Hello again,

Well let's see what has happened since I last wrote. Well I had my appointment with the Nutritionist to discuss life after being banded. She gave out some vitamin and calcium samples, a power point presentation discussed food and eating habits, diet and exercise. I was in the class with a 71 year old man who says that he wants the surgery so that he can walk in the room and the women will say 'who's that hottie." Oh how I laughed, But God bless his soul for being brave enough to embark on something like this in his truly senior years. He inspired me to say the least.

The Nutritionist also gave us a packet of information from the company that makes the band and we can chart our progress at their website www.lapband.com. I came home and read through the materials and looked at the vitamins. What I have learned now is that this program is expensive in more ways than one. I hear the cost is close to that of a new small car and in addition, there are out-of-pocket expenses that we must shell out for these protein shakes which are not covered and are not considered food purchases. They can cost anywhere from $13 to 40+ for a container of whey protein. She gave us a list of the types that we have to have pre-op since we will be allowed to eat chicken and fish once a day along with the shakes and some veggies and fruit and oatmeal oh and non-fat yogurt. That's about it for the 3 weeks.

Someone on here posted a list of places we could call or email for samples and I spent all day yesterday doing that. There must have been about 20 places on the list. The title of the message was "Samples, samples, samples" in case you can search for it. There were quite a few who are sending me free samples, some have sample packs where you only pay for the shipping and others have sample packs where you pay a small fee for the products and the shipping and handling. I ordered some Unjury and she is going to throw me in 2 samples of different flavors. I also ordered the sample packet of Chike products as I have heard they are good and Nectar products. The rest are freebies.

However, today I found out that I could use the product sold at Walmart so I order 3 2lb tubs in different flavors for $40. That was a good deal along with some chewable Flintstones vitamins and chewable caltrate as we will need these things too. So my total at Walmart was $69.00 and that should tide me over at least for the3 weeks plus maybe a week or 2 after I come home. I am hopeful anyway as I am on a fixed budget and every penny does count. I have to pay for my one nights stay in the hospital, out of pocket for that is almost $300 and I hear they want that up front and cannot be billed. So again, I say this is not something for those who don't have the extra money to pay. Then there will be the doctor co-pays for the fills which happen every 4-6 weeks and in my case that will be $40. Yes, I think I am sort of venting about money right now, but someone told me I wasn't complaining when I used to go out and eat all the time and think nothing of spending $40 on my meal alone or when I want to buy a new computerized gadget. This is for my health, my life, so why complain. Just do what you have to do Karon and keep it moving, as the young folks say.

I spend a lot of time at this site reading the posts and listening to people vent and rant and rave about they aren't losing fast enough, or this hurts and that hurts and when is the first fill and on and on and on. I would bed happy to have lost 78 pounds in 3 months as one lady did and she was still complaining about she needs to hit the gym more. Some of these folks seem obsessed. I don't want to become obsessed about this decision, this new life, etc. I have never been that type of person in the past and I don't want to start at this stage in my life. However, I understand to each his own and what's silly to one person makes sense to someone else. Those reading my blog may find me to be a ranter and raver. Who knows.

OK, so I can step down off of my soapbox for now and go and enjoy and old movie. Something that gives me lots of pleasure and entertainment. I will have a cup of strawberries mixed with green grapes. Oh, and I joined Myfitnesspal.com . I really like that spot. A lot of support there and people who are dieting, doing weight watchers and various other things to lose weight. The nice thing is you can have a food diary and keep track of your workout times, etc. It is also compatible with cell phones and you can post in one and they will sync up. So that's a nice little feature. I have been staying under my allotted calories so far and am happy about that. The program says if I keep eating the way I am in 5 weeks, I will have lost 8 pounds. I put that I wanted to lose 1.5 pounds a week. I'm not greedy. I would be happy to have lost 8 pounds. Every pound means something to me, to lose them means something as well and I'm not looking for a magic bullet because I think if it's too magical I won't appreciate it. I want a nice steady pace. I don't want to ask for too much or expect to much. Let me be pleasantly surprised.

Enough!