Hello everyone, I am a newbie J
I couldn’t ride the rollercoaster at Disney World with my kids (July 2012). How humiliating to have to exit the ride because I was too big. How humiliating was the remainder of the day having to use the “check to see if you can fit” seat before standing in line.
With eyes wide open, I now accept that my obesity is preventing me from living my life to its fullest. It’s more than just wanting to look good in my clothes, it about having full mobility, and control of my body. I sit here today amazed at how it has slowly disappeared as the years have passed by.
I begin my 6 month (actually 7) physician supervised weight loss to satisfy my insurance requirements, then on to a barrage of test as you aware. Instead of looking at each visit as an obstacle, I am going to view them as small successes on the way to reach my goal(s).
Although I am scared of the unknown, I am excited to be doing something to improve the quality of my life. I am glad to know I can pull on the experience and encouragement that can be found here. Thanks to everyone who has had the courage to share their experience as I embark on my own. Traci aka mykidzmom10k
Reflections on month 2 of 6 pre op diet ~ Are we there yet?
Contrary to my belief, I did not die waiting for my monthly weight in as I slowly get closer to my surgery date. Ok, so this is a good thing and there have been others.
I am proud that I still have not had a carbonated drink since December which is actually a huge NSV for me. I have been faithful to drink a minim of 32oz of water a day. Some days I get 64 oz and plan to continue to increase until I reach 64oz per day, every day.
This month I have marked a few things off of my pre surgery check list as well.
For starters, my second month PCP visit and weigh in. The scale showed a gain of 0.4, but I think that could just be the clothing.
I had my sleep study which shows that I do have sleep apnea. I will be getting my machine soon, and when I do I will get my pulmonary clearance as well. I am really looking forward to a good night’s sleep.
I have also started attending the local WLS support group. It is a live version of this website and I find the people there are just as candid and helpful as those on this website. I plan to continue with the support group meetings just because I like them.
I do occasionally have to give myself a personal time out from this site and obsessing about WLS in general. Everything in moderation, right?
Overall, I have a good feeling about what I have accomplished this past month. I hope that the next is just a fruitful. Best wishes to all ~ mykdzmom
I know I have a long way to go in this process, but for the first time in a long time I feel good because I feel like I am doing something good for myself. It is not that pass fail feeling, but more like I’m investing in myself feeling. This first month I met with my surgeon again, (first time was 2012 see my story) and got tons of information and my check list for moving forward. I have had my pre op lab work done for a baseline and discovered I am low on Vitamin D which was addressed with prescript supplement. I was also instructed to start Centrum Adult multivitamin daily. I met with my PCP for my 1 of 6 pre op diet check in with a BMI 41.8 which means during this pre op phase if I fall below BMI of 40 I will not qualify under my insurance coverage specs. Don’t even get me started on this. Sigh.. I have spent countless hours on this site learning from your experiences, taking notes, celebrating your victories, and just drinking it in. One of the tidbits of advice was start preparing for your new lifestyle today. To me that equated to - start the behavior modifications required after surgery before surgery. This first month I gave up carbonated drinks of all kinds. It has been a real struggle doing just that single thing, but I am feeling a big sense of accomplishment knowing that I can actually do what I have set my mind to. I have also started counting my chews. I thought this was total garbage, but after 4 weeks, I am just amazed that, I guess, I have never actually chewed my food. It takes a lot longer to eat doing this…. Go figure?
I know I have not written anything new or done anything bold but for me writing this profile feed was a step in accountability. I hope as the days and months move along I can look back and see how much I have invested in myself and not give up. For me as I look back, and anyone who is reading, a heart felt good luck to you on your journey!
Reflections on month 3 of 6 pre op diet ~ “How much farther Papa Smurf?”
Posted this late~
Another month closer to my surgery date and my focus has been to try to stop obsessing so much about the surgery. I don’t want to wish my life away waiting for it. The time between now and then is precious, so I am trying to be mindful of that. The distraction of Spring has really been great for me as I love working in the yard.
A note to any that may be reading and are planning to get clearance from a Pulmonologist – start early if you think you may have sleep apnea. From start to finish will be around 8 weeks for me which includes time waiting to get first appointment, sleep study, titration (after getting apnea diagnosis), receiving CPAP and final appointment with pulmonologist to get my clearance letter (after at least 2 weeks using CPAP).
I was not looking forward to the Nutrition counseling, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was a group setting which I was not expecting, but enjoyed as well. We learned what makes a protein supplement important, label reading, and discussed in great detail each phase of our diets both pre and post op.
Visit #4 of 6 with PCP went ok. I gained a pound which I am not really upset about because that could just be clothes or shoes but I am resolved to show a weight loss next month.
My goals for next month-
Lose 3 pounds
Cardiac clearance
Psych clearance
If you are just starting your journey and think you will wait until later on to check off all of those to-do’s from your surgeons check list, think again. I am really glad I planned a couple of these per month because otherwise I would be missing a lot of work that last month before surgery (if I could even get appointments without pushing my surgery date out further). I am also glad that I have been documenting my journey because when things appear to be moving slowly I can look back and see that I have made progress. Enjoy your journey!