Short and Sweet Update. (famous last words)

I don't know if it was because I was running my butt all over today or what, but I feel SOOOOOOOOO drained. I had my labs at 9am and had to go to a few different offices to get everything set up for the surgery, didn't get home until 11:30 and hadn't eaten a thing yet. I cut up a roma tomato, put some low fat tuna on top with a few jalepenos and ate that with a perrier while I put on my make up for my appointment with my doctor. I have a little crush on my doc so I had to look pretty for him ;)

My friend shannon came and picked me up and we headed off to the doc. My blood pressure was up a bit when they took it at the office, but I think it was because I was late taking my meds because I couldn't eat this morning (my labs had to be fasting...as if I'm not fasting enough already lol). I also kind of wonder if the elevated blood pressure wasn't contributing to my blah feelings. I just was sooo tired and my muscles felt really fatigued. It could also be that I'm basically acclimating to a low carb diet and day 3 or 4 usually sucks. Anyway, long story short...the doctor was very pleased with my weight loss. When I weighed at home this morning it was 425 and some change. At his office it was 423. When I got home today, I was at 420 lol. I'm sure I was mostly uber dehydrated though because all I'd had to drink all day was the one perrier! The doc answered all my questions, explained that the surgery was still riskier for me because of my size, but he said that if he got in there and didn't feel like he could do the surgery laparoscopically, he would just close me up (he's just making a few holes for the instruments) and give me a few more months to get some weight off before attempting the surgery again. This made me feel a lot better because I was somewhat worried he would convert to an open procedure which would make the whole thing riskier all the way around.

We also discussed the whole issue of whether I'd need a second surgery. Can I lose all my weight with just the sleeve, etc. He said that now, he really thinks I can probably lose all the weight I want to lose with just the sleeve. He told me to stay motivated, keep on working out because building muscle mass was going to be the main key to continued weight loss and maintenance since muscle burns fat. All in all, he seems to think he is going to be able to do the surgery no problem and thinks that I'm going to be a huge success (I'm sure he talks up all his patients though ;)

I had asked my friend shannon to go with me because she is also considering WLS, but her mother had the lap band and the doctor that did her surgery ONLY does the lap band. I had tried to talk to shannon about the sleeve, but she just kept insisting that she was dead set against going to this other doctor and getting the lap band and I didn't want her to feel like I was pressuring her to get the sleeve or the RNY. I think the lap band is great for some people, but I really had misgivings about whether it was the right thing for her. She weighs less than I do, but not by much and she is several inches shorter than me. She also doesn't handle pain or discomfort well and most of the people I know that had the lap band, really talk about how difficult it was to adjust. Two of my friends said they figured the only reason they were losing weight was because they threw up more than half of what they ate because the band would often make eating anything extremely difficult or get stuck and be painful. However, her mom had the lap band and has done amazing! She's lost most of her weight and hasn't really had any problems at all, but I just really had a gut feeling that it wasn't the right choice for Shannon and since she was having to pay out of pocket, I was worried she'd get the lap and perhaps wish later that she had gotten the sleeve or the RNY.

SO, shannon talked to my doctor while she was there, and we also talked with two women out in the waiting room (one had the RNY and the other had the sleeve one week ago) and they looked AMAZING! I would have never guessed that they had major surgery last week. The one that had the sleeve said she was back at work the next day (she works from home, but it gave me some comfort in knowing that I might be able to get back to work asap as well). They both said that the WORST thing about the surgery was the gas they fill you up with and said that it was just uncomfortable pain in the center of their chest the first two days, but that it eventually subsided the more they walked. I think hearing their feedback kind of put shannon's mind at ease about the sleeve so she may actually be scheduling her surgery later this summer :) I'm so excited that we will both be starting this journey together!!

I know this blog is a rambling mess, but I wanted to update you guys. Right now, I am exhausted, starving, and my body feels like a mack truck hit it (we worked out after my doctor's appt) but I am grinning like a fool again I'm so excited and having the best time fantasizing about what I'm going to look like and what I'm going to be doing when the new year rolls around :)

PS. i forgot to add...the little bag of gold scraps I had sold for $498.00!! When the woman told me I said "Cool! I needed $500.00 for my surgery!" and she said "I'll write it for $500.00." I was so glad that I didn't have to rely on my friend for the money...whew!