Start at the Beginning
by
, 07-12-2018 at 04:33 PM (2039 Views)
Hello,
Yesterday was interesting going in for the gastric sleeve consultation and ending up with a tentative surgery date of late September/early October. My friend said that it took 7 months to do her surgery. I was expecting 7 months to prepare for the life change; now I have 3. I don't know what I thought I would really do in the 7 months - perhaps lose all the weight, diabetes, blood pressure, get fit and not need the surgery? - perhaps binge eat out of anxiety even though I am not a big binge eater?
I am beginning to get more settled with the target surgery date. Why wait 7 months or 5 years or the next health crisis? The only hope is to make a real change and use the 3 months to prepare myself.
Some things I am doing:
> Baritastic app - using to track everything
> Plant Nanny app - using to track water
> Bariatric timer app - using to time when I can eat and drink so I start doing them separately
> Watch Me Eat app - slow down my eating process so that I chew everything well
> Preparing my food for the next day the night before - prevents me having to lose time in the morning
> Focusing on 30 minute exercise daily goal - could only do 10 minutes on the elliptical this morning. Will do more tonight. I cannot believe that I have gotten this out of shape since my knee injury last year.
> Deciding what 4 bites to take first to get ready for post-surgery meals
> Monitoring my blood sugar better thanks to Freestyle Libre (not an ad) and not having to stick my finger since I wasn't doing it anyway due to the pain.
> Reading, reading, reading - longevity after surgery, diabetes after surgery, 1st days after surgery, meal plans, product review, . . . .
I haven't told my husband yet about my appointment yesterday. I am not afraid to tell him because I know he will support me, but I am not ready for this to become the whole focus of our lives. I know I will have to tell him soon because they want him to come to the next meeting at the end of July.
I feel less shameful after the meeting yesterday. I learned that the surgery is a "disease treatment" for the diseases of diabetes and high blood pressure (metabolic syndrome). I learned that the diabetes would be over because the hormones and things that cause it are in the part of the stomach that is removed. I still don't have my head wrapped around that concept yet so I will continue to read online. Just the prospect of not having strokes caused by diabetes makes the surgery worth it. I could care less about appearance and even the weight loss. I just don't want to have strokes like my sister (at least 2) because of diabetes. Or lose my eyesight which is worsening, or my kidneys . . . . The only things I really want the weight loss for is to save my knees if possible, but I know that will only happen if I do the exercise to strengthen everything.
This is all a lot to take in. I am glad I found gastricsleeve.com so that I can read real experiences and hopefully have support.