Okay....first of all, I was a little nervous going in to this consultation appointment...not really sure what to expect. I knew that I was going to be there for about 4-5 hours though. So I headed out to Newton in the pouring rain at 7:15am. Traffic was a complete nightmare getting there. I had to call them and say I was running late, because being stuck in traffic on Rte 128 in the vicinity of Boston and the Mass Pike....it just leaves you with nowhere to go!! So after a very long traffic filled ride, I finally arrived at my destination and proceeded to enter the office. I signed in and did all the insurance card info and signed the HIPAA form (privacy act paperwork) and almost immediately I was taken back to meet with Mary, the psych nurse. Mary was very thorough in getting a sense of my past physical and mental history....she really wanted to get inside my head and make sure that I would mentally be able to handle the aftermath of the surgery. She wanted to make sure that I would be able to hold myself accountable for the changes I need to make before and after. So after talking with her for about almost an hour, I was then brought back out to the waiting room. After a few minutes I was brought in to meet with Linda, the nutritionist. At this point, the first thing Linda did was had me step on the scale. I weighed in at 246lbs. After weighing in, she took a picture of me for my file. She then calculated my BMI to be at 45. She had me go through my weight loss trials so that she could document my achievements and losses with each one. Next, she went through my two day food diary and talked to me about what my weaknesses with food are. At this point, she made it clear to me what I had to do as far as modifying my diet. So from this point on, I am on a pretty strict diet. I was told I need to cut out about 90% of my carb intake. For example, I am allowed to have mult-grain cheerios for breakfast, for lunch I can either have a salad with chicken, or a sandwich....but the sandwich has to be either on pita bread or on a wrap. NO sub rolls or bread!!! For dinner, typically a healthy meal would consist of 1/2 the plate filled with veggies, 1/4 with protein, and 1/4 with carbs.....well, I need to cut out the carbs at dinner time and add more veggies. Things I have to cut out of my diet are: sugar, cheese, fried foods, and fast food. I also need to cut out my coffee intake as well as soda. I can drink as much water and crystal light as I want.
Now after Linda went through all of this with me, she made it clear that they don't necessarily want me to lose weight, they just do not want to see me gain any weight. If I gain weight, then the whole process will be pushed even farther away.
After this, I was then handed a slip to go to the lab and have my bloodwork done. Once I returned, I was brought into a room with one of the medical assistants. She took measurements of my neck, waist and hips....and checked my pulse, oxygen, and blood pressure (which were normal). Now it was time for Dr. Patridge to come in and speak to me. She came in and reviewed my history, and reviewed what Linda had stated about my diet and made it clear that I needed to keep up with it, as well as increasing my walking from every other day to 4-5 times a week. She also let me know that surgery would be at least 2-3 months out from the time I quit smoking...which I did before coming to this appointment. And for the record, I have no cravings at all!!!!!!!!! So as it stands right now, it looks like late December or January would be the earliest that I could have the surgery.
My next appointment is scheduled for Friday November 5th. I also I have two support groups that I will need to attend as well. I will attend one before my next appointment, and the second one I will be able to attend a few days after my next appointment.
As far as going back to college, I am going to drop off my application at the college today, and I also finished my application for federal student aid.
Things are moving forward!! And I am really happy, and looking forward to this amazing journey!!!!!!
Until next time.....
