Pre-Op and Two Week Count Down

Yesterday, Labor Day, made exactly 2 weeks before surgery.  I don't know how to verbalize how excited I am about this.  One of my sisters tried explaining to me that I wasn't excited about the surgery itself, but rather where I expect to be weight-wise 6 months down the line.  She's wrong.  I am excited to physically feel the effects of having 85% of my stomach removed.  I'm excited at whatever comes my way as a result of having this surgery.  Will there be pain?  Yes.  Will there be frustration?  Yes.  Will it be difficult and challenging?  Yes.  BUT...you know what?  It's painful, frustrating, and challenging to be 190 lbs overweight.  The difference is that the pain, frustration, and challenge associated with having this surgery will cut down on the pain, frustration, and challenges I face as a morbidly obese woman.

I haven't been as diligent as I have wanted to be in trying to get some weight off pre-op.  Part of the problem is that my surgeon only requires a 3-day diet.  Since I am a good rule follower, I keep hanging onto that and I will no doubt be the best 3-day dieter he has ever seen.  BUT, alas...that's not good enough.  Almost everybody on the forum I've joined has at least a 2 week pre-op diet, so starting today I'm pretending my surgeon does, too.  It will only benefit me in the long run.  What does this mean?  Well, I will be drinking a protein shake for breakfast and another one for lunch or dinner.  The lunch or dinner I don't consume a shake, I will be eating soup.  I will allow myself snackage, though.  I can have sugar free pudding, jello, and popsicles.  I'm even thinking about going cRaZy and exercising a bit up to surgery day.  I will have an extra protein shake or a low fat/low sugar Greek yogurt to compensate.  I'm also going to religiously track on Myfitnesspal.  Oh and let's not forget about maintaining my hydration.

I had my pre-op appointment today at the hospital.  It took FOREVER.  Basically I had to go over all the paperwork acknowledging this, that, and the other thing.  While reviewing the first document, I noted they had me down for the wrong operation.  That was a little troublesome, but it got squared away before I left.  I did have to have an EKG, a chest xray, blood drawn for metabolic, glucose, and iron testing, along with the usual vitals.  Then I got to meet with the bariatric coordinator for the hospital.  She is super awesome and I liked her right off the bat.  She gave me a notebook with all the info I will need from my pre-op doctor mandated diet through my surgery and on into recovery and the various stages of eating.

The good news is that I have done so much research that I knew everything she told me with exception to some of the details relating to my hospital stay.  The bad news is that I will literally not be allowed one morsel of food or one sip of water from 12 midnight before my surgery until the next morning AFTER my surgery.  They will provide me with a flavored sponge to provide moisture to my dry mouth and they will allow me to gurgle and spit out water.  That next morning following my surgery, my first sleeved drink will be (insert drum roll)....barium.  yay.  not.  Yes, I shall have to do a barium swallow to show that I don't have any leaks.  It is my understanding that barium is mcnasty, but eh....all part of the process.  I will have to go my first walk 4 hours post op and then they will come around to take me for a walk every 1.5 to 2 hours after that for two reasons.  Number one it is to avoid blood clots and secondly it is to help move the gas around and out since they fill the stomach full of gas for the procedure.

Following the pre-op at the hospital, I headed over to my surgeon's office.  While waiting to speak with him for the last time pre-op, I was able to talk to three recently sleeved ladies in the waiting room.  That was a pretty awesome experience!  Once I was pulled into the back, the pre and post op vitamin regimen was discussed and then I was asked what additional questions I have.

I had only consumed a 110 calorie protein shake for breakfast and didn't get to leave my 1:00pm pre-op business until 5:00pm.  Needless to say I WAS STARVED.  I headed to Pei Wei to get hot & sour soup to go and headed home.  I am slightly embarrassed to admit I did eat the 2 fortune cookies in the bag....not trying to make excuses, but I was operating off of fumes and was starting to get a pretty bad headache.  I'm proud to say, however, that I did log those two cookies into my food journal.  All in all, after my 2nd protein shake for the day, I only ended up 100 calories higher than what I was aiming for (1000), so I'm okay with that.  Tomorrow is a new day!