Blink, the gym on Valley in SO at least 3x week, though lately I've been too busy gardening. And for the first time in 20-odd years, I don't use a cane or arm-crutch. Ever. It is GONE.

Along with the love of my life, known on MOL as MelechRic, I owe incredible thanks to my friends like Scully and AngelaK, and others who got me thru those early weeks of unexpected complications. It got ugly that first month and I was not a model patient, but the surgery was still worth it.

I also owe thanks to Carole Anne and Drummer Boy and Junie Moon, who gave me much encouragement and advice as I was making my final decision to brave the unknown by going under the knife.

And you look fabulous! So glad it worked out for you.

I was just about to ask about you. I'm extremely glad to read your news.

Glad to have you back.

Yay you!!!!!

So happy to hear this news. I miss seeing you!

You are looking great and making fantastic progress.

Congratulations! This is so great to read!

That's awesome!

Well done, Meta!!  Your efforts and progress have been so amazing to watch!

so good to hear from you! Glad you're doing well!

Congrats!

Wait... wait... no cane?  Well, hot damn.  Good for you.  And nice to (virtually, anyway) hear your voice again.  

Oh, and PLEASE tell me that you quietly celebrated your surgery with an Alabama Slammer.  Or at least had everyone else do so. 

meta,

I'm so glad to hear this. I was just talking to Juniemoon about you the other day.

A word of caution - be careful around the 18 month mark. I started gaining some weight back at that point, and continued gaining. I've stabilized at this point, but at a point higher than I was a year ago or so.

Don't be fooled by the way weight just falls off for the first 18 months. It gets harder after that, and you have to be much more conscious of your diet than before.

But, the important thing is that once you lose all of that weight, you know how you felt and what an improvement it was over your former self, so that's a powerful motivator to keep things on track.

Best of luck to you.

I've been wondering what happened to you!    
Glad that you're doing so well medically.   

Be careful of the Facebook black hole.  It has generally replaced my MOL addiction, leaving only little time to check on my usual interests.  I have given up my word games altogether.

Thank you so much for coming back here and updating us. Congratulations about what you've accomplished!

Yada, yada- Congrats- yada, yaDA!

It's all about you...standing here stroking your

ego...what have you done for US lately?

Thanks, all of you. I appreciate your warm wishes and supportive comments. 

Alphabet-guy, I haven't had a Slammer in a while and i think it's overdue. I'll have to prepare one sometime soon, since it's so difficult to get an acceptable one in commercial establishments. Maybe I'll do a pitcher for my posse at our next get-together.

Drummerboy, I went into this, knowing that it would get tougher, esp. around 18 months, that the honeymoon would be over. The surgeon made it clear that anywhere between 12 and 24 months, the surgical advantage would be over. That's when the hard work would begin. Like the Red Queen said, you have to run as fast as you can to stay in the same place and to get anywhere else, you have to run twice as fast. Getting into the Blink habit was necessary for me. We did a lot of dancing on our last cruise, a few hours almost every night and I'm hoping to start doing that again, here on dry land. There's a Swing Dance group in Whippany that I'd like to check out. I never learned how, so it's high time I add that to the repertoire. Dancing is great exercise and you can't eat while you're doing it, so it makes sense to me. Here's hoping my ankles can handle it and that the leg damaged by sciatica will behave. I did a ton of physical therapy and it worked wonders for me. I never work up as much of a sweat at the gym as I did at PT, so that tells me I'm not working it hard enough at Blink! This is the healthiest I've felt (except for a temporary remission once upon a time) since I was in my late 20's, so as you said, it's powerful motivator to keep things on track. DB, please give Junie my warmest regards. That lunch we three had at the Parkwood really launched me into this whole new phase of my life.

I'm having a great time! Who knew one's sixties could be so much fun? I danced my a$$ off on that ship! And I'm thrilled I can take trains and subways to meet a friend in the city, walk miles without a cane, and feel okay the next day, without risking a relapse. How effin' cool is THAT!?!

Other changes:  You know that old saying, "it's your face or your a$$"?  Well, I'm damn lucky that my face has tightened up. The jowly look is gone and I'd say I look 10-15 years younger now. However, other areas have NOT held up so well. I miss JustMeLaura for a whole damn host of reasons; a minor one would be her talent with duct tape couture. She'd know how to duct tape my a$$ up from dragging on the ground. And then there are the batwings. Yikes! There's no way I can pump up my triceps enough to take up the slack. Something tells me I need to learn about the wonders of compression clothing, 'cause Medicare don't wanna hear nuttin' bout cosmetic surgery. But, frankly, If these are my biggest concerns, I'll happily put up with them.

