Alexandra

Tamiko, I'm sure everyone who has ever told anyone about the surgery has experienced this. I know I did. The general public just has absolutely no clue about banding and they expect everyone who's had surgery for weight loss to just magically show up skinny one day. We have to understand it's THEIR misconceptions at work, and not let it get us down.

What a tragedy for the whole family. My heart goes out to everyone.

That would have made me laugh out loud.

Congratulations, Brenda! Welcome to Bandland!! :D

Congratulations, Kathy, and welcome to bandland!!! :D

I agree with Michelle. I haven't "gained back" any of the real weight I've lost, but my actual daily scale number can vary by as much as 5-8 pounds over the course of a week. I imagine that effect will be less dramatic in men, but you may very well fluctuate by a few pounds here and there along your journey. I have heard of people who regain their entire pre-fill loss before getting to a good level of restriction, but I don't think that's a very common experience. I lost about 25 lbs pre-fill, and now I can't even remember if any of that came back on before the losing started again. See? It really won't matter in the long run.

Christina, there's a link that says "view results" on, I think, the lower right hand of the poll itself.

What a wonderful gift! I can only imagine what a burden has been lifted from your family. :)

Have you ever had any surgery? Do you know if you are a fast healer or if you take a while to "bounce back" from things? I had surgery on a Wednesday and was back at work on Monday, but I have a desk job. I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to handle standing all day at that point! As a rule I heal pretty quickly and bounce back from things fairly fast; the general anaesthesia was the worst part fot me. I didn't feel completely clearheaded until about Saturday night.

People think this requirement is onerous, but to me it makes sense. It serves no one for people to wake up one morning, suddenly decide that surgery is going to be the answer to all their problems, and have the insurance industry bear all of the cost. This six-month record of medical supervision shows several things: that the patient was concerned enough about his weight to seek medical attention; that the patient is/has been willing to examine his own behavior and try to incorporate new habits (both of which will be REQUIRED for WLS to work); and that the patient is reliable and participating in his own care. All of these things seem like no-brainers, but the insurance carriers really do have some good reasons to screen the WLS-seeking population. Believe me, I'm no apologist for the insurance industry. It appalls me that WLS can be excluded completely from some plans. But I do think the bar should be high for people seeking it, and if this is a requirement it seems fair to me.

Excellent point, Donali. It's certainly not like the band "stops working," but the way our bodies live and work with it may indeed change over time. Exactly what I was trying to say. Outta my brain, lady!

Penni is right, Debby, no one "sponsors" this board. The owner is a bandster with resources in the Web world and he provides the server space and software for the site. No one "monitors" it either, except in the way that the five volunteer moderators do. We can't read every message and have no access to private communications between members via PM or e-mails. All we do is participate in the board like any other member and try to answer questions or alleviate problems when they come up. You'll notice a refreshing lack of advertising on this board. That's what I love about it!

Paula, modern science really has come up with excellent sports bras. I'm still a DD and couldn't do even a decent treadmill walk without my Champion sports bra. It's well worth the investment!

My insurance had the same requirement. Even if your doctor retired there should still be some notes from the last few years, but if you and he didn't talke specifically about your weight the notes won't matter much. Did you see any other doctors in the last couple of years? A gynecologist? Urologist? Allergist? Dermatologist? Any of these might have made notes about a health problem related to your weight. If you don't, the good news (and it is GOOD news) is that you're still only six months away from an approval. Call a doctor RIGHT NOW and make an appointment, and when you go in talk about your weight and ask for a diet plan. Then go in once a month to be weighed and talk about your progress. Before you know it there will be a six-month record of your attempt at weight loss and you're there! And if you lose weight during this time, you'll be that much healthier for surgery.

Penni, do you run at all now? I've been exercising a lot and have really gotten much better, but I still can't imagine taking that first running step. I'm totally convinced my knees and feet won't be able to take the punishment. Walking is one thing, but running is still beyond my reach (I feel). When and how did you start?

