LosingLola
My timeline thus far
Aug 24, 2014
I am so ready for this!! I met with my surgeon, Dr. Dutta at Kaiser Fremont, on Friday. He gave me the magic number that I need to lose for surgery, and it wasn't as bad as I expected. The great news is that I was already partially done just from following the nutritionists advice for the prior 4 days. Here's the gist, along with a general timeline:
I emailed my PCP on 7/8 to inquire about my WLS options. She referred me for sleep apnea testing at that time as well as the WLS Intro Seminar.
On 7/28, I had my sleep apnea education class and was sent home with a monitor to wear overnight. I got the results back on 8/5 which included a diagnosis of mild sleep apnea. No big surprise there.
On 8/7, I attended the WLS Intro Seminar as a referral prerequisite. The class was in the morning, so I scheduled an afternoon appt. with my PCP to ask for the referral. I didn't find the class to be greatly informative, but I know others in the room did. I guess my mini-obsession with WLS has resulted in me being fairly well informed. I'll take it as a win.
My highest weight recorded was at my PCP's office on 8/7: 258.9 lbs. She gave me the referral to bariatrics with no issues, but did want me to get new labs done.
First thing 8/8, I called the bariatrics dept. in Fremont to get on the calendar for orientation. To my surprise, the next available was 8/14 so I had them put me down for it.
8/11 I completed my labs. The phlebotomist left me with a horrible bruise and I found out that I am pre-diabetic. Again, no big surprise.
8/14, I attended the WLS Orientation at Fremont bariatrics. It was very informative, with presentations from both a surgeon and nutritionist. I weighed in at 258.5 that day.
8/18, I started logging my food and paying close attention to my calorie intake using MyFitnessPal. Also started practicing chewing each bite 30 times. It takes me forever to eat that way, and I find that I am satisfied with far less food.
8/22, weighed in at 254.0. I met with my assigned surgeon (Dr. Dutta), the nutritionist, and the coordinator. The nutritionist was very happy with my progress and my loss thus far. Dr. Dutta was great - he went over how much he wanted me to lose before surgery. He started saying 20 lbs but then did some rounding to my advantage. Basically, he wants me down to 240.0. I have to call in every 3-4 weeks to record my weight, diet, exercise, and support group info. Once at 245, I have a quiz to return from the WLS binder they gave and I have to mail that back. It is then that I will be placed on the wait list for the therapy appt. Once that is cleared, my file will be sent to Dr. Dutta for him to green-light me to be scheduled. They said the calendar is running around 4-6 weeks out for surgery, which will allow time to lose the last 5 lbs. When I am at goal, I have to get that weight recorded by my PCP.
I weighed in this morning and was down another 3.5 lbs. from Friday. That leaves me only another 5.5 to lose before I can get on the calendar for the psych clearance. I am over the moon excited!!
On a related note, my daughter had her first ever gymnastics meet yesterday. It was longer than expected and we ended up eating out twice. I used MyFitnessPal to figure out the least offensive options and stayed within my target calories. Even better, my daughter placed 4th on bars for her age group! I was so happy for her. We went to Applebee's for dinner and I ordered the Thai shrimp salad - it was delicious and at 390 calories was within plan. I wanted to order a soda so badly to help with a mild headache I was working on, but I hadn't had one in almost a week and am trying hard to not have liquid calories. The small wins are adding up.
I started out hoping for surgery this year and I looks like it should happen for me. Dr. Dutta is leaning toward VSG for me which is where I have been leaning as well, so that was great news, too.
Whew, that was a long update but best to record it all or I will forget. Taking measurements and before photos today. Not looking forward to that, but I know how important it can be to have that to look back on during a stall.
