Sissy907

Thingirl- Since I am a military wife I will tell you how I had to do it.. I first saw my family doc and asked him to send a referal to the surgeons office. Then I saw the surgeons and they said I had to get a buncha tests to see if I qualified because its not just about your weight when your sitting at the cut off. I had to go back to my family doctor to get these tests (I dont really know why they couldnt make the requests but whatever. Just ask your family doc to requests these tests in advance so it will cover all the bases before you see the surgeons) I had to be tested for diabetes, sleep apnea, my thyroid. Some require you to see a nutritionist, get a pshych eval, and go to a kind of seminar with info about the band (some do all of these last few things in one sitting- generally not the guys on base though) So if you can manage to get all those in before you see the surgeon you will be ahead of the game. Then you will speak to the surgeon and decide if this is the thing for you and he will tell you to go home and wait they will contact you with a surgery date.. Thats the hardest part, waiting. It shouldnt be to long though maybe a month tops -if you go thru the military - civilian docs may differ timewise. -Now I was trying to get the lapband this time last year and it wasnt aproved thru tricare and they didnt do them at this base at the time. I did see a civillian doc as well, but of course the procedure wasnt approved at the time. I did end up deciding to have a hernia fixed in the meantime waiting for the band to appear at this base (one of the docs said maybe by the end of the year) My heartburn was so terrible it was causing my esophugus to change and the doc was kinda scared to wait any longer... I have not had the band surgery as of yet, but I have had a hiatal hernia repair and the surgery is very similar with exception that I have no band. I can speak to the recovery tho. They did the surgery laproscopicly as they will with the band.. not to bad really I have tiny scars from it and they really didnt hurt to much the one to the far left gave me a little issue longer than the others, I think because it was close to the bottom of my ribs and I manage to poke it more than the others. I was sore, but not terribly. I didnt feel much like drinking any of the fluids they gave me, they were really begging me and upping my iv fluids. I had to explain that I was just queasy and didnt wanna take the chance on throwing up. A major no-no for any stomach surgery. They gave me a bit more nausea meds and I was good to go. I had done enough research on the band that I knew to only sip sip sip- the swelling was the same as I have my stomach wrapped around itself to act as a sort of natural band- there is actually quite a diffenece in the way I eat now than before the surgery. So I was fine after that. The pain meds they gave me kept me quite comfortable, almost more than I needed. They gave me liquid pain meds to take home, because there are no pills or anything solid for 6 weeks. I rested for a day in the hospital and then one day at home or so and only got up and walked around the house a bit.. by day three I started pushing myself a little more and walked the kids to the bus stop (its only at the end of my street), It wasnt to bad but I had to nap when I got home. after that recovery was a breeze. I just made myself walk a little farther than I did the last time until I was back to normal. I had the gas in my shoulders (and collarbone and chest) as many talk about mine felt like rice crispies under my skin, if you push it pops and feels nasty (those gasX strips REALLY help).. they doctor said not to push because it would cause bruising but, I just had to occationally! it was so yuck! lol but it really wasnt to bad of an experience over all... Hopefully my "natural band" will help me loose weight in the same way as the band (tho it is not adjustable) I have lost 30 lbs since oct just by changing my diet-because I HAD to to adjust to my new stomach and trying to be a bit more active. I only started back to the gym a few weeks ago as time has finally allowed it. We will see. if I dont start seeing some decent results I am going to go in and see about the band again I am having a 10 year renewal of vows with my husband (we didnt have a wedding the first time) next summer and there is NO WAY I am gonna be in a dress and be this heavy... Good luck to you I would be happy to answer any more of your questions (I know I gave you more than you asked for here). I am stationed at Eglin AFB, FL... (my hubby just left ft lewis yesterday for iraq- small world huh?) Take care and all the best, Alli

Just for those of you who dont know.. Some bases offer this surgery, the key is are you within a "2 hour" travel window... Last year this time Tricare south didnt not offer to pay for lapbands as they were concidered experiemental, and no base within the area would do the surgery.. but finally, Eglin AFB in florida is offering the surgery... I dont know if Tricare has changed their mind as well, but it is deffinatly available on base now. Hope this helps some of you.. If you need the current number to the surgery clinic at Eglin I would be happy to get it for you... Alli

First -WOW this place has changed!! I can barely find my way around!! Second -FINALLY, FINALLY Eglin AFB is doing the lapband surgery!! After all the blood sweat and tears last year this time, they are doing the surgery! So all you military dependants who have been waiting for a chance at this surgery, nows your time!! Hooray!

I am very sorry I haven't been in to chat and visit with everyone. Unfortunately the lapband and weight loss has been the furthest from my mind as of late. My most favorite aunt has been suffering for a long time with cancer, they recently told her there was nothing more they could do for her, that she had 10 days to 10 weeks, go home drink martinis and enjoy the rest of your life. She did. And she left us Wednesday. I have been an emotional roller coaster since. I want to feel good about this. Finally she isnt suffering, there is no pain in eating and drinking, no pain in her body. But we (her entire extended family) were just not ready to let her go. I started the first day with Cookies, but soon started feeling like I needed to DO something. So I drained all 5000 gallons of my pool and leveled the ground beneth it properly, in the 102 degree (heat index) heat. The more the sweat poured off me the better I felt. Unfortunatly this hasnt made a dent in my weight but right now I just dont care. As long as I am moving and working I am ok. If I stop and be still I loose it. If I am alone, I loose it. And she would be very upset with me for that. So I work my butt off so I don't think about it. This has been my life lately. I will be back soon, I just need some time to get over this. All my best!

