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| photo from greatbigcanvas.com |
The bariatric center here does three types of bariatric surgery: gastric band, gastric sleeve, or roux-en-gastric bypass. They are a bariatric center of excellence, which is very impressive since Vanderbilt was previously the only hospital to hold that distinction. Step one is to attend a seminar and fill out a mountain of paperwork. During the seminar, you get information on all three procedures and are left with making that decision.
So, me being me, I went in search of I found tons of info: medical journals, patient blogs, good experiences, bad experiences, and tons of YouTube videos. I did this while waiting for step two, which was for my doctor to write a letter supporting my decision to look into surgery.
I have to preface that I'm not grossed out by much. Actually, I find the tool used that cuts and staples the stomach at the same time rather fascinating. I've watched surgery videos, looked at complications, and weighed the pros and cons of each option. I've also watched a large number of food documentaries (understanding that you have to take some of those with a grain of salt).
On Thursday of last week, I met with steps three and four: nutrition and surgeon. I'll talk about each of those in turn in other posts. As an aside: all of the steps must be completed before insurance approval can be submitted.
For anyone looking at surgery as the "miracle" cure to obesity, I'll be the first to tell you it's not. For me, I feel like I HAVE changed the way that I look at food. I don't stress eat, eat out of boredom, and save one REALLY bad experiment, I've not eaten anything fried since last year. I had one soda on Fat Tuesday in preparation for Lent, and that was the first soda I'd had since mid-January. My plan is not to go back to them, even once Lent ends.
Yet, even with cleaning up my eating, focusing on getting moving, and getting my habits in check, I've experienced little in the way of true weight loss. This brings me to my current plan of surgery exploration. I supposed that's my why: I don't feel like there is another option. The weight comes off slowly, if at all, and once I try to go back to any kind of normal eating, some of it comes back. It's a one step forward, two steps back process. In order to protect my long term health, I've decided to take one really large step forward.
***Disclaimer: again, this is my journey with my doctors. This is informational only, not intended to be a substitute for seeking your own medical assistance.
I have to preface that I'm not grossed out by much. Actually, I find the tool used that cuts and staples the stomach at the same time rather fascinating. I've watched surgery videos, looked at complications, and weighed the pros and cons of each option. I've also watched a large number of food documentaries (understanding that you have to take some of those with a grain of salt).
On Thursday of last week, I met with steps three and four: nutrition and surgeon. I'll talk about each of those in turn in other posts. As an aside: all of the steps must be completed before insurance approval can be submitted.
For anyone looking at surgery as the "miracle" cure to obesity, I'll be the first to tell you it's not. For me, I feel like I HAVE changed the way that I look at food. I don't stress eat, eat out of boredom, and save one REALLY bad experiment, I've not eaten anything fried since last year. I had one soda on Fat Tuesday in preparation for Lent, and that was the first soda I'd had since mid-January. My plan is not to go back to them, even once Lent ends.
Yet, even with cleaning up my eating, focusing on getting moving, and getting my habits in check, I've experienced little in the way of true weight loss. This brings me to my current plan of surgery exploration. I supposed that's my why: I don't feel like there is another option. The weight comes off slowly, if at all, and once I try to go back to any kind of normal eating, some of it comes back. It's a one step forward, two steps back process. In order to protect my long term health, I've decided to take one really large step forward.
***Disclaimer: again, this is my journey with my doctors. This is informational only, not intended to be a substitute for seeking your own medical assistance.
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