I'm officially done with all of the pre-work. All I have left is to meet with the surgeon and have the pre-op class, then surgery! I'm so excited. I've been following the Pre-Bariatric Surgery eating plan for about a week and a half now (3 meals a day and 2 protein drinks, eating out of only 4 food groups) and I'm down almost 7 lbs.

Today I finished up with the psychologist and reviewed the scores from the MMPI test. Although she cleared me for surgery, she suggested that I meet with a psychologist locally to follow up for another session or two. My scores were great in most areas except two, self-image and emotional coping. The self-image I totally get, and need to improve because I'm afraid that even at my goal I'll still see the fat girl in the mirror. The emotional coping - I thought she was crazy until she explained what it meant - and there is no way I could have argued. I went through some childhoold trauma and my parents had an explosive, horrid divorce about 7 years ago that I was in the middle of. I guess you don't make it out of that without some emotional baggage and surprisingly enough, ignoring it was not the correct thing to do. So I have some work to do, but not work that will hinder me having surgery.

Besides, I want to be healthy and part of that is mentally, not just my body.

The psychologist asked for a few days to get her report to the surgery coordinator, then I should be hearing from the nurse to set up the appointment with the surgeon. The good news is, I've almost completely satisified my deductible so my surgery should cost me next to nothing. I've managed to get about 10 weeks worth of pre work done in 4, so as long as I keep moving at that pace I should be able to be banded by the end of April or early May.