Sleep Study Overview..

Just a warning: There are some pretty funny (and embarrassing on my part) 

pictures about to come your way..  So enjoy!  :)

So, yesterday was supposed to be a great day.. I got to celebrate my BFF's birthday, I was off work, and I got to get my sleep study done.. I was excited!  Then I locked my keys in my car (for the 4th time in like 3 months), found out my brother and SIL have to move (possibly to ARKANSAS) by the end of the Summer, and remembered I wasn't able to take a nap at all..

By the time 8pm came by, which is when I was leaving my BFF's house, I was exhausted.. I had to check in by 8:15pm and I was there early.. with my highlighter pink VS bag and pillow under my arm.. lol

I wish I'd gotten a pic of my sleep study tech, but I'm pretty sure she wouldn't have been able to anyways.  But her name was Jenny, and she was super sweet.. kept talking to me about all sorts of stuff so it didn't get weird.. lol.. Here's my "before" picture:

Oh, and the room?!  I was expecting a little better than a normal private hospital room.. sure as hell was surprised when I walked into this..

The bed was pretty comfy, surprisingly enough.. lol.. and of course, I couldn't end the night without watching a little NASCAR.. lol

While I was watching TV, Jenny started to put on the nice little electrodes.. YAY (insert sarcasm here)!!  I looked FABULOUS!!  lmao..
 

OH, and here's the final picture.. I basically had tubes all around me, and had to call out when I had to pee.. lol.. 

But Jenny was super sweet and said that I needed to be asleep for at least 6 hours and that she'd wake me up a little before 6 because of shift change..  I got about 8 hours (thank GOODNESS!) and then had the fun task of taking off the lovely tape.. EEK!!  It wasn't that bad, but the electrode on the top of my head left a sweet little red mark on my scalp and then I saw these when I got out of the shower..  I LOOK LIKE I HAVE TONS OF HICKEYS, DAMN IT!!

That last pic is of the mark on my cheekbone where the tape irritated my skin.. lol.. just in case you are wondering..  Well, that's all folks.. I'm off to get ready for work..

Pinterest is AWESOME!!

Most of you probably have heard about Pinterest, right?!  

But have you TRIED Pinterest yet?? 

If you haven't, please leave me your email address in a comment and I will send you an invite.. bc it's seriously the most addicting website since Facebook.. and if you have, FOLLOW ME!  I will follow back.. :)

I can honestly spend hours on there just looking at stuff..  And while I've been looking at everything, I've been trying to find some recipes for smoothies bc once I get this surgery, I will be on a liquid diet for 4 to 6 weeks..  ick!

Double ick?!  I can't use straws!!  WHAT?!  Yeah, they say it allows too much air into your stomach, and in the beginning that isn't ideal bc you need to eat as much as you can.. But I've found several smoothie recipes on here, but I'm hoping some of you can help me out in a certain aspect..

What is the best TASTING protein powder??  

I am being told that I'm supposed to get between 70 to 90 grams of protein a day in the beginning..  and I can't imagine eating that much Greek yogurt (even though I'm sure I could with all the assorted Chobani flavors)..  So help a girl out, if you can.. 

Oh, and in case you have been paying attention, I will be blogging tomorrow about my sleep study that I'm doing tonight.. INCLUDING pictures of me all hooked up.. lol.. I'm hoping I can get all sorts of stuff, maybe a video??  Who knows.. but keep an eye out for it tomorrow.. :)

Have a great weekend!

First Bypass Appointment..

Well, this entry was supposed to be posted on Monday, but seeing as the Blogger app kept closing and deleting parts of my entry, it had to wait til today.. So here's all about my first Bypass appointment..

The appointment wasn't very informative, seeing as most questions were answered when my mom had the procedure done 2 years ago.. and it seems like not much has changed since then, at least with the surgery..

Here's what I did learn from the meeting:

 **  I will have 5 incisions (my mom only had 3 and one was in her belly button).. this might be only 4 if i have a normal liver size..
**  I have a BMI of 40, according to the height/weight scale..
**  I have to see a dietician AT LEAST 6 times before my surgery..
**  I get to have a sleep study done.. I'm looking forward to this, as I've had sleeping issues for a while..
**  All these meetings will have to take place before surgery.. and if certain things happen before that date, it'll be pushed back.. so I'm not allowed to do anything that involves steroids to fix it..

