Duhs9919

Let me give you the important stuff first, when I weighed myself this morning I had lost 3 lbs from the day before (Monday). So you could imagine my excitement this morning. My boss decided it would be an excellent idea to cook bacon wrapped pork loin in the office today. It was absolutely torturous sitting at my desk smelling it cook ALL day, who doesn't love the smell of bacon cooking? I am happy to report that I managed to fight off my growling stomach and only have my shakes at work. I also managed to stay on the diet all day. Woo hoo! With that being said, I met the surgeon today. I had done some research and had a pretty good idea that it wouldn't be a one on one appointment but more of a group situation. I was correct, there were about 12 people there to meet the surgeon. Well about 8 patients there were some spouses/support people. It was very weird to look around the room and be the skinniest and youngest person in the room. I was also surprised that it was equally split between men and women in the room. I am glad I didnt wait until I was in my mid 40's-early 60's to have this done. Dr. Hollis is very nice, easy to talk to, and seems very knowledgeable. I liked that if things weren't perfect going into surgery he wouldn't proceed. Made me feel good to know that he wasn't operating a "surgery mill." I asked several questions, but anyone who knows me, knows I had a lot of questions, some I didn't want to ask in front of the group so I plan on emailing the office tomorrow. I asked about my nightly headaches, he said it was from not drinking enough water. I've been drinking 6-8 bottles of water a day. Any more and I am going to just have to sleep in the bathroom or get a catheter. But I will increase and see if they go away. Anyways they went over the diet again and all of the do's and don'ts and the what to expect nexts. It was nice to be one of the only people in the group who already had their surgery date. Dr. Hollis' stressed the importance of the pre-op diet and how beneficial it is for your liver to shrink. Apparently if the liver doesn't shrink enough and get out of the way it opens up the potential to cut the liver during the procedure and cause bleeding. Dr. Hollis said that usually when he gets in there if he finds this situation he will close up. This has provided extra motivation to maintain on my diet. I am not going to make it all the way to the operating table and not end up with the band. Went to the grocery store to stock up on some fresh fruit tonight, I am supposed to have 1 cup a day. I didn't have that hard of a time looking at all of the food as I thought I would. I went with my mother-inlaw for moral support/basket patrol. But I did end up with a banana in my basket (she didnt see it). I really miss them. They are too high in sugar for me to have but they taste so good though. It is sitting on my counter, lets see if I can manage to keep my will power and not eat it. So that is where I stand. It was odd to just leave the doctors office this afternoon without making another appointment or a lot of direction. Next stop is my pre-op appointment at the hospital on September 6th. I am also to go back to the surgeon's office that day to do my official pre-surgery weigh. Oh and I made the appointment for my first fill which is October 9th, same date as my post-op appointment. Anyways, here's to avoiding the banana staring at me on the counter. And yes I know its all my fault its sitting there. Until tomorrow, Amanda

When I originally started the pre-op diet back on August 1st I had a hard time concentrating on anything but food. I felt like the world was going to end if I couldn't shove things in my mouth. However, today was much easier. I don't know if it was easier because I knew what to expect or if it was the fact that I have a surgery date and there is no wiggle room. The dietitian called today to remind me to fill out my food tracker, set up some appointments to come in and weigh. Oh and surprise, I have more paperwork and videos to complete. Anyways, she sounded very annoyed when she asked what date I started the diet on. I explained that I was on it but had gotten off the diet and had started back today. I didn't have the energy to explain why I had stopped, which I should have because she got a major attitude with me. She informed me that I had to stay on it and that there could be no cheating because if on the day of surgery my liver wasn't small enough the surgeon would close me back up and I wouldn't have surgery. Either way, I am not going to let her bother me, I know that I can do this, and that my liver will be appropriate size on the day of surgery. I can say that I did manage to go all day without cheating. I had a grilled chicken salad for dinner tonight, but did have about 10 potato chips. All and all a good day. Tomorrow I am definitely going to have some coffee, which is allowed, just without real cream and sugar, I will suffer through it though to avoid another major headache like this. I did drink no less than 6 bottles of water today, which means I will be a zombie tonight making my many trips to the bathroom in the wee hours of the morning. I might have lied last night when I mentioned that I would post my before pics today and my beginning weight today. It seems that I have chickened out, they are some really bad pictures and whats more personal than my actual weight?! I've decided to wait and post my pictures when I have something to post with them, showing a loss. And I will also report the weight as soon as I have a loss, (fingers crossed that will be tomorrow). Hope that is a suitable compromise. Anyways, tomorrow I will have lots of info to report after my appointment with Dr. Hollis. I need to get more protein powder, so my mental debate between now and then will be do I buy the high priced stuff from his office or just use the regular old whey protein you can purchase at Wal-Mart. Either way, "food" for thought. Until tomorrow, Amanda

