Take Me Back Tuesday

I am so excited to be participating in Take Me Back Tuesday again this week! I love sharing my old family photos and I love seeing other's as well. Drop in on Kari at A Giveaway Addicted Mommy and check out others who are sharing their photographic memories!

I am posting a series of photos today of me from when I was about 16-17 years old. It was about this time that I really began to have issues with my digestive system. I have always carried a few extra pounds. During this time frame, I began to notice that I was having huge fluctuations in my size. My weight didn't change that much, but my size changed dramatically almost from day to day and sometimes from hour to hour. Little did I know what those symptoms would finally lead to.

The surgery coming up on this Friday will replace a gastric stimulator for which the battery pack has died. The stimulator works somewhat like a cardiac pacemaker in that it provides electrical stimulation to the vagus nerve in my stomach muscle to encourage my stomach to empty it's contents. When the stimulator isn't working, I am constantly nauseated and throw up numerous (15-20) times daily and suffer from malnutrition, although I continue to carry extra weight. The bloating continues to be a constant problem.





This is me on August 4, 1974. It's not a great picture, but maybe you can get the idea anyway! This pictures was taken by Terry when we were at the lake one Saturday afternoon. I was 16 and was actually at a pretty good weight and size at this time.





This picture was taken in my front yard on the same afternoon. I'm not really sure why I included this one, other than I just like to look at pictures of us when we were so young and in love!!!!




Here I am at 17. Momma took this picture in our back yard on May 10, 1975 when we were taking pictures to publish with our wedding announcement. You can see that my waist is a relatively good size, but above my waist is bloated on this day.

This is May 18, 1975 following my high school Baccalaureate ceremony. This is me and my best friend from high school, Marcia. Note how bloated I am in this picture. This is only a week later that the picture above. I might note I had also just discovered on this morning that I had scarlet fever, which some doctors say contributes to my disorder.

This is my high school graduation night, May 19, 1975, only one night later. Notice that I am now my normal size again. Even when looking at my body shape in this gown, you can see my size is smaller than the night before.

This is us on our wedding night, June 14, 1975. I was just a bit bloated that night. Stress seems to exacerbate the problem at times.

So, there are you are. I think these pictures pretty well document the problem AND serve as a good TMBT post as well! I hope you enjoyed my pictures. I guess I'm just vain, but I sure enjoy sharing them with you all!