Chopstick_Chick
8 days until I leave for Mexico!!
May 18, 2014
So I did it! I'm finally doing this! My surgery is booked for May 29th with Dr. Aceves and I couldn't be more excited, or more scared! My mom and I leave for San Diego on May 27th, spend one night there at the airport hotel and then get picked up and taken to Mexico early on the 28th. I'll have my tests done that day and then spend the night in the hotel room included in our stay. My surgery will happen on the 29th!!! To be honest, I have no regrets about doing this, even this close to the date. I just recently had my 24th birthday and I was so happy to know this year, unlike so many years, that I had actually done what I set out to do the year before; to finally do something about my weight before my next birthday. My surgery hasn't actually happened, but it has been booked since the beginning of the month and knowing that made for the first truly happy birthday I have had since I turned 17. Knowing that for my 25th birthday I will be almost at my one year surgeversary and down, hopefully, into the 100's again for the first time since I was 11 or 12 years old made my day so joyful. Furthermore, I hope to be spending my 25th birthday on vacation in JAPAN!! A place I never thought I would be able to go because of my weight. I am so excited about traveling there with my brother now, knowing that I will not have to worry about fitting in chairs or train seats in a country developed for a much smaller average weight than North America. I'll still be standing out as a tall, pale, red-haired foreigner, but at least I won't have the embarrassment of being a "typical fat American." I'm Canadian, and plan to have a flag on my backpack proudly displayed, but when Japanese people see white people they instantly think "American" for some reason and they assume that most white people are fat -_-; But anyway I'm rambling.
I start my pre-op diet tomorrow. It will be straight protein, as few carbs as possible and liquids. I was a bit worried that I was not being put on the liquid diet like so many other people have been, but my instructions came straight from my doctor so I will follow them. The point is to shrink the liver with weight loss and as someone who has been on Atkins, I know that a week of no carbs can make you drop weight pretty fast. I think my first successful attempt at Atkins, where I lost 16 pounds total (my most ever lost on any diet I tried) I lost 10 pounds my first week. Even though the doctor said I can eat meat and other proteins that are low carb, I still plan on going totally liquid for the last three days before my surgery to help flush out my system. Not sure if this is a good plan or not, but I think it would help me lose even more weight and make my liver shrink a bit more than eating a solid diet would.
My mom has stocked her house (my "recovery" house,) where I will be spending my time off work with powerade, gatorade, soup broth and a bunch of protein shakes and powders. Also freezies and jello. I hate jello, but Maybe It will seem appetizing after I have been eating nothing but liquid day in and day out. I have also ordered the UNJURY starter kit and picked up a blender ball protein shaker. Multivitamin gummies, chocolate calcium chews and gas-X strips to take with us, and to have at home have also been added to my growing stockpile of supplies. I was wary about getting too much stuff beforehand, in case I come back and don't like some of the stuff I liked before I left. I'll keep posting as things they come up and as the date gets closer :)
