A New Me

April has been a shit month for blogging for me, apparently.  I have done a lot, medically.  I got my EEG, an EMG, and saw my neurologist.  Dr Lorente, the neurologist, has a funny accent and he is in his 70s.  During my EMG, he said, "you know, everyone says that this test hurts."  He then expertly skewered the meaty part of my hand, to my extreme distaste, and I swore under my breath.  He continued, "But I have been doing this test for 35 years, and I don't hurt at all!"

I laughed.  Just a little.

If you've never had an EMG, it is a painful electrostimulation of your nerves to measure the conductivity.  Then, needles are shoved ever so gently into your flesh to measure nerve activity.  It is a test to check for carpal tunnel, which causes numbness in the hands.  Which is what I have.  I do not, however, have carpal tunnel. 

I have come to the conclusion that I do not have MS.  I have a conglomeration of symptoms brought on by boredom, fatness, and depression.  SO I decided to take the next step in my plan.  A step that I have wanted to take for years.  I made an appointment with a bariatric surgeon.

my quest for weight loss is a long, arduous journey for another blog post.  But i have been overweight since puberty and haven't been able to lose.  I have researched bariatric surgery and to be honest, my only possibility of losing weight lies with malabsorption and maldigestion.  Which means I won't be able to absorb vitamins and minerals like calcium and B12 and iron. 

This is a HUGE deal.  The surgery would be a new tool - the only one I haven't used - in weight loss for me.  I have really not had trouble with diets.  I have trouble with the failures.  The lack of results.  The surgery should help me see the results.  I will be dealing with a three month doctor-supervised diet (which I have done before), then adding chewable vitamins to my diet to prevent hair loss and drastic decline in my health, then a week or so of a mainly liquid diet prior to surgery, a month of non-solid food diet after surgery, and monthly doctor visits for a year, then every 6 months for life.

And in return, hopefully the surgery will allow me to see results of my diet and exercise, something i have never had.  In addition, i hope to have complete resolution of the effects of osteoarthritis in my knee, a partial resolution in my depression, and resolution of my fake MS symptoms.  that would be awesome.  so let's see where this goes.  My appointment is May 5th :)