I have to see a bunch of people over the next 6 months too.. so my insurance is going to be working overtime for me.. lol

I have to make the following appointments:

** 6 dietary appointments
** a Psych consultation (that I've been told should take around 3 HOURS!!)
** a meeting with my surgeon
** an appointment with my primary doctor to get a letter from my doctor (not sure what this is supposed to say though)
** a sleep study (which is this Saturday, check out that entry for the AMAZING pics!)
** a Support Group meeting

And I also have to write a letter and get a letter from a person of support.. Again, I have no idea what these are supposed to say, but I'm sure that will be explained to me in the future..

My Psych consult and my sleep study appointments were made today.. My sleep study should be interesting, and my Psych consult is being done by my neighbor.. YAY !!  But that appointment is in the beginning of June.. I'm definitely going to call on Monday, if they don't call tomorrow, to make appointments with dietary..  and the support groups sound pretty fun, for support groups.. :)

I'm looking forward to all of this.. can ya tell??

Thinking About Surgery..

I've been thinking about this surgery since my mom got it 2 years ago..  but lately, since I've got the ball rolling, I've been thinking more about a different aspect of it:

How to document it!

After seeing Jen @ Prior Fat Girl's skin removal surgery pictures, I'm truly hoping I can get one of the nurses to take some pics of the robot they're gonna use and stuff like that.. I already know, if things go like they did with my mom, that they'll pull my excess stomach out through my belly button.. very Alien-esque (prolly the closest I'll ever come to comparing to Sigourney Weaver).. lol

But my original plan was to hopefully have this surgery by the middle of October.. but it's looking like it's gonna be sometime in November..  hopefully I will find out exactly at my first Dietary meeting on Monday.. Just to leave ya with a little picture in your head, here's a pic of the robot that will be used in my surgery..

This machine looks AWESOME!!  And it lessens the amount of internal scarring compared to laparascopically..  I seriously can't wait to get all these appointments scheduled and get my surgery scheduled..  Maybe I'll have the surgery on my 29th birthday.. lol.. who knows..

On another note, thanks to my increasing hours at my better job, I have gone down to 28 hours (2- 14 hour shifts) a week at the other job.. After the past two days, it was definitely an easy decision.. Plus, I'm working 5 days next week, and all but one are full 6-7 hour days..  Very exciting.. :)  Now, if only they would put me onto Full-Time with payroll, so I could save some extra money..

Happy Friday!!

Impatient..

I truly am too impatient..

Is it wrong to want to get all these "hoops" jumped through as quickly as possible??  I've been waiting 2 1/2 years to get good enough insurance to even think about the possibility of gastric bypass.. Now that I finally have it, I honestly don't wanna wait another day to get these appointments on my schedule.. 

Today I had to work at our community health fair.. and one of the booths was the Bariatric Center, and the Coordinator was there so I asked her how long it usually takes to get "things rolling" (seeing as my mom didn't have to do all the appointments 2 years ago) and she seemed confused that I hadn't been called yet.. So she said that she would have Dietary call me on Monday!  I'm so excited!

I keep telling myself that I am not to buy ANY clothes until I get this surgery.. It's a waste of money and time shopping for stuff that I will hate on my current shape anyways..  BUT I cannot seem to keep myself from looking at SHOES!  Seriously, Pinterest is my worst enemy.. lol

I love shoes!  I think most (not all) girls love some sort of accessories, right?!  But being 5'9", liking shoes (especially high heels) is sometimes uncomfortable..  and not because of the shoes but because of people's perceptions.. My mom calls me an Amazon when I try to wear high heels.. but seriously, what girl wouldn't LOVE to wear a pair of heels like the ones below?!

Aren't they beautiful?!  I want them so much!  But I'm pretty sure they'd make me like 6'2" and I'm gonna have to ease into 5" heels.. lol

Okay, I'm off to bed.. Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!  :)

I LOVE TO SHOP!!

Seriously, it is one of the few things I absolutely cannot do without..  But I don't love to shop for clothes (and I think most heavy people agree with me on this)..

I love to shop for anything HOME related..

