Getting Closer!

We are back from our cruise! I loved spending New Year's Eve on a ship filled with party-goers. The best news is that I had no noticable weight gain. That's great news! I ate a lot but tried to walk and take the stairs even more. My knee was killing me, especially the first 3 days, and one or two days the ankle of that foot swelled up a fair amount. But it's back to normal now and I'm having surgery this Friday to clean up my knee. Then soon after that I will be cleared to really exercise. I didn't gain weight while on vacation and I managed to lose a couple more last week, so I am down (at my absolute lowest of the day) to 186 pounds. Today I had an appointment with Dr. Basa, to check in and see how I'm doing. According to their scale I have lost the 10 required pounds. Hooray! I need to keep losing because they will postpone surgery if I'm not still 10 pounds down, plus it reduces the size of the liver and makes surgery easier and safer. This week I will attend the support meeting and the first part of the nutrition class and get my lab work finished. I have an appointment with a cardiologist on January 17 (I think), and I need to make an appointment with the psychologist. All that's left after that is an exercise class that I will attend the last week in January and an endoscopy that will probably be scheduled around the same time. I think they are going to call and give me a surgery date soon--probably early to mid-February! I can't believe it's coming up so soon! I've been scared lately. Should I have surgery? Is this the right surgery? What if I fail? What is weight loss surgery failure? It's just normal nervousness--this is a lifetime commitment. I believe surgery is right for me because, besides the weightloss, I want to not worry about diabetes (and high blood pressure and high cholesterol) and it's complications. I also believe gastric bypass is the right surgery for me. The other surgery that I've been thinking considering is the duodenal switch. But I don't want to increase my chances of bathroom problems, I have enough of them. Plus, it doesn't help with reflux, which I would like. I'm sure it's more expensive, and I'm self-pay. And the malabsorbtion is greater and doesn't decrease with time, so you have to commit to taking A LOT of vitamins and increased chances of problems with that. Failure would be to not lose weight (not going to happen) or regain (frequently happens a few years out due to a return to old habits, less malabsorbtion, and the body readjusting), which can be lost again. I will praying that I can deal with the changes and be vigilant in maintaining good habits. See, chilly feet. It's all good!