Surgery Date

Surgery is set for July 19th!

Success, take one.

Found out today that my surgery has been approved!! Hopefully I will hear about a date tomorrow.

I'm almost there!

I have completed my 6th month of supervised weight loss. I have done all of my pre-surgery requirements. Now my paperwork can be submitted for insurance approval, keeping my fingers crossed that it goes well and I get a surgery date soon!

UPDATE: 5/10/11 -
Heard from the coordinator today that my packet was submitted today for insurance approval!

I'm not 20 anymore.

Went out with my best friend last week. We had great fun and stayed up until 4am. I paid for that for the next three days, I was so tired! I can't help but think that even though I am 44, no longer in my 20's, I should still have the stamina to enjoy a nice night out without paying for it like that. So now I am looking forward even more to losing weight, (and hoping that my stamina improves!) A couple of pics from that night:

Searching for the Thinner Inner

Walking on my treadmill has been utterly boring. I've been trying to do 30min/day, 3 days a week. But let's face it, just walking isn't going to get me where I need to be. I'm still experiencing some pain from my September MCL tear so I need to keep working on strengthening my knee as well as doing some toning exercises. I have a Wii fit to which I love but don't do as much as I could because I'm alone and again, it can be boring. I need people. I need the occasional, "atta girl". I've thought about joining Curves for years but hey, I'm lazy and have no energy.

Well, today I sucked it up, got in the truck, drove the whole 3 miles to Curves and signed up! I start tomorrow. I have to say I'm rather excited. The people there are awesome and it is very affordable. So, my fitness journey officially begins...

Rolling, rolling, rolling

I love this bike. I want this bike. I plan to buy this bike. My only concern at the moment? I live in hill country, lol! In the long run I guess that will be a good thing and it will make my bike-outs more challenging. In the short term, I suppose I can toss it in the truck and perhaps take it to Gettysburg and have wonderful rides through the battlefield!

UPDATE: 2/6/11 I bought it!

Color: Misty Moss

UPDATE #2: 2/9/11

My bike arrived today!!! It's the absolute perfect shade of metallic moss (sage) green, I LOVE it!! Pictures to follow when I get it put together. It's in the 20's today, brrrrr! Supposed to be in the 40's this weekend so it will likely get put together then.

Trying things

I've been trying to delve into some new food arena's not previously experienced in preparation for what eating will be like post surgery. My new Bento box arrived today. I find that I really enjoy bento-type meals, small portions of several different surgery friendly items, rather than larger regular meals. For instance, a few olives, a baby bell cheese, turkey roll-up, blueberries and a Matiz flat with hummus.

Also arriving today were an assortment of Torani Sugar Free syrups. Today's protein shake consisted of skim milk, 1/2 scoop of Click, half scoop chocolate protein powder (I used Body Fortress), and a splash of Torani Raspberry syrup. YUM!

Support Group

Went to my first support group meeting last night. I am required to go to 2 meetings. I would likely go to many more if Bayview wasn't on the other side of the city and if the meetings weren't in the middle of rush hour. It takes an hour to get there in good traffic and traffic was backed up on the way home so it took over an hour to get back.

The meeting was actually enjoyable. Lots of people were discussing their stories amongst one another. I was the new girl though so there was almost no conversation with me. I sat quietly next to David, observing and listening to stories I could hear nearby. Some folks brought clothing to share that they could no longer wear. One member brought WLS approved snacks to share. The topic of the night was energy healing which was really quite interesting and was presented in a fun way. I learned some techniques that I definitely plan on trying out.

I did hear one person relate a story about someone who had their WLS at Hopkins and had to wait 6 months after her insurance approval came through for her surgery date! Keeping my fingers crossed that I won't have to wait that long.

Medical ID Bracelet

Because, after surgery, method of intubation will change, it was suggested that I wear a medical ID bracelet with instructions. I certainly didn't want to wear the standard type that we all knew when we were kids. If I had to wear it daily, I wanted one that was pretty. So I ordered one from LaurensHope.com and it arrived today:

The red on the plate is actually white on mine.

Next Steps

My surgeons office called me a couple of days ago to discuss the next steps I need to accomplish before surgery.

My endoscopy is scheduled for 1/19. In February, I will be on my fourth month of supervised weight loss and at that time I can schedule my first nutrition requirement as well as my psych appt. I also have to attend two support group meetings which I plan to go to soon.

Even though it seems like surgery is still a long time away, it also sort of seems like things are coming at me fast.