Carlacee

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I reread my first blog post. I was in such despair. My goodness. From my experience from that waiting period was I learned I had to suck it up and go on with my life. That is exactly what I did. I went to the hospital weekly and had my iron infusions and stopped thinking about having surgery. I placed that idea somewhere in the back of my head. Maybe it would happen and maybe it would not. Getting iron infusions was my life now. Funny thing is my hemoglobin hardly increased. Towards the end, my iron went up so high that the nurses refused to treat me anymore and sent me back to the hematologist. She told me that she thinks my hemoglobin is just low, naturally and that she was clearing me for surgery. 

I was surprised. I thought they were going to run more tests or even give me blood transfusions. Nope. None of that.

Then I sat around expecting to hear from the bariatric clinic for about a month. I called them to find out if they received the clearance from the specialist. They said they had. The said they would call me in a month or so for my next appointment. 

In March of 2018 I went to my next appointment at the bariatric clinic. They did not tell me who I was seeing. I thought I would have to meet with the internist again or the dietician. It had been over a year since I had been at the clinic so I thought they would have wanted to make sure I was still on track with my eating - I wasn't. I had so many last suppers, it was unbelievable. 

To my surprise I met with the surgeon. He said I would probably have to take iron infusions for the rest of my life but the benefits of having the surgery would far outweigh going for infusions. He said it was up to me. I told him, to sign me up for the surgery. I would worry about iron later.

He gave me some papers to sign and then told me to see the receptionist. I did so and was sent to another counter. I went to this counter and was shocked when they asked if I wanted the surgery in May or June. I asked them if they meant this year. They laughed and said they had never had a response like that before. They didn't know that I had been waiting for almost two years with no end in sight. 

I chose a surgery date of June 27, 2018.

I had the surgery. It took some time to recover. My one incision in the tummy was slow to heal. It took about six weeks until I was feeling better. I went back to work after 8 weeks of being home. 

I am almost 18 weeks from surgery. I am feeling much more alive and active. I weigh myself once a week. At my last weigh in which was last week, I was down 75. 5 lbs from when I started my Opti-fast diet (for 3 weeks - brutal but I didn't cheat). I am down 53.4 lbs since my surgery. I exercise about 5 days a week. I only walk. I try to do 10k steps the days when I exercise. That is all I am doing right now. Later on, I plan on starting yoga and who knows what else. I exercise at my own pace and do not over exert myself or I know I will start to hate it. 

I am so happy I had the surgery. 

My highest weight was 307. Before I started Optifast I was 302. Now I am 226.6. Very happy with the results.

One of the biggest lessons I learned so far in this journey is to be patient. Things will happen when they are supposed to happen and not before. 

I live in Hamilton on the list for weighloss surgery but I'm in limbo. I lost my job back in June. I haven't been able to find one as yet. I've had 5 interviews so far but no luck. I have no idea when I will have the surgery. In October when I met the nurse for the first time, she said the surgery would be in six months. That would be April 2017 more or less. Now the problem. I am on EI which will run out in June 2017. If I find a job in Jan, Feb or March, I will be within the three month probabtion period before I become permanent. How would that be if I have to take six weeks off? If I have the operation in April, then by the time I recover, it will be close to the  time my EI runs out. I will be in big, big trouble financially. I can barely keep up now financially.

I had my orientation last year Dec 2015. On December 28, 2016 I finally met with the dietician. I have to go back on March 20th to see her to show that I can follow a plan. I've been eating my last supper for the past year.  After I prove that I can follow a healthy eating plan, then I will meet with the surgeon. 

Early in 2016, I finished all my testing. The clinic still has not received all of the tests from the doctor and I've told the doctor's office three times to send the docs. They said they've sent them. Since there is obviously some kind of miscommunication, I will go to the doctor and physically get the results and hand deliver them to the clinic. 

The dietician also sent me for more blood tests because she said the ones they have for me are not the correct ones. She also said that because my hemoglobin is low and I am waiting on my doctor's office to tell get an appointment for my to see the hematologist, they may not be able to operate on me until they know why it is low. All I know is that it's not due to low iron. 

This is getting so frustrating. When I left the dietician a couple days ago I was so upset because this process is taking so long and I feel it is hindering me from going full force and looking for a job. I have been looking at the timeline of other people who live in Ontario and have had the surgery and it looks like many have had it within a year from the first orientation.  Why is mine taking so long? It would have been perfect if I had the operation a year from the date of orientation. I would have had enough time to recover and still find a job without being in a desperate rush. 

I don't see how I will have an operation in April when I have to see the dietician in March and then see the surgeon after that and only then will I have a surgery date.  

I can't wait to see when this surgery will really occur and not try what I can do to find a job. I will kick myself if I sit around and let my EI run out and still not have had the operation. If it happens that I find a job before the operation, I will have to take it and then worry about the surgery and the time off I will need at the time. 

I've mentioned my dilemma to the workers I've met with so far but they are following a process and can't bump me up for appointments or anything.