he definition of insanity, as you have probably heard, is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results. I'm really tired of this merry-go-round I've been on for the past 50-ish years, and I'm ready to get off. Permanently.
So...after much, much thought and prayer, I've decided to get gastric sleeve surgery.
Fortunately, for me, my insurance is going to take care of the cost....as long as I jump through all their pre-qualification hoops. That means a 3 month bariatric program, during which time I will be seen by several specialists, all who have to clear me for the surgery, among other things.
For those of you who might be interested, here's MY personal rundown (your mileage may vary, depending on any ailments you may already be suffering from):
I started out with my primary care provider, who is awesome. During my most recent checkup, I talked to her about it and asked her what she thought. She told me she felt very strongly that, considering my history, this was a logical next step for me, and she then referred me to a bariatric doctor who was in my network, and who she also had worked with a good bit in the past.
Disclaimer over (for the moment). I did make an appointment to see the bariatric doctor, in whose office I stayed for over two hours, going over all the fine points and details I would be subjected to over the next three-ish months. Not only did I have to agree to do everything they asked, but if I either intentionally or by accident skipped any part of what they were asking, I would have to start the process all over again. Prior to my first appointment, they had emailed me a packet of paperwork the equivalent of War and Peace to fill out and bring with me. This paperwork included a VERY comprehensive background on everything I had ever done to lose weight....when it happened, for how long, how much weight I had lost, how much of that I had regained, etc.....all the way back to my childhood.
Not kidding.
Of course, it also included a lot of medical questions, etc...the usual for a doctor's office, just much more detailed. All that was gone over in that first appointment, along with all their expectations, and a lot more instructions and paperwork I would need to have filled out as I went along.
It was a lot. A really lot. But...you gotta choose your hard, right? Right.
My first assignment was to buy a notebook that I could keep a very comprehensive daily journal in. In this journal, I have to note what I have for three meals and two snacks per day, what I drank with those meals, how much water I've had for the day, who I ate each meal with and where, how much exercise I got, what kind and for how long, how I felt before and after, and what I was thinking about.
Again....not kidding. I also have charts I have to fill out for my exercise and my daily (yes, DAILY) weigh-ins.
My next assignment was to book appointments with all the specialists they wanted me to see and get clearance from for my surgery, so I spent the better part of a day getting all that done. Because one of my specialists was a gastric doctor to get an EGD done (endoscopy in which they check out your esophagus, stomach and duodenum), and I already had a colonoscopy scheduled, I was able to just add that procedure to the day's events and get both knocked out while I'm...er...knocked out.
My first actual specialist appointment was for a psychological evaluation, which wound up being a Zoom call online, so I didn't have to take time away from work. We spoke about 30 minutes, during which she asked me a lot of questions, and sent me a link for a video to watch later. That one was fairly painless, so I was ready for the next one, which was with a pulmonary doctor.
He had to make sure there was no issue that would make it hard for me to be anesthetized. During that appointment, he took X-rays of my lungs (which were clear and looked good), and set me up for a sleep study to determine whether I may have sleep apnea. If so, that would explain why I'm always exhausted. I do know that I snore a lot...so more to come on that. I also found out that I have a curvature in my spine, which I had long suspected, since I have never been able to do sit-ups, and my collar bones are uneven (when they're visible, lol). I will have a follow up with the pulmonary doctor once he has the results of my sleep lab back.
Yesterday, I had my first of three (one a month) appointments with a nutritionist and a physical therapist. Having never been to either, this was very interesting to me. During PT, I found out I am in much better physical health than most kids my age, which made me feel pretty good. I think I can attribute that to the running I've done in the past, and I can't wait to get back there again....that's definitely my happy place.
The nutritionist was also very interesting, and I found out that although I do know and do a LOT of what she shared, I also learned a lot, and had more questions than I thought. I know that I'll be able to build on what I learned....I just hope I think of better questions for my next appointment!
So far, that's been my journey to this point, and all this started on Sept 20th, with my first visit to the bariatric doctor. I have to say, that out of all the stuff they've asked me to do so far, by far the hardest part of this was picking up the phone that first time.
Next up will be my first support group meeting, which will be next week. I have to attend three of those as well, one each month. I'll be turning all my paperwork in for the month of October at that meeting, and my November logging is well underway. So far, so good!
I'm very excited about this journey. I've had several people ask me if I'm nervous about it...and the answer would have to be no, not at all. I've done extensive homework on the procedure as well as the prep and life after.... I've talked to people who have been through it to learn best practices and what NOT to do....and I just feel more excited to do this every day!
I hope you'll stick around and share this journey with me. And if you have any questions, fire away! If I don't know the answer, I'll definitely find out, and we can both learn something.
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