Two Thousand and Nine

Let us recap 2009.

January
I decided to look into Gastric Bypass surgery. Of course, I couldn't get any doctor appointments until February so let's move along.
I cut 10+ inches of my hair off right at the end of December resulting in the shortest hair I've had since I was in elementary school.

February
I had my first appointment with my doctor Feb 17th to talk about a referral to a bariatric surgeon group. The next day I also met with a dietitian who put me on a Diabetic diet consisting of limiting my carb intake by counting carbs.

On the 27th Ben and I went to Shakopee to an afternoon class about weight loss surgeries done through Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, MN. I got a packet of information at the seminar which I filled out and mailed to the hospital.

March
On March 10th our water heater died & flooded half of our basement. What used to be our savings/cushion was used to pay the deductible on our home insurance. A week of high-powered (high-electricity-using) fans in the basement dried everything out. Thankfully we didn't have to deal with any mold.

I received a call from the hospital less than a week after mailing the filled-out packet. I was able to schedule an appointment to meet with my chosen surgeon, Dr. Raymond Drew the following month. I had my psychological evaluation for surgery later in March.

I also turned 26 years of age on March 14th! Ben & I went up to Minneapolis with our friends Andy & Holly to Gasthof zur Gemutlichkeit, a really awesome German restaurant.

April
My consultation was great! Dr. Drew said I was a great candidate & all they needed was my blood labs & psych evaluation. I fought back and forth with getting things submitted the WHOLE month of April until finally around the 27th they were able to submit my request to insurance.

May
I got approved for surgery with a scheduled date of June 17, 2009.
About 2 weeks after that my surgery date changed to May 27, 2009!
Surgery went well with no complications & a seemingly quick recovery.

June
Spent half of the month recovering from surgery at home. The amount of fatigue you experience after this kind of surgery and lack of sustenance really taxes your daily energy stores. We attended Jamie & Adam's wedding mid-June and it was a beautiful outdoor wedding at a park.

July
Ben and I did more geocaching and I had lost about 20-25 pounds so far since surgery. We helped our friends Andy & Holly move into a house in the cities. I went up to Perham for a weekend to visit my family/sisters. It was nice to get out of the city for a while. I discovered the Twilight book series at my sister's house.

August
We went up to Perham together for the first time since my surgery & visited family. We surprised my parents by all of us kids being home so we could take a nice family photo. Mom was able to use one of them for the Christmas photo/letter this year. Ben and I continued to geocache.

I had to clean out much of my closet to find room for new sizes. I had moved from size 22/24 down to size 18/20 and had received many hand-me-downs from family, friends, or coworkers.

September not much happened. I got the iPhone I wanted =)

October
We celebrated Ben's birthday on the 4th in a very calm/tame way. We also gained another cat in the house - Skillz - from my coworker/twin Kelli. Due to circumstances, they couldn't have him at their house anymore.

November
I had my 6 month follow-up after surgery on 11/19 and I was at 192 pounds which put me at 54% loss of my excess weight in 6 months which is great!

I saw 'New Moon' in the theatre with a coworker on 11/20 which was really nice but we sat so close it was hard to really enjoy the movie. I went home with a sore butt & a headache.

We surprised my parents by coming up the Friday after Thanksgiving so that we could attend the Doll family Thanksgiving. It was a lot of fun!

December
Nothing spectacular to report other than, so far in 2009, I have gone from 280 pounds to 171 pounds - 109 pounds gone forever! Best. Decision. Ever.