Seeing as how this is my first blog, I thought that I would spend a little bit explaining who I am and why I and doing this. But seeing as how it took me an hour to set this dang thing up, that has eaten into my rambling time for this evening. So I will give you a BRIEF overview of the who, what, wheres, and whys. I am a 31 year old married woman who currently resides in the Houston, Texas area. I decided in February of this year that I was going to start a journey, I was going to stop fighting the battle of the bulge once and for all and get the Lap-Band surgery. I was a normal sized kid, a chubby pre-teen, and then a skinny competitive swimming teenager in high school. After high school, I stopped swimming, however didn't change my eating habits. When one stops being active 4-5 hours a day they must watch what they eat. Anyways, the pounds over the past 10-12 years have just crept on. It should be tattooed somewhere, "A minute on the lips is a life time on the hips," because its true it goes on a lot easier than it comes off. After seeing several TV commercials and doing some research on a place called True Results, I decided to go online and fill out their online form to see if I had any insurance coverage. After waiting a week I decided that since I hadnt' heard from them that I did not have any insurance coverage and that this surgery was out of the question. However, I called anyways and found out that I did have coverage!! I scheduled my first appointment for mid February to come in and find out the details. Long story short, I had coverage but my insurance required me to do 6 weight loss visits and a whole lot of other crap before I could have the surgery. Feeling a little deflated that I couldn't get the surgery the following week, (not a patient person) I started the process. Six long months went by of me faithfully going to my monthly appointment, getting on the dreaded scale and meeting with a dietitian. Finally on July 26th I had completed all of my weight loss visits and the other required items and was ready to submit all of my hard work to the insurance company for final approval. Do to some insurance hiccups I didn't get my final insurance approval until August 10th. But I finally had it!! Woo hoo!! I figured that it would be smooth sailing and I would get a surgery date immediately. Nope. Not the case, I had to patiently wait for my chart to be sent from True Results to the surgeon's office and for them to review my information, schedule me for an appointment, and make me fill out another mountain of paperwork. However, I have my first appointment with my surgeon, Dr. Ken Hollis on this Tuesday, August 28th!! I had originally hoped to have surgery on August 23rd, however this was now clearly not going to happen. Last week I got an email from one of the very helpful staff members at my surgeon's office, sending me information on some videos I had to watch prior to my surgery day. Later that afternoon, I received another email from them with my surgery date!!! I was over the moon because I was under the impression that I would not be getting my surgery date until at least my appointment on August 28th. My surgery was scheduled for Monday, September 10th. Having the surgery date just finally made the surgery seem real. Like there really was a light at the end of the tunnel, that this was within my reach. I had originally started my pre-surgery diet on August 1st. But when it quickly became apparent that surgery was no where in my near future I got off the diet in mid August. In case you are not aware, the pre-surgery diet is very strict. True Results had told me the diet was 1 protein shake for breakfast, 1 protein shake for lunch, and a small dinner consisting of a healthy meat, a green veggie, and a serving of fruit. I will tell you that this is one of the hardest things ever, we are so used to chewing that not "eating" food is soooo hard. Well now having a surgery plan I am to start my diet again tomorrow, August 27th, which is exactly 2 weeks prior to surgery!! This time I will be having 3 shakes a day and a small meal at dinner. I think the extra shake will really make a difference in making it seem less impossible (that and a large package of sugar free gum) I did the diet before for a week and I thought I was going to start eating my co-workers. I've been told its a genetic trait in my family, that missing meal time causes extreme grumpiness. YIKES!! I did a "Farewell Food Tour" the end of July, getting all the really horrible bad foods I have enjoyed over the years out of my system. I feel satisfied that the tour took away the "I wish I would haves...," for later, since many of the items on the tour are things I won't be able to enjoy after surgery. Since getting off the diet earlier this month, I haven't been horrible with my food choices, just mostly eating larger portions than I should. However, tomorrow really starts my journey on the yellow brick road on my way to Oz. There is no extra week of cushion to allow for my cheats, the surgery date is written on the calendar, it is go time. Tomorrow morning I will weigh and get my official "starting" weight. I have to lose 10 lbs between now and surgery. Earlier in the month I lost 9 lbs in 6 days and I had some cheats. So I think this will be easy to accomplish, well the numbers on the scale part anyways...I may end up with a few less co-workers if they don't leave me alone. I'll post the numbers and my "before" pictures tomorrow. Finally the reality that my journey is really starting has kicked in. I would be lying to say that I am not a little bit nervous but not because I don't think I won't be successful after surgery. I just hope that after surgery, I won't be wishing I had some ruby slippers so I could go home, just the natural fear of the unknown. I have come to far and want this too bad to turn around now. This yellow brick road only goes one direction to Oz...I have a date with the man behind the curtain. I'm off to see the wizard.... Until tomorrow, Amanda