Welcome. I don't plan on hiding much about my journey, but I will change the names of those around me to protect them should things go south. This is a huge decision and not everyone in my life is happy with it.
My support team includes:
My parents
The music man (a very good friend and leader of a band I once sang with)
My brother - call him III. He knows why.
there are others, a couple - J&J with their daughter, Princess.
among others.
My Aunt and cousins.
My main detractor is my uncle, and he has been asked to politely butt his nose out! I respect his opinions but not when they come wrapped with extreme negativity. I love him, but it's not his decision.
Where I am now:
Current Weight: 364 (OMG, this is so hard to admit)
Goal Weight: 140 or so.
How this part of the journey started:
I have tried many things to lose the weight - most of which have ended with me gaining more.
**Let me say right here, this blog is about making something positive out of a scary life situation. It is not about pointing fingers, placing blame, or what I could have or should have done. I appreciate concern, but if you are reading this and think "did you try...xxx," or something similar I probably did.
Last year, I had finally reached what I call "critical mass" This is going to be different for everyone. This is the point where I can no longer carry on and do even the normal things - my body just can't handle the weight. Prior to this point, I was inhibited, but able to do many things. Not any more. Things that 20 pounds prior were fine were no longer that way.
To be frank, this scared me more than anything to date.
I started looking for something that would work. I heard about a seminar about bariatric surgery. The whole idea of messing with my stomach made me slightly ill. However, I am not one to run from that kind of thing. I felt that I needed to look into every option. April 2012, I went to an informational meeting that spoke about the 3 types of solutions and chose the one I was most interested in. That was what is commonly called "the sleeve." When I had my initial meeting with the doc, he agreed that this is what I should shoot for.
I was impressed with the reputation and record of the clinic I was checking out, with their post surgical incidents WELL below national averages for these surgeries. My doctor is kind and non judgmental. He is quite busy, but has always taken the time to talk with me when I needed it.
My health insurance only required 2 months of medically supervised weight loss to start the qualification process. That was soon over. I had made the decision to hold off until November so that I would qualify for FMLA at work. Per my doctor's recommendation, I kept up with the monthly weigh ins to keep the insurance from having anything to poke at as a potential issue.
I have gone up and down during that time. As you can tell, we are well past November, and no, I have not yet had my surgery.
It has been interesting trying to get medical records from another state. After more than 5 faxes and more phone calls than I care to relay, I asked if there was another solution. Thank God there was.
I was told that if I have pictures from the past 5 years showing more than just my head, that we can submit those.
Here are the winning photos:
Until that phone call, I was not sure what I could do to get the approval. Thank goodness there are no more hoops to jump through for approval.
Tomorrow I am going in for my final bout of tests.
I have an Upper GI test, and Ultrasound, blood tests... Lots. Then I have to get approval from my PCP.
Once those tests come through, assuming we don't find anything major, they will schedule me for surgery. This can be 2-3 weeks out. I'm hoping it is before the 3rd week in March.
Currently I am doing research about food after surgery. I am looking for a few good sites for bariatric specific recipes.
I will post more as I have news.
Christa
