12/1/04 - Last Meal :)

I got a phone call that my surgery was being moved from 12/7 to 12/9. Diana did warm me when she gave me the 12/7 date that everything was subject to change. This threw me for a loop because it meant two more days on the liquid diet. Not a lot in the scheme of things, but nevertheless was enough to start messing with my head. I was able to get through it, always thinking about the end goal and being in as good as shape as possible for the surgery. Rodney and I decided to have a little break from the liquids and go for a "last" meal at the Cheesecake Factory on Saturday night.

11/29/04 - Pre-Op Testing

I went to the hospital for pre-op testing. The hospital is huge! I got there early, since appointments are on a first come, first serve basis. They did blood work, ekg, urine analysis and chest x-ray. I also met with somebody from the anesthesiology. That was a little unnerving because he told me I might have to be entubated while I was awake. Of course he reassured me that my throat would be numb and all but this really wasn't something I was expecting to hear and added some to my anxiety.

11/28 - Started Liquid Diet

I started a liquid diet (primarily Slim Fast). This was recommended by a surgeon I ended up not choosing. The purpose of the diet is to reduce the size of my liver, which will help during the surgery. My surgeon, Dr. Pomp, when asked what I could do to help make the surgery go as well as possible recommended trying to lose some weight – so here I am, trying to lose some weight before my surgery.

11/8/04 - Meeting with the Nutritionist

I had an appointment with the nutritionist, Liz. Since Rodney and I were going to be there anyway, I asked if it was possible for him to meet with Dr. Pomp for a couple of minutes. They were able to accommodate us – which really meant a lot to me. I wanted Rodney to be a part of the decision making process for this big decision! Once again, Dr. Pomp was wonderful and took the time to explain everything. The decision was made! We went on to met with Liz and that was a good meeting. I think she is the best nutritionist I have ever met with.

11/3/04 - Upper Endoscopy On 11/3 I had my upper endoscopy. Rodney was away, so my parents came out to take me to the hospital for the procedure. I was supposed to be there at 6:00am and we got there a little bit early. I was told the wrong place to go to; luckily we ran into one of the nurses who works in the area. Eventually the waiting area was opened. It wasn't until about 6:20am that the woman who works at the reception area showed up. I was asked to fill out some forms (this didn't take more than 10 minutes or so). I was eventually taken back for the procedure around 7:00am. So, why did I need to be there at 6:00am??? I couldn't have been more nervous – this was the biggest medical procedure I've had done to date. I was put in a bed and hooked up to an iv. The anesthesiologist came to speak with me. He was very nice and explained that I would be asleep for the procedure. Don't think that calmed me down however, all I could think about was what if I didn't fall asleep! They finally come to wheel me back to the procedure room. As they are wheeling me back, I am thinking there is no way I can go through a surgery in order to lose weight – there must be some way I can do this on my own! I was thinking about telling them to stop everything that I changed my mind – but I didn't. Once we get to the room, the doctor and nurse begin getting me ready. The anesthesiologist starts his work and the next thing I know I am waking up outside by the nurses station. The procedure was incredibly easy and needless to say, I didn't know a thing about what happened. This caused me to do a 180 and I starting thinking I could get through the surgery.

Meeting the Surgeon

I went to the first surgeon's office I was considering on 10/15. I went back to see the surgeon on 10/27. He gave me a surgery date of 12/10. I ended up not choosing this practice for two reasons, one that there always seemed to be some confusion over which surgery I was planning to have and therefore they didn't inspired my confidence. Second, my next door neighbor had the surgery and recommended her surgeon to me, Dr. Pomp. My first visit with Dr. Pomp was 11/1. Rodney was out of town and couldn't come with me. My neighbor did come to the appointment, which I greatly appreciated. Everyone was wonderful. Diana and Evelyn took all my information and did the examining. Dr. Pomp takes the time needed to meet with you and actually checks you (i.e., stomach). The other practice the surgeon didn't do any form of an examination. I was fortunate that I had some of the pre-op work done before I met with Dr. Pomp. I had a Thallium Stress Test done in April, so they accepted those results. I met with a psychologist for clearance in July, so that was also accepted. The only things I need to do for Dr. Pomp was the upper endoscopy and blood work with my PCP

Making the Decision

The whole process went very quickly for me. I discovered that my insurance company, Aetna, would not cover the surgery as of 1/1/05 unless the company you worked for took a rider to cover it. This piece of information enabled me to move forward and decide to have the surgery before the option was taken away from me. I have been thinking about having WLS for over 4 years. I wanted to believe I could do it on my own. There were a few things that factored into my decision:

• My last failure on Weight Watchers helped put an end to that notion. Rodney and I had done so well with Weight Watchers. When we moved, life interfered and we lost our focus. Both of us ending up gaining back the weight we had lost, and I gained even more than that.
• I had a scare with my thyroid in August/September. I had an ultrasound done and a nodule was discovered. It turns out I have Hashimoto's, so the nodule is nothing to be concerned about. This caused me to think even more about my weight and its impact on my health. Obviously, if I did have to have surgery my weight would be a factor in how well everything would go.
• I became increasingly uncomfortable moving around. I've always been a fairly active overweight person, but I was getting to the point where it was harder and harder to do things.
• My company offered a basic introduction to Cancer class. The professor discussed that high levels of estrogen play in increasing one's risk of cancer. Well, it turns out that when you are overweight, you have higher estrogen levels. This made me think even more about what I was doing to myself by being so overweight.