Less than two weeks to go

And I'm getting excited!

Today I stopped by Target and bought a bottle of antibiotic body wash.  For the last few days before surgery, I'm supposed to shower at least twice a day with an antibiotic soap.  I guess this means I should change my sheets so I'm not rolling around in my own filth, huh? ; )

I also got a 10 cup (MONSTER SIZED) Brita water pitcher for my office.  Next week my liquid diet begins and I have to consume nothing but a ton of liquids. I have a mini-fridge in my office, and having a water pitcher right there is easiest. I can always have water to whip up my Crystal Light in an instant. Making things convenient and easy is half the battle.

At this point, I am almost looking forward to the liquid diet and being off food altogether for a few weeks.  I'm so over it!  Ya know?  I'm just ready for the next phase and am looking forward to the surgery.  Of course about the 2nd day into the liquid diet, I'll probably be having a royal case of the screaming meemies!  Waaannnnaa CHEW!

I think I'll do okay.  I'm just gonna keep telling myself that.

Two weeks from today...

Talk about hurry up and wait!  Now that I am only two weeks out, things are starting to go very quickly!  (Yaay!  I just realized I have an extra weekend I didn't think I had.  Whew. I can actually work on cleaning house.)

I am down to 19 meals and rather disappointed.  Not that my supply of favorite meals is dwindling, but that the stuff I'm eating really isn't all that good.  I had my minute steaks but they were not seasoned quite right.  Ehh.  I had a NY strip last night off the grill, but it was more medium than medium rare.  Ehh.  I got a piece of chocolate cake at O'Charleys.  Ehh.

I think my head is starting to disengage from this whole eating thing.  After 41 years of eating for reasons other than hunger, my brain is finally coming to its senses.  Ehh, it's just food.

Now that I have so many things going on in my life, and more friends than I have had in ages, food is not nearly as high on the totem pole.  And that's a great thing!

I think if things keep going the way they have been, that by the time my liquid diet starts on Sunday, I'll be welcoming it.  A palate cleansing phase, if you will, defining the span between my old life and my new, exciting life where food is not the sun around which I focus, but friends and relationships are.  That and shopping.  ; )

Man! I wasted a meal!!!

Technically I have 26 meals left until I start my liquid diet.  Between now and then I am going to indulge in some of my favorite foods, especially things I know I will not be having for a long, long time (if ever).  

Thinking about it in those terms makes me realize I don't want to waste any calories on crappy food.  Well, crappy tasting food.  

Every Friday we go out to lunch.  Today there's a bit of a time crunch so we went someplace close and fast.  A bagel joint.  I usually get a roast beef sandwich on a small, square bagel-thing.  It comes with a creamy horseradish sauce.  I got my regular today, but they changed the sauce.  It was PURE HORSERADISH!  Gag.  I ended up barely picking at it, eating the cheese, half the meat and barely any bread.  

Dang it!  Now I'm down to 26 meals and #27 was a wash.  Next time I will think more carefully about what I want.  Don't want to waste it on something that is too hideous to eat.  Much less paying for something that was nasty.  

Maybe I'll swing by Publix and buy some cubed steak on the way home. YUM!  Then I will be a mere 25 meals away from escaping the tyranny of food.  Yippeee!

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!

April 6, 2009

You read that right--I finally have a surgery date!

February, though the short month, seems to have lasted forever.  After waiting for 19 days, I got the call from the scheduler with my date with Dr. Williams.  In all honestly, 19 days is not very long at all.  Pretty quick, actually.  It just seems like a long time when you're doing essentially nothing but watching the phone and waiting.

And the countdown begins.  Because I am getting the Realize Band, I use their website to track goals, food diary and so on.  According to them, 41 days until I get "Realized." 

Hmm.  If I thought 19 days was long, 41 should seem like an eternity.  But odds are it'll get here before I know it.  I almost said before I realize it, but that was entirely too cheesy!