And not just furniture or throw pillows.. I love to shop for hand soap, laundry detergent, body wash, towels, decorative things..  I kid you not, I have a huge stash stored away for when I move out.. Now before any criticism starts, I've only been doing this recently (since I thought I was going to move out in January) and have continued doing so since realizing I need to be out of my parents house by the beginning of next year..

I also only buy things (for the most part) if they are on sale.. Yes, people, I am a couponer.. BUT I am not an extreme couponer.. I just cut them out and then try to find good deals.. I will NOT go out of my way to go to a different store for something..

Why am I writing about this today?  Because today I went SHOPPING!!  And bought all sorts of goodies.. and by goodies I mean like toilet cleaner, some coloring books for my niece, some Triaminic, a shelf for the bathroom, a shovel (hey, it was $1), and a pink wooden tray.. With gift cards, my Shopkick rewards, and coupons I paid less than $2 OOP..  Seriously, that's happiness to me.. lol

Btw, if you don't know what Shopkick is (and you enjoy saving money), please click here.. It's a really great app that, even if you only use the coupons and don't do the scans, can save you tons of money.. Honestly, I've scanned my way to over $100 in free gift cards, not to mention how much I've saved thanks to special coupons available through it..  If you are interested in getting it, email me and I'll send you a link to get 50 "shopkicks" points to start out with.. if you live in/near a city with a mall in it, you will have no problem getting gift cards quickly.. 2500 "shopkicks" can get you a $10 gift card to places like Target, Best Buy, American Eagle, Toys 'R Us, or iTunes..  I mean, you can get "shopkicks" just for walking in (and then walking out if you want) of a store..

Okay, I'm done with that push.. lol.. I also FINALLY got to JoAnn Fabric.. and totally forgot to get the one thing I needed.. but I did finally return the filling from a quilt I was going to make and got $10.69 back from that.. So I'll go back and get it.. Eventually.. :)

Sitting here at work, having to stay mostly awake is hard, but having a laptop (thanks to my grandma being on vacay I am using hers) makes it easier..  So I'm off to read some blogs then hopefully finish Season 3 of Mad Men on Netflix.. There's another thing that makes me happy..

Bariatric Surgery Seminar

Well, as most of you know, last night was the first "official" step towards getting the sleeve gastrectomy done..  and boy was it weird..

Honestly, because my mom had the procedure almost 2 years ago (and I ask WAY too many questions anyways) I already knew most of what they told us.. However, the other bariatric options scared the crap out of me.. I told my mom as soon as I got home that no matter what, she is not to allow them to do anything with my intestines.. And while I don't think that will actually happen, because I only have the 100 lbs to lose, but you never know..

The seminar was 2 hours long, and it blew by.. they showed videos of what they do during the surgery, and Dr. Cooper, the main surgeon (I actually think he's the only surgeon) that does bariatric surgeries, answered questions.. they also had 3 people that had some form of bariatric surgery in the past.. One guy had lost 150 lbs in 3 months.. I was shocked!  and happy for him..

I was probably one of the thinnest people there.. and I'm wondering if the Bariatric Coordinator took me serious when I handed her my paperwork to get the ball rolling on this process..  I guess we'll see..

Did you know that while Medicaid/Medicare will pay for the Lap-Band surgery, they DO NOT cover the subsequent injections??  What the hell is wrong with our government?!  Seriously, why would you let someone get the Lap-Band then not cover the rest of the tools needed to help it work?!

Thankfully, my insurance is AWESOME!  and thanks to my newly implanted IUD, my $1250 deductible is taken care of.. so all of it should only cost me 10%..  which I realize is still going to be in the range of $15,000 to $20,000 at the end.. but it will be worth it..

Oh, keep an eye out for my entry tomorrow, if you want to see embarrassing pictures.. I made the mistake of taking "before" pictures.. and of course, I plan to post them on here.. because that is how much I despise this body.. lol

Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of my life..

Sounds cliche, but it is true.. Tomorrow at 6pm is my initial bariatric "info session".. this session will get the 6 month long trip to eventually getting my bariatric surgery.. :)  So hopefully by Christmas I will be in smaller clothing.. Hopefully by next Easter, I will be almost done losing..

