There's only two more months before our gastric sleeve surgery and I'm more ready than ever! I've gotten way behind on my updates, so I'll this will be a long post! We've had to jump through so many exhausting hoops, so the nervousness is pretty much nonexistent now! My mom, Bonita, and I started our six-month insurance-required diet plan with our primary physician in January. She recommended that we stick to a low-carb diet (right smack-dab in the holiday season, so you imagine how well we did with that at first). February and March were both horrible failures on both of our parts, considering we both gained weight instead of losing. We were both in the middle of career changes, so I can't blame us for being a tad distracted. We were successful in cutting out cokes/diet cokes, but we still have to ween ourselves off carbonated water. I know....excuses, excuses! We're both doing well and on track now, so that's all that matters!In March, we had our first visit with the nutritionist at Vanderbilt and our required psychological evaluation with their shrink. The nutritionist's visit was very educational and made us both feel much more secure in knowing what to expect during our first month after surgery and on. Basically, here's a layout of the rules:
- No more carbonated beverages! After one year, you can let the coke go flat and give it a try.
- No more gulping down water. You have to stop drinking 30 minutes before a meal and not drink until 30 minutes afterwards. This is probably what I'm dreading more than anything!
- We have to get in 60 grams of protein in a day. This will be easier said than done, considering the fact that we can only hold about half a cup of food at a time.
- No more carbohydrates or refined sugar without the side effects of dumping syndrome.
- Liquid diet only for the first two weeks after surgery! Soft foods for the next two! This is to help us avoid dehydration while we deal with getting used to sipping instead of gulping.
There's tons of more rules that we have to follow, but that's pretty much the gist of it!
The meeting with the shrink was definitely the worst part so far, in my opinion. I probably didn't give her much of a chance, since I already have a bias against psychologist from childhood experiences. Needless to say, I'm not big on opening myself up to a stranger about touchy-feely stuff. Despite this, we still had a fairly interesting conversation. We reviewed my hunger triggers, whether or not I was an emotional eater, when I started my unhealthy relationship with food and so on. She had me also complete a cognitive test where I had to do a series of puzzles, word games and (the worst) math problems. I was beyond relieved to hear I'd passed and free to hit the road!
As of last week, we met with our sleep doctor to review our sleep study from a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, we were both diagnosed with severe obstructive sleep apnea and given a CPAP machine to treat it. Sexy, right?! I, of course, requested the nose-only mask when looking at my options. The doctor, of course, said we were both better off with the full face mask. Goose and Maverick, reporting for duty! We've both tried it out every night and, even though we go to bed with it on, we both wake up with it folded neatly on the table. Ha! I have to admit that I do sleep better now, but it has taken practice. According to the sleep doc, the weight loss should help us with our sleep apnea so that we may not even need the CPAP in the future.
Our next step is to have a upper/lower GI completed and the surgery actual scheduled. I don't have to have a lower, thankfully, but the Vanderbilt doctor recommended the upper for me to check for acid reflux damage. He's absolutely convinced we should both do the gastric bypass, but we refuse. There's too many risks of malnutrition and I don't want to be sick to be skinny. This is going to be a new, fresh start for a healthy lifestyle.
We've watched so many Youtube videos, looked up recipes, created Pinterest pages and shopped for our future skinny clothes. Any surgery is risky, but I'm beyond ready for this new chapter in both of our lives. I'm excited for what it means, health-wise. I see myself kayaking, rock climbing, white-water rafting and making a lot of new friends. I'm not doing this for vanity--I'm doing this to live life to the fullest!
