Shrunk

Today was my first "official" appointment at the Weight and Wellness Center at Tufts New England Medical center. My application was accepted, and the first appointment you have is with a a shrink to make sure you're sane enough to go through the operation and skip the part where you end up with debilitating, life threatening eating disorders.

Dr. R was pretty surprised at how much I already knew, what to expect, which surgery I was leaning towards, which in my case is the Gastric Sleeve or the Sleeve Gastrectomy (you say potato, I say potato).

There are 3 major gastric surgeries..I'll try to make em' short and sweet. Thankfully, all are now a'days done lapriscopically so I won't be filleted like a fish.

1. The Gastric Bypass
 This surgery divides the stomach into a small upper pouch and a much larger lower "remnant" pouch and then re-arranges the small intestine to connect to both. This was the surgery that I had been considering the longest. While it has the upside of rapid weight loss, there is a major down side of malnutrition and a mortifying thing called "dumping" where if your body encounters sugar, it either makes you hurl it up or exit.. other ways.. because your intestines are simply not built to handle undigested sugar and other things.

2. The Lap Band or Gastric Banding
 This surgery is mostly intended for someone who is overweight, but not so much that they need a permanent life-long solution. It is an inflatable silicone device placed around the top portion of the stomach, intended to slow consumption of food and thus the amount of food consumed. As I mentioned, it's for someone who doesn't have a lot to lose, but who is struggling to lose it on their own. It also happens to be reversible.

3. Gastric Sleeve
 With this procedure, the stomach reduced to about 25% of its original size, by surgical removal of a large portion of the stomach, following the major curve. The open edges are then attached together (often with surgical staples) to form a sleeve or tube with a banana shape. The procedure permanently reduces the size of the stomach. The pro's of this are that your body is still able to digest sugars and all of the regular foods you used to eat, except that you can only eat about 20% of them. Should you go to far, your body will tell you that you've made a terrible mistake, usually resulting in some pain, and most likely hurling. I've been reading a lot of blogs written by ladies who've gone through this. From what I understand, it's not a mistake you'll make many times. The other part (that I see as a pro) is the part of the stomach that is removed, is the part that signals to your brain "HEY! Go eat something!!", So you're not feeling hungry all the time. Also, less malnutrition.

As you can see, the more you read up and read about other's experiences, #3 is my winner.

Back to my shrink.. She was surprised about how much knowledge I'd racked up, the research, and how much work I was trying to put in already. To tell you the truth, I'm a little surprised myself. She asked a lot of questions about family. Parents of course. Talking about my mom made me cry. I talked a lot about how I couldn't keep up with my friends and the activities that I used to really love. Saying it out loud made it much more real. When you see a group of your friends go off hiking, it's easy to tell yourself "Meh, I'd rather stay here and read by the fire anyways." rather than say aloud "I can't keep up with you because I'm too heavy".

Do you know that I actually did the math.. With the extra weight I carry, it would be like an average person carrying 21 gallons of milk around with them all day? (a gallon of milk is roughly 8lbs divided by 175.. that's 21.87) Could you imagine that? Yet sometimes I still get called lazy.

Dr. R finished up our session by telling me that she was happy I was here to make changes, and how about we get some appointments set up. I'll see her again in a month, but between them, I'll see a new nutritionist, who I am sure I could never adore like I do Hillary Wright. (I am going to have to work very hard to keep an open mind about that one.) The next appointment I'll have is something called an "Immersion Day" where I will spend a Monday from 9-3:30 learning about everything that I might not know. Then in that same week, I'll meet with the surgeon who I'm told is very sensitive to women who have PCOS. Then, once I complete those appointments, I'll go through them all over again. All while trying to lose 10% of my current body weight to prepare my body for surgery and healing.

Did I also mention that they are going to spear my wrist to get to the artery that is deep in between my wrist bones, along with LOTS of endless blood work (TWELVE VIALS)? With the wrist thing, they have to get to the artery to test something having to do with oxygen in your blood so they know your body can handle the anesthesia. Really, I don't hear "blood work" or "pre-admission testing" I hear "murder and torture you to death with needles that are going to go into your veins and freak you the F%$# out". My eyes are brimming with tears just considering it. 3 major fears in life.. clowns, spiders, and needles. If I had to think about choosing which of those I'd rather deal with.. I'd probably spoon a clown while wearing a tarantula hat before I'd really consider letting someone harpoon my wrist with a garden hose. That's a hurdle I'm going to need some help with.

Right. It's a heck of a lot of work, but if I don't get through it, then life won't change and I'd continue farther down my current unhealthy path.

Anyone want to go hiking, biking or swimming this spring? ;)


Until next time..