jessiquoi

i suffer from anxiety too, and i understand what's going through your mind. you know intellectually how to handle everything, but the anxiety stops you. good for you for reaching out! this is a great place to dump your fears and worries and watch them dissolve. keep doing it if it helps! have you thought about blogging, or journaling in some way? i've seen a few people create a thread here that they update regularly to track their progress. i find that when i have anxiety, it helps me a lot to read things i've written along the way to remind me of how far i've come. obviously you can't predict how much you will lose day to day or week to week, but you CAN be sure of how very far you've come so far. i can't WAIT until i can say i lost 20 lbs like you have! congratulations!

i can imagine that happening to me too! everything just sliding right out of my brain. i'm sure your team will remind you each step of the way, and you can always call your team for a reminder. good luck! how exciting!

so, i tried Eat Slower, and omg it drove me crazy! when i first turned it on, i kept thinking "it HAS to be 45 seconds already! it just HAS to be!" and i would check my phone and see it wasn't. and i found it very hard to hear on my phone, even with the volume turned up. i tried several different alarm sounds to see if i could improve it, but i couldn't and i missed a couple of bites which bummed me out. all in all, a frustrating experience. i downloaded it onto my tablet and i'm going to try that tonight, to see if i can hear it better. i love the idea, though.

i wasn't sure i was going to go to any, because i feel so very well supported here in the forum. my group requires you to attend one, and i had done that the same evening i went to the info session (the support group follows the info session every month). there were only four people there who had had their surgery already, myself and one other woman who were in the pipeline, and about 20 people who stayed after the info session who weren't committed yet. i am glad i went. it was very reassuring to meet people who had surgery from my chosen surgeon and were doing well. they were between 6 months and 3 years post op. three had lost way over 100 lbs and maintained it, and the one who was 6 months out was doing great too. i think i will continue to attend the monthly meetings. as much as i adore the forums here, it felt good to be part of a "live" community. i wanted to share this in case any of you were deciding whether to seek out a local support group.

thanks, i just downloaded Eat Slower and will try it tonight!

good for you!!!! i love it.

how did it go?

any change in your blood sugar can cause fuzzy vision. i am always so very much more careful with my blood sugar (i'm a type 1 diabetic) the week before getting my eyes examined, trying to get the truest reading.

when i went for my gallbladder ultrasound, they did my liver too, i didn't know but maybe that's routine? anyway, when my pcp called me with all my pre-op test results, he mentioned fatty liver deposits, so maybe they do know? anyway, just follow the plan and you will be fine.

i've had my CPAP for about 7 years and have been put under 2x since then. absolutely no worries, someone is watching you all the time and you are safer than when you go to sleep at night.

for me, a lot of the problem with this obsession is that i've told very few people that i'm having wls. all they know is that i'm getting flaky lol. i mean, i AM a bit flaky, but not at work! now i do things like take full days off to go to a doctor appt, and take a lot of days off just cause i don't feel like going in.

awesome!

All, thank you for your support. Your messages meant the world to me! @@BeagleLover, i have my mammo every year around my birthday in october. well, this year's will be a little early. here's the update. it's a doozy. i called my pcp, who i have to tell you i adore, and was put on hold for a very long time. (the receptionist pays great attention to the person at her desk at the moment, so i knew i wasn't forgotten, just that they were busy.) while i was on hold, i was IMing a work friend about this, and she highly recommended her obgyn. i was not really thrilled with mine, and hers is much closer to my home, so i hung up on my pcp and called them. luckily, someone had just cancelled and they were able to see me within the hour, so i left work and headed on over. i get there, sign in and fill out the new patient paperwork, and realize my blood sugar was feeling low. i'm a type 1 diabetic, fyi. so i tested my blood and i'm just on the cusp of low. and geez louise (not my actual words, censored for public consumption) i didn't have my glucose tablets with me. as a type 1, i am always prepared for anything. why today of all days did this anomaly occur? so, i turned off my insulin pump to stop delivery of any additional insulin and decided to ride it out. that should have been the first sign to me that my sugar was going low... irrational thinking is a big sign for me. so the nurse takes me into the exam room and does a medical history, then has me undress and sends the doctor in. actually, a certified nurse midwife. anyway, to my great embarrassment, not only can't i find the lump now, but i can't even remember which breast it was in! and my blood sugar is now low enough to cause irrationality to set in big time, and so i don't tell her that my sugar is low and i'm not functioning. i just sat there and felt like an idiot. she couldn't find the lump. great first impression on my new practitioner. she gave me a script for a diagnostic mammo, which i am having friday morning, and told me whether they find something or not, if i want she will send me to a specialist after the mammo. i went home, ate, and lay down in bed feeling reallllly bad, and then found the lump again. i can only feel it when i'm lying on my side, and on the table i was lying on my back. oy vey. ANYWAY. i'm feeling better mentally, which is due a LOT to all of your messages and responses. i'm in the office today and feel like i can function, and will update you again after the mammo on friday. i love this forum, i knew someone would reach out to me. hugs to all of you!

thanks. i just don't think i'm going to get any work done today thinking about it. calling my pcp now.

ok, thanks. i'll give him a call.

you think i should go see my pcp instead of waiting until tomorrow to see the obgyn? i have no experience at this.

ugh. my obgyn is on vacation until tomorrow.

i think it's important that you trust your doctor. whether he is trustworthy or not, the important thing is how YOU feel about him. if there's any doubt that you are comfortable with this surgeon, please don't let the thought that changing doctors may push back your surgery date influence you. in the long run, a few months won't make a difference.

my surgeon said i will have a drain that will be removed before i leave the hospital, and that i will be in overnight only.

you are doing very well, and are so close to your goal! you know that the closer you get, the harder it is to lose... that's even with following your food plan perfectly. sit down and look back over your progress, and i bet you'll get all excited again and back on track as you remind yourself how far you've come. don't beat yourself up, what's done is done... focus on now and tomorrow.

i'm going to go tomorrow night. it will be my first one, and i'm about 2 months pre-op now. i'm hoping it'll feel worthwhile, but frankly i don't get as much out of face to face support groups as i do from online ones. this forum is my number one go-to place for support.

don't let the scale unnerve you or throw you off your wonderful path, misty!

Thank you for posting your story.

@@jam, i'm struggling too. i have to do three months pre-op dieting, they want me to lose 10% of my weight (14 lbs). so far i've lost 5 and change, but i'm struggling to keep it going. let's shake ourselves up right now, listen to everyone else's advice, and make this thing happen! are you with me?

remember their motive will most probably be jealousy and envy!