And so it begins...

This hereby begins my gastric bypass journal. Today was really the first step. I went in for my first surgical consultation today. I will be getting a laparoscopic Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass. Beware: there is a really weird looking cartoon naked fat chick when you follow this link. It's alittle disturbing.

I really like the physician's asst. Her name is Lynda. She was so thorough and she answered all my questions. She was reassuring but at the same time she was realistic. She really went through everything about before, during and after with me. Lynda said I would have to lose approx. 17-18 pounds befor emy next appointment with them, so 6-8 weeks from now. I can so do that. I can honestly say that there wsn't a second when I doubted this was what I should be doing.

My surgeon's name is Dr. Campos. He was... well.. a surgeon. he wasn;t very friendly but I guess i don;t need him to be. i need him to be a really good surgeon. He has done 250 operations - 75% of them have been laparoscopic. From what i read about him online, he seems to be pretty freakin' amazing. He went through explaining everything Lynda had pretty much already told me, except he had a little flip chart with pictures. He was much sterner with me - almost accusatory - but that might have just been me seeing the difference between him and lynda.Dr. Campos told me I need to lose 15 pounds by the time I am in again. Easier than 17 or 18. I will lose as much as I can though. It's not like I am only trying to aim for that! The more I lose, the easier the surgery will go. There is a layer of fat that surrounds the liver and other internal organs when you are fat. I carry my weight in my middle so my fat there is even more than other people's. If I don’t lose enough weight/fat there, there is a 5% chance that they would have to do an open surgery instead of laparoscopic and i so don’t want that. Laparoscopy means i will only have several holes to scar rather than a huge vagina lookin' gash down my middle.

I got a list of tests and evaluations I will have to get done so that i can have surgery. i know I have already had some of the blood tests done in the last year plus I just got a chest xray so that will all be fine. I was supposed to go in a see dr. desai on the 19th but i got a call today that they are canceling my appt. so now I have to call and beg to get an earlier one. i am sure she will try to get me in sooner - I hope! I emailed her today letting her know that I will have to do all this stuff - i think i will email again to tell her I got cancelled.

After meeting with Dr. Campos, I met with Rekkha. She is the admin who will be helping me with any insurance issues I might have. i am so glad they will be dealing with that. I was so not wanting to have to deal with calling the insurance company and everything.

So once I get all my tests done and they get approval, I go back in to meet with Dr. Campos and Lynda again and i get my surgery date. Lynda said that the date they give me should be within 4 weeks of that appt. I can try and get one in December instead if there s one open. i am just going to try and get the soonest one, I think. I just don’t want to wait anymore.I want this to all begin. I want to start getting healthy. I have been waiting for this for so freakin' long. I want to be normal. I want boys to check out my profile and like/dislike me for reasons other than that I am fat. i don’t want to have to scan profiles to see if they will date "full figured" girls before i consider them. It is shitty. Makes me feel bad, ya know? I should get to be picky. I should have the choices - we should all have choices. I am just sick of picking from a puddle instead of a pool.

Well, here's to a new beginning. I will keep writing as things develop. am hoping to keep this going through the whole procedure - good and bad. Wish me luck, kids. Maybe I will start my own website. :)