dieting- the final frontier....

This past Tuesday, I went to the hospital to do my initial intake appointment into the bariatric office.  (I forget if I told you guys, and I'm too lazy to actually look, but I'm going to have the sleeve gastrectomy, which is one of the weight loss surgeries available.)  We had to get there at 7 for fasting blood draws- which didn't happen until 9:30. (then why the hell did we have to get there so damn early???)  We met with a dietician/nutritionalist, met with the head nurse over the surgical unit we will be directly dealing with, met with the 'vitals' nurse, then the RN who did a quick physical exam.  Met the lady who fights with my insurance so I don't have to (I think I'm going to get her a christmas gift- seriously she was awesome) and then the lady who handles our vitamins and meal replacement supplements and makes appointments.  the whole staff was incredible and wonderful, and you'd think they were all tiny skinny minnies because of where they were working (and most of them were really tiny, particularly the older dietician) but the head nurse looked like she should be going into surgery with us.  She was tall and wide, very serious face, but she was very nice and not at all intimidating.

I joined a website called BariatricPal.com.  I got a ticker-see?

Why am I starting to lose weight now? because my insurance company says if I gain any more than what I weighed at my initial visit, they won't cover the surgery.  I'm already on my way- can't wait til I finally get there.

dieting- the final frontier.... PART 2

My mom was here and I forgot half of what I wanted to say, so here's the REST of the story!

So at the thing on tuesday, they took my height weight, blood samples, did an exam- everything.  It was like a physical.  They lady told my blood pressure was really good, which is a relief because when I was at my regular doctor's it was high (and I'm already on medication for it, so I was a little panicky about that!).  Official height- 5 feet 3 and a half inches!  That half really counts when you're as short as I am!  Anyway, the nurse who gave me my physical told me that I needed to see a cardiologist because that mitral valve regurgitation might have gotten worse since it was last looked at, and if it's bad I have to have that fixed before I can have the weight loss surgery because apparently it can interfer with how I process anethesia (COM, Sammy, can you verify that?).  Then I have to have an endoscopy (standard procedure) to look inside my stomach, check out the sphincter to the small intstine, check for a hiatial hernia, just have a good look at what is already gong on in there.  They're gonna put me under for that, which scares the bloody hell outta me.  Anesthesia in general weirds me out so ugggh.  Test run for the actual day of durgery for me I guess in that regard.

So- dr. appointments everywhere this month- cardiologist on Wednesday, endoscopy on the following Tuesday, regular dr. for vitals and weigh in on the 22nd, as well as a dentist appointment.  The psychologist hasn't said yay or nay as to whether or not I'm sane or crazy of whatever, I suppose no news is good news.

In the mean time, this 6 month journey is supposed to be travelled on a 1200 calorie diet, high in protein, low fat and low carb.  I'm doing the best I can but damnation is it tough.  I haven't hit the calorie mark yet, I'm mostly trying to switch from high carbs low protein to the other way first.  I figure the calories will be easer to count once I know what it is I'm supposed to actually be eating.  and the more protein I eat the more full I will feel, so maybe it will be a more natural progression.

Still supposed to exercise 3-4 days a week an hour at a time, but I had to skip the Y all last week simply because we were broke and I didn't have the gas to get there without not being able to get to work.

Now that I've eaten a healthy dinner and had my sweet for the day, I'm about to strap walking shoes on and hit the sidewalk to walk this off.