# Happy anniversary to me **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 18, 2007, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-anniversary-to-me/400646 "2007-04-18T17:06:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-anniversary-to-me/400646/1 "2007-04-18T17:06:46Z")
Today is my 2 year anniversary for my gastric bypass surgery. I am feeling so great, I just wanted to share my happiness. 2 years ago today, I was in surgery having 100cm of my intestines removed and my stomach reduced to a 1/2 oz capacity. I weighed in at 325 lbs (I am 5’3") and wore a size 5XL top and 34 pants. I had high blood pressure, extremely severe sleep apnea, GERD and was starting to get arthritis in my knees. Today, I weighed 123. I wear an XS/S shirt, size 0/1 pants and have no health problems. Well, I still have to take synthroid, but that is for life and I have gout, but take allopurinol that keeps flare-ups at bay. My BP is back to normal at 90/45, no GERD, no sleep apnea. I can walk miles before being tired, heck, I can run 2 miles without dying! Oh, and the arthritis? No sign of it at all – my knees are in great shape! My husband, ever the thoughtful one bought me some new Spiderman pajamas for my anniversary. He got them in the little boy’s department at Wal-Mart. How cool is that? I love being healthy. I love being _me_ again. I love looking in the mirror and recognising the person there. I was missing for so long. I love being able to race my kids to the car or jump on the trampoline with them without being afraid of the thing collapsing! I love being able to climb my husband like a tree and not be afraid of breaking his back! Today is a good day. Everyone enjoy it! ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-anniversary-to-me/400646/2 "2007-04-18T17:14:28Z")
What’s GERD? Congratulations to you! ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-anniversary-to-me/400646/3 "2007-04-18T17:24:43Z")
[QUOTE=elbows] What’s GERD? [/QUOTE] Acid reflux. Congrats **Litoris**! That’s awesome. ---
**Author:** ![meek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce73a5/32.png) [@meek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meek)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-anniversary-to-me/400646/4 "2007-04-18T17:25:32Z")
Wow. You lost more than I weigh. Way to go. That’s awesome. 🙂 GERD I assume is [Gastroesophageal reflux disease - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastroesophageal_reflux_disease) On Edit: What he said… ---
**Author:** ![Litoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9f8e36/32.png) [@Litoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Litoris)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-anniversary-to-me/400646/5 "2007-04-18T18:07:52Z")
Thanks everyone! GERD is (for those too lazy [like I] to look it up and don’t already know) reflux disease. It’s like heartburn but on a massive scale. Mine was caused by a congenital hiatal hernia (where the lining of the stomach pushes up through the esophageal sphincter [heh, I said ‘sphincter’], causing it to not close completely). Basically, what happened with me is that if I would lay down within 6 hours of eating, I would have stomach acid and undigested food back up into my esophagus. This usually happened while I slept. I very easily could have died from this stupid thing if I had ever aspirated the crap. While the GERD was not a direct cause of my weight, the weight definitely did cause it to be worse than it was when I was a normal weight. Fortunately my surgeon fixed the hiatal hernia when he did my RNY, so I should not have that problem ever again 😃 FWIW, in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=417150), I posted links to before/after pictures on my picturetrail and myspace pages. Of course, if anyone has questions, please ask away. Consider this one of those “ask the girl who has had Lap-RNY surgery” threads. ---
**Author:** ![Tikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5daacb/32.png) [@Tikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tikki)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-anniversary-to-me/400646/6 "2007-04-18T19:09:48Z")
Hooray for you, **Litoris!** I’m so glad for you!