Sunday night

It's been a really good, really busy weekend. Friday, I got word that the insurance company is paying 100%. Sweet!!! I'll have a couple of office co-pays, but otherwise, it is done!

Friday night, my Girl Scout troop had a cookie booth at Sam's Club. Outside. 5-9. It was SO cold!!! But, hey, I was burning calories just staying warm! We sold $400 worth of cookies!

Saturday morning was the Avery ES Carnival. Worked 10-2. It was good. Went fairly quickly. Scott helped and sold cookies on the side. Another 16 boxes. Every little bit helps!!

Then had Alex's Upwards Basketball. His team doesn't do very well, but he has a lot of fun.

Sunday - made it to church at the 11:15 service. Then Lizzie had confirmation class. She did not want to go. But, was okay when she got home. They go on a Fri-Sun retreat next weekend. Should be interesting!! Then spent the afternoon counting Box Tops. sigh. My neighbor's daughter came over to help. Alex did a little bit. Lizzie didn't help at all. Oh, well. Almost $1000 worth of Box Tops!! Have to get them in the mail tomorrow. Feel accomplished, though.

I've done really well on the eating front. Keeping calories below 1000 per day. Baked chicken tonight. Had it with salsa. Yummy!! And very low cal.

Ideal protein intake for moderate activity is 0.7 multiplied by your ideal weight. So, I should be eating about 106 grams of protein a day. That's a lot of protein!!

Back on the upswing

Doing much better today. I spent the majority of yesterday in bed. But, I'm feeling better today and eating well. Lots of protein. Few carbs. Small portions. Lots of water. Well, actually, Crystal Light.

Got the call today to schedule the Vena Cava Filter placement. Will happen on Monday, March 29. I have to be there at 6am. McConnell Heart Hospital. I will make Scott take me over and then have to arrange for a ride home. Scott offered to take a half day, but that's really kind of silly. It would be a lot of sitting and waiting. It feels kind of funny making these arrangements knowing that he'll be at work on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, but, really, what difference does it make? I'd rather he be home when I am home that first week.

I'll have to arrange for the kids to get to school that week. And get picked up! At least I have lots of time! Although it will be here before I know it. Yay!!!

Frustrating

So, I was successful last week. Then I blew it. I gained all of the 14 pounds back. sigh. Starting over, again. Now I need to lose the original 14 and the additional 6. In a week. Yeah. Not so much.

But, I got the call today to schedule!! I'm scheduled for surgery on March 30. Woohoo!!! Which is why I've decided to put this all on my blog. I still haven't told my parents. That will be interesting.

I'm so excited I have a date. But I am so depressed that I gained so much in one week! I don't feel good. Imagine that. I'm cold. I'm tired. We are supposed to go to Disney On Ice tonight. Free tickets. I don't even want to go. The seats are uncomfortable. I'm grumpy. Got in a fight with Lizzie. Acted like a brat myself. Can I go back to bed and start over?

Meet with the surgeon again on March 4. Then all day pre-op appt on March 11. Vena cava filter placement 3/29. Roux en Y surgery 3/30. Today: under 1000 calories.

Time for a change

This is my first public admission of my journey. I've found it very heard to talk about it with people. And, it's been a long time coming, so this post is going to be really long!!

I am 43 and weigh 381. I've never been thin but it has just gotten worse as I get older. I've been seeing a therapist for about 8 years. Started as post-partum, but now that my baby boy is 9, I can't blame it on that. I also have a 12 yo girl. I need to do this for them almost as much as I need to do this for myself. I also have an amazingly supportive and loving husband.

I tried to do the bariatric surgery route about 5 years ago and chickened out. In retrospect, it is good that I did. The surgery has changed drastically since then and so have I. I am in such a better place than I was.

