"We spend so much time focused on preparing for bad scenarios that we forget to
prepare for the good ones. We buy insurance; we save money; we keep medical
supplies in the cabinet – but are we doing all we can in our lives to prepare
for when good things happen?"and
"Catch yourself every time you find yourself going "What's the point? This
or that will never happen – so why bother?"
Don't ever say, "My luck doesn't run that way." Maybe your luck doesn't run
that way because you're not open to it – and, anyway, even if your luck did run
that way, it wouldn't matter because you wouldn't be prepared and ready to
accept it and the luck would probably just fizzle out.
The word "luck" comes from a Scandinavian word meaning "To catch." Being
prepared for good things to happen – running to the ball – is the difference
between having good fortune fly right by you but miss you completely and – if
you are standing there prepared and alert, expectantly looking up in the sky
with a glove held up and open – being ready for the catch, so that when that big
break comes at you from out of nowhere, you'll be ready to snag it out of the
air, put it in your pocket and carry it with you."
So, now you know the reasoning behind naming this blog as I have. "Quest for the Best." is all about planning for the best case scenarios in life and how I am preparing for them.
Of late is my referral for gastric bypass surgery from two of my nephrologists (Drs. Colonardo and Detterding) to the Duke Weight Loss Center in Durham. On Friday, Septemeber 14th, 2007, I attended a mandatory seminar on weight loss surgery options. During the seminar, I learned basic information about both Lapband and Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass surgeries, met previous paitents and gathered application materials.
I was kinda taken aback by the "seminar," as I had prepared (after talking with many Duke people on the phone) to be meeting "one-on-one" with one or two people at the most. When I arrived, (a few minutes late-due to traffic) I was greeted by a hospital conference room (ironically, situated right beside the cafeteria!!) jammed packed full of people!! I truly think the reason why they require a $250 application fee (which your insurance doesn't pay for) is to narrow down the number of people they have to process.
I took the paperwork home, read through it and decided it would be much quicker to apply online and pay the application fee with my debit card. So, I did. When you make a completely life altering decision like this one, you want to "get the show on the road" PDQ!! 6 or 7 weeks and quite few phone calls later, I got my special packet with information on how to proceed and the date of my first evaluation appointment. Feb. 7th, 2008 @ 8:00 am. An eternity away!! Well, at least they gave me a whole slew of medical test to complete (and keep me busy!!) until then.
More about the contents of the packet when we next meet.
