So I called and started the process of finding a surgeon.  I started this early in the year and spoke to a few places.  I decided that I would go with Dr. C Cobourn because he seemed so open and friendly and more importantly he did not suffer from the superiority virus that most of them catch in Medical school.  Also, a good reason for choosing them was that they are within an hour of my home by car, so this means when I have a problem, or need “a fill” I just get into the car and go.  Easy!

Since I paid for this myself, he was able to book me in in about three weeks; however, since I have some other medical risks, due to allergies and previous complications with anesthetics he thought that a six week window after booking would be appropriate, because this would give the clinic the time that would be needed to get my records.  

So, leading up to the surgery there was some stuff that came in the mail and I learned then that there was a lot I had to do.  Blood tests, an ECG, getting the records sent through, order this stuff which is called Optifast, banking and this sort of running around.  It made things busy and I was glad that I got the six weeks.  The whole Optifast thing was a TOTAL surprize!  Though I had read about this in the books and literature, somehow it was not clear to me that I was expected to take in a fully liquid diet for two weeks before the surgery.  This, my friends, was not fun at all.  After all, I sure did not get into this situation because I hate to eat!

I snuck food!  But still I did very good with keeping it minor.

Then, finally the day arrived.

OK! Here I am. Welcome to the world of blogging, right? What brought me here? First, my fantastic friend superkimbo who I know from my days at MIS was blogging a lot. I looked forward to her blogs but she has since had a big life change and has not had a lot of time to dedicate to her blog. So, my first reason for the blog is that I miss superkimbo’s. My second reason is part of that little term “life change” and this is more encompassing. You see, early this year I was diagnosed with a terminal illness – wrongly diagnosed – but still, for three months I spent a lot of time thinking about what I have not done. The great Canadian band, The Tragically Hip, said in one of it’s songs “no one cares about the things that you didn’t do”, and being a fan of this band because of the astute lyrics and good beats, I took it to heart.
So, what was it that I had not done in this life? Honestly, in most respects I have done better than I had ever really hoped to do. Still there were those things that niggled in the back of my brain as undone stuff and since of course I thought I was dying – I just figured I better get off of my more than ample behind and get them done! The first was a small thing. I, a woman of 42 years, most of them as an independent human being, educated, having climbed the life ladder, many years – in fact – as a business woman, yet, I did not drive a car. The solution?  Easy, I got my G1 and am taking driver’s ed. Number one crossed off my stuff to do.
The second, is that I am a writer. I made my living as such for a lot of years, but again since I am dying, right? I better get straight with myself! So, those novels that have been in my head rambling around are now officially outlined and one is in chapter 2. So I am working on number two being crossed off.
The next one, and the reason for my blog is that I have had an achilles heel since i was a young girl. It is personal, but somehow, it feels like I should share my experiences with people who are interested. I have always struggled with my body because of my constant hunger. I think about food all the time and this has gotten in the way of my being able to really live my life to it’s full potential. It sounds funny, I am sure, since those who know me know what I have done with my life, but still those who know me will also know about the constant fight I have had against food. So, my concern was how does one take control of this? I had not had any luck before. I tried Weight Watchers twice, exercise programs several times, Herbal Magic once, Queen’s University exercise and diet program once, The cabbage diet twice, The model diet dozen’s of times, Dr. Dean Ornish once, Atkin’s once and I am sure I forget a few too! The thing is that they all worked at least to a certain degree. I was able to take off varied amounts of weight, but the truth is I felt not only deprived but starved to death all the time. Then when my will power to ignore my feelings of starvation wore off, BAM the weight just packed on again in a very short period. So while it took me months, years even to take off about a hundred pounds, I could easily gain this back in a very short window because when I lost that control, I really lost control!
Then the research started. I decided to have gastric banding because though it is a surgery, it is not as invasive as other methods of medical interference. I had the band installed in Mississauga on May 23rd, 2008.