I've decided to start blogging my journey to rebirth as a single, non-smoking, height-weight proportionate mother of three. I'm an experienced blogger, but want this blog to focus on my process of re-inventing my body and mind, following many years of deferred maintenance.
I'm Julie. I'm 40 years, 9 months and 16 days old. Very shortly after my 41st birthday, in January 2011, I plan to have a sleeve gastrectomy. I'm lucky, because this is a covered benefit of my health insurance.
To recap my process thus far:
1) On September 28th, I attended an information session for bariatric surgery through my local hospital. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but what I found was myself and another potential patient and a very kind surgeon who sat and answered my questions until I ran out.
2) September 30th, I met with the surgeon in his office to discuss my specific issues relating to bariatric surgery. I'll recap this discussion in a separate post; right now I'm just building a timeline. The surgeon sent me off on a scavenger hunt of related appointments and tests, brief descriptions of which follow.
3) October 6th: Dropped by the hospital and had extensive blood work done, as well as a chest x-ray and EKG.
4) October 7th: I met with the nutritionist at the hospital. This was the first of several visits before and after the surgery.
5) October 7th, still: Attended my first bariatric surgery support group meeting. Much more on this later.
6) October 12th: Delayed by a traffic accident and missed my appointment with a psychologist to get a mental health screening to assess my mental well-being for the surgery.
7) October 14th: Met with the Sleep Disorder Clinic doctor as a prelude to an overnight sleep study to see if I, like many morbidly obese people, have sleep apnea.
8) October 15th: Genuinely forgot it was my ex-husband's birthday when he stopped by to leave something for the kids. Can this be a sign of moving on? Also, there was a cancellation at the sleep study, and I was able to get in for a sleep study that night! More on this later.
9) October 16th: QUIT SMOKING!!! Had my first accupuncture appointment related to my decision to quit smoking. Smoked my last cigarette at 8:15 a.m.
10) October 19th: Had that appointment with the psychologist that I originally missed. Seemed to pass myself off as a relatively normal, well-adjusted person. No mean feat, considering this was the same clinic I visited when I was going through my divorce and its aftermath!
11) October 20th: Follow-up accupuncture appointment for quitting smoking.
12) October 20th, still: Ooops - the Sleep Disorder Clinic doctor does not like the results of my blood tests. He sends me for additional blood work. Much more on this later!
13) October 21st: Attended a Hypnosis to Quit Smoking class at the hospital. No, I am still not smoking, but I need to arm myself with all the weapons I can get in this particular battle!
14) October 25th: Had my follow-up appointment at the Sleep Disorder Clinic to discuss the results of my sleep study and my blood work.
15) October 26th: Am about to make myself late for another accupuncture appointment for quitting smoking while I work on this blog timeline.
16) October 27th: Ooops, yes, I have sleep apnea! Going in for a second overnight sleep study to get fitted and calibrated for a CPAP machine.
17) October 28th: Finally! A second appointment with my surgeon to go over all these appointments and tests I've been doing!
18) Crud. Somewhere in here, I forgot to list my first appointment with the physical therapist. Again, this is the first of several appointments pre- and post-surgery.
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