I have a date

Well, my 7 months of preparation has paid off. It looks like I have a surgery date for my gastric bypass. I received the long awaited call at about 2:30 or so today. My surgery date is officially February 1st, at Brook Army Medical Center(BAMC). I will meet with the surgeon on January 27th, and go over the details at that time. In the meantime I will start my liquid diet on Saturday, and will have to incorporate 30 minutes of walking a day. It's my last task for this procedure. I need to drop by the store and get some Flintstone's multi-vitamins. I'm excited, but I'm also a bit nervous about it. My dream is coming true, and it feels a little surreal at the moment. This is what I've wanted to do and now it is soon becoming a reality. Now that I have the date, I hope once people know, I will be greeted by a "Hello" rather than "Do you have a date yet?" LOL! So tomorrow is my final day for a serious meal and I'll be looking forward to it.

Looking back, I've done a lot to get to this point. Let me reflect a bit. I've had a consultation with a nutritionist for 6 months. I've had an Echo Cardiogram, an Endoscopy, a Colonoscopy, a Mammogram, a GYN annual exam, I had to attend a mandatory support meeting, had lab work, Psych evaluation and I'm sure I've left something out. I'll have to check my paperwork, but it has been a lot. At least now I know that everything is working great and there are no complications. I've only run into one bump in the road, and that was that I wasn't able to do the UGI because there was an issue with my weight and the weight limit of the table. Other than having to wait on what to do with that kink in my plan, everything else ran smoothly. I waited a good month before I was instructed further in regard to the UGI, as this was my last exam to complete. At first they had talked about sending me outside the military hospital into the civilian world to have it done. The explanation was that they would have more current machines that would facilitate my weight issue versus the old machines that both Wilford Hall & BAMC have. I waited and waited, but nothing ever developed. Finally they came to the conclusion that I would, instead, get an endoscopy at Wilford Hall Hospital, at Lackland AFB. Since I was scheduled for my colonoscopy at Brook Army Medical Center (BAMC), my doctor decided to kill two birds with one stone and get them both done at BAMC. So that took care of that.

All in all, it hasn't been that bad. Although my appointment book has been filled for the last 7 months, it's been pretty breezy. God willing I will survive this liquid diet and breeze thru this surgery and be on my way to a thinner and healthier me. I'm looking forward to it with excitement.