Very Quick Update - My Appointment with Dr Greenslade was today...

SO...

I'll be having my sleeve surgery done in the afternoon of September 5 (that's a Monday). YAY!

All went very easily - he understood from the outset that I wanted a sleeve rather than a band, but mentioned the pros and cons of both regardless. He told me he could see that I had read up and knew enough about the sleeve to make the right choice for myself, and so he booked me in.

I was sent to the receptionist to sign all the paperwork and recieve the information I needed... she was lovely, and she was SKINNY. I wouldn't have known she had the sleeve herself had she not have told me. I think she felt pretty happy when I told her that she looked like someone who had been thin all her life... she apparently organised to have hers done when she was 96kg, but was 89kg on her surgery date. She's now a size 10, and she's not saggy at all. Looked great.

Another woman came in while all this was going on, and wanted to share with me that she'd lost 40kg in the year since having her surgery and wanted to tell me that it's the best thing she's ever done for herself. Both were so very positive about having had the surgery, and it just filled me with hope. They also both reassured me that they thought it was great I was getting it done at a young age... because had they the opportunity to go back and do that, they would have absolutely done it.

Another great thing was that I got a goody-bag. Well, box, really.

In it, I was given...

7 sachets of Chocolate Optifast
7 sachets of Vanilla Optifast
4 sachets of Strawberry Optifast (I gave 3 to Mum, because I never like strawberry milkshakes, and she said she wouldn't mind giving the shakes a go just because she's lazy with meals...)
4 sachets of the coffee (mocha? something like that) Optifast (if anyone wants them, let me know. I will not be using them).
3 Chocolate-flavoured Opti bars
3 Berry-flavoured Opti bars
A bunch of soups (though I was assured they were disgusting... and given Mischa has said the same thing, I'm assuming they are absolutely foul to just about everyone who tries them...lol) (I think maybe 8 sachets of soups all up?)
3 choc mousse sachets
3 lemon mousse sachets
A weight measuring tape thing
A pack of 60 chewable orange-flavoured multivitamins
A little plastic bowl that has measurements on it, so you know how much you're eating (I was told to keep this for post-sleeve meals)
AND... a shaker so I can make my opti drinks in there.

How awesome is that? That's a LOT of stuff and considering it's bloody costly stuff, generally, I'm quite impressed.

I was also told that I needn't have the soups if I didn't want - and instead source similar shakes-diet soups from other programs and use them instead. So that'll be good. 2 weeks on Optifast for me pre-surgery too... though the doctor told me that if I couldn't manage that, then whatever I could manage would do well enough. I think he says this because I'm not as big as some of the other people he sees? I dunno, maybe he says that to everyone?

My post-op diet (as per my info pack) looks a lot different to some others too. From day 3 or 4 I can start on purees... and then from week 4 I'll be on soft foods (and the list I have includes well-cooked pastas and the like - no bread though, but I can have toast). Of course, this is so long as I can tolerate purees before moving on to soft foods... if I suck with the purees I'll have to be on them for longer until I advance.

In hospital, I'll have a buzzer to administer any drugs I'll need to relieve pain... but I'll also have to get shots in the leg for clots... which I am not looking foward to.

I'll also have Foxtel and wireless internet in hospital... but I have to pay $25 a day for that. That's not optional though. I've also been told to ring up and REQUEST a private room... they won't give me one if I don't ask, but are likely to give me one (if there's room of course) if I ask for it. So will be doing that when I ring up to give them my details.

So yeah... it's all going ahead, and now I've just got to wait.

TBH, I'm quite excited about it all... and cannot wait for September to hurry up!

I really enjoyed my appointment, but mostly the relating to the other sleevers... they were all so positive and it was a tiny bit emotional really. Not enough to cry or anything stupid like that... but it felt like we all "got" each other in that small moment, even though I'm sure we're all so different from each other.