Originally published February 13, 2009
I haven’t posted an update about my pre-weight loss surgery drive in awhile, I’m a bit over due.
When I made this decision back in October/November, I was pretty gung-ho. I had made up my mind. I was going to do this. Then as I started finding out the hoops I had to jump through… well, the biggest one was an insurance requirement of at least 6 months of medically supervised weight loss.
I had been seeing my doctor on a regular basis because of my blood pressure, and we’ve often talked about my weight… so I thought maybe I would qualify for this right away. Heck, my doctor even took a couple minutes to do up a letter for me. But…. (there’s always a but, isn’t there?) the surgeon’s nurse felt that since it wasn’t monthly check-ins and such that the insurance company would likely balk at it.
So, to play it safe I’ve had to add about 3-4 months to my wait, per recommendation of my surgeon. And based on meeting with the dietician (another pre-approval requirement) I’ve been trying to stick to about a 1500-2000 calorie a day meal plan and checking in each month since Thanksgiving. Then there’s the psychological evaluation. I’ve had three meetings, plus the whole Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). It’s a true/false questionnaire used by professionals to assist in identifying personality structure and psychopathology. I wish I could remember some of the questions… some were rather … odd. But after getting through the nearly 600 question test it was kind of hard to remember much in the way of specifics.
A couple weeks after taking that test, I met with the psychologist one last time to review the results. And while friends and family may dispute it… I’m not actually crazy or anything. Unlike my cat who is chasing his own tail behind me as I write this. Or maybe it’s his shadow… hard to say. Anyways… where was I?
Oh yea… no signs of any sort of depression or obsessions or any other red-flags that would prevent the doc from ok’ing me in a mental sort of way. He said to give him a couple weeks to get his stuff prettied up and submitted to my surgeon, which is next Tuesday… so I figure I’ll call tomorrow to see if they got it yet.
If they have… I may well get a scheduled surgery date sometime here in the next few weeks. Well, I may hear when the date is… not actually have it in the next few weeks… know what I mean?
I was reflecting on a few things tonight… and you know what? This is a HUGE deal. Life changing, life-style changing, and looking back I don’t believe the 6-month requirement by the insurance companies is unreasonable or simply there for them to look out for their interests… I really believe it has been in my best interest to have had to do what I have these last few months.
I thought I was “ready to go” three months ago… but I’ve learned a LOT since then.
I believe it’s helped me really understand and appreciate that WLS is not a cure-all but rather really just another tool in my toolbox in battling obesity.
I started the day before Thanksgiving and by mid January I had lost over 30 pounds. And while I was constantly battling hunger from trying to stick to around 1500 calories a day… and often went over that, when I did I found I was making much better choices than I was even just three months earlier…. and I thought I had been eating pretty good then.
I’ve fallen off the wagon a bit these last few weeks. A combination of the hunger, lack of motivation to have to cook each and every night… but like I said, my overall choices have been better and while I may not have lost much (if any) the last few weeks… I haven’t been gaining back either.
And I believe because of these last few months I will be much better prepared for the changes that will become a part of my life after the surgery. Overall I have come to look at this not as an obstacle, but just another step in the whole process.
I’m nearly down to 330. A weight I was at around 5 years ago. That’s bout 35 pounds or so less than I was at Thanksgiving… and not far from being 50 pounds less than I was at 10 months ago. And while it seems kind of “girly” when I think about it this way… I am wearing jeans I couldn’t just a month a go. I’ve gone down 5 notches on my belt, and two of those I had to add.
So I know you want to ask… if I’m doing so well, why do I need the sugery? Right? I’m sure you do, cause I have been asking myself the same thing for nearly two months.
Short answer is… because I’ve been here before.
Longer answer… I’ve lost weight lots of times. 20 pounds here, 30 there. But I kept putting it back on with interest. Maybe, just maybe, I could pull this off without WLS, but in some ways I’m just plain running out of time. Eating better, eating less, exercising more – they’re all great tools, but yea, I need that one last tool to help me pull this off for the long haul.
The one comment the psychologist had was that I was seeming to be more hesitant again… and I was. Was. It’s really not so bad realizing that you need some help with something as big as this. So in that regard, I’m back to where I was in November. I’m ready for this.
Let’s do it.
