Hey all,
Well I went to my last of all pre band appointments yesterday. The pre-op appointment with Mr Michell's nurse Barb. Apart from putting on 2kgs since my last appointment with her in Sept everything went fine. The 2kgs are most likely fluid as it was warmish yesterday and I tend to swell in the hotter weather - well thats my excuse anyway.
I am one of the 1st 3 on the list so not sure when I will be done either 1st, 2nd or 3rd but at least it will be earlier rather than later. A single room also which is nice.
The sequencial stockings well they are a hoot - my hubby rolled his eyes when Barb told me I had to wear them at all times whilst I was in bed. I had things on my legs and feet when I am in bed. I know they are to prevent you getting clots in your legs but they are hideous and look like they will hurt your legs when they blow up.
I also paid the $3500 I needed to pay for the op yesterday also. Oh what I could have bought with that money - but it is going to good use.

18 days til Band Day.

Oh The Stressors of Life.

Well I have not blogged for such a long time, I have had so much on with work, kids, hubby on nights every three weeks and the emotional roller coaster I have been on. My banding op which has been at the forefront of my thoughts since August has started to trail to the back of my mind. I have been busy busy with my young sons enrollment in Prep for 2009. My son M is hearing impaired and we have always said that it would be beneficial for him to go into mainstream school. He has been at a deaf and hearing impaired kinder since he was 3 and started doing 2 half days a week at a mainstream kinder near our home, he has been doing ok at the mainstream kinder, my dilemma is that he is different and as a mother every time I see someone looking at him because of this I want to go mad and rant at them. I have on occasion done that which as my husband says is not really the done thing. We have enrolled him in the same school as his sister A. A has excelled at this school, she herself is extremely shy and the school is small and nuturing. The problem I have with the school is that M will be the first hearing impaired student at the school, so there is a lot of work to be done in getting things up and running for him to be able to get the best education. I have always hated being the centre of attention or out in the spotlight so to speak, not my favorite position, but need to be so that M does not miss out. I have many many tears and emotional tantrums over the last 3 weeks but am feeling a little better about it all now, thanks to Deaf Children Australia. This is why my lap banding op has been at the back of my mind,. The date though has come up fast and I cannot believe I only have 3 weeks to go. With all the emotional upheavel I have been under I had started to think about cancelling it until I was in a better headspace. My husband and I spoke at length about it and he said that I should still go ahead with it. We have the money saved up now and if I dont go ahead with it we will most definately use those funds and then have to save it all up again, chances are we will never do it again especially at this time of year. So I am still going ahead with it.

I start optifast in a week on the 15th November, my husband has booked us in for a wine tour that day, he is supportive but not overly date orientated and was horrified when I told him I would be starting opti that day and would not be going. I have decided that it would be better if I started it on the 16th November, I am sure 1 day is not going to make a difference. Mr Michell did say that I could go out for dinner the night prior to my surgery as it is our wedding anniversary on that day, I just told my husband that we wont be going out I will be having opti. So the wine tour is going to be our anniversary dinner.

I would like to start the opti on Monday 1oth but we shall see where I am then.

I have my appointment with Barb the nurse on Monday at 930am so I am looking forward to that, hopefully that will make it all real.

I cannot believe that it has come so fast, one of my good friends on the forum has already been banded and is doing so well, she is an inspiration ---- Well Done Random. My other good friend started opti today and is due to be banded the week before me ----- Good Luck Blueberry.

I am coming out of my emotional upheavel and am starting to get excited about the band again. I looked at myself in the mirror today and thought omg ------- but then thought oh well soon there will be no more apple tummy, and I will be slim and sexy.

7 days til start of optifast.
21 days til band day.

LET THE NEW LIFE BEGIN.

Still Counting Down.

39 days until Band-day.

Friends For Life.

Its funny how many friends I have met through the Lap Band forum, I have always been a person that finds it hard to make new friends maybe it stems down to my self esteem problems, but since I have decided to go through with the Lap Banding I feel as if I have been blessed with the people with whom I chat to through the Lap Band forum and Yahoo Messenger.
I feel as if some of the people I have met through this forum will become friends for life, my two lovely friends on Mr Michells thread - randomness and blueberry both great ladies of who I cannot wait to meet and chat too about our bands. Not long now girls.
It is so good to find a place where we are all like minded, and even though we have never met face to face, we know what we are going to say before we even say it.
If we were to have a party for all the people who actively participate on the Lap band forum we would have one hell of a party - Wouldnt we people.

