Finally getting excited

Only 17 days until my lap band surgery!  Woo hooo!

This week has been quite busy in getting the pre-operative ball rolling.  I had my surgeon's consult, my pre-op work up and a visit with my dietician.  All went well, but it has been such a busy week running around I'm not quite sure what day it is.  And I should remember to show up at the dog show tomorrow, since I paid $45 in entry fees.  

Today is Friday.  Today is Friday.

Anyway, I met with Dr. Williams and Dr. Carpenter, the main guy and the assistant guy (resident).  I like them both a lot and am confident in them.  I found out that Vanderbilt has switched back to the Lap-Band from Allergan from the Realize Band from Ethicon.  Dr. Williams said they have had a slight rise (albeit minimal) in complications from the Realize band, so they're going back to the Lap-Band.  They'll determine in the OR whether I'll get the small one or the large one.  

One of the differences between the two brands is the way the ports are "installed."  Realize has clamps that clip to your abdominal wall muscles.  The Lap Band is sutured in place.  Williams said that they're using a new technique where the port is attached to a small piece of mesh (screen door??) and that is attached to the abdominal wall.  As you heal, your tissues grow into the mesh, keeping said port firmly in place.  It's a technique that has been done with great success and requires less dissection (doctor effort) to install and decreases the likelihood of the port flipping or doing something it shouldn't.  I'm all for it.

I had a great time at Pre-op at VPEC.  In spite of my health issues, the nurse proclaimed I was one of the healthiest patients she'd seen all day.  When she asked if I had all my teeth, I was promoted to The Healthiest Patient of the day.  Wow.  Who'd have thought having all my teeth would win me such accolades?

Is it wrong that I have so much fun chatting people up at my doctors' appointments?

Yesterday was my meeting with Jessica.  She didn't have much to say aside from 6 packs of Carnation Instant Breakfast with skim milk daily, plus broth (for sodium) and lots of calorie free beverages.  She seems confident I will do well and I'll just assume she's right.  I know I'll get a huge finger waggling/scolding session should I prove her wrong.  Don't want that!

So now the real countdown begins.  I need to find time to go out to eat with Mom one more time before surgery.  And I'm planning some of my favorite meals to whip up over the next week.  My restaurant dining career will go on hiatus after I eat with my pals Christopher and his dad Chaalie on the 29th.  Then it's a yummy course of instant breakfast.

Actually I'm kind of looking forward to that and I'm more in the mood to be home and cleaning out the pantry than anything else.  Time to start shedding the old me to discover the real me.

Yeah.  I should read over this about 3 days into the liquid diet when I'm ready to kill someone.  Ha!