Hey so, an update from the very distant future. Just in case anyone stumbles across this thread and wants info from life post surgery.
Both my mom and Meme recovered from the surgery well and have consistently maintained their weight losses at a healthy level. My Meme has been medication free for her diabetes ever since the surgery and has had her quality of life increase by leaps and bounds. She's incredibly active and does lots of volunteer work with different organizations including meals on wheels and has thrown herself into her artwork.
My mom stayed off her diabetes meds until about two years ago when she had to start taking pills again (but still no shots!) She's got a more accurate diagnosis now which is that she has some kind of crazy hybrid Type 1/Type 2 diabetes which is basically just a jerk and is really hard to control even with a proper diet, exercise, and meds so she's just really careful logging everything and she's got a dog who wakes her up if her sugar drops too low.
The doctors and hospitals around here are extremely strict with preparing their patients before they will allow it to be done, so if this is something you or a family member is considering I highly recommend visiting a therapist, joining a support group, and seriously researching all of the benefits/complications that go along with it as both of my family members were required to. It's not the easiest life post surgery, but for these two it was definitely worth it.
