Patient Panel

This past Wednesday night was our monthy support group meeting. This month, all three groups (Ogden, Orem, and Salt Lake) met together, and the office education team put together a panel of patients to tell about their weight loss journeys and their decision to have surgery, and to relate some of the things they have learned along the way. I was asked six or seven weeks ago to be a member of this panel, and was delighted to do so. Every time I get asked about my surgery and/or my weight loss, I am more passionate about sharing my thoughts and feelings and educating others about the importance of maintaining a healthy weight and of getting help when you are unable to do it on your own. As I mentioned during my presentation, I feel like I have been given a great gift - I got my life back - and I feel a great obligation and desire to share what I have been given and my gratitude for it.

For our support group meeting, each panel member was also asked to provide several "before and after" photos to be put into a slide show. It was very interesting to go back through the pics that are on my computer. I looked at photos of me taken over the past five years (there were not too many) and wondered "Who was that woman?" One that I sent (that didn't get used) was a wedding photo of me and Jack, and as I looked at that tiny, happy girl I realized that I could see her in the pics of me today. What a great feeling that is! Jack took many pictures of me the night of support group. I'll just share a few....

Half off

I am totally over the moon! Today I stepped on the scale and realized that I have lost 50% of my original weight. I weigh only half as much as I did at the beginning of this year! When I started this surgical journey, that was only a distant dream. It has been years and years since I weighed this little. I did hit this mark (and even dropped 3 pounds below it) when I was doing Weight Watchers 20 years ago, but I was only at this point for a month or two before bouncing back a few pounds above it.

This feels so good!!!!

My reward for reaching this stage of the game - one half of my former self - is going to be working with a personal trainer. I start tomorrow morning - wish me luck!

New hair

Awhile back I posted about my thinning hair. I thought the hair loss had stopped by about six months out of surgery. I was wrong - it picked up again around the beginning of September and just kept on falling out. :( For most of the last 20 years, I have kept my hair pretty short and either wedged or layered. During the past year or so, I let it grow out a bit - no longer than chin length, but pretty much all the same length in a blunt cut. I really quite liked the new length. However, by mid-October I had lost so much of my original hair volume (truly about 75%!) and had enough new undergrowth (now about an inch or more long), that my remaining longer hair reminded me of a bald person with a bad comb-over! Once again I went to my friend and hairdresser asking for help. I told her I thought it was time to get rid of the old length and start trying to meet the new growth. She worked her magic, and this is the result:

It's not perfectly combed in this photo, but I love the length and it looks so much better! Also, in this photo I am wearing the cute girls' size tee shirt I got at American Girl Place in Chicago last month! Yay me!