Impatient to be a Patient

So I don't actually have a surgery date yet. My first appointment with the surgeon is the 27th of June, and I am very impatiently waiting. I was given a list of things I had to do before this appointment, other people I had to see, and I have done them ALL. Actually, I had them done within 2 weeks of getting all the referral paperwork. I don't know if other surgeons require it, but these are the appointments I have conquered:

Blood test: to check for diabetes and heart disease etc. I am pretty sure that I am fine as I had bloods done fairly recently and all was A-OK at that time. My Doctor actually commented that for someone who is Obese (yes, with a capital O), I am pretty healthy.

Ultrasound and X-ray: Guess what, I have lungs! I have seen them on my very own chest x-ray. I'm also fairly sure that my liver, gallbladder and kidneys are all where they should be. I haven't had any panicked phone calls so everything must be in order.

Dietitian: I really enjoyed my visit to my new dietitian (I say new because I know I will be visiting her lots more). She didn't talk to me like I was an idiot. I'm actually already 3 steps into her "pre-surgery" preparation, as I've been seeing my fabulous doctor for 18 months now and have lost 10kgs on my own. She is really happy with where I am at, and she is very positive about my outlook with a band. In her experience it is the people who are already well motivated and "compliant" that do the best.

Exercise Physiologist: I was actually quite disappointed with this one. I was expecting someone who had dealt with band patients before and would be able to give me some advice with regard to which exercises I can do (and can't do) after the band is in. However, what I got was a general chat with someone who really hadn't had many clients who'd had WLS, had no idea what I could/couldn't do (ask your surgeon), just asked me what exercises I had been doing up til now. If I want to go back (and pay another 90 bucks) she can give me a program for workouts. Um, I kinda thought that's why I was there in the first place. Oh well.

Psychologist: I wasn't really sure what to expect here, and I was pleasantly surprised. We talked a lot about my experiences being overweight and my support network. She also gave me some homework about Mindful Eating. At the end of the session (which came around very quickly because I talk. Lots.), I did a couple of assessments for depression and anxiety. Probably not much of a surprise that I was evaluated with mild-moderate symptoms of depression. I will probably go back to her for some more sessions to work on that too.

So that was my "pre-surgery" program. Once I finished my last appointment, I walked myself down to the surgeons office (conveniently only a block away from the shrink) and got myself on the cancellation list. Fingers crossed my appointment gets moved up before I go nuts.

See ya soon internet xoxo