Let the games begin

In the fall of 2010, after all the research, the prayers and the discussions with my sweet husband, I had made my decision. I was choosing to live. I was choosing to raise my children to have healthy eating habits and I was choosing to be an active, healthy mom, a mom they could be proud of. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Let's get this show on the road! It's funny how it can take an eternity to make a life altering decision, but once you've made it, you want it to happen NOW! Well, with weight loss surgery, NOW just aint in the cards. I guess I'm glad they don't just cut you open, sever 3/4 of your stomach and send you on your way like they did in the early years of Gastric Bypass now known as Roux-en-y or RNY for short, but all the hoops you have to jump through can become somewhat time consuming. Lets rewind a bit, before the hoops and right after admitting to myself that "thunder cats are GO!"  I made the call to Rocky Mountain Associated Physicians located at St. Marks Hospital in Salt Lake. In my research, I learned that these guys were the best of the best in the Western U.S. and they were right in my neighborhood! Sa-WEET! The first step, according to them, is to attend a seminar at the hospital taught by a dietitian and one of the surgeons. I signed us up! When I ended that initial phone call, I felt a calm that I had never felt before and a true prompting that I had honestly made the right decision.  On January 13, 2011 Tom and I headed to Salt Lake. Tom had just bought a new phone and we used the talking GPS to find the hospital. I don't know why I mention that, other then it was super cool at the time lol.  We arrived early so we could grab some dinner before the seminar.  We found a little dive pizza place and it was there that Coke and I said our tearful good-byes. We (the soda and myself) reminisced about all the good time's we'd had together, we laughed as we remembered the first and last time we put Captain Morgan into the mix and, in the end, we knew we just weren't good for each other and we parted, as friends. On to the seminar.  The first thing I noticed was the HUGE chairs they had in the conference room and I thought, "wow! they really know their target audience!" #1 worst thing about seminars/meetings/conferences/dr.'s offices etc for a fat person, is trying to squeeze your butt into those stupid tiny chairs. If you want us to pay attention, don't give us donuts, give us some freakin wider chairs!  Anyhoo, these chairs rocked and so did the seminar. It covered all the different types of weight loss surgery from the Lap Band to the Duodenal Switch and all their risks and success'. As I listened to all the information (most of which I was already privy to due to my incessant research) I became more and more excited. Afterwards, as we were leaving the hospital I KNEW for a FACT that this was my future and when we walked out into the night air, I felt as light as the snow that was falling at our feet. I looked at Tom and said, "let the games begin." And, a game, is truly what it became.