T-minus 12 hours....

8:30 p.m.Holy crap! Literally, that's what I've been doing pretty much non stop for the last 3 hours. But let's back up a few hours, well, about 15 to be exact.
5 a.m. Butterfly scale about a 2.
Rise and shine! Now, to most of you, 5 a.m. is an ungodly hour but, for someone who's days typically start at 3:30 a.m., this was sleeping in! To my poor mama, however, this was a sacrifice to which I am again indebted to her for.
6 a.m. Butterfly scale only 1 cuz the beautiful morning made me forget just a little bit.
Ready to go get mom and head to SLC.
6:30 a.m. Butterfly scale back up to a 2 (seeing my mom made me nervous for some reason)
Finished getting mom ready to go, hugged my baby sister and off we went.
7:30 a.m. Butterfly scale up to a 5 due to arriving at the hospital.
Here's where the day starts to go a little south.... I was supposed to have 2 procedures done this morning before the last class with RMAP. First an ultra sound of my liver (to make sure it is not too large to do the bypass laproscopicly) and my gallbladder (in case they need to just take that out while they're in there) and 2nd, an upper G.I. of my esophagus to check for any scar tissue due to the fact that I have acid reflux. Well, when we checked in they told us that they only had me scheduled for an ultra sound even though I had the paper from RMAP stating both procedures needed to be done. They looked at me like I was insane and told me I had to just wait and talk to the surgeon. Whatever. So I had the ultra sound, which incidentally, is NOT as cool as a baby ultra sound and then we were sent upstairs to RMAP. "You're a bit early", the nice lady behind the counter said and I was all, DUH, I was SUPPOSED to be having a stupid UPPER GI right now! What the HECK!? Ok, so actually, it was "My paper says I'm supposed to have an upper GI but the folks downstairs don't seem to have the paperwork." She told us we'd have to wait for Kathy the scheduling lady who wouldn't be in till later. Great. So we wait, yet again. After more paper work and a test (for real, I had to take a multiple choice test on everything I have learned about the surgery and post-operative lifestyle! I got 100% cuz I'm just THAT awesome!) I had my "before" picture taken (I looked hot, seriously I don't know why I'm even doing this..) and it was time for the class. The class was long but informative about everything that would happen at the hospital tomorrow and basically everything that we would need to to for our bodies and minds for the rest of our lives. I was given a binder which I consider my instruction manual (my mom was wondering where that had been all my life lol) that is filled with everything I could possibly need to maintain myself physically and emotionally.  I love that binder.
11:00 a.m. Butterfly scale back down to around a 2 due to my awesome binder.
Ok, so now it's getting to be lunch time and i have not eaten or drank anything since last night because of my 2 procedures and my blood labs that I also still needed. Kathy, the scheduling lady, found the faxes that she sent to radiology a week ago and showed me that it was their mistake and that she got it straightened out with them and all was right with the world. Not really, because I was starving, thirsty, tired of sitting and pretty much ready to just be done for the day but we headed downstairs again. 
11:30 a.m. Butterfly scale back to a 5 when barium entered the picture.
The upper GI was miserable. Lots of sipping chalk, rolling like a beached whale on the table to "coat my stomach" and to top it off, unbeknown'st to me, I had a huge hole in the back of my garments so every time I rolled over, the x-ray techs got quite a show! Good grief.
12:00 p.m. Butterfly scale a 0. I just want to GO HOME!
Now we wait, yet again, for the blood work. They SHOULD have put me at the front of the line because it was THEIR fault I didn't have the stupid upper GI 4 hours ago, but the girl behind that counter, had absolutely NO customer service skills and acted like we were asking her to cure cancer instead of finding out if we were next. I'm hungry.
1:00 p.m. the butterflies are out to lunch WITHOUT me.
FINALLY we are called back and the nurse goes over all my medical history with me. Then they ask me to pee in a cup and I was like, uh I haven't had anything to eat or DRINK since yesterday, that might me kinda hard, but I gave it the old college try and managed to produce a small sample. Then, surprise surprise, we were once again waiting.  Labs. Fabulous, except much like the lines at the grocery store, I ALWAYS end up behind someone with a coupon for everything, or in this case, a lady with collapsed veins. Seriously, they had ALL the flabotamists in there trying to get blood from this poor lady and they tried for almost 45 minutes! AHHHHHHHH!
1:45 p.m. butterflies are hiding cuz I've got a flyswatter and I'm pissed!
Blood drawn. The end.
2:00 six and a half hours after arriving, mom and I finally get to leave! We almost got stuck in the rotating doors but luckily they knew that they probably would have rotating doors anymore if that happened so we made it out into the sunshine! Butterflies are flying free!
5:00 pm Butterflies are back and setting up camp.
After a wonderful lunch (finally!) and a stop at my sweet Grandma Carol's for a quick visit, I made it home to my hubby and the babies. I drank down the awful magnesium citrate and a half an hour later the crap hit the fan. Gross.
9:30 pm Butterflies are going crazy.
Now the house is quiet. Tom took the kids to his mom's to spend the night and it's just us. I am so thankful for such a wonderful man in my life who has supported me in everything I have ever wanted to do, this surgery being no exception. I want him to know that I love him beyond words and that, well, I'll just tell him the rest in a minute. I can't type and cry at the same time.
So there it is. Tomorrow is the big day and I am so ready. I have the support of so many people, family and friends, ward members and co-workers, it's an incredible feeling. Thanks to you all and I will continue this journey in a few days! Wish me luck!
Here are a few "before" pics. Gross.

My and buddy April 2010 (I hadn't weighed myself but I would not doubt it if I was over 400 lbs at this point)

Wow, again, so hard to look at. October 2010 (395+ lbs)

June 2011 a few days before surgery.
320 lbs.