July 3, 2000

First let me say happy 4th of July to everyone.  Hopefully everyone of us will take a moment to reflect on what this holiday means to all of us here in the U.S.  Many of the liberties we take for granted on a daily basis would not exist if not for our founding fathers.  This is true of other nations too.  Without the influence of our great nation many others would not know some of the freedoms they cherish today.
Alright enough of that.  Anyone who has followed this page for the past 11 months knows that from time to time I have to get on my soapbox about something.
One more thing however, before I start talking about Rhonda and myself.
A few months ago I mentioned a young woman that had sent me an e-mail.  Her name is Peggy and she underwent gastric bypass surgery in May.  I just want to mention that Peggy is having a hard time and would like for everyone who reads this to mention her in their prayers. After several bad episodes with fever and pain the doctors finally discovered Peggy's pouch is leaking.  Her doctor is out of town and she is waiting for him to return.  She will have to undergo another surgery.  Meanwhile she is being fed through her G tube by her husband.  If she feels like reading this, I just want to say Rhonda and I are both tinking of her.
This just serves to reiterate what I have said all along, Rhonda was very fortunate.   She had almost no problems at all.  Even now she can eat anything she wants with only rare repercussions.  Good luck Peggy, we love ya!!
As for Rhonda, I hate to say it but I think it is about time I brought this to an end.  She and I have both about come to the conclusion she has progressed as far as she is going to.  At least any mor progress will be very slow.
It ends in sweet sorrow.  She nor I have any regrets about her having the surgery.  We both feel that it was successful.   On the other hand it was not as successful as she had hoped.   I do keep reminding her and myself that it has only been 11 months and that the last twenty or thirty pounds is going to come off very slowly.  Even if it never comes off, she has lost 60% of her goal.  Thus she has been successful.  I really never had any preconcieved notions about the final result. 
Maximizing the results of the surgery with cosmetic surgery is still an option.  But that reminds me of something I heard Dolly Parton say on the subject of plastic surgery.  She openly admits she has had certain parts reconstructed, never being specific what parts.  She said she and her husband were discussing  her surgeries and she ask him if he still thought she was beautiful.  His reply was something to the effect of, you are so beautiful you are almost ugly.
Rhonda feels badly about her scar, on the other hand she is contemplating more scars.  That is a lot to think about.
I am just rambling on here, because I don't know how to end this.  In the past year this little web page has come to mean a lot to me.
So I will leave it at that.  I hope Rhonda will come back and give some of her thoughts as to how she feels and how she relates to her success.
In ending I just want to thank all of you for reading this and for those of you that sent me mail I especially thank you.
God bless you all and you are all in our prayers.
Rhonda and Gary.

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