I feel blessed and here's why...

First, I want to say thank you to every one on the forum.  Everyone at OH has been WONDERFUL!

I have been reading many threads recently, a lot on the main boards, of people having horendous experiences with people in their life being so negative, making comments like, "taking the easy way out", "you'll gain it all back", "why can't you just diet", "your crazy to have WLS", etc....

My life has been full of hardships but I am blessed
1.  To live with the same guy for 19 years who when I seriously started talking about this surgery and knew it meant life and death said "yes, you do have to do it" when I got to the point I was so depressed and whiny asking him if things had really become that desperate I had to do it.  I was so nervous on 9/3 about getting the surgeon's final approval for my date that he had his schedule changed so he could drive me in to Boston for the appointment.  I had previously told him if he came home from work and I wasn't there to start calling the Boston precincts because I would be up for attempted murder for lunging at my doc if she turned me down for surgery.  I was joking, I think, but I felt in such despair.
2.  My only other sister who lives in my state, when hearing that I got a set date, said she has next Friday off (she knows Fri/Sat are my set days off) and is coming up to my house to see me before the surgery and says she will cook me one of her healthy meals.  (she knows I dont cook and she has some good low fat recipes). 
3.  My 2 nieces and my guy's mom and dad all know I am having the surgery and none of them have said anything but positive comments.  My neices are worried because of what happened to there mom having a surgery, but they know what I have gone through over the years.
4.  And finally, I have an exceptional psychologist who got it threw my head years ago that "Whatever anyone says about me, says nothing about me and everything about them".  One of the many mantras I live by.  My newest one I picked up is "What you can believe, you can Achieve."

Anyways, I am obviously in an excellent mood this fine Sunday.  Hope everyone has as much positive people in their lives at home and if you dont you got us all here.  Love to everyone!

PS Ruby goes to "fat kid camp" tonight, 8 pm eastern, style TV,  From the preview, it looks like it will be a fun show. 

SO GLAD you got a date and didin't have to "off" the surgeon!! I'm also glad that you have supportive folks in your life and that they are coming through for you. AND you have someone good who is in your head and helping you with thoughts. I think you have a recipe for success going here.

Too bad it's taken some of us so long to get all our ducks in a row for weight loss, but better late than never. Victory will be all that much sweeter.

I've never watched the Ruby lady on tv. What channel is she on? I know of her from the internet I guess. Ruby Ellen is actually my grandmother's name. I like using it online as it has more STYLE than mine.

Hey RubyEllen (or whatever your name is LOL!), glad to hear from ya.  Having seen you on the boards lately and I been thinking about ya.  I know we are in the same lose weight to have surgery boat.  Honestly, you should have seen me in the doc's office, I HAD to promise her I would keep losing up to the date, I PROMISED her I could lose 10, possibly 15, but probably not the up to 20 more she seems to be pushing (it is 3 1/2 weeks and I dont know what she is thinking but I get the feeling she is worried about the hernia thrown in the mix, but she told me she is getting one of the other WLS surgeons in the practice to do the surgery with her and that makes me feel MUCH, MUCH better!)

The show Ruby is on the style channel.  But all cable systems are different.  On mine it is channel 151 but I am sure it would be totally different where you are.  If you think you want to watch it, try doing a search on the cable for it.  My cable system in the menu section has a search button (icon is a looking glass) and you just put in R U B Y and then you scoll down and it will tell the time, channel and a brief synopsis.  Dont know if you got something similar. 

One of my favorite Ruby episodes was when Ruby got home from the doctors up a couple of pounds when her scale at home said she had lost weight.  (It was the same exact scale I have at home which I also usually have to remember subtracting pounds off).  Any way, she took it out to the backyard and her and her roommate took turns smashing it with a sledge hammer. 

One more thing I wanted to mention to you, I love your picture.  I think I mentioned before I am a medical transcriptionist and I know you said you were a nurse.  But, when I see your picture I always chuckle because i invision one day I will be looking at that picture and you and I both would have already lost at least 100 or so pounds, and I will be like RubyEllen I think maybe you are starting to lose to much weight and you will be like Donna I am the one on the left!    In my dreams we will both be there I know it will happen! 

Shoot, I don't get the style channel, but I think I would like the Ruby lady. My real name is Ronda. You can call me either one.

I love love love the thought of us both being "skeletal" in our future. I think we are too sensible to get that gaunt, but it's a good joke. I actually used that photo as it's one of the FEW that I have of myself. As it turns out it's pretty appropriate.

