Gastric Bypass Surgery Scheduled

So, after many months of contemplating, researching, pre-screening appointments, deciding, and waiting on insurance approvals, Ben and I are both having Gastric Bypass Surgery!

My surgery is scheduled for Wednesday May 26th, and Ben's is scheduled for Wednesday June 23. We are both having Laproscopic Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass Surgeries to be done at Northside Hospital, and to be performed by Dr. Paul Macik. Believe it or not, the surgeries have come a long way, so nowadays, they just cut 4 small incisions and use tools and a camera to do the surgery, and recovery and returning to work takes about two weeks.

My plan is to chronicle our experiences and weight loss here, so that I'll have a bit more room for expression than I do on Facebook. Granted, I could do "notes" on Facebook, but I don't love those. I used to blog a lot, but then I got addicted to Facebook and moved away from regular blogging. Contemplating my options, though, I just love the idea of returning to my blog for this big event! It's the exact thing blogging is perfect for, no?

So, to get started, here are some relevant links:

Gastric bypass surgery - article from Northside's Website

Gastric bypass surgery - WebMD article

And here's a picture of what they'll be doing:

What's that? The Roux-en-Y gastric bypass procedure involves creating a stomach pouch out of a small portion of the stomach and attaching it directly to the small intestine, bypassing a large part of the stomach and duodenum. Not only is the stomach pouch too small to hold large amounts of food, but by skipping the duodenum, fat absorption is substantially reduced.

So, in preparation for my surgery, I've just got about a week and a half of "normal" eating, and then, to prepare for the surgery, I'll have 2 wks of eating REALLY lowcarb, then surgery to be followed by, well, liquids and teeny tiny portions.

So excited about our upcoming life change and about sharing our journey through blogging!

Will be back soon!