The Call

I was at work on Thursday, February 20th when I got a call from a nurse practitioner with Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield who told me that my surgery had been approved.   I was ecstatic.  She told me I would get an official letter in the mail and would need to fax that to the surgeon's office so they could schedule the procedure. 

A few days later I received the letter in the mail and called the doctor's office to make the arrangements.  We scheduled my pre-op appointment, testing and education class for Monday, March 17th since we were going to be home that weekend anyway for my niece's first birthday party.  My surgery would then take place the following Tuesday, March 25th and they would call me the day before to tell me the specific time.

My husband went with me on March 17th where I had to get an EKG, blood work and chest x-ray at the hospital to be cleared for surgery.  We then met with the surgeon who repeated the steps of the 30-45 minute surgery so that Spike could have a full understanding of what would happen while I was under. 

At that time, we also decided I would participate in a study they were doing where in addition to the lap band surgery, they would also fold over my stomach.  They had done this with over a hundred patients and the results had been very promising.  By folding the stomach over, you are making it smaller without actually cutting into it and you are securing the band in place better.  They have seen quicker weight loss, less band slippage and fewer adjustments that have to be made by simply folding the stomach. 

Once we met with the surgeon, we then attended a 90-minute education session where we went over the eight week diet for before and after surgery.  I'll share those requirements with you in later posts.  We also learned about chewable supplements that I would have to take for the rest of my life.  To be honest, my husband paid more attention than I did and also has been a stickler about taking my vitamins since I had my surgery. 

With the surgery:
 --You can no longer drink out of straws because air will get in and cause painful gas to go to your shoulders and back. 
--You should not have caffeine or as little as possible since that makes you feel hungry more often.  --You can't swallow any pills that are too big to fit in a straw. 
-- No alcohol for the first three months, but really you shouldn't even after that since it's a lot of calories with no value to the body.
-- And no carbonation!!  That means no soda, no beer, no CHAMPAGNE for my mimosas!  Oh the tragedy! :-) 

Once we left there, we knew what was needed to make this surgery and the outcome a success.  I had one last week to eat all the pizza and drink all the beer I wanted before I had to let it go forever.