Oh My Gosh!

It feels like its been one of those weeks but only lasted for 2 days- Wed and Thurs!

It was a long, tiring day on Wednesday  - taking Madison to my SILs for 7.30am, then we had to be at The Countess of Chester Hospital by 8.30 for the pre-op assessment, which didn't finish until 2pm!  Then collecting Madison, waiting to see some pictures of a friend getting married in Gibralter at 4pm (UK time) and getting home at 6pm!  Only to be topped off with my dear mum & dear son wanting a chippy tea!  I collected, I ordered, I plated it up for them, I threw away the remnants!  Not only did I not eat any, I didn't even lick my fingers!  Result!  Don't think I've ever been so determined as I am now to get on with this diet!

Everything went well, I met the anesthetist, one of the surgeons and the dietician.  I had already spoken with the psychotherapist the week before.  Met up again with a few ladies that I'd met briefly at the local support group - we all live within 20 minutes of each other and will be having surgery about the same time.

The burning question everyone wanted to know was how soon could the surgery be done?  We were told different things depending on who you asked!  The one thing that did remain the same was that we would get a phone call either this Friday or early next week.

Yet on Thursday, 9.15am, I got that call!  WOW!  Offering me a surgery date of Monday 12th August, with a gastroscopy to be done first on Tuesday 6th.

Its the date I was hoping for but I didn't really expect it to happen that soon!  I was shaking by the end of the call.  I was and still am a bundle of nerves & excitement & apprehension with a hefty dollop of impatience on the top!

The time came to 'buy lots of Slim Fast shakes for the days' and 'lots of salad ingredients to have with some protein, meat or fish' in the evenings.

So today I'm on day 2 of the pre-op diet and have 9 more days to go!  Roll on Mon 12th - to start my new 'healthy' relationship with food!


AND THEN...

I received the news from my friend Lesley who is on the design team over at Use Your Words that I had won their first challenge with my mixed media page here.

Thank you UYW team - I'm proudly displaying my blinkie  ----> somewhere over there ---> :)

The Story of finding a NEW Me

I'm about to embark on a different kind of weight-loss journey - the bariatric kind!  I've been seeing a dietician since November after referral from my GP. The dietician referred me for the surgery back in April and now, after a few bureaucratic problems, I finally have a date for my Pre-Op Assessment - Wed July 31st!

This Wednesday! Yikes!

So Wednesday morning, I'll be off to Chester to be 'assessed' then all being well, the surgery should be a couple of weeks after!  Double Yikes!!!

Anyhow, I decided I was going to write down my emotional journey and my physical journey - my feelings, my worries, my water intake, my food consumption as it goes through various stages from puréed to normal once again. 

And where else to start than in a new book, to fill it with my thoughts, my progress, my weight loss! And me being me, had to decorate the first page!  

And it couldn't have come at a better time as far as my craft hobby is concerned! I can use it to join in with the Use Your Word Challenge of using the word 'Story' in your creation. 

I wanted to do a title page - I'd had an idea swirling round the brain cells for a while but when it came to it, last night I just used stencils & my Derwent Inktense pencils that were close to hand. Its nothing like my original idea, but I really like it! Well, apart from the squiggles down the left side, that was one of those 'needs something else' moments but this time, it really didn't!

Oh well, live & learn! Lol

A new Challenge!

And why not start as I mean to carry on with my blog posts, with setting myself a challenge with the help of a new challenge blog.  As I've been getting messy with art journalling recently, its about time I got some scrapping done!

Use Your Words Challenge Blog is going to post two challenges each month with an inspiration word to use within the layout.  I like challenges like this, they get the brain cells working a bit more!  I'm looking forward to the first challenge!

Are you?

They are also doing a giveaway this month, hop on over there to see what you could win.

Go on, I'll still be here when you get back! :)

Yikes!

Oh my!  Looks like I've joined the ranks of other bloggers that keep meaning to do another blog post but just don't quite get round to it!  I just noticed the date on my last post and its almost 11 months!  I'd like to say that time flies when you're having fun, but truth be known, it hasn't been the best 11 months of my life!  But I'm not going to dwell on that time on here...  Onwards and upwards, as they say!  (btw, who are 'they'?)

Right, time to get my blog back into working order then!!!  I'll be back!