Well, it's official now... my surgery will be on 12/19/08.

Now I can really start to get nervous!
All prayers welcomed.

I woke up at 4 today for the usual trip to the potty.  I went back to bed, but 15 minutes later I decided to go ahead and get up and finish my chores from last night, then go back to bed for a nap before we head out for Thanksgiving.  I do need to get a few more hours of sleep, because I'll be responsible for the 3 hour return drive tonight.

Today is Thanksgiving Day.  How appropriate, since I have been feeling very grateful since I learned yesterday that my surgery is approved.  So I thought now might be a good time to make a bit of a list about some of the things I'm feeling thankful for.  It won't be complete--never can be--but here's my start:

* I am so happy to know, even on my darkest days, that I am a child of God, and that He loves me, no matter what...

* I am thankful for the redeeming power of Jesus Christ.  I'm going to need it. =o)

* I am grateful for the resurrection.  No matter how I leave this earth, one day my body will be perfect.

* I am glad that relatively speaking, I have good health.  No cancer, no heart disease, no limbs missing, etc.  I do have some problems of course, or I wouldn't be blogging on this site.  But the diabetes, sleep apnea and blood pressure issues are all about to be conquered.  And thus far, thank the Lord, they have not done lasting damage.  I'm not sure how the depression will go--we'll play that by ear and be thankful that it's under control with medication.

* I am thankful for medical science.  How do people come up with all these ideas?  Who discovered germs?  Who was the first person brave enough to cut someone open in an attempt to save a life?  Whoever you are, thank you.  I know I'm not that brave.

* Electricity is a wonderful thing, isn't it.

* And how about refrigeration.  Not sure how to spell it, but it is a great thing.  And instant pudding.  How about that one?

* Oven timers.  Do you know how many things I would burn if it weren't for that annoying little "beep beep beep beep".  Not sure whether to be thankful or not that the annoying thing stops after 15 minutes of trying to catch my attention.  It has let me go back to sleep on the couch a time or two when I just wanted to catch a 20 minute nap and turned it into a 3 hour thing.  I do remember feeling grateful at the time that I didn't have to get up and slap the thing off manually.  What a revelation it was the day that I figured that one out. =0)

* And whose idea was the Internet?  That's a good one.  Only time (and limited knowledge) keeps me from listing all the communication improvements that fall between the discovery of electricity and the creation of the world wide web.

*  I'm thankful for ObesityHelp.com.  What a marvelous thing it is to be able to interact with so many others who are facing the same challenges in life that I have.

* Which leads me into gratitude for Dr. Meyer's program.  For he himself, as well as his helpful staff.  I especially love the support group that he has created.  It's been eye opening for me to meet "those that have gone before" me into surgery, and to learn from them.  Thank you especially to Deb, for good hugs.

* Well now I just feel like I'm leaving out too many other names.  You know who you are.  I do too.  There have been many hands of friendship offered, and I don't want to omit a name by accident, so I'm going to stop listing them.

* But I am going to name a friend that has come into my life recently that has absolutely nothing to do with the whole obesity issue.  Thank you God for sending Mary into my life.  She is just the lifeline to insanity that I've been missing. =p

* Thank you for opportunities to serve others.  You know, they are the best way ever of feeling good.  Hopefully they do some help for the people they're intended to help too.

* I'm glad to agree with the prophets, that "all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it, yea, and its motion, yea and also all the planets which move in their regular form do witness that there is a Supreme Creator."  Thanks for making it obvious, so I wouldn't miss the signs.

* I love symbolism.  I'm not necessarily good at interpreting it, but sometimes it comes to me.  And I'm grateful that as I have prepared lessons I have been enlightened on many levels of just how all things do testify of God.

* And of course, last, but very definitely not least, I am very grateful for my family.  Can't even begin to touch this one.  I'm getting weepy just thinking about how much I love them.

Alright, I thought I was going to be able to stop.  But then I realized that here I am on my OH blog, and I forgot the obvious.  I sure am thankful that I get to have this surgery, that we have the insurance that will pay for it, that my hubby has a great job that provides the insurance, and that I have a job that will let me off to have the surgery.  Not to mention the roof that those jobs put over our heads, etc., etc,.etc.

I love Thanksgiving.  It is one of my favorite holidays.  And it has absolutely nothing to do with the turkey.

I called the insurance specialist at Fresh Start today.  She is out of the office until Monday.  Since I'm the impatient type I called my insurance company directly, and was told that I have been approved for surgery.  Yeah!

Next I called the person that handles scheduling at Fresh Start to let her know that I had been approved.  I thought it would make it easier for me to deal with the weekend if I had some idea whether I would be able to make it onto this year's schedule.  She could not, of course, give me a firm date without having paperwork in hand, but she did let me know that there is still room on the board for this year.  Yeah!  Yeah! Yeah!

Yvonne said surgery dates have been extended to December 19th, and I should still be able to get either the 18th or 19th.  The 19th would be great, because then I could have a bit less restriction at my family's Christmas gathering on the 13th.  If I get scheduled on the 18th then I will be on the pre-surgery diet during our party.  I can handle that but it won't be as easy.

The down side to the 19th is that it is a Friday.  I have heard that "they" say to avoid scheduling surgery on Thursday or Friday because then if you have a complication during your hospital stay you get the doctor on call rather than your own doc.  I'm just going to have to trust God on this one.

I am thrilled.  And scared to death.

I'm still waiting for approval from the insurance company.  I thought the doctor's office had submitted all my paperwork (they had it all in hand) on November 10th, but it turns out that it didn't get sent in until the 19th.  I spoke with the rep at the insurance company and I'm hopeful that I will have approval by Wednesday.  That would be a great thing to be thankful for on Thursday. =)

And while I'm waiting, I seem to be starting the mourning for foods I love process.  Last week I baked bread.  Twice.  Tried a new whole wheat recipe, then my favorite ever--dilly bean bread.  I confess that for lunch last Thursday I ate 4 pieces of warm bread with butter.  Yum-O.

Friday night we went to a friends home for dinner, and I took dessert.  Homemade brownies.  Frosted.  3 sticks of butter in the pan to go with the 2 cups of sugar.  I took them because I knew I could just eat one and leave the rest behind.

It's not that I'll never eat these things again, so I'm not sure why I seem to have this "one last time" mentality.  I guess I'm just used to not having to stop at one or two bites.  It's actually exciting to think that I will be able to get that "filled up" feeling without a zillion calories in the process.

Saturday I met a friend at the wellness center at the Y.  We played around on the equipment, neither one of us really knowing what to do.  We had fun though, and when exercise is involved, that's an important thing.  Before I left I stopped at the front desk and arranged to have one of the personal trainers call to schedule some time with me.  The machines seemed fun, so I'm looking forward to it.

Hey, I’m famous! At least a little.

My brand new (invented it last night) recipe for High Protein Low Sugar Chocolate Granola hit the front page of Spark Recipes. Go look at it at http://recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=433180. 

One person rated it. Not sure it was possible to have had time to make it. =)

It really is tasty. Ate some for breakfast this morning.  

If you’re looking to check the nutrition of your recipes, I think this is a good sight for it. If you put your yummy food in there let me know your ID and I’ll check them out. To look at any other recipes that I have made, just click on my username SELVAGEEDGE.