sam_in_TN

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Feeling good, have moved to cream soups and protein drinks which brings up a concern.... It went right through the pouch and out and i wanted more. I think it is what's called "head hunger". I will look into this in greater detail tomorrow.

Weekends usually go by quick, this one will drag. My surgery is Monday at 7:30 am and it can't get here quick enough.

 I broke my two week pre-op liquid diet and ate last night and I am worried. Big greasy Taco Bell Meal. I have seen on many personal sites and pre-surgery pictures about the "last meal" and I wonder can one meal swell your liver? I have two days to clean this crap outta my system, Magnesium Citrate here I come. Back in November my ultra sound revealed an enlarged fatty liver. He didn't say it was HUGE or anything like that he just said I needed to shrink it to give him more room to work.

I hope he doesn't get in there and decide he can't do the surgery because the liver is in the way. He said he would sew me back up and reschedule if it was too big. I wonder if the insurance would cover the extra cost? I guess I'll find out Monday, today I have other things to worry about, like what if I don't make it. I am writing a letter to each of the people in my life to be given to them after I pass away. I wonder if I could just call them and tell them or just go see them? Maybe it would be best said in person.
I don't know, seems a little dramatic for me, or maybe look like I am fishing for sympathy.
I'll decide a little later.

I made the weight at the deadline, but I felt like i had a FLATLINE(i.e. dead) I felt awful. After much consideration I decided to move it to February to give me a little more time to get some more weight off.
Now, here it is the end of January and guess what? I am still where I was last month. procrastination, pure and simple. Have done it all my life.  I have this gut feeling(pun intended) two weeks before my surgery date I will be in a panic to get the las few pound off to be at an acceptable weight for the Doctor to go ahead and dig in.

I have been scheduled for the 9Th of December, 2008. I got a scare at the office today, it seems the 10% of my excess weight to lose was not from the beginning but from the day I had my consultation with the surgeon. I had already way passed my 10% from my highest weight and was coasting. I had not lost a pound since I met with the doctor. His assistant told me that he may put it off, and since they are full the rest of the month that would mean January or February. That would cost me an extra $2000.
The insurance where I work isn't really insurance it is a great big pool of everyone's premiums managed by Blue Cross/Blue Shield. if we have a good year and not much happens we get a lowered premium the next year. If we have a bad year it goes up. Well, next year they have decided to lower everyone's premiums, but up our deductible and Maximum out of pocket, while lowering the amount they will pay from 80% to 75%. On a $20K surgery that would mean a total of $5500 would come out of my pocket. Thank God and Momma for inheritance.
So Doctor Ray tells me he will give me a chance. If I drop 20 pounds by the 8Th he will go ahead. if not, I am out of luck. He was truly disappointed.
I will lose 20 pounds by December 8Th with a liquid protein diet and massive cardio. 6 hours a day of bike riding, weight lifting and swimming. Every bit of my waking hours out side of work and commute will be spent exercising, and I have bought a little peddle-under-the-desk thingy to move on while I am at work, along with the grip strengthener and dumbbell I have for wrist curls.

My insurance approved the surgery after the first letter. 4 days after the first letter. In fact, I was just calling to make sure it had been received when they advised me it was approved.
Now the hard part... getting it scheduled. My employer wants me to wait until the 22nd or the 23rd of December or even the 30th because we are shorthanded and we are losing one to training. I called the office to see about this and was told they were booked up. Damn. Now if it goes into January it will cost me an extra $2000 because of changes in our coverage, deductible and co-pay. It nearly took an act of Congress to get everyone at work to agree to let me off the last two weeks of the month because I have no sick time left and haven't been there long enough to qualify for FMLA. The person who does the insurance at my surgeon called back to say the 9th of December was the only opening in December but she was begging the Doctor to come in extra and do it on the 30th. Much to my surprise it may be OK for me to have it on the 9th, we only have to get the OK of the big boss.
We shall see.

After I found out my nephews band had actually ruptured instead of him eating his way past it i decided to investigate a little further. I found out if it goes bad you are out of luck. No free replacement guarantee, no warranty.
I have decided to take another serious look into just having the RNY done. The last thing i want it to go troughall this for naught.

Two more tests and a final weigh in and it's all over but the bleeding. Ha!  I am so ready to get this underway. I have done well on the pre-op diet losing 38 pounds so far but I can tell it's slowing down already.
I have decided to go with the band instead of RNY. Ten people where I work have had WLS, 7 banded, 3 RNY. all 7 have lost most of their weight and are maintaining, all of the RNY'ers have lost a lot but are gaining quite a bit back.
You can stretch that pouch but you can't stretch the band.

I attended a seminar in Maryville for the foothills weight loss center, and Drs Ray and Colquit. I got there early and had a chance to get to know Dr Ray before the seminar. What a great guy. It's amazing when you meet someone and know instantly you have made a friend, he is that kind of personality. All of the folks I met were great, and unlike the experiences I have had in Johnson City and  Knoxville, the whole staff  seemed genuinely interested in helping me. You really know they care.
The support group meeting after the seminar was great too, a lot of very, very nice people.
I know I have made the right choice. 

I found out yesterday that Blount Memorial Hospital has now been approved as a "Blue Distinction Center for Bariatric Surgery"  so I won't have to drive 2 hours to Johnson City, Maryville is just a skip, hop and a jump from Oak Ridge.
I am attending their mandatory seminar on Thursday night. I have been to four of these things and they are always the same wit every surgeon, but you have to start with this.
The other Bariatric surgeons group in the Knoxvlle area is also now a Blue Distinction Center,  but the surgeons command a $3000 "program fee" that the insurance won't pay for. What this "program fee" covers is a nutritionist (which the hospital provides free of charge in Johnson City) exercise specialist visits (which are also free in Johnson City) and one month's payment on his new Lexus (I am kidding, but you get the point)
I know those folks cost money but the office and the hospital are already getting upwards of $25,000 you would think they would understand that most people who are in this condition have a hard time just making a living.  I have a hard enough time just covering the deduct able and the out of pocket expense ($3-4000.00) without having to come up with another 3 grand on top of it. "Get a loan or borrow from your relatives' was the reply when someone else at the surgery seminar asked. Easy for you to say.
So Thursday night I will find out if I will get soaked by the doctors in Maryville. I guess I could pay the loan payments with the extra cash I will have from not buying a lot of food.

Part of me feels like I am giving up and taking the easy way out, and part of me knows this is the only option. As most everyone here has, I have tried about everything out there except having my jaw wired shut (Hmmmm...now there's an idea!), and so far nothing has brought lasting results. I went through l of the pre-op stuff in Johnson City right up to the final approval from insurance but backed out because I felt I had not given it my best shot and my fiance' talked me into trying some TV diet. A year later I am Single again, heavier by a few pounds and fed up with it all (sound familiar?).
I hope I do not have to go through all of the pre op testing again, I got all of my records from the other surgery office, but when they told me I would have to attend another free seminar even though I went to one of theirs13 months ago, (I must have attended within a year or less) it didn't sound like I would be able to save any money. We shall see.