Congratulations, Kelly! I don't envy you the move, though. I moved 8 times in 14 years and I.Am.Never.Moving.Again. (Of course, now that my home is settled, my office has moved 5 times in 4 years. Oy vey. :rolleyes)

Almost no one in the US has had the band five years, so it's going to be a long time before we can attest to the very long-term results. But I will say this: the band helps US be more in control of what goes into our mouths. THAT effect never changes. The only thing that can change is how WE work with that effect. And, as with anything, success is in the eye of the beholder. All of us as we age are going to find that our metabolisms change and weight might creep on. If one's idea of success is a specific goal weight and a regain of 20 lbs over 10 years is going to break the deal, well, sorry but that's probably the way it will go. But as long as we're banded we theoretically won't ever be able to eat the same way we could before banding. There may be some rebound effect with all major weight loss, but if you lose slowly enough that would seem less likely to be a risk. And if we've been careful to incorporate habits that are sustainable (as opposed to strict calorie counting or carb avoidance), there's less risk yet. I guess time will tell.

Oh, Penni, I know how hard it is to have our moms be sick. Poor girl, poor mom. Healing thoughts to her from me, and strength and good rest vibes to you. Hang in there, lady, you're doing the best for her!!

Yup, it's the Madison Hotel (see above). Thank goodness you won't be letting a little silly thing like a wedding change your plans to come meet ME. Good on you, Bright girl!!

I don't know if the registration process can be changed, but it certainly wouldn't be hard to have a forum at the top called START HERE (or something like that). It would be filled with static informational posts with directions to other sections. I love Donali's framework, but would pare it down a lot. I think we should only address the MAJOR issues in this fashion, and then in a general way. Having a whole library of threads and subjects there makes it look like we don't WANT questions on any of these topics--you know, like we're saying "read this and don't bother us!" For example: in a locked thread called "Pregnancy and the and the Band" we should only have two or three sentences. Make it general and let interested parties ask whatever questions they're concerned with in the appropriate forum. Hopefully they'll get answers from people who are going through it NOW rather than just be pointed to a thread that happened however long ago, with comments from people who might not even be around anymore. Bumping old threads leads to disappointed newbies who won't get answers from specific individuals they are only now reading about. I'm concerned about the pointing to specific threads (even the super-valuable ones) because all the discussions are just a picture of where things were in time, some time ago. There is a constant flux of people coming through the site and leaving just as quickly, so I think it's better to let old threads die rather than bump them. Part of the dynamic of a site like this is that people can share what they are concerned about now, because they are actively participating in live threads. (And one of the most frustrating things to me--and maybe to others--is seeing a whole bunch of interesting topics come up on new posts, and seeing that the "new post" is "BUMP".)

Ah-HA!! That explains SO MANY things! :)

Lisa, most insurers have a blanket exclusion against medical services provided outside the United States which I think would be very hard to get around. But if people have any followup care done here in the States, DEFINITELY file claims!! Keep all your receipts and medical records and go to town. Good luck and we're all rootin' for you!!

Dell, your next step will depend on several things. You should get a denial letter from the carrier specifically outlining your appeal steps. Get your contract and read it carefully. MANY policies say they exclude "treatment for obesity" but go on to say that treatment for MORBID obesity is covered. Do you qualify under that standard? Find out exactly what is excluded and why. Is it all treatment that's excluded? Just surgery? Just this kind of surgery? Why? Once you know the answers to these questions you'll be able to plan your next step. You should also investigate your state's rules about HMO plans and whether you have any right of external appeal. Visit your state's website for that info. Read, read, read! Talk to your employer's human resources person and find out who designed your plan (is it one of the carrier's standard plans? Or did the company pick and choose the features?). You have not lost the battle, you've only just found out that there will be one. But all is not lost!! Let us know what you find out, and we'll be here for you. (Donali, you know me like a book! )

I love the idea of a reference/newbie section with reading material, a different thread for each of the basic areas of knowledge. Your newbie post would be a perfect framework for that, divided up as separate standalone posts. I think those threads should be locked, though, so no messages could be placed on them. Each one could say something like: "For discussion on this topic go to [link to appropriate section]. Read and post to existing threads or start a new one!" Linking to live threads is a good idea. I think it backfires when people bump old threads rather than link to them. Then we see threads that look current but are really months old or more. That's the kind of thing that can give people a false impression, for example, of a "rash" of events when actually there's just old ones being bumped. Donali, what do you think of the idea of a separate "problems" section? Any other revisions needed to the forum arrangement? We've had a request to add Canadian provinces to the local support boards, are there any other things to be done?

THANK GOODNESS!!! :) Sheila, I'm so glad you posted an update--I've been thinking about you. What a wonderful bit of news! Let's hope whatever it is can be easily cleared up, and you'll be back in the game with no worries. Have a great day!!