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My Journey

A blog by ldswims in General

  • Entries

    53

  • Comments

    151

  • Views

    7,405

About this blog

This blog is for me and anyone who wants to read it. I can be quite long-winded at times, so be ware. :wink2: This blog will chronicle my experience from start to finish, which means it will never end so long as I am alive. :rolleyes2:

Entries in this blog

11/16/09: Eeks!!

Whoever would have thunk it - but having all the doctor's appts last month made the first month of my "unweightloss" program fly by. However...with all the doctor's appts now out of the way...now what can I look forward to?   The only thing remaining besides the few weigh-ins I have left is to do some blood work. They told me that they would give me the lab slip for that at my next weigh in so that I can do the blood work in January.   Eeeks. Sooooooo slowwwwwww. Those appts had me fee

11/13/09: Oh so many thoughts

1) It's a Friday. It's the 13th. Friday-the-13th's tend to lucky days for me. I have won three contests in my life - and they've all been on Friday-the-13th's. 2) FIVE more months? REALLY? Ok. Four months and three weeks. But I want to start NOW - not play games...but here I am. I guess four months and three weeks IS better than five months IS better than six months.... 3) How to eat post-band. How will it be different than now. I struggle to get my protein now, although becom

11/11/09: Two great things...and one frustrating computer

I wrote up a really nice blog. I was happy with it. It was great, IMO. I was ready to post and I was reviewing it for the typos that always get through in spite of knowing better. And then it happened. My gosh-darned IE FROZE. Dead as a doornail. Couldn't do a gall-derned thing. And there it went.   LOVE the computer...   So I am going to try and replicate the great news in a great blog as best as I can. But you know how it is - the second version - from scratch - is never as good as the fir

11/10/09: Do you want some cheese with that?

I hate insurance. I got slapped with another insurance problem yesterday but it is what it is and therefore that's it. For history's documentation, I'll just say our deductibles are determined by our "eligible compensation". 2008's eligible compensation will be used for 2010's deductible and OOP-Max determination. And since I work in the oil and gas industry and 2008 was a boom year for exploration - my "eligible compensation" was 40% more than it was this year, 2009. So next year I have the hig

11/08/09: I had an interesting break through yesterday...

Weekends are always the hardest time for me to continue watching what I eat, I think. During football season the downfall is beer and bar food. During the rest of the year the downfall is beer and bar food, but on a lesser scale.   When you are sitting in front of the fantabulous tv we spent a fortune on last year you want to eat chicken wings and french fries. And you reason to yourself - how often does football season come along? Come on, enjoy...   Ok...so not really. I'm exagerating. I g

11/07/09: I love the fall!

I live in Texas where we don't get a winter at all. With that said - we do have these cold fronts come throught that can leave the temperature barely climbing above 45. That is chilly - and it's fantastic.   I am the type of person that when it starts to get cold like that, I open the window and start fires in the fireplace while jumping for joy.:huh2:   So it's fall. We generally hover around the mid-high 70's and temps at night are wonderful for having the windows open. Still not fireplace

11/06/09: Ok, I'm not really a daily double-poster, but this is worth another blog.

And the blog is even likely to be short!   This regards the blogs Sigh....part 1 and Sigh....part 2 and Really? Seriously?   I emailed my 'advocate" this morning with what I now know to be true for Cigna. I figured maybe just maybe I can help some other poor soul to not have to go through a day like this. Course, it's a whole list of things that all fell inline yesterday to make yesterday happen.   And just a few minutes ago I heard back from her. With my news, their clinic called Cigna to

11/06/09: Can I have a do-over?

I feel cheated by yesterday's appointments.   The appointment with the nutritionist went just fine and even as I'd expected. I do wish that I'd remembered that appt was first because I would not have "hassled" her with my questions on insurance.   But the appointment with the nurse practitioner...I'm not sure it was meaningful. I ended up missing work because everything involved with the insurance and then determining if I would even be qualified to do the sleep study kept me there far too l

11/05/09: Really? Seriously?

I just wrote up a ridiculously long ridiculously detailed blournal entry about the grr of the day I've had....   And then....   Just before I finished writing it up, I looked at my husband and said what about that other company your employer offers coverage through. So while I finished writing that ridiculously long ridiculously detailed blournal entry he started looking through that website for info. And about the time I finished my ridiculously long ridiculously detailed blournal entry and

11/05/09: Sigh....part 2

So I can do the sleep study. And then here's the trick. I have to have severe sleep apnea.   We shall see.   But here's what I'm wondering?   What does that help? I DON'T HAVE ANY OTHER COMORBIDITIES?   The advocate lady says I can write a letter. I can say in my letter   Look, my dad died from diseases that obesity contributes to. My mom died from a cancer that can be caused by weight problems. I have enough to be concerned with in my future, I need to get this weight off FOR GOOD.

11/05/09: Sigh....part 1

So today was important. But not for reasons that I had anticipated.   I was told I needed letters of medical necessity from every physician that treats me. For me that means my PCP and my OB/GYN. I got the letter from my PCP last month. But the earliest I could get into see my OB/GYN was today. He agreed to give me the letter.   I had that appt right at 8 am and then headed into the medical center to my second weightloss appt and my nutrition consult.   So I had it backwards in my head abo

11/04/09: How is it that...

