Tomorrow's a new day!

I'm going grocery shopping tomorrow, and looking forward to getting some healthy things in this house. The fried chicken we had for dinner was really good, but I didn't need the carbs.
I'm going to have to talk to the whole family about eating healthy, again. We have really slacked off in the past few months.

Amazingly enough my teenage daughter has continued to lose weight even though we haven't been making the best meals. She has lost, 26 lbs, in the past year now. I wish 26 lbs made the difference on me that it has on her. She looks really good. Im glad for her, I really didnt want her to spend her teenage years being overweight. You have so many other issues going on, you just dont need that one, too.

Approval and a Set Back

I got approved through insurance but I havent had the money to pay the program fee to get myself going. Everytime I think maybe we can make a payment, something more important comes up.

I was eating really healthy for a while, but when I was at the Doctors office today I am back up to 311 lbs. So Ive gained about 11 lbs since January. Not a Good thing at all.

I cant do it until I can buy some groceries ( just a few days) but Im really going to start watching my carbs again. I was feeling so much better when I was getting healthier. I know eating carbs is bad for my diabetes,too.

My Good Friend Tracy is working on a new project. She has motivated me to do something good for me, too.

Finally got my Appointment with the Surgeon!

The ball is rolling, finally. I go see the Lapband Surgeon next week, February 3rd. I got paperwork today telling me exactly what my insurance requires from me for approval.

1. Letter of medical necessity from my primary care physican, must have current height, weight, BMI, and co-morbid condtions related to morbid obesity.
2. Psychological Evalutaion and Clearance with a licensed psychologist.
3. Diet History created by patient with past weight loss attempts.
4. Surgeon's Consult.

As I began to write out my Diet History I could see how illnesses had affected my weight. I don't want to die young. Its really important to me that I get the band, and get healthy. I want to get away from all the health risks in my life, Heart disease, Diabetes, High Blood pressure. This has got to happen. Its a matter of life or death.

Diabetes and the Lapband Seminar

I am so psyched! I loved the Seminar, and I love Emory Bariatic Center. All my questions were answers. I was even able to ask if we were suggested to do a Pre-op Liquid Diet. ( Which we are to shrink our Fatty Livers down.)

I called to make my Step 2 appointment but they had not processed the paperwork from the Seminar yet. I like, let's get on with it People! But I'm trying to be patient. I have to do a Weight history, and a Diet History. I discovered my Weight has been steady since 2006. Really has not moved until this past fall when I gained 30 lbs. I'm thinking the Diabetes was the reason was the weight gain.

OH. I was Diagonsed with Diabetes two weeks ago. yeah, fun fun fun. But so far I'm controlling it with monitoring and diet. My blood glucose this morning was 99!!! Woot! Woot! I really want to kick this disease. I know when I get this fat off me I have a higher chance of staying off the meds but its just a chance. Diabetes doesn't discriminate. Thin people get Diabetes, too. I will want to get this under control.

Truth is I'm mad! I don't want to have to check my sugar 5 times a day for the rest of my life. Dang it, I didn't do enough and it got me. I have the Genetics, I knew it was coming, I was half ass trying to change my eating habits, losing a little bit of weight, and waiting to get a lapband. But I haven't been exercising. I was still eating a lot of sugar, and carbs. I was eating a ton of pasta. I cut back on the soda, fast food, fried foods, and it showed. I was losing weight. Where ever that 30 lbs came from that I gained this fall, I've took it and 10 more off. But, Not in time.

I feel like I'm in the grips of a giant clawwed Lobster that won't let go ever. I know the Lapband is going to help me get healthy but I really crushed about the Diabetes. My Dad died from complications from Diabetes. He didn't take care of himself. He ate what he wanted, and alter his insulin to what he ate. I know you can't do it. I saw the effects. The amputation, the blindness, the neuropathy. I'm not going to end my life like his. If nothing else he motivated me to do differently.

That's why I have to get my Lapband, and get this Fat off me. I'm ready now! I wanna get Healthy now!

Good News!

Its so nice to get Good News once in a while! I do not have Gall Stones. My Gall Bladder is actually just fine. I'm was not surprised to hear this, as I posted about in early. I had a feeling my Doctor had just pegged me to be Fat, Fair and Forty. ( common factors for Gall Bladder Disease.)

I am happy about this news, but it didn't explain what it causing my stomach pain/problems. I have a follow up appointment with Dr. on Friday.

On other fronts, I told my Cousin I am having LapBand Surgery. She told me," there was Mixed Reviews about Lapband, to be careful." When that didn't appall me, she felt the need to inform me about a Customer of the Shop she works for that had the Lapband done. Apparently, the Woman's "Lapband" became infected, and had to be removed after just weeks after her having it placed. When I asked, What became infected? The port? the Actually Band? My Cousin couldn't tell me.

I took this bit of information with a grain of salt. I know that like anything, things can go wrong with Lapband. Especially when you had the Human Factor in. People who don't follow Doctors order after surgery. Starting lifting too soon. Bending over too soon. Exercising too soon. Etc. Etc. Maybe none of that happen. Maybe it was just a fluke. But I'm not going to let one person's bad experience with a Life changing, Life Saving Tool stop me for Saving my life.

I hope if any of you come across Bad experiences you can keep this in mind. Its your Life your saving. Things do happen, not often but they do. Simply because the Human Factor is involved. Don't stop it from Saving your life.

Fatty Liver

I got a call from my Cardiologist's Nurse yesterday. She told me I needed to see my G.I. Specialist about my Fatty Liver. HUH??? I was not told about this. Apparently when they did the Catscan for Blood clots a few weeks ago they discovered I have a Fatty liver. My Dr. wants me to see a G.I. Specialist about it. I just happen to being seeing you for my Gall bladder issues.

What Alarms me is when I had the Cat Scan done I was not seeing the G.I. Doctor. The only reason they told me about my Fatty Liver is because my G.I. Specialist ask for a Clearance for a procedure he is considering doing. When she called me to tell me Dr. Khawaja was going to give me the clearance she tells me, "he wants you to see him about your Fatty Liver, too." WTF?

I'm not happy about them handling my healthcare like this at all. Dr. Khawaja comes highly recommended. But sadly I am discovering his office is not managed very well at all.

I know I am going to have to do a Liquid Diet to get my Liver back down to size for the Lapband surgery. Several people have suggested Optifast for this purpose. There is a product called Cambridge that is a similiar Liquid Supplement. Just much more affordable. I think I am going to use Cambridge. Optifast is 480 calories, 42 grams of protein for the day. Cambridge is 420 calories, 54 grams of protein for the day. They both provide your balanced nutrition for the day but looking at it, Cambridge just has a little better nutritional values.

I went to see the G.I. Specialist. He is sending me for tests but seems to think I may have Gall Stones. I came home and researched the symptoms for Gall stones. I don't agree. The pain I have starts right below my throat and continues down through my abdomen. My symptoms conflicts with the Gall stone symptoms listed.

If you have symptoms, you most likely will have mild pain in the pit of your stomach or in the upper right part of your belly. Pain may spread to your right upper back or shoulder blade area. Sometimes the pain is more severe. It may be steady, or it may come and go. Or it may get worse when you eat. ( I found this at Web Md)

Whatever it is I just wanted taken care of so I can get a Lap band. But I don't want to go through a bunch of unnecessary of junk just because a Doctor looks at Me and sees a FAT person and immediately diagnosis me for a certain disease. I hate when Doctors can't look past me being Obese to see any other reason for a illness. Its really frustrating.

I'm having a ultrasound to see if I really do have Gallstones Monday morning. I will let you know!