Surgery Date is Set

Dec 27, 2011

February 1st I will be getting a vertical sleeve gastrectomy. Not the DS I orignally wanted but since I am having some issues with dehydration and I haven't even had surgery yet neither Dr. Selwyn or I are comfortable with me getting the malabsorption part of the DS. So I start with the sleeve and see if I need to have the switch part later on down the line. Hoepfully, I will not, since avoiding having to have 2 surgeries was one of the reasons I wanted the DS to start with. But, if I'm already having issues before the surgery I can only imagine the problems I could face with a surgery as drastic as the DS. So the smart thing to do is have the sleeve and see how well I do with it and if I dont ever need the malabsorption from the DS then cool beans. Also, Dr, Selwyn advised me that he is worried I don't have enough of a "cushion" for the DS and could get into trouble with malnutrition since I only have about 100 more pounds to lose.

I am happy to have a date and now just waiting to hear from my insurance whether or not they will approve it. I certainly hope so since I am now dealing with hypertension along with the high chloesterol, asthma, depression, blood sugar issues, and all the other medical stuff going on. Keeping my fingers crossed that I will only have vitamins to take after this. Right now I am of the mindset that I just want this done and over with so I can get back to being normal. Even though I realize that after this surgery normal will have a whole new meaning for me.

For now I am concentrating on quitting smoking. I am doing pretty well and have drastically cut back on my smoking. I can go an entire day with out a cigarette but still have a hare time when I am at home. If I could rent a hotel room for a month to avoid the temptations at home I would but since that is not practical I will deal as best as I can. I need to get back into therapy but am waiting until after the holiday season is over because I am taking on extra hours at work and 13 hour days make it hard to get time in for other appointments.

The last six months have been difficult to say the least. Trying to keep dietary goals in mind every day as well as trying to walk enough to satisfy the exercise requirements while dealing with my fibromyalgia has been hard. But i am muddling through best I can. I think if there is any advice I can give other pre-ops is that you shouldn't beat yourself up if you don't get it exactly right every day. Just be honest with yourself about why you weren't able to stay on point and start over the next day. It's when you give up completely that you lose out. Maybe that's why they say nothing worth fighting for is easy. If it were easy everyone would be doing it.

Anyway, I will keep on keeping on and keep reading all I can find about the surgery. Speaking of which, I wanted to recommend some books to help with that research. They aren't mentioned much but you can find a few here and there. I have picked up "Weight Loss Surgery for Dummies", "The Weight Loss Surgery Workbook" and "The Weight Loss Surgery Coping Companion." All three seem to be very helpful and I'm looking forward to getting into "The Weight Loss Surgery Coping Companion" as I haven't started it yet. I am doing the exercises in "The Weight Loss Suregy Workbook" and it is helping to clarify my reasons for doing this as well as bringing everything I have been learning more into focus.

So for now I am playing the hurry up and wait game and looking forward to the day it's done and over with and I can get back to living life.

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