How is it that one can go from being skinny and seeing herself as fat to being fat and still see the skinny person inside?   When I was a teenager/20-something year old, I was thin and thought I was fat. It makes me sad to realize just how warped my view of myself was.   How could I not hear my friends when they called me "Barbie"? They even tried to explain to me, sincerely, why they called me that... How could I not hear the company commanders in boot camp when they called me "Miss America

11/03/09

Just checking in.   Friday I visited a cardiologist I was sent to earlier this year. I suddenly started getting heart palpitations and my PCP wanted to rule out anything "wrong". I would be sitting on the couch watching tv with Hubby and my heart would go from its resting rate of 65 up to 140. It was ANNOYING. Nothing was ever wrong. But in an effort to try and provide comorbidities last month I mentioned this at my first appt. It wasn't a comboridity they were interested in - but now I needed

10/30/09: Yay!

My husband and I finally received the information on his insurance options for next year today. His options are staying the same - which means we can switch to his plan and still have something deductible and out-of-pocket-max free. Add to that it will save us $8 a payperiod of my own plan that's going away.   So we will be switching to Aetna. From things I read around here, seems Aetna is good about this. But I don't know what my specific case will be.   Right now I am on Cigna.   Cigna

10/29/09: Can I?

Can I eat sushi (on occasion)?   Can I drink black coffee (Monday-Friday)?   Can I eat rice with my favorite Japanese rice topping (on occasion)?   Can I drink a soda (on occasion)? I suspect soda will soon stop tasting good to me and so don't think I'll really miss this, but I'm just wondering...   Can I eat a small sandwich of wheat bread and turkey for lunch (on occasion)?   How long will I have to not lift weights following surgery?   Can I lose this weight?   For good?

10/28/09

I have a job that is fun and interesting. But it can also include a lot of waiting on computers to get their act together. So I tend to blog and write emails and play games in those times...   This is one such time. And I have been doing this all day long and have read back through some of my blogs and want to update where things are TODAY.   Still not sure what's happening on the insurance front.   From yesterday's blog, I was UP four pounds - after being DOWN four pounds on Sunday. T

10/27/09: And the journey continues...

So I'm just about one month in to my six month weight loss program. HA!   HA HA HA!   I'm still not sure where this is all going to go. My employer is changing my insurance options so drastically that this might get taken off the table. My husband's employer is releasing next years options sometime this week or next and so we will see what that offers. If we switch to his insurance - it might actually make this "quicker" meaning only that I'd only have to do a three month program instead of

10/20/09: A hurdle?

So I checked the mail yesterday. And there was something from my employer. I don't know why but they always send a monthly newsletter to both my email and my house. I get to it when I get to it. So I threw the mail on my desk and headed off to make dinner.   After dinner, I went back and opened the large envelope to remove the newsletter so I could flip through it - and probably throw it away. But it wasn't the newsletter. It was a brochure informing my husband and I of what our health insuran

10/19/09: It's a Monday...

I am a Geophysicist. That means absolutely nothing except for that I most closely resemble a project manager who gets to test their project in addition to manage their project. I generally enjoy my job. It's fun, to me, to keep track of where everything is. And it's also fun, to me, to test the parameters that give the best result. My "product" is a cross section of the planet. And it's especially fun, to me, to see cross sections of the Earth that are so far down in the ocean that "man" will pr

10/15/09: A pound in 6 days

I got on the scale this morning because I'm a scale-aholic. I like the feedback. I don't generally expect to see a loss but I want to know when there is a gain.   So this week, I've cut my breakfast lunch and dinner down by half. I am supposed to be trying for 1200 calories a day. This week I also went three days without a single soda. I have been drinking water, iced tea and coffee. Iced tea unsweetened. Coffee sweetened with about a third of a teaspoon in an oversized cup. I really could cut

10/14/09: I like to blog!!!

I'm a nut. I'm weird. I LIKE to blog. I even like it when people read my blogs. I like it even more when people comment on my blogs.   Today's blog is all about what I have not had in two days.   A SODA!   I'm a Dr. Pepper junkie. I think that is truly my worst habit. And I know that where ever I go with this - I NEED TO GIVE IT UP!   It may or may not be the root of my problems - but it doesn't matter. Just the expense should be enough to be happy about giving it up!   When I went in

10/13/09: This is scary...

Am I lieing to myself?   I have generally always considered my weight struggle a hormone problem. I don't eat perfectly but I don't think I eat worse than the people I'm surrounded by who are thin and not struggling. We go out to dinner - they clean their plates - and they order feasts - and I nibble on salads. I cook for them once a week and they don't gain weight off of my food - but I do. I watch them eat desert night after night after night while I don't eat desert all that often. Not beca

10/12/09: And so it goes...

Thursday night last week I went to the seminar. I don't know that it would have ever been required of me but I'm so glad I went. My husband went with me. And we both learned a lot. A lot almost seems like an understatement. And what's weird, was I already knew a lot - but it makes a difference hearing it from the surgeon. It makes a difference being able to ask questions of someone QUALIFIED to answer the questions.   My husband learned a lot, too. And my husband and I both learned that he is

10/08/09: Who's in control - me or them?

Me.   And it should be me.   This is MY life.   This is MY future.   This is MY well-being.   No one else's.   I was told yesterday to, in my own words, sit patiently by the phone and wait for THEM to call me.   I'm not patient.   Can't do it.   Won't lie and say I can.   So I searched and dawdled and explored and cajoled and got myself a phone number out of thin air.   And I called it.   And I said - I can't wait. :thumbup:   Ok, not really, I was a WHOLE LOTTA nicer

10/07/09: Well then...

Went in for my appt today. Thought I was excited and thought I was so ready to go and couldn't wait to get started.   And I have to wait...   Turns out, if I'd already done my six months supervised thing then I could just move on and go on with the process. But since I still need to do that - they need me to go somewhere else.   I can still have the same surgeon.   But the location just became a pain in the something. Whereas I thought I'd be going to an office about 10 miles from home,

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