I went to my first surgeon/nutritionist appointment Friday. I was a little nervous because of the whole Psychiatrist thing. However, after weighing in (and being completely embarrassed about my weight - 184.00)...I met the surgeon. He's this jolly guy who is a bit roundish and had big rough hands. When he shook my hand he looked right in my eyes....and I respect someone for that. I'm awful at it. We sat down, he explained risks and benefits of the surgery and I asked him a few questions. He was straight forward and honest and I can't tell you enough how awesome that was for me. I was reassured when he left the room and had me wait for the nutritionist.
The nutritionist is a older woman who has an easy smile. Her name is Ellen and either way I'm going to get to know her very well so I may as well like her. She makes it easy. She explained that the goal of my pre-surgery program was to lose 1/2 pounds a week until the surgery or about 5 percent of my weight which comes to 14 pounds. She is having me keep a daily food journal (which I will start Wednesday because I have to fast tomorrow from noon on for my Endoscopy [info coming later]) I think I'll probably use FitnessPal since I am familiar with it. She also gave me this Calorie King book that lists just about every food in the world (including restaurants and ethnic eating) and its calorie and carb content. I also have to work on my exercise. Which right now is nonexistent. I was doing well until the summer and then I just gave up. I have to work my way back to this program. She wants me doing 150 minutes a week of cardio. Right now I can't imagine walking 20 minutes. But I'm going to do it. I want to dedicate myself to this. And also, I have to.....I have to change my life and my mindset. I'm lazy because I'm so overweight. Everything hurts when I walk or climb stairs. I have no idea how I got this way.....but self-pity isn't going to help.....doing something about it is. She'd like me to have as many veggies and fruits as possible and to eat no more than 4-5 times a day. And NO GRAZING!!! So I basically have to eat about 1200-1400 calories a day with exercise equaling about 150 minutes a week. (which honestly is nothing in comparison to what I used to do every morning)
At the end of the appointment with the nutritionist I sat down with the scheduler Bobbi (who ROCKS and is wicked funny). She got me into the next phase of my pre-surgery routine so quickly. Tuesday I am going to Fletcher Allen to have an Endoscopy and an Esophagram. The Endoscopy is an upper one and they will be giving me numbing meds for the back of my throat and then a heavy sedative for when the procedure will take place. They will put a scope (camera) down my throat and will show the surgeon images of the lining of my esophagus, stomach and upper duodenum. Of course I've read all the literature on it and am scared shitless. Honestly....I've worked myself up into a frenzy so that even Troy asking me how much the groceries were made me break into tears. The reason I'm having this is to see if I have a certain bacteria inside my stomach (they are taking a biopsy while they are in there) and to see if I have anything else that may become a complication during the surgery. I'm going to have an IV placed in me (yeah....another thing that sends me a bit into a frenzy) and the procedure goes like this: I will arrive, change into one of those ass showing gowns of embarassment. Then I will be asked to swallow a special type of paste that will numb my throat. This will help suppress the need to cough or gag when the endoscope is inserted. I will be given a combination of a sedative (for "relaxing") and a narcotic (for pain). I may insist they give me more of everything or I may have a panic attack. I'm high maintenance. I will have a mouth guard on to protect my teeth and the endoscope (I have a feeling the latter is more important to them) and then I will have to lie on my left side (no fucking idea why.) I guess the exam only lasts 5 minutes. Thank Freakin God. I'll have to wait to eat until after I get my gag reflex back (oh the inappropriate things I could say right now.) but I guess I don't have to worry about that because I am going right in to have an Esophagram. This is a test that looks at the throat going down into the stomach. I will have to drink 8 ounces of barium. This exam takes 30 minutes. More need of anxiety medication.
So tomorrow at noon I have to start fasting. I'm hoping I can just sleep most of the rest of the day after work tomorrow.....or I may kill someone. Hunger makes me homicidal.
:) That's the update. I'll write more after my experience Tuesday.
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