My Weight Loss Tracker

TIME TO BAND

8 WEEKS EXACTLY TO LAP BANDING OPERATION.

Eagerly waiting.

Tossing and Turning. Is There a New Life Ahead.

I awoke this am feeling good until I stood upright, yes sounds strange. I feel ok whilst lying down under the covers safe in my warm lovely bed, no one can see what is underneath. (Except for my husband but I am comfortable with him and know he loves me no matter what I look like).
As soon as I got up I felt uncomfortable, then I had to go and squeeze my body into a tight pair of jeans and a top as that is all I have at the moment, tight clothes. I had so much house work etc to do but feeling less than active these days I just had to basically push and push myself to get started. In my head I am saying once you start it you will be fine, its the starting, its always the starting. I am going to start losing weight, I am going to do this. I have been gonna gonnaring my whole life.
With this in mind I have decided to make the move to enter into a life changing situation and lose my weight permanently. A drastic maneouver I know.
So why the tossing and turning, many thoughts going through my head at this present time.

*Eagerness - hurry up and let the Op date come
*Fear - What if it doesnt work, what if I have surgical problems, what if I die oh oh oh where is all coming from.
I do know that I will probably die and early death if I dont get the lap band done, as there is no way that I will sustain any weightloss. I am nearly 40 years old, with high blood pressure and pre-diabetes and a family history of diabetes, high blood pressure, and stroke. I know what needs to be done but then why am I so scared of it all.

My weight, height and BMI as taken by the nurse at the appointment on September 22nd 2008.

Height 166cm
Weight 104 kg

BMI 38

TIME TO BAND

Again I find myself blogging, its really hard when you have decided to keep this rather important aspect of your life to yourself and another person, esp when that other person is not around, but anyway, am wanting to get a countdown counter onto my blog but they are currently broken, not sure what is up with that, so i will have to manually count down at the present time. There is now
8 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS UNTIL OP DAY.

The Waiting Is Killing Me

I am due to be banded on Saturday 29th November, 2008. I know that it is now October and therefore it is not overly a long time to weight, I am being driven mad at how slow time seems to be passing by. Not one to wish time away too much as the thought of growing old is not one I like to entertain, but I would really like to commence my weight loss journey and actually start to lose some weight.
I gave up smoking some time ago and ever since then have got bigger and bigger as I think i have replaced the nicotine with food.
I have to keep positive and try to restrict what I put in my mouth, wish me luck.

New to Blogging

I am new to blogging, but I wanted to have a record of my weight loss journey.
I have now started to learn how to post blogs etc so I will post to catch up to where I am now in my weight loss journey.
I will transcribe my diary as such into this blog.
I cannot wait until I reach my goal.

The Start of My Weight Loss Journey.

I have always been overweight, I have tried every diet and fad out there to no avail. My father and grandmother are/were overweight and my brother is also overweight. I am also not one to give up a chocie or some cake either. Lack of exercise is also a factor that has hounded me all my life too, not overly a fan of exercise, but have joined many a gym or exercise program, gloria marshall, curves, contours, fernwood and other gyms also, all with only minute or no weight loss, and lasting for up to 6 months. I have paid for programs and have hardly used them. I know a lot of people who have or are doing this at the moment.
For the last 18 months to 2 years I have been researching Laproscopic Gastic Banding as a form of permanent weight loss help. I have had a couple of work colleagues that have had it done and each has had success of various forms, all have lost over 30kgs. Whilst their starting weights were much larger than mine, we all have the same thing in common, not able to sustain permanent weight loss.

On the 2oth August 2008 I attended an information seminer by a prominent Melbourne Gastric Surgeon about the Lap Band procedure. I learnt a great deal this day, it is not just a go in and have done and thats that surgery, there is a lot of planning that goes into having a lap band.
Lucky for me I had already half decided on having this surgeon as I felt all my options had long left me. I had made appointments with the Nurse, Dietician, Physician, Surgeon and Pscyhologist already.

My journey to newfound slimness and health had began. I had become positive about losing weight and never putting it back on again.