I’ve had many surgeries in the past 4 years. All important and all part of my back to health journey. So many people ask me why are you doing that to yourself. I say, every one of these surgeries bettered my life beyond measure. I can’t imagine not finishing this journey I started October 12, 2012. It has been long and hard with many ups and downs but worth every minute of it.
First surgery was the beginning with Lap Band. Two years in I had complications and it had to come out. I wasn’t even close to my goal weight. My doctor decided to revise me to the sleeve my second surgery. This is where they remove most of your stomach. That was in November of 2014 and what a difference it made because I dropped the rest of my weight fast.
Now I was left with skin and lots of it. Skin I didn’t need any longer because my body was smaller. No matter how hard I worked out the skin would hide my results from me in the mirror. The skin caused medical issues like rashes, raw open area’s after working out and the weight of my breast was causing back pain. There were other issues I had no clue about until the skin was removed.
Third surgery was my tummy tuck and Breast lift and reduction. Both done at the same time. My recovery was hard but not as bad as I thought it would be. I only took pain meds for 2 days after. I did this surgery on June 1st of 2016 so I could recover over the summer. I enjoyed my summer without missing to many events. I couldn’t swim because of the incision but by the end of July I was in the pool. The day of the surgery I had complete pain relief in my back between my shoulder blades. The weight of my breast was causing the pain before the surgery. I had no idea I thought I had a bad back and working out had made it worse. I was wearing a double EE bra size. I’m now a small D or large C.
Surgery Four was done in November of 2016 during my Thanksgiving Holiday break. I had my arms and enter thighs done. The biggest surprise of this surgery was the correction of pain I had no idea was connected to the extra skin in these areas. My shoulders didn’t hurt any more because the weight of the extra skin on my arms wasn’t pulling down on them. That was a shock to me I had never put the two things together. I’m pain-free now in my shoulders. The next surprise was my inter thigh skin removal. I knew that my legs were bad put I had no idea there was almost 13lbs of skin to be removed. Here was the shocker I had been having pain in my hips for a long time. After the weight of the skin was removed from the enter thighs the pain has stopped. I could put my legs in a normal position because my legs came together better. I was completely unaware how the extra skin and the position of my legs were hurting me in my hips.
Well now what? Are the surgeries over? Nope I have one more that will be this summer after school is over. That will be to my back side. They will remove sagging skin from my lower back and at the same time lift my butt and the back of my thighs. Then I will the finished! I will have come full circle with my health journey.
Typing that I’ve come full circle is hard. It’s been such a long journey with lots of hard times. I hate when people say “now you can wear a 2 piece at the pool”. I never did any of this to wear a 2 piece. I have also had people say “don’t you feel a little vain for doing all of this”? No I don’t at all. Greg and I discussed it in full before I stepped into this part of my journey. I wanted to put my body back the way it was intended to be before I damaged it. I did this for me and me alone. I really don’t care if anyone else thinks I’m vain. I’m an all in person and when I decided to do this I said I’m all in. I wrote out a plan to make it all happen. First was the weight loss, getting on a workout plan, then skin removal surgery. I’m almost there, the finish line is ahead and I couldn’t be happier.
I’m so proud of my scars they show I’m a fighter. I have worked hard to get here and I’m still working hard to keep going. I’m almost 52 and I’m in better shape then I was at 18. I feel better about myself mentally, physically and emotionally. I’m still learning to love myself and except my body. Even with surgery it’s not perfect. It’s easy to pick at myself when I look in the mirror. I have a great team of doctors from bariatric to plastic surgeons. I make sure I learn as much as I can about how to stay healthy and on track. My road isn’t as long as it was put I have many miles to go before I’m at my peak.
Surgery isn’t for everyone. It’s hard and the recovery is long. Everyone needs to find their own track on their health journey. I found mine and I’m still following it. Making the best of life and finding my Blue Happy is all I ever wanted. My hope for you is that you find your way, make plan and take it to the finish.
