Celia S.

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I wish the title meant that I got a call from the surgeon's office with my date, but that's not the case.

Instead, my surgeon's PA called to go over the results of some of the pre-op tests with me and she told me a few things.

1.) My urinalysis came back positive for some unknown bacteria. The PA (Summer is her name) said it wasn't a high concentration of the bacteria and since I was asymptomatic, it could have been something little going on that caused the bacteria there. At any rate, they're going to have to retest me before I have surgery and if there is still bacteria in my urine I will have to go on a round of antibiotics to try and clear up whatever it is.

2.) The ultrasound of my gallbladder showed stones and sludge so my surgeon will be removing it during my surgery.

3.) The ultrasound of my liver showed that I have a fatty liver (surprise, surprise). While I'm already on the road to shrinking that liver before surgery, Summer said my surgeon will biopsy my liver during my surgery to check for any permanent damage. That is the part that worries me. I am praying SOOOO hard that there is only minimal (if any) damage to my liver from me being overwieght for so long.

4.) My hiatal hernia is moderately sized, 4 cm in diameter, and may need to be repaired with mesh during my surgery as well.

So looks like I will be getting 3 surgeries in 1 if not 4-in-1!

I'm still waiting for word on my H.Pylori labs that the gastroenterologist ordered after finding inflammation in my duodenum during my EGD

I'm also still waiting for my appointment with the pulmonologist to be tested for sleep apnea.

I guess this is all taking me by surprise. I thought I had been lucky enough to escape the ramifications of my obesity up to this point. Looks like I was wrong about that. I could be much worse, but I'm not in the perfect state of health that I thought I was.

Good news, though is I have lost 3 lbs in the past week bringing my total loss to 17 lbs since May 6th.

I'm so ready to have my surgery already!!!

I've been working hard to make sure that my surgery can happen as soon as possible. So after my initial consult with my surgeon on 5/23, I set out immediately to get all my pre-op testing and consults done ASAP. I had all but three of the things on my checklist completed by Friday of that week. All I had left to do was my pulmonology consult to check for sleep apnea, my psychological evaluation, and my nutrition consult (which won't happen until after the psych eval).

I got my appointment set up last week for my pulmonology consult. My appointment for that is on 6/29.

Yesterday marked two weeks since my surg consult and I still hadn't heard from the psych office to set me up for my appointment for the pencil testing, so I called my surgeons office to have them check into why I hadn't heard from them. The psych's office called me today and I have an appointment for my testing this Thursday at 2:30. But here's where the snag comes in. They told me on the phone that my insurance (Medicaid) doesn't cover the testing and that I'll need to bring fifty bucks with me to my appointment.

WTH? Seriously? Fifty dollars for me to sit at a computer and answer some questions??? How ridiculous... but whatever. Point is, my husband, who works so hard makes just enough money to pay our rent/bills. I don't have that money! And everyone around me is broke as a joke, too, so it's not like I can ask anyone else to help me out. It would be nice if my SIL would pay us back the Fifty that she owes us. Then we'd have no problem.

So I've hit a small snag, but I know God will provide... He always does. I just don't know when that money will appear.

Well, that's what I've got for today. I'm a little frustrated, but by no means am I discouraged. :)

So I was doing more research on my surgeon a couple of weeks ago and I am very comforted by both his professional bio and his personal information.

I am very lucky to have him in my local area and not have to travel 200+ miles to have a good surgeon. I mean this guy went to John's Hopkins Med School - that's pretty prestigious! And he's chosen to practice here in a smaller town instead of in a bigger city! Again I say I'm very lucky!

The most encouraging information I found on my surgeon is that, like me, he is a follower of Jesus Christ. From his website www.erichanlymd.com,

"Dr. Hanly is passionately committed to his faith as a follower of Jesus Christ.  Dr. Hanly began following Jesus when he was 10 years old.  While there have certainly been times in his life when he has strayed from God, and even now, he knows that he frequently discredits his God with conduct unbecoming one of His children, Dr. Hanly has found God’s love to be inescapable, and he tries to rely daily on the presence of God’s grace in his life to cover his imperfections and inspire him to live a life of purpose—striving to love God with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love others even more than he loves himself (he’ll be the first to admit that the latter is a lot of love!).

Dr. Hanly recognizes that not all of his patients share his personal religious beliefs.  While he has no desire to “impose” his faith on others, he is enthusiastic about sharing his personal faith journey with anyone who is interested.  Furthermore, for those of his patients who view their own faith as important to their healing process, Dr. Hanly is eager to pray with them, focusing on common ground, if they so desire."

A surgeon who is willing and eager to pray with his patients??? Sounds like my kind of guy! This is definitely information shown to me for a reason. It was shown to me to give me comfort and strength and has confirmed for me that I am on the right path and that my will and God's will are in sync.

I feel so blessed right now to be on this life-changing journey. Now I just need to pray for patience because I can't wait to have my surgery! Eek!

I'm feeling really good today. It is the 4th day in a row that I have worked out and the first day of the 4th week of my 1500 calorie diet. All in all things are going pretty well.

I went to see my PCP today for a non-WLS related issue and discovered that I've lost 13 lbs in the last 3 weeks of my diet! Woo Hoo! While some days are definitely harder than others, I'm enjoying the changes I've been making to my diet. I'm viewing this time as a period to get used the the kinds of foods I will be eating post-op and to get into an exercise routine so I won't feel bombarded by it after surgery.

Plus, every pound I lose before surgery lessens the risks, so that's a bonus!

Just thought I would write about how good I'm feeling about myself today :)