Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Two Weeks...

...and counting 'til the Big Day! (No, not Christmas, though that is close behind.)

Yesterday, I met my surgeon for the first time. We had a nice chat and he explained a few things and answered a couple of my questions. One thing he cleared up was the post-surgery diet. Instead of three weeks on liquids, it's only going to be 1 week! Yippee! He said that they say three weeks on the website and in the seminars to simplify matters; it's the diet for the gastric bypass and sleeve patients. I'll get to start adding small portions of solid proteins into my diet about a week after the surgery because I'm having Lap Band. Yet another reason I'm glad I chose that as my option.

I've lost my appetite. I'm not sure if it's because of the events of recent days (see here to learn about my first ever vehicular - I love that word - accident), how busy I am lately, the fact that I have no food in my home except popsicles, Ritz crackers, and a box of couscous, or that I'm nervous about the upcoming changes in my eating lifestyle. Or, most likely, it's a melange of all of them. I believe in melanges. (Can someone please tell me how to get blogger to do accents??)

This is my last week of eating food "normally" - at least, the last week for a very, very long time. You'd think I'd be living it up, eating everything I love and maybe won't partake of for who-knows-how-long. Even last week, in Denver, I ordered things that I'll be able to eat - in much smaller portions - after the surgery (except the bacon cheese burger). I even only ate half the meal each time (except the burger, but I did leave a lot of fries on the plate). I'm not worried about missing the foods I love. I'm more worried about not being prepared for this lifestyle change. I'm ready to change and want to get my foot in the door, so to speak.

I'm scared of failing. The last few years I was in school, I had this same fear, so I studied a lot. I made sure that when it came time to take a test I was prepared to be able to pass it with flying colors. I practiced presentations, looked over projects and papers with an eagle-eye for detail, and worked every homework problem religiously. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't always perfect, but that fear of not doing well drove me to do my best.

It's now driving me to get ready, especially emotionally, for life after Lap Band. I'm especially worried because I don't know what to expect, really. To continue the above analogy, it's kind of like having a professor for the first time and not knowing what his tests are going to be like, how well he'll prepare you for the tests, how generously he grades, etc. So, I'm doing my best to prepare for every eventuality I can think of without really knowing what it's going to be like for me.

I think I need more sleep. I'm sure I'd be able to deal with this better if I were sleeping. Sleep cures a lot of ills. Maybe then I'd relax just a tiny bit. Aaahhh. Relax.

Anyhoo, Thursday I get to travel down south yet again to have a pre-op class that will tell me in more detail everything that will go down before and after surgery, including diet and checking in and out of the hospital.

Just think, in two weeks at this time I'll have had the surgery and will be resting comfortably (hopefully) at my mom's. Wow.

6 comments:

Mellissa said...

I think it's great you are already feeling prepared for your surgery. I'm glad to hear your liquid diet isn't as long as you thought - even though you could do it anyway. Good luck with your pre-op class Thursday.

Cardine said...

I hope everything goes well!

Adam said...

Here's how I do accents:

Having a full keyboard is easiest, but it does work with a laptop keyboard.

1-Hold down "alt"
2-While holding "alt" press a three number combination on the number keypad
3-Release "alt"
4-The accented letter will appear. Ex: alt 1 3 8 = รจ

To make it work with a laptop keyboard, you have to activate the number lock to key your number keypad.

It will take some trial and error to find all the correct accented letters.

Hope this helps!

Adam said...

Oh, hey, here's a list of the characters:

http://www.starr.net/is/type/altnum.htm

Apparently, there are four number codes, as well as the three number ones. I prefer the three, but that's how I learned it. That page lists both ways.

julie said...

Missy, as always, thanks for being so supportive! I'm pretty nervous about the liquid diet but at least I know it's important.

Carrie, thanks - me too!

Mad, hey thanks for all the info about accents. I know other shortcuts for accents but blogger won't accept them. This is very helpful!

Melissa said...

By the time you read this, you will be closer than two weeks for your surgery. I am sure that you won't fail at this, that you will succeed, just like everything else you do!