I am surprised that I haven't had any bad comments since my "Decisions" post.. honestly, I figured someone would say something unsupportive, but I am happy to see that most of you are supportive of this decision..  AND I DIDN'T LOSE ANY FOLLOWERS!!!  That makes me the most happy.. 

Alright, so I realize that a lot of people probably are assuming that I am getting the "scary" kind of bariatric surgery.. the one that messes with your intestines and all that.. but the sleeve gastrectomy is amazing!  seriously, when my mom had it, I was amazed at how little was actually done, and how cool it all sounded.. sorry, but stuff like that amazes me..

So here is a little picture I found of what will happen to my stomach during the sleeve gastrectomy procedure..

Honestly, doesn't that just look cool?!  I mean, yeah it's kinda scary bc it's surgery but it's still amazing to me..  PLUS, my hospital has a DiVinci machine, so all of my incisions will be done laprascopically by a machine.. I'm so excited to get this ball rolling..

I have been looking online for blogs about bariatric surgery, but there aren't a lot out there.. so I plan to blog about every damn thing involved with this procedure and my life before and after it.. so maybe someday someone will see my blog and it'll make a difference for someone considering this procedure.. 

Off to bed I go.. Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter (or whatever you and your family chose to celebrate).. :)

Decisions Are Being Made..

This post is a post that won't prolly get good reactions..  And that's fine..  Not everyone is going to react well to this decision I have made, but I hope that no one will be straight up mean about it..

We all know how badly I've been doing on my weight loss.. I'd lose a few, gain some more, lose a few more, gain some more..  And over the past couple months, I've been doing a lot of the same..  But because I felt defeated, I didn't want to put it up here..

After months of thinking about it, in a serious "this could be a great thing" kind of way, and with much advice from my mom, I have decided to go through with getting the sleeve gastrectomy done..  While my reasons ultimately are my own, I feel like I have to kind of defend my decision..

I do realize that this is more than likely being seen as an easy way out.. but anyone who has been following me for a while should know that I've been trying to lose weight for a long time.. and while I might have tried different methods than others, none of them have worked for me.. and I have faith that this will work for me.. it'll give me no option but to make healthy choices, bc I only have so much I'll be able to eat..

I can honestly say that working out right now, at 269 lbs, is a joke.. Wait, let me explain what I mean.. While I applaud anyone who starts walking and works up to stuff, that is not me.. My ADHD personality just won't let me walk.. Running is something my brain wants me to do.. my body just laughs and falls apart for a few days afterwards..

Plus, working out at this weight will not accomplish much.. Bc I still am eating whenever I can, whatever I can.. which is one thing that will be worked on during the 6 month "waiting period".. My hospital (and insurance) makes you go through 6 months worth of visits to dieticians, therapists, doctors, etc.. I wish my mom had done this when she had hers 2 years ago, but back then it was optional.. Now, it's mandatory..  

I don't know how I know this will work for me, but I just do.. I know that I will make better food decisions bc I won't want to waste what little food I can eat (after surgery) on junk food..  And I know I will go to the gym, bc I know I will see results regardless, but I'd like to make sure I not just lose fat but gain endurance.. and hopefully not have too much saggy skin..

Okay, I'm done defending myself..

Bring on the comments.................... 

It's Official..

We've been having some drama here over in my house..  And without going into too much detail, I have a deadline to move out of my parents house..  And not because I have been forced to.. lol

This makes me happy..  Why?!  Because it'll hopefully give me the push I need to get out on my own.. :)  And it also means that my parents will be getting out of a house that makes my mom sick and is breaking my dad's back..

I hate that it means that we'll have to get rid of a couple of our cats, but hopefully we'll find them good homes..

I'm wondering what furniture my parents will give to me, and thankfully my rent went down.. it's only different by $100/month, but that's a guaranteed $100/month that will now go into savings for my apartment fees..  :)  Of course, I plan to put away as much as I can, but I know I will be putting that $100 each month in there..  And knowing how much it would have taken to move into the apartment back in January, I have a goal at how much I need to be able to move out..

$1600

$1600 will pay my first and last rent, deposit and pet deposit..  Sadly, the deposit is bigger than I was hoping, but bc my credit is crap, it'll be that way anywhere I assume..  However, I do plan to work on paying that stuff off too, bc most of my debt is small.. like all of it is prolly under $1500.. but it was never a true priority til now.. :)