Sunday, February 1

Post hibernation update/Little T is 5

I feel like a big old bear that crawled out of its cave. Honestly, I can't believe I've slept so much over the last few days! I think it's part sinus infection, part driving around fatigue, part fibromyalgia and part fat fatigue!

Some updates: After I saw Dr. Greenbaum, I've swung back to the duodenal switch. He agrees with Dr. Wasser that the lapband is not for me with all my co-morbidities (diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc). I talked to him about my concerns about malabsorption and being able to afford the supplements and vitamins on our fixed incomes. One thing he pointed out is the money we save on prescriptions can go toward the vitamins/supplements.

He said I shouldn't let that guide my decision toward the more convenient surgery. Lots of people have the surgery that is the safest, the quickest or the least expensive and they end up regretting it. It's true. I've read the Obesity Help Revisions and Regrets boards enough to know that. He said the practice would do the lap band for me if that's what I want but he doesn't recommend it.

He didn't push me to make a decision. He said to check out obesity help some more and also duodenal switch.com and another website (can't remember it offhand but I can easily find it) again. I'm going to go to more of the support group meetings that the practice has and hopefully will meet Joanne, a person I "met" online who was a patient of Dr. Greenbaum's and has been supportive and helpful all through my confusion and waffling. This is not to say that TB hasn't been--he has, it's just that he doesn't want to push me toward one procedure or another.

Want to see what all the procedures entail? My dh TB wrote a pretty good summary here.

All my friends have been supportive too, praying for me to make the best decision for me and for a positive outcome.

I also decided not to delay or postpone my surgery because of Bill's car problems (thanks, James!). Bill is a college student and he is going to see if he can't get some loan money to get himself a car. Meanwhile we'll do whatever we can to help him without driving ourselves into the ground or sacrificing our health needs.

So with that in mind, I went for part one of my stress test on Friday. It was no big deal, just getting injected with stuff, waiting around for two hours and then having pictures of my heart taken (with me trying very hard not to cough!). Part II, the walking on a treadmill, takes place tomorrow.

I can hardly believe our Little T is five years old today! It seems only yesterday we went to the hospital to see him for the first time. I picked him up and just totally fell in love with him from that very first moment. We got him an erasable marker board with markers and an eraser. He seems to enjoy those things, especially now that he's copying letters and numbers! Happy birthday, sweet Little T! We'll be seeing you later.

1 comment:

Michelle said...

Awww...Happy Birthday T! Spidey's 6th birthday was the 27th...so hard to believe how big they are getting! I know trying to decide on which surgery is the best must be so hard to do. But it sounds like whatever you choose, it will help you get healthier and feel so much better! And I agree that you shouldn't put it off...it sounds like you all have a lot going on right now, but you need to take care of yourself as best as you can now so you can feel motivated and strong enough to take on those challenges.

Regardless of what you decide, know that you, TB, Little T, and the rest of your family are in my prayers.

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