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I can't believe it has been so long since I last posted.  Anyhow, I can breathe a bit deeper today.  I went to my psych appt. and found out I passed my "IQ" test and that I passed the rest of the psych test and what she had learned about me from it, which none of it was surprising and went along with what I went through growing up and why I do counseling now.  I am more or less approved by her for the surgery, but.....

Everyone knows there has to be a but somewhere along the way don't they?  Well, my butt may be big, yet it isn't that one LOL.

...I can't get the final clearance from her until after I have met my new counselor and gone to her for at least 2 visits.  Unfortunately, the one on post doesn't do long term care, so she referred me off post and I couldn't get in for my 1st appt. until Dec. 2nd.  I am guessing that this will mean I am not going to be able to have my surgery until after Christmas this means :-(.  I look at it as saying that I am going to have a great new year since I will be starting the year off either having surgery or just having had it and already on the losing side of things.  Somebody tell me how to have patience!!!

It amazes me to look at my checklist and realize how close I really am right now.  It is still up in the air on if I am going to need a stress test, but should find that out tomorrow.  I talked to my coordinator for the bariatric clinic today and found out that my lab results are fine, except that my thyroid was a bit high and we may want to keep a close eye on it.  I am trying to decide if I just want to make a doc appt. to see if I need to go on synthroid like the coordinator asked about or not.  I have a nutritionist appt. and a psych appt. to follow up on the psych test coming up, both will be done by Thanksgiving, though.  I will do the last mandatory support group meeting before then, too.  It looks like, if I don't end up needing a stress test, that I will have everything done to the point of being ready for the pre-op quiz by Thanksgiving.  I am totally in shock when I think about how fast that time is coming now!  Wow, I could actually be looking at possibly having surgery in December!!!

I think I need to make sure in following years not to have a mammogram the day before my monthly is to come.  Cramping plus soreness from keeping my arms away from the front side of me is making for some fun soreness today.  The good news is that my first mammogram yesterday was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be.

I really feel like I am beginning to get somewhere now.  My pre op checklist is about halfway marked off now.  I still need to do my physical exam because my doc was sick today so it was rescheduled to the middle of next week.  I did my nutrition class last week and feel like I learned alot, it even made me look more forward to the surgery because I get better what I can and can't eat during some of the phases and where some of the items can be bought.  My 1 on 1 nutrition appt. isn't until almost Thanksgiving, but that means I have more time to work out meals and drinking more, and just overall making more healthy changes.  Since phych class is coming up with my meeting to discuss my test answers not being until mid November...I can stand the Nut. appt. being so late even better.  I expect with my depression and my past that the testing will finally lead to me having a new counselor since I haven't figured out how to find one since we moved back to the states.  November will also fulfill the minimum number of support groups I have to attend, whereas next week will fulfill the minimum of educational classes.
I think I have about 95% made the decision to actually have the VSG now.  It is very rare that I swing back to thinking about the lapband now.  I guess this means I am really getting there!

I just had to put something down because I am excited right now.  The nutrition lady called me back and there is a second class scheduled for this month and I am now in it!  What got me so excited wasn't just that, though.  I realized I had a bunch of notes about appointments, so I decided to begin a new notebook page just to make sense of all of them, which then led me to finding my calendar and putting it up with appt's on it.  I have at least one thing down for every week this month.  I am beginning to realize that I am getting somewhere and that by the end of this month I will have a majority of my pre-op checklist done!  I am actually looking slightly forward to my mammogram purely because it means something else will be marked off my list hehe.  I am expecting to finish my list during November and then be able to schedule my 1 on 1 with the surgeon and schedule my surgery.  The surgeons appt. may not be until December because of when my last class is in November, but that is fine since I know I can't schedule the surgery in December because of planning to fly during the month.  I am really hoping this means I am going to be able to have surgery in January!!!!

With it being the end of September, I realized today that it means I am that much closer to having WLS.  I still can't believe that I have finally begun this newest journey in my life.

I have now done my first educational seminar and support group meetings, with having to have a minimum of 3 each of those before surgery.  I have gone to my orientation meeting where we began my file in the bariatric clinic, and am awaiting the call that I should get by sometime tomorrow letting me know labs have been ordered and what all I do and don't need to have done.  I have made my appt. for a full physical and another one for a well woman check, so during October I will get those out of my way and will get even more of the things on my pre-surgery checklist ordered and possibly finished.  I really feel like I am getting somewhere.

Now I have 2 new problems.  When I weighed in for the orientation class, I was the highest I have ever been, and my DH is also gaining we are seeing on the scale.  We have to figure out what exactly we are doing wrong to cause this since we aren't able to afford to go out to eat or buy sodas and are actually getting more exercise than previously.  UGH.  2nd problem is that I am torn.  Last year I had read up on the VSG surgery and was trying to find out if Tricare covered it in Germany, then I found out that the lap-band was newly being covered and would be announced at the start of the year.  I have spent this year deciding I would have lap-band surgery since it was covered and seemed like mostly what I wanted.  Now I am jumping back and forth between the two surgeries because the Dr's here do both of them (in addition to RNY of course), and I don't know what it is going to take to make up my mind on which I want.  I hate decisions LOL.

I went to the clinc, met my PCM, and got a referral to the bariatric center!!!  I called to set up my first appt. which is apparently for a 3 hour class all about the surgeries, etc. and they told me that I can begin my other things beforehand, too.  I get to go to my first educational seminar tomorrow evening and my first support group meeting (apparently we have to do 3 times of each of these) on the 16th.  I really feel like I am getting somewhere yeehawww

Well, I called like I was supposed to today and found out my PCM is on vacation.  I did get my appt. made, though.  I get to meet my PCM and discuss WLS on Sept. 9th!  Yay, I feel so good having begun this journey!!!

After years of thinking about this and changing my mind between a VSG and Lap Band, I am finally trying to make it happen.  I can't believe after spending my whole life overweight that I am trying to make an appt. that might just help me to look more like how I feel I look instead of what I see in the mirror.
I tried calling on Thursday last week to be told my PCM and even her whole practice had no appt's open, but to call back on Monday after 10 because they often times will open up new ones by then.  I sure hope so.  I understand it won't be until September, but I am so nervous about taking this first step and I just want the appt. to look forward to!