30 days and counting

I have decided to start blogging about my experience leading up to my surgery date and then my progress afterward and what better way to start than 30 days before hand. Up until this point I have had to cross a lot of bridges and now I feel like I am in the home stretch but also the hardest part. Let me explain a little about what I have had to do just to get to this point....

I have been thinking about lap band surgery for awhile now but beginning in November of 2008 I decided to take those thoughts more seriously and attended a seminar about lap band surgery. I was really impressed with what I heard and hearing the success stories of people there that had already gone through the surgery was the last bit of motivation I needed. My first step was to visit my doctor and get blood tests, an EKG, chest x-rays, and a letter of recommendation for the surgery from my primary physician. After that appointment I had to have a sleep study. Luckily my regular doctor did not think that I had sleep apnea so he allowed me to take a sleep test that could be conducted at my home rather than going into the actual sleep study office; this not only saved me time but also money! Now it was on to the psychological test. Let me tell you that this was the most intimidating part of the whole process. You have to fill out a packet of about 30 pages and then when you get to your appointment, which is usually 4 weeks out, you have to fill out even more paperwork. In the end my actual discussion with the doctor took a total of about 30 minutes. I spent more time doing paperwork than anything else. Thankfully I was given the all clear that I was sane enough to have the surgery, not that I had any doubtsJ Next it was time to meet with the nutritionist. This appointment was the most emotional out of all of them and I am not sure why. I ended up crying to the poor girl about how much I just wanted my life to change but she was very nice about the whole thing explaining that this was a very emotional process. The very last step was to finally see the surgeon..whoo hoo. Basically this appointment consisted of going over what I had already done and then discussing some next steps which included knowing if insurance would cover it. Luckily I didn’t have to wait too long I got the call from my nurse while I was out to lunch with my work group (go figure) My final step was to pick a surgery date! I had to think hard about this one because I had a lot of projects coming up at work that I didn’t want to interfere with so to be mentally ready I scheduled it for the end of April.

Now we are back to the present day. One thing to note is that before you have the surgery you have to lose a certain amount of weight. My weight loss goal before the surgery is 15 pounds. To prepare I have cut out most of my soda intake (I am still having a small diet soda at lunch this week to try and avoid the massive headaches I know will come) and my twice weekly coffee and muffin run. I have supplemented with water and getting myself used to drinking that much water again… and I might add going to the bathroom more than once during the workday. I have also begun my workout routine which I have set up with my fitness trainer at work.

That is a very big overview of what it has taken me to get to where I am today. I will be writing much more as I get closer to my surgery date as I know these next 30 days will be the toughest I have gone through in a long time.