After fighting this battle for years

I made the decision to have weight loss surgery.  The classic bypass is the procedure I'm going for.  I like the data associated with it.  I had my first consultation on April 4,2014....let me back up just a little....during my physical last year I asked my Dr about it...his solution for all my health problems is lose weight and exercise (like it's that easy)...he said you know it's not the magic pill...you still have to do your part...I knew this...but he said, think seriously, research and if you still think that is the route you want to take, I'll give you the name of the Dr. we work with next year....which is this year.  So had my physical late March, ...long story short...if I weren't going for the surgery, we would be increasing my cholesterol and I'd be starting on meds for type 2 diabetes.
Before the Bariatric surgeon could send in paperwork for insurance, I had to have a psych eval and see a nutritionist...did both of those right away. Got notified today that I was approved, now I have part 2 of my consultation....which I understand they will cover exactly what my out of pocket/ co -pay costs will be and scheduling.  That appt is scheduled for May 1.  Today I had a stress test and later in May I have a EGD....they wanted those done before surgery.  In my perfect world I would like to have this surgery during the 3rd week of June.  That gives me time to take my oldest grandson to NC to see his dad for the summer, then enough time to recover before I do some curriculum writing.
I thought blogging would be good for me to document this adventure, plus I'm looking for other weight loss blogs to follow as well as started a private pinterest board for recipes, tips and such.  I will un-private that board once I'm ready to share this decision with everyone, right now it is basically family that knows.
This picture was taken about a year ago, I tend to try to keep away from the front of the camera...but this is probably a good reference to start.