So, as per my white knuckled blog earlier this morning, I have been and survived my first appointment to see Dr Couch. I'm booked and ready to go. My date is 29th May......a month tomorrow and I'm officially a bandit. HOLY CRAPPOLA!.... (cue nervous tummy again!!). To be honest it was all very straightforward and as far as voluntarily booking myself in for surgery goes, I'm slowly coming to terms with it. (I do want this very, very much, so why am I freaking out all of a sudden? Can others let me know their thoughts, was it the same for you after you booked your date?) I was trying to work out earlier why I had been so nervous about this appointment in the first place. I think it's because anything I have undergone surgery wise before has been in the "I HAVE TO DO THIS, THERE'S NO CHOICE" box, whereas this is totally of my own doing. Even as I sit here and write this I feel jittery and not quite sane lol (guess that's not really unusual though, I feel like I live my life in a "not quite sane" state of mind almost all the time.) One thing I did find out is Dr Couch is much better when you get him one on one. At the seminar I went to almost a week ago, he seemed very shy and quiet, but I figure he is one of those people who just dont like public speaking. This time, with just me there, he was totally up front, answered all my questions in a precise and calm(ing) manner (I'm trying to say in a long winded way, I liked him and I feel he's going to do a great job) - and so according to him my port will be just above my belly button, and I am getting a Inamed (hope I spelled that right) band with a 10 ml fill capacity and should expect in 12-18 months to lose around 20-22 kilos ...according to the average person of my height and weight (I hope that in 12 months I manage to lose more, because that doesnt actually seem like much. Do any of you agree with that?) Anyway, all in all it was an informative appointment, I'm up for a 2,300 dollar bill payable of next week and I have to start opti on the 8th of May.... for get this .... three weeks!! How come I do three whereas most others do two? Again, opinions people!.... please, lol especially if you are on of Dr Couchs' patients. (Maybe I'm Super Hefty!! sigh... there goes that self image again lol.)
Two other quick things. I finished my appointment with Dr Couch, and as I'm walking out the double doors of the hospital, the lovely lady behind the counter draws me aside. "S'cuse me dear," she says. "Not sure if you know this, but you have your top inside out." I give a squeak and a hurried thanks and rush into the ladies to rectify this problem. Then I go over to our shopping centre to do a bunch of jobs that need seeing to - one of these buying a little makeup... what a hardship lol ..not!!, come home, unpack and EEEEK!! My shirt is NOW inside out, and I have been walking around the shops like this for the better part of an hour and a half. OMG OMG lol. Does losing my mind full stop that I didnt slow down and check this in the first place ring a bell?
The other thing is.. (well this is cute, not really news) is for the past few months, as I drop my third son off to high school in the morning, my baby (whos almost 9) and I have been marking the progress of the new cinema being built across the way. Yesterday, he mentions to me that the cinema is going to be called Big Cinemas. I laughed but didnt correct him as I guess this is a good a name for a new movie complex as any. This morning as we do the same route again I feel a tug on my sleeve... "Seeee Mummy, its Fat Cinemas," he says. I smiled and said, "You said Big cinemas yesterday," and as I look across the lot to where the concrete monstrosity is going up (it's probably only 2/3 the way finished) I see in HUGE HUGE lettering across the top on two sides BROAD. (This is the name of the construction company!!) I was laughing all the way to dropping him off to his own school. Well, at least he had it in the right context. Theres a great name for our Morbidly Obese poll.. We are BROAD!!!
Ciao for now
Cara x
I didnt really get nervous once I got my date. It didnt seem real to me I guess that I was going to have it done. I also am very good at putting things out of my mind and living in denial...:) I didnt get nervous until I got to the hospital for the day of surgery (you know...the death thing). Once or twice I think I started freaking myself out by thinking what if I can never eat the same again..but you will see that you can still have the same foods, just not as much.
ReplyDelete3 weeks on pure liquids? When you say Opti what do you mean? All docs are different for sure. I was on liquids for 2 weeks presurg and then 1 week after. The best thing about it is that you will lose a good amount of weight. Just dont think it will always be like that, bc when you start to return to actual food, your weight will slow or stop for just a bit.
Congrats! It will be here before you know it and then you will officially be a bandster.
Hey Amy :)
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough for me its not the food issue... I always figured I would be able to eat what my family eats only much much less (at least in theory.) I think I'm worried that - again - I might fail at this like so many times before. It just doesn't seem real to me yet. As for Opti (I should have explained this one better) I mean Optifast.. a series of shakes and bars and soups we here in Oz are put on leading up to the day of banding - to shrink the liver. I guess you guys do it with liquids. Thanks for the vote of confidence too. Appreciate it :)
Hiya Cara,
ReplyDeleteI think you left a comment on my blog before you had started yours but I found a comment of yours on Tracey's blog and well here I am. Sounds a bit stalkerish doesn't it!
Re the optifast - I think different docs have a different attack. My surgeon wasn't fussed if we did it or not (my boyfriend was banded with me) but we chose to do it for 2 weeks anyway.
Good luck!
Em :)
Cara,
ReplyDeleteThe liquids really help your liver to flush and diminish in size which helps with the surgery. It isn't in the way. Do as he says and you will feel much better. I was asked to do 7 days of liquids but did two weeks because of the information my nutritionist had given me. I, too, was very nervous when I finally made the decision. I was afraid I would fail again like so many other diets. It is so worth it. You won't regret the decision.
Hi Cara,
ReplyDeleteI was told to go on a liquid diet for two weeks, but she also told me that the longer I'm on it before surgery, the better off I will be. So I opted to do three weeks and lost 18lb pre-surgery... so do as much as you can, it ain't for long.
I didn't really get nervous, or at least I didn't think I was, until I read back over my comments on a WLS forum. I think cos there are so many out there who have had surgery and who big up the band, we forget that we are actually having an operation. And I think in the back of our heads we know this and it is a bit scary. I came to terms with it really quickly, by chatting to others and asking lots of questions. I even fell asleep for an hour before surgery, my husband told me he almost had to wake me up cos they needed to take my blood pressure! I had a moment of 'OMG! what have I done' which quickly turned into 'hell, if I don't wake up I ain't gonna know nothing about it' - but I think it's normal to worry about our own mortality. So keep chatting, ask all the question you can and ask even those that you may feel a bit stupid asking.
You will soon begin to feel like 99% of us. The band is the best decision I have ever made.
:o)
xx
Girls,
ReplyDeleteI cannot thank you enough for your kind words! Everything you say is just affirmation that I'm definetely doing the right thing.. I do know it... Maybe its just the great unknown. I woke up excited today, and Im even looking forward to going on optifast which happens in a week... WT! lol