I am so excited!! It's like my body is just buzzing or something. I'm so happy. The surgeons office just called me and scheduled my consult for next Friday!! Wow it all seems like it's going so fast. I just mailed my app like a week or two ago! I want it to go fast, but at the same time I feel more comfortable with things going slow. But as I type that I'm thinking "NO! I want my surgery YESTERDAY!!" Super excited about consult!
I chose Dr. Robert Richard MD at Obesity Solutions in Gainesville Ga. I am very excited. I went to a seminar on 7/12/08. At the seminar I received my application packet. I decided that Dr. Richard was 'the one' on 7/15 and started filling out my application. I was waiting on a form from my PCP until around 7/29/08 when I mailed my packet. An obesity solutions nurse called me on 8/1 to go over my app and make sure I didn't miss anything and to ask me when I quit smoking... (PS - I QUIT SMOKING!!!). I wish I was paying more attention to what she was telling me, but I was so freakin excited that she called that my brain was just stalling out or someething!! She said they would be calling to verify my insurance, something about education (I jotted down 'ed' as a note regarding the call lol), and then I'd have my consult. She said either they'd call me in two weeks or my consult would be in two weeks and she'd call back later. I'm pretty sure I'll be waiting two weeks to hear back from her though. Danget. And so the waiting begins. These will be like the longest two weeks of the whole process I think. Luckily I've already gotten my sleep study out of the way. I just can't wait to get this big fat ball rolling!!
I'm still in the process of deciding whether or not getting banded is 'for me'. I decided to make a pros and cons list. I folded a piece of paper in half. The front two sides are the pros and cons of having the band, the back two sides are the pros and cons of not being banded. The only pros I could come up with for not being banded were 1) Not having any restrictions on what I eat... but that's more of a con than a pro (that's exactly what I wrote); 2) No foreign object in my body. Number 2 shouldn't even be a factor because I've wanted breast implants for years (not because I'm small either... I'm actually a c/d... I just want a perfectly shaped hot rack!). My pros for being banded list is huge... I ran out of room on the paper. The only cons I could come up with are the cost (about $3K for my deductible I believe), and the little day-to-day bull crap that some (not all) people have to deal with. You know... reflux, vomiting... the little annoyances that aren't really permanent and are just a bump in the road. Of course there can be serious risks, but for the most part I'm not worried about them because they are so minor.
So with all these pros and so few cons... what's holding me back from just making a decision????? I mean, I've done craptons of research on the band. I have answered the majority of my questions. My next step would be to get my rear to the gastro doc to talk about surgery.
What's it going to take to make me feel good about this decision? I already know that the pros really outweigh the cons. I also know that losing weight without the band is going to be practically impossible thanks to a couple of health problems I deal with. So what's the freakin hold up??? Why is my brain still wary?
