Meredith

Jafter, your ticker is making me drool!! I'm not losing the weight that I need to on the pre-op, but I am known to retain water like a camel. I've been walking 30 mins twice a day and am trying to get enough "umph" built up to crawl to the gym. They changed my surgery date back to the 30th, but I do have a weigh-in on the 29th at 9am. I'm just now sitting down and studying the diet handout Effie had emailed. For the most part, it doesn't look too bad, but I did goff at the price of Isopure from GNC and am throwing around the idea of starting my own lab to make cheap protein (JUST KIDDING). Reality is setting in for me, but it's a good thing. Futureskinny, I signed up to start a youtube blogging thingy, so we'll see how that goes. In the meantime, everyone keep up the good work. Thanks for all of the encouragement. I don't know what I'd do without "Dr. Washington's Crew".

Alright, guys. I'm finally emerging from the chaotic world of weddings, moving and getting used to the married life. My surgery date was moved from the 30th to the 29th at 10:10. Since I am flying into Myrtle Beach at 10pm on the 28th, Suzette is meeting me at the office at 7:45 for my last weigh-in. I have NOT been good with my pre-op and am going into fits about the possibility of things going wrong during the surgery with my liver. I'm about to temporarily clean out the whole kitchen or rope everything off so I don't start sniffing around. I'm temporarily living in Tennessee while my husband is interning, so I'm not working and am left to stay at home, exercise by my own free will *rolls eyes* and keep the dog happy. Any suggestions on how to keep me busy would be so great!

Hi girls! Yesterday, I went to Conway and met with Emily Choi, Dr. Washington's assistant, and it was a great experience! Honestly, I thought we were to meet with Dr. Washington himself, but that's not until later... the staff there is absolutely wonderful! As my mom described the office, "it's like you could walk around with your butt showing, and they wouldn't care". Suzette took my vitals and told us about the lap band that she got on 3/30. They were all sooooo normal and made us feel comfortable. I guess I should back up a bit and state that the office is located on the Medical Arts wing of Conway Medical. It was clean and extremely spacious with up-to-date decor in the waiting room. Talking with Emily Choi, she was very knowledgable and covered all of the bases before I could ask anything. We went through the pro's and con's, covering the possibility of a leak, etc. They do request that everyone stay in town for a week, so my family is going to make it into a vacation. My husband is unable to take off work, but my fam will keep him in the loop. Lauren... where do I start with her? She is God's gift to us! She worked with our schedule and was just so incredibly helpful! As of yesterday, I have a surgery date for May 30th!!!! She had that appointment come available or I would have had to wait until August. The only thing I feel bad about is that 2 weeks after I get married, I have to leave the hubby for another week and be "out of order" for a while, but it works better since we don't know our moving, school and work schedule in August. Lauren pulled strings so that I could do all of my pre-op stuff on May 3rd. The dietician was in vacation, so I was unable to meet with her yesterday, but she will be calling me for our first meeting. I will have a 2nd meeting with her in the 3rd, as well as meeting with the anesthesiologist, Dr. Washington and having a endoscopy. I'll be coming back on the 29th for a pre-op weigh-in before the surgery. I am incredibly excited yet worried because this is happening a lot faster than we had imagined. AAAAH!!!

I'm 22 and weigh 315. I go for a consultation tomorrow and am hoping to schedule a surgery in June or July. For being big, I've got pretty tight skin, so I'm hoping that everything will shrink post-op and that I won't have the flab everywhere. But I'd much rather deal with flab in a size 6 and not a 24.

I'm about 4 1/2 hours away from Conway, so my mom and I will be leaving around 7am to make sure we get there in enough time to fill out some paperwork before the consultation at 1pm. We were going to grab a hotel to stay overnight in Myrtle, but we'll more than likely just make our way back home that afternoon. I'm excited to go and be the "eyes" for all of us. Lauren called to confirm today and reminded me to bring in a list of current medications. I'm going to bring in a protein shake and see if I'm able to use it for pre-op drinking. The hardest part of scheduling is planning around my (almost) hubby's moving schedule. After our wedding on May 12th, we'll be going up to Memphis, Tennessee where he has been at an internship since January. Depending on if he can stay an work an extra month, we'd either be moving back to Columbia, South Carolina (2 1/2 hours from Conway) at the end of June or July or unpacking. With him working and going to school both full time, I don't want to add the stress of him taking care of me post-op (on top of our dog), so I would more than likely spend a week at my parents' house and only have to worry about going up and down stairs. I haven't told many about the surgery, as there are different opinions on spending that amount of money and thinking that it's "cheating". When you suffer being overweight your whole life, a weightloss surgery is just the boost our body needs to give us the energy and motivation to eat healthy and small amounts and to exercise like a beast. I'm going to need to start looking up good exercise techniques to burn the fat and tighten the skin. AAAH! It's all so exciting yet scary for us all. It's so good to have support from people going through the same thing in life

Guess it's my turn! My weight is 315ish and height is 5'10''. Goal weight is around 160. I am meeting with him for a consultation Monday 4/9 in their offices and will hopefully find out a surgery date

I'll be using Premier protein shakes from Sam's Club. It's got 30g protein and 1g sugar. With tax, it comes out to $18ish for 12 shakes, so you can do the math. I love the taste of Slim Fast, and I even think the protein shakes taste better. It's not going to be hard doing strictly shakes for two weeks prior to surgery. With the amount of protein, you stay full for pretty much the whole day. Maybe I can take the 7/18 date if it's still available!!

I called the morning after my previous post and do get the special $8,000 self-pay pricing since I already had a consultation scheduled for next Monday at 1pm.

I plan on giving his office a call in the morning to make sure things are a go. Thanks for letting me know. Good luck on your surgery! My aunt had it done in Mexico last June and has lost 100+ pounds and looks amazing!!

I live about 4 hours away from Conway, SC, so I will be going to his office on April 9th for the consultation. I'm getting married to my best friend in May and have decided to trim the wedding down to close friends and family so that we will be able to use the extra money towards the surgery. I have heard great things about Dr. Washington and am so excited that I found him instead of going to Mexico for the price. Are the surgery dates all the way out to September? To say that I am excited is a complete understatement.