There's a whole lotta gardening going on here at Avian Acres, with a huge assist from AngelaK, tearing out overgrown hosta and day-lilies left & right. I may post giveaways on a garden thread sometime soon. I'm also resuming my project to rehab free computers for students. If you've got any old computers under 10 years old (Windows 7), I'd be grateful. Laptops are preferred by the students. I recycle anything I can't reuse. 

Life is good!

PS. It took me so long to write all that, that Apollo snuck in with his lil whispering of sweet nothings. As a matter of fact, my friend, I have a couple of items for you. Been meaning to email/call you. Consider yourself warned!

PSS. Geez, I just saw that the molarity (whoops!) MORALITY filters are still in place. Time to edit the above. Hard to believe that the word a$$ doesn't pass muster.

so happy to hear this! Congrats!

I've read on some of the other local boards (next door, etc) that there is a salsa dancing club at one of the churches in SO, on SO AVE. I think it might be the one across from Sonnys bagels (saw a sign to that effect). It's Friday nights and I believe just a few bucks. Salsa dancing is a lot of fun and can't beat the location. I took a lesson once and I think you could really get into it pretty quickly.

it's here, the church on the triangle between and So Or Ave and Irvington, at Academy.

https://firstandtrinitychurch....

Welcome back ... great news!

great post.

I'm very happy for you.

metaphysician said:

Thanks, all of you. I appreciate your warm wishes and supportive comments. 

Alphabet-guy, I haven't had a Slammer in a while and i think it's overdue. I'll have to prepare one sometime soon, since it's so difficult to get an acceptable one in commercial establishments. Maybe I'll do a pitcher for my posse at our next get-together.

Drummerboy, I went into this, knowing that it would get tougher, esp. around 18 months, that the honeymoon would be over. The surgeon made it clear that anywhere between 12 and 24 months, the surgical advantage would be over. That's when the hard work would begin. Like the Red Queen said, you have to run as fast as you can to stay in the same place and to get anywhere else, you have to run twice as fast. Getting into the Blink habit was necessary for me. We did a lot of dancing on our last cruise, a few hours almost every night and I'm hoping to start doing that again, here on dry land. There's a Swing Dance group in Whippany that I'd like to check out. I never learned how, so it's high time I add that to the repertoire. Dancing is great exercise and you can't eat while you're doing it, so it makes sense to me. Here's hoping my ankles can handle it and that the leg damaged by sciatica will behave. I did a ton of physical therapy and it worked wonders for me. I never work up as much of a sweat at the gym as I did at PT, so that tells me I'm not working it hard enough at Blink! This is the healthiest I've felt (except for a temporary remission once upon a time) since I was in my late 20's, so as you said, it's powerful motivator to keep things on track. DB, please give Junie my warmest regards. That lunch we three had at the Parkwood really launched me into this whole new phase of my life.

I'm having a great time! Who knew one's sixties could be so much fun? I danced my a$$ off on that ship! And I'm thrilled I can take trains and subways to meet a friend in the city, walk miles without a cane, and feel okay the next day, without risking a relapse. How effin' cool is THAT!?!


Other changes:  You know that old saying, "it's your face or your a$$"?  Well, I'm damn lucky that my face has tightened up. The jowly look is gone and I'd say I look 10-15 years younger now. However, other areas have NOT held up so well. I miss JustMeLaura for a whole damn host of reasons; a minor one would be her talent with duct tape couture. She'd know how to duct tape my a$$ up from dragging on the ground. And then there are the batwings. Yikes! There's no way I can pump up my triceps enough to take up the slack. Something tells me I need to learn about the wonders of compression clothing, 'cause Medicare don't wanna hear nuttin' bout cosmetic surgery. But, frankly, If these are my biggest concerns, I'll happily put up with them.

There's a whole lotta gardening going on here at Avian Acres, with a huge assist from AngelaK, tearing out overgrown hosta and day-lilies left & right. I may post giveaways on a garden thread sometime soon. I'm also resuming my project to rehab free computers for students. If you've got any old computers under 10 years old (Windows 7), I'd be grateful. Laptops are preferred by the students. I recycle anything I can't reuse. 

Life is good!




PS. It took me so long to write all that, that Apollo snuck in with his lil whispering of sweet nothings. As a matter of fact, my friend, I have a couple of items for you. Been meaning to email/call you. Consider yourself warned!




PSS. Geez, I just saw that the molarity (whoops!) MORALITY filters are still in place. Time to edit the above. Hard to believe that the word a$$ doesn't pass muster.