March 3, 2003

 

It is simply amazing to me how easily I can find things to procrastinate about.  I just finished a nine day vacation, and I managed to accomplish almost nothing worthwhile.  Now, I did go to the appointment with my surgeon, of which I will speak in just a moment, but I spent most of my time talking to people on the Internet and...well, I guess that's about it.  I've developed a great relationship with a now, very dear friend, Aimee.  She's awesome, and we can talk for hours about nothing.  It's great!!!  [Of course, that souther drawl is just so alluring ;-) ]  Okay, so here is the scoop.  I had my appointment to meet the surgeon last Tuesday, and to talk about any questions I may have.  Mom and I arrived about two hours too early, and ended up just blowing time in shops in the hospital, and about an hour and a half in the waiting room.  I was goofing around when Mom asked me to hang this plastic bag on the coat rack (imitating Igor of Frankenstein nostalgia, quite loudly, no less) and this woman looked over to me and smiled and said "I know why you're here.  You're going to be gorgeous when it's all done, and so happy."  I just smiled, and my mom asked her if she had had it done and how much she had lost.  I don't remember what she said, but I remember thinking that it had been a lot considering that she hadn't even reached the one year mark yet.  There were also two men there filming a documentary about the surgery, apparently following one of the men's story.  (I gathered this from the eaves-dropping I did *choke* and from the shape of his body, that it was quite clear that he had lost a lot of weight recently.)  Eventually we got called into the section where you weigh before seeing the doctor.  I was terrified to get on the scales, and had hoped they wouldn't make me weigh in again, but alas, the lady had me lumber onto the scale.  It seemed to take forever for her to work the scale, and we all know I can't stand for more than a few seconds, so finally she unassuredly told me that I weighed 406 pounds.  She then showed us into the room where the surgeon would be seeing us.  The NP happened to pass by, and she just asked how I had been, and kept going.  After a short wait, the doctor came in.  He went over the same information that we had had to go over at the three mandatory group meetings, with the NP, and the Dietician.  I mentioned that we had already heard this stuff on several occasions, and he said that he just wanted to be sure that I knew all of the benefits and risks of this surgery.  *Sigh*...so we went over it all again.  I asked a couple of questions I pretty much knew the answer to, and asked when I could get my surgery date.  He said that his secretary would set me up with an appointment before I left.  He also listened to my breathing and asked if I absolutely had to wear the C-PAP machine, and he told me that they highly recommend that I do, but that they had no way to force me.  He seemed like a nice man, but he had a very solemn attitude.  He didn't even crack a smile once, even when he made a joke.  After I was done meeting him, my mom and I went over to the secretary's office.  Her name is Michelle, and she was so nice.  I have to say that she was the first genuinely nice person that we had met since starting this whole thing.  She was also overweight, what a surprise.  Maybe we were just more comfortable with her, but it just seems sometimes that fat people are nicer in general.  Now a long time before, I had called the hospital and asked for the gastric bypass department.  The woman on the phone had said that it wasn't open, but that she had had it done and was so happy about it.  I stupidly asked her if she was this woman.  But she was really nice about it and said that she preferred to stay pleasantly plump.  I told her that it was a relief to hear somebody say that because so many people only have the surgery for cosmetic reasons and not only for health reasons.  (I thought she was cute, too, hehe.)  We talked about that stuff for a little while, and it was obvious that working in the gastric bypass department, that she must get asked that question all of the time.  I'm such an idiot!  So anyway, I set up a surgery date for May 19th, which is one day after what I wanted, so that's good.  I also have a pre-admission testing date of May 2nd.  They gave me a bunch of info I already had two copies of, also, and a couple of pamphlets that I didn't have.  I suppose I'm glad that they're over-informative instead of under-informative, but they must think we're idiots sometimes, and that we don't know this crap.  I suppose not every one knows all about it before they go, but after they've told us the same thing at five different meetings, I don't think I needed to hear it again at the sixth.  And by the way, the weight gain I had been so nervous about never even came up.  He didn't even blink an eye.  I asked him if there was anything I should do between now and surgery, and he said just try to lose as much weight as I can because every pound I lose will make the surgery that much easier.  Good advice, I guess, but I knew the answer before I finished asking the question.  I don't want to be negative about this meeting, but the only thing I did that I hadn't done before was shake his hand and get a date for surgery.  I think this could have been done months ago...probably with a five minute phone call.  Whatever.  It's just one less thing I have to do now.  It seems like the only thing left to do is wait for the inevitable May 19th.  It seems like years from now, but I have more than enough work to keep me busy until then.  (My stalker also hasn't reared its ugly head for a while now, so it should be okay to put some old posts back up, but I still have to think about it.)  Maybe I should count out the days until lift-off...wouldn't that be productive?  Long live Calvin and Hobbes (a little random, I know).