My 3rd bandiversary

Today is my 3rd bandiversary.

In the past 3 years, I've had many gains & losses, ups & downs, and I'm STILL happy to have my dinky old 4 cc Lap-Band (with 2.7 cc in it today).

I lost: 90 lbs, 34.25", 3 shoe sizes, 6 dress sizes, my co-morbidities, my CPAP, my original bariatric surgeon (not my decision), my PCP (my decision), a closet full of fat clothes, one cat, my mother, my old job, approximately 50% of my fear of change, 6 band unfills.

I gained: a love of exercise, a new job, a closet full of cute small clothes, 7+ dogs (they come and go), 3 cats, a new bariatric surgeon, a new internist, many new friends & a great online community OH, 15 band fills, and the confidence to tackle new projects and activities I never would have considered before.

The downs: a band slip (probably caused by my hiatal hernia, quickly cured by an unfill), a flipped port (fixed with repair surgery), a year of undiagnosed & untreated chronic pain (with an eventual diagnosis of fibromyalgia and myofascial pain syndrome), losing my mother, and pain when I sit for more than 30 minutes (so my reading hobby is pretty much gone).

The ups: overcoming the downs, writing my band book (Bandwagon), being offered opportunities to work as a band educator and cookbook author, a long life ahead of me with plenty of energy to devote to my writing, artwork, family & friends, a vacation in St. Lucia, 2 trips to Seattle to visit a special OH friend, meeting a dozen or more OH friends in person, treatment that reduces the chronic pain, and an improved relationship with my difficult (that's saying it mildly) brother.

Achievements: body fat dropped from 51.3% to 29% (or 20% by the caliper method), published my band book (Bandwagon), became a certified professional bra fit specialist at JC Penney (with lots of opportunities to help obese women), published 17 newsletters for my 9 Dogs Howling fans, created 64 art collages and sold 16 of them (room for improvement there!), and wrote 4 blogs.

The future holds: at least 2 more band books, a book about the life lessons I learned from my mom, a book about my world travels, at least 33 more years of healthy living with my husband, more travel, and participation in art shows, probably more cats & dogs (and food & vet bills), and…well, who knows?

On my first bandiversary, after 17 months of concentrating on getting and succeeding with my band, I asked myself, "What's next?" The answer for me (and maybe for you) was, "Life is next."