Newbie from ACT - sleeve date in 1 month

Hi Carolina

by now you will have been sleeved and hopefullly all going well.

I too live in Canberra and was sleeved on 6th Oct by Charlie Mosse, i think he is a lovely guy and did a great job for me.

I did not have any medical complications so feel very lucky for that.

Probably abit too late notice for this time but me and another canberran are meeting up at Gus's in civic in the morning at 10.30 if you read this mail and can make it, it would be good to catch up.

In case you have not found it yet there is a link to sleevers meeting up just find the canberra one and let us know when you can make a time to catch up for a coffee and share your journey.

Anyhow if you make it, it would be great

cheers

Lynne

Thanks everyone for your kind welcomes and well wishes! :)

Janette: congratulations on reaching your goal! That's fantastic! I know what you mean about fitting into a dress, my fiance and I plan to marry in 2012 and Im looking forward to fitting into a nice dress that isn't tent like. I'm sure you'll have a great time at the wedding :)

Smidge: congrats on your sleeve date! look forward to hearing about your journey and have great time o/s!

Jigglypuff: great to hear from another November sleever! Ditto, I look forward to sharing our experience. :)

Just a quick update: I am fretting a bit - though my fiance tells me not to - as I had dental surgery a few days ago but Im still having a lot of pain and trouble sleeping. The pain should have subsided by now, so I'm worried I still have a chronic infection & just hope it can be fixed before 3 November! Also, I have to postpone my dietician appointment for 8:30 tomorrow morning due to work drama (why do these things always happen at 4 on Fridays?) that has to be sorted 1st thing tomorrow morning (grr) so I feel really bad to cancel at such late notice and put out the lovely team at Canberra bariatric - but they have been so good so far, I hope they'll understand. After deciding on the sleeve, I just hate the thought of not being able to have the op.

Ahh so good to vent!

Carolina

Hi Carolina - Im from Canberra too and am booked in on 1st Dec at this stage! Reading your post is like hearing my own story from someone else. I am heading overseas before hand but will look forward to hearing how you are going and will stay in touch. Stay strong and look forward with a huge smile on your face!

Smidge

Hi Carolina and welcome to the forum.

Yes, think maintaining has been a big problems for lots of us.
I am a master at losing weight, and sure I have lost 100's of kilos over the past 40 years, but NO more!!
You will love the sleeve, one of the best decisions I have ever made.

I reached my goal 6 weeks ago, and am trying to maintain, but am still losing (I have had 2 surgeries in the last 6 weeks, so putting it down to that).

All the things you are looking forward to will definitely happen.
Yesterday I bought my first dress in 25 years. So happy!
And its special, my son is getting married in 8 days.

Good luck with your journey.

Hi Carolina,

Welcome, I see you have also popped into the November Sleever's thread too :) Its now my second home (I'm being sleeved on 25th November).

Your story of yo-yo'ing sure is a familiar one, I can certainly relate. I look forward to treading this path with you.

Jiggly xx

hi Carolina!

Welcome to the site and thanks for sharing your story!

Good luck for your surgery and looking forward to following your journey!

Hi everyone,

First off, I want to say what a great forum this is! I have popped in a few times to read about your experiences and useful info/links and it's been great reading about people's experiences as I've been deciding on the sleeve surgery.

Some background on me:

My name is Carolina and I am from the ACT. I started looking at the gastric sleeve surgery in July of this year, after a difficult appointment with with my endocronologist. A few years ago (around 2002-3) I was diagnosed with PCOS, and whilst I've always been overweight (that story is very long, suffice to say a Doctor first told my parents I should lose a kilo or two when I was 5 yo) my extra efforts in the past 8 or so years to lose weight have largely been in vain. Actually, my efforts to lose weight have been quite succesful, but I obviosuly have problems in maintaining weight loss. Unfortunately, I have also managed to steadily put on weight every year for past 10 years or so, so now I have a lot to lose.

Now I am not blaming PCOS completely, but definitely it has made it harder to shift the weight and keep it off. My endo was upfront with me last year - stick to CSIRO diet, take metformin and exercise 1 hour most days, and in a year or two I'd get back to a more 'appropriate' weight. Well as probably a lot of us experience, it is difficult to make lifestyle changes, and whilst I went through periods of following this regime pretty strictly (despite bad side effets from the metformin), I managed to lose 22kg only to regain it when I had extra work and family stresses a few months later (my father in law was critical hospital for a few months so I didn't make exercise a priority).

In considering the statistics on long term weight loss and maintenance, and looking at all options (surgery options, continuing with lower carb diets & metformin, not doing anything and what that means for my health) I decided I do need this extra tool to finally get under the 100kg threshold and keep the weight off. I do understand it is a tool, and that I will need to work at keeping my food intake low, but if this is what it takes I am willing to do it. I am booked for my sleeve surgery on 3 November with Dr Mosse.

I think what I will find the hardest is not using food as a treat and retraining my mind not to overeat. I am not a 'snacking' person, but in the past I had done a lot of comfort and 'no thinking' eating, in front of the TV or just to 'do something'. But now I think my main problem is that - I love food and I find it hard to stop eating something I like. I don't just like 'bad/junk' food, I love all food. If there is a plate of veggie sticks and hummus or ricotta, I am there! I love a good steak and three veg, and if there are any bakery products, I find it hard to say no to. I am hoping that the sleeve will help me retrain my mind to eat small portions.

Things I am looking forward to:

- Not having knee pain, and being able to enjoy exercise again, rather than it being so painful.
- taking part in more activities with my friends, rather than have to sit out a lot of times.
- being able to buy clothes more easily
- having lower Blood pressure
- not panting every time I walk for ten minutes!

I would love to hear from others who have had the sleeve with Dr Mosse, or are booked for sleeving around the same time - and anyone who'd like to share their words of wisdom/insights in my countdown to a small tummy! :)

Thanks for reading my ramblings :)

Carolina