So, over the summer, my husband and I help out at Girl Scout camp. I am the creeking instructor. This summer, I couldn't go up the hill without getting out of breath and all I wanted to do was sit down. I arranged the schedule so I only had to go down to the creek once. Not for the girls. For me. I decided that I was done. I had to change things. My health is deteriorating. I have multiply co-morbidities. I was in the hospital multiple times two years ago for an adrenal gland issue. It has left me with humidity intolerance. So, not only can I not lug my body around all that well, but I can barely breathe if I'm doing it while it's hot and humid. Hello! Live in Ohio!!! It's humid in the summer!!

Without even telling my husband, I started talking to my therapist about weight loss surgery and investigating online. Wow! Surgery and the support surrounding it has come a long way in five years.

Two local hospitals have fabulous bariatric programs. I decided that I would attend the orientation session at each one before I chose one. The week before, I talked to my husband about it and asked if he would accompany me. Of course, he said yes. That's who he is. I told no one else except my therapist.

The information session was fabulous. That was September 12, 2009. I sat there amazed at the people who were even bigger than I was. Wow. Then I spotted a familiar person. A very good friend of mine that I used to teach with. We are similar in size. She had told no one except her husband about what she was doing, either. We decided it was fate and that we would both enroll in this program and be there for each other. She is still teaching so she will not have surgery until summer. I hope to do it earlier.

I went for the day long evaluation on September 29. No problems with the psychological evaluation. Had already started seeing my therapist on a weekly basis. Check. Talked with dietician. Check. Evaluated by doctor. Need eval by cardiac doctor. Schedule that. Long day, but got through it.

Had my evaluation by the cardiac doctor. Will have to have filter placed day before surgery. Otherwise cleared for surgery. Check!

11/11/09 Meeting with the dietician was not so good. Didn't do the daily food log. Hate doing that. Well, had one more session scheduled, so supposed to do the food log for that six weeks. 12/23/09 Didn't do it. Gee. It's required by insurance. So, I had to go an additional six weeks before progressing on the scheduling because I hadn't done what I was supposed to do. Grrr...

2/3/10 Made up a food log the week before the appt. It worked. Yes, playing a game. And the doctor caught me on it the next day. I was supposed to have lost 15 pounds since the all-day evaluation. Hadn't. In fact I gained 5. Dietician thought the doctor might start me on the NutriMed diet early and let me lose the weight that way.

2/4/10 Doctor says: gee, you haven't lost any weight. Not sure you are actually committed to this surgery. You need to show me that you are by losing 10 pounds over the next two weeks. WHAT???? CRap!!! Poop or get off the pot. sigh.

Well. It's what I needed. That and my therapist asking if I had already made my decision by not losing weight. I really didn't like that idea. I felt horrible. But, for once, I didn't turn to food. I started paying real attention to what I was eating. Avoided carbs and kept under 1000 calories a day.

2/18/10 I lost 14 pounds!!! Woohoo!!! Doctor was thrilled with my progress. But, can't schedule, yet. Just got to the point where the paperwork can be submitted to insurance! Argggh! I just want to get this on the calendar!!! And, he wants me to lose another 6 pounds in the next two weeks. Okay. Not nearly as big a deal, now!! Of course, if I had lost the 15 pounds in the beginning, I would have my surgery scheduled. Oh, well. What's done is done. Move on.

My ideal surgery date is Tuesday, March 30. My kids' spring break is the week before. I can have the filter placed on Monday. My husband is off starting on Friday. So, I would be in the hospital through Thursday. And have a week and a half of my husband available. My friends have already offered to help with getting the kids to school and other activities. But, now that I've delayed so long getting here, I'm not sure this will work. I have to come up with a second workable date. Meet with the doctor again March 4. Then I will get to schedule the surgery as long as the insurance has come through. I hate waiting on other people!!!

2/19/10 I'm so excited!! I just got the call from the person submitting my paperwork. She asked me to give her a target date so that the insurance would have a date to work with. Not guaranteeing that I would get that date, but a target. I told her my ideal date and she said that was very workable! In fact, she almost just gave them March 31 off the top of her head. Then she thought that maybe I wasn't in that much of a hurry. Heck no!!! I'm in a hurry!!!! To continue changing my life!!!