I think your staged surgery with the other surgeon on board too is an EXCELLENT plan. I had to work briefly in the OR as a student nurse and hernia surgeries are trickier to figure out than you would think. I mean they aren't LIFE THREATENING tricky, but complicated to get everything in the right place and secured properly tricky. I will be thinking of you on the 29th, Donna. You have worked hard for this surgery.

I have been scarce on the board lately. I went on a little quilt retreat with some friends for a few days and then I had to catch up at work and at home. I'm back to business  as usual now. I did pretty well on the retreat. Our hostess is an EXCELLENT cook, but I just ate very small amounts and didn't gain anything back.

Love chatting with you.

It definetly does appear that you are truly blessed!!!!  It is wonderful how much support that you have around you!  I, thus far, have not had any negative comments.  My husband completely understands and supports me 100% as well as my family.. mom, dad, sister and brother.   My mom and sister seem to be 10X more excited to see the new me LMBO.. if that is possible.  Both of them come check out this site quite a bit to see what others are going through with their journeys and what to expect, generally, through my journey... that and they love the 'before and after' pictures! 

Hi Donna and Ruby-
I am 5 months out and doing well, but that is NOT my point. I love the respect and support you are showing and sharing with each other. That is really what OH is ment to be.
   I hope that you both continue the path towards surgery. I hope your days come and you can both enjoy the journey you are on to recovering your health.  That is what I wanted and feel so very lucky to have been given the opportunity to do...now it is YOUR (plural) turn.

All my best and continued great journeys to you BOTH
teach

I just wanted to say that I found "Ruby"! :)

Hey there Ronda and Donna..
I just wanted to say congrats on the surgery date!!  I know your excited and a bit nervous.  I know I was.  I had my WLS July 30 of this year.  Best thing, outside of marrying my soulmate, that I've ever done.  I'm blessed to have a wonderful support system in her and my friends.  Everyone has been very positive about this, but they did have some concerns.  Mostly because of all the negative press that this surgery gets.  The only time you ever hear about it in the news is when it goes horribly wrong.

Anyway, just wanted to put my 2cents in, and wish you both the best.

I watched Ruby last night...I just love her.  I feel I am her.  She gives a voice and a positive image to those of us who are really overweight.  Even if she never loses another pound, she's a success.  And I'm grateful to her for the work that she's doing by putting herself out there and making people see that fat people are just people.....just like them..
Have a great day
April

Good for you, Donna! It's a wonderful feeling to appreciate the blessings in our lives. :) I would say that your surgeon wants you to keep losing up until the date of surgery because she is concerned about the size of the liver getting in the way of the stomach as she operates. It's great that she will have a second surgeon to help out. Are you having it laparascopically or an open procedure? If your hernia repair is at the same time, it might be open. Are they going to remove your gallbladder at the same time?

Hi Waterwench, thanks for the concern.  I should be having it laprascopically because I am going to get the hernia fixed in 1 to 1-1/2 years after.  As for the gallbladder, that slippery sucker is the culprit.  I had it removed laprascopically in 1984.  So this hernia is coming out at the belly button from the old lap incision where they pulled out the gallbladder.  I dont know how long I had the hernia cause when I had my TAH-BSO in 2006 my surgeon saw it and stuff it back in and sewed but I guess with all those other organs gone when it started coming back out it just plopped out!  Then I definitely knew I had one as now it is a soccor ball.  Gross but filled into my "fat roll" and took off with gravity and keep on a going!  UGH!  But everyone says unless I weigh under 300 it would just come undone if I had it fixed now. And now my surgeon says they are not sure they can do an RNY because some of the "guts" they need might be in there and to avoid dealing with that they probably will do a VSG but I have researched that since I found that out on 9/3 and I am okay with that.  I will make anything work!

By the way just wanted to say from your post I think we are very similar minded.  Sometimes when I respond to peoples post I dont realize that what they were really looking for someone just to tell them everything they think and do is right and not really looking for advice/help.  But thankfully you are wonderfully more bold and eloquent than I am!  I love your posts!  Keep on telling it like it is SISTA!  I loved that one about how it is our arm that is hoisting up those twinkies!  I hate when people say there surgery failed them and then 1st thing you find out they dont keep food journal, dont drink all their water etc, etc. 

By the way, the reason I decided to do that post was so many other boards there is so much negativity and here we dont seem to indulge in that, at least not as much maybe.  I am feeling quite good lately but I myself can be a cranky whiney b*tch sometimes, If you can believe it! 

People lets keep the LOVE FEST ALIVE on the over 50+ board.  PEACE!  ((OOPS! I mean the BMI over 50+ board, I am only 45!  Yeah that makes a difference.  Now if someday my knees did not feel like they were 80! ))