Barium, anyone?

I got the Barium swallow done. That was most disagreeable!! It’s an X-ray done while you’re swallowing a chalky liquid. Needless to say, the Chalky Liquid was pretty disgusting. The good thing is the radiologists all know how bad it is and they make you sip only what you have to. So the study was done in 5 minutes. When I went to change into my clothes again, I had chalk all over my lips. Blech! I could taste the chalk all they home. But it was done, D-U-N!!!

The First Consultation Appointment

The 23rd of Jan was my first appt with Dr. Pinnar. I got there super early, I met Sue, the RN in charge of seeing the patients. She was awesome. Very personable and informative. I was able to get lots of questions answered about the procedure, before and after. She gave me a list of items I needed to get done and to the office before my next appt which was the pre-operative appt. I needed a psychological evaluation, complete battery of blood tests and letter from my primary doctor clearing me for the operation, and a barium swallow fluoroscopy to check the motility of my esophagus and the condition of my hiatal hernia, which they were gonna fix at the same time!

The Psych eval was not what I expected. It was not just an interview with a psychologist. First of all, the Doctor is in Reston and the procedure will be done at the Reston Hospital Center. That’s about 45 minutes from where I live with no traffic, it’s close to the Dulles Airport. So everything I could get done at the same time was better for me. As soon as I walked out of Dr. Pinnar’s office, I started calling psychologists that were in the area of Reston to beg them to see me that same day. I wanted to save time and gas, and why wait? After a few tries, I found a psych willing to see me that same day! This was definitely a sign that things were working in my favor!

First, there is a specialized standardized test for patients undergoing bariatric operations. I guess someone took the time to study this very particular subset of patients and determine which factors were important for the success of the operation. Anyway, just a lot of questions about feelings, emotions, how I felt about my medical conditions and life in general, very predictable in the way they wanted you to answer. I tried to be truthful. But it’s hard when you know the right answer. That took about an hour, and then the psych met with me personally to gauge my success rate I guess. I barely let him talk! I talked about how excited I was, how I couldn’t wait, how I was pissed at doctors in general for not knowing this procedure would highly benefit me, I talked about eating habits, now and when I was a child. About when I started to gain weight, what I had tried. And that was it! I got it done! I went home feeling productive and that a lot had been accomplished for one day.

Got the Money!!

I called up my bank and inquired about personal loans. I was approved within 5 minutes. That’s service.

So now I have the money. The only thing standing in my way was time. If I could only get everything done and in place by Feb 15th, I would be a happy camper. I want this done NOW.

The worst B-Day EVER

One of my most depressing b-days ever. I went and bought MY OWN CAKE. Sugar free of course. Instead of writing my papers, I spent the day finding doctors that would perform the procedure AND were covered by my insurance. By luck, I found the father of the doctor that gave the seminar is a preferred provider of BCBS. I learned that although the operation was covered mostly by my insurance, there was still a substantial amount out-of-pocket. But I was able to get an appointment for the following week!

Making the Decision

I couldn’t take it anymore. I made my decision today. I was probably the most depressed I had felt in the last 7-9 years. I had just learned I gained 10 lbs because of Christmas, and my sugar levels were not doing well. What really pushed me over the edge and depressed me so much started on December 31st. I needed a CPAP machine and mask to sleep. I had sleep apnea and was not breathing throughout the whole night. On the last day of 2007, I started using the sleep mask. I saw myself, age 32, needing a mask and machine to breathe at night. What else in my body would go wrong by age 40?

My 33rd birthday was the 16th, and I didn’t feel like celebrating. I didn’t want to see people, I didn’t want people to call me and wish me a happy birthday, I didn’t want to hear people ask me what cool plans I had. I had no plans. None. I had papers to write, it was the middle of the week, we both had work, and who would take care of N anyway?

Making the decision felt good; I felt like now I had something to plan. I got back on the website and learned the first step was probably to attend a seminar. I have no idea what they expected me to learn that was not already on the website, but I checked the calendar. There was one that same day. I thought to myself that this was a sign, it was a test of my resolve. If I could make it to that seminar, I could change my life.

Although I don’t usually do things so spontaneously, I decided to go that same night. By myself if I had to. I would have preferred company, but time was running out. So I drove out all the way to Reston.

What did I take away from the seminar? That it was a relatively simple procedure, the biggest obstacle was money. Once I wrapped my head around that fact, everything else surrounding the procedure was simple. I left wanting that procedure done right away. I remember being pissed at the medical profession in general for not suggesting this earlier. I mean, if I knew about this procedure, why didn’t other doctors know? If it was not for my insistence, I would not have made it this far! Did they really expect me to lose 150 lbs by walking 30 minutes every day and eating healthy??? Yes, I was pissed. I felt all this time I was being set up for failure…

Indecision 2008

Hm, this is a cool quiz. It's supposed to match you up with the current presidential candidates. Of course, I don't know who half of these people are! Try it out.

83% Hillary Clinton
80% Chris Dodd
79% Barack Obama
78% John Edwards
76% Dennis Kucinich
75% Mike Gravel
71% Joe Biden
71% Bill Richardson
50% Rudy Giuliani
40% John McCain
31% Tom Tancredo
30% Mike Huckabee
29% Mitt Romney
25% Ron Paul
17% Fred Thompson

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz