October the 13th, a Friday no less. Good thing I am not superstitious!

I decided yesterday to go ahed with the Lap-Band surgery. In the end, I felt that the risks involved with having the surgery, and hopefully escaping obesity, outweighed the risks of not having the surgery and remaining miserably obese and of deteriorating health.

I decided on Dr. Rumbaut in Monterrey, Mexico. Dec 19th is the date! If my insurance would pay for it, I probably would have stayed with a local doctor in Texas. However, as I am a self pay, I might as well go with the best as the costs are about the same.

Rumbaut is $10,600 and I will need to pay my own travel expenses, now and for followup care. Self-pay in Austin comes in at $12K minimum. Even though Rumbaut is less, I am sure it will end up more by the time I consider travel and other expenses.

However, the difference in cost, when considering the overall expense, is negligible. For me, it came down to what I thought would provide the best odds for a successful surgery with minimal complications and best overall opportunity for reaching the desired outcome.

Rumbaut seems to be undisputed as the best. So, given the opportunity to have him perform my surgery, I almost feel like I have a responsibility to myself and my family to use him.

It cracks me up, about the people who jeer about going to Mexico for surgery. Their opinion is based on ignorance at best, racisim at worst.

My goals for te journey are clear and simple.

1. Lose weight. 100 pounds would be great. 140, while unimaginable today, would be beyond my wildest dreams.

2. Get off the CPAP machine! I estimate I will need to get down to about 240 to meet that goal.

3. Feel Great. I feel like shit now, so any improvement would be welcome. My knees hurt, my back hurts, amy ankles hurt, my hips hurt. I get winded walking up a single flight of stairs.

Well. That is enough for today.