HeartOnMySleeveVSG
Hurry Up and Wait.
Mar 04, 2013
I woke up the morning of my 30th birthday knowing I was going to change my life. I was not going to live through my thirties battling my weight the way I had during my 20s. I was not going to become a diabetic like everyone else in my family. I was going to be healthy and happy for my 2 year old son and my active and fit husband. I was going to start enjoying my wonderful life the way I should have been doing all along.
Two weeks and a lot of research later, I attended an informational meeting at a nearby hospital. The physician running the meeting was arguably the best bariatric surgeon in the state and ranked among the best in the country. He teaches at several medical schools and works with the national group that inspects for safety amongst all bariatric surgeons in the country. I learned about three surgeries: gastric bypass, vsg and lapband. I thought I wanted the lap band and made a consultation apppointment two weeks later.
During that appointment I was told I was not a candidate, in his opinion, for bypass. He would either do the sleeve or lapband, but the idea of having part of an organ removed scared me and so I moved forward thinking I would do the lapband. Two nutritional appointments and a psych eval later, I attended a required 5 hr surgical class. During that class, I met several women who were having their surgeries revised from a lapband to a sleeve. I also learned what seemed like a lifetime's worth of knowledge from the nutritionist who ran the class. By the end of the day, I had decided I would be sleeved!
Last week was my final appointment with my NUT. Today I turned in my old medical records and the office is gathering all of my paperwork to submit to my insurance for approval. I have gone through a rollercoaster of emotions along the way from excitement, to anxiety, fear, happiness, nervousness and more. Now I am just simply hopeful. Fingers crossed I will hear good news within the next few weeks and I will be scheduling my surgery!
I have been making videos along the way to document my journey. Please feel free to check them out here.