I love jewelry.. I dont get it very often for the same reason as others, with four kids, who has the money? I have fakes and wouldnt mind more if they were in a quality setting. Unfortunatly everything I stick in my ears has to be gold or I get terribly red and inflamed. My wedding band is small princess cut dimonds channel/step set consisting of 7 dimonds. My new-er wedding ring is 3 carats of 23 stones. My husband is from Panama and altho is he very American the way he was brought up he is still very "latin" when it comes to his wife and buying her jewelry. It has to be real, and has to make some kind of statement and it cant be look at what my cheap husband bought me... When we got married he offered me two rings, one was this channel set band and the oportunity to go with him to Germany, or a two to three carat stone and I would have to wait for him to come back some 18 months later. I chose the smaller ring because, really, why would I get married just to watch him leave? He promised some day he would get me the big ring which wasnt a big deal to me anyway. But last year we were out at a jewelry store purchasing a ring for his mother and I found this "jaw breaker" as my friends call it, and fell in love. He hated it because it was to many stones, he wanted one. But while he was in Iraq he said honey if you really want that ring you can go get it, because all that matters is what you like not what I like. So I went and picked up my ring. And of course now he likes it just fine, because everyone who sees it says WOW he must really love you! In reality if every single one of these diamonds were white topaz or Moissanite I would be just as happy. As long as it was a quality stone in a quality setting. I have loads of fake jewelry and I also have loads of real jewelry, most of which I dont really have occaction to wear. Some of my rings are just to small, my grandmothers pearls and bue topaz clip are to tight to go around my neck anymore (its a choker)... But I wear her costume jewelry whenever I get the chance... I will have nice pieces to pass on to my two daughters when its time, even though our 16 yr old has a few pieces of semi precious stones already. So anyone in the mood to go get me a nice Moisanite piece just email me and I will send you my mailing address LOL!

ohhh interesting! They are in a bed but have a 2x4 wooden surround (to keep the grass out) I will have to look into that.. I noticed today the top of the other tomato plant was completely keeled over... I dunno if something ate it or if one of the neighborhood kids whacked it.. I am starting to feel like this garden is pointless

I am having a lot of trouble getting my refferal to where it belongs and I just really need to vent... My Gen. Surgeon here sent in the refferal for me to go to Walter Reed a month ago. I have yet to hear anything about it so I call up to the Gen surgery clinic there and they say I am not in the system so they cant tell if it was sent or not.. So I call back to the refferal office here and they tell me that it wasnt in the right place so they are resubmitting it. I wait a few more days and I call back up to Walter Reed and guess what... they still havent recieved it, she reccomends I speak to someone in outpatient records, who says if I dont come up there to their office with my ID in hand she cant put me in the system, to which I reply well Im in florida its not like I can hop in my car and slide on over! So I speak to the refferal office here again and they reccomend I speak to someone in refferal management there, which I do and, not surprising, he hasnt seen it yet either. So I call back to refferal management here and ask them to please RE-send the refferal attention to this man, on his direct fax line, and he is going to call me when it gets there, if I dont hear from him in an hour-ish I am going up to the hospital to pick up the refferal and sending it to him myself cause why the hell should I have to do so much leg work if this is specifically what these two offices are for??? I cant even tell you how much stupid time has been wasted with everyone playing pass the buck with this damn refferal. Why dont these people realize that yeah we are military dependants but we have feelings and needs too! JERKS! I am so steaming mad right now I am seeing sparks. I am so sick to death of getting the run around from the military hospital system and there be no damn recourse for us. There isnt a damn soul I can complain to that will give a flying green bean about this... :angry I better stop before I burst something important.... Someone please tell me that they have had this much run around in the civilan world too. At least I wont feel like its the norm only in the military world. /cry /end rant

I havent had this issue before and I am stressing! 1) We have bunnies I didnt know about.. how do I keep them out without putting up a fence?? 2) Something is leaving little holes in my cherry tomatoes! Any ideas?

I've never worked for LB, but when I was much younger I worked in retail and not only did you have to give the customer the posted price on things (even if they were "mislabeled" or not clear in the advertising) its the LAW! There is recourse to them behaving this way. I would start a huge letter writing campain! If they say all bottoms it means ALL bottoms. and some customers could getaway with "underwear are on my bottom so I guess they are bottoms too!" And we would have to give it to them. Once a visibly pregnant woman with a HUGE chip on her shoulder came to my register with loads of clearance items and even tho I SAW her go to the full price section of the department where this one item was hanging she said it came off the clearance rack, I ever so politly explained that I appologze I was quite busy that day and hadnt had a chance to go remove clothing that didnt belong in the clearance section that another customer had left there, but that it was regular price, just hung in the wrong area. She flipped. She wanted my manager.. I called and called and of course couldnt get one over. I explained that I could not change the price of the item without a managers permisson... Finally after about 10 calls to the operator a manager called me and I explained the situation and she told me to go ahead and give it to her at the .97 cent clearance price.. mind you this was a full priced (17 dollar) pair of shorts!! I did and then later that night I got written up because that lady called back and made a complaint about me not helping her well enough, and not giving her the correct price!!! I was so mad I quit on the spot, and I have never worked retail again... I saw write the meanest most scathing letter you can muster.. and make them stop those realllly shitty practices! even post it on here and let everyone else help you make sure its REALLY good and nasty. Scream discrimination and the like... someone somewhere is just as heavy as us and will sympathize with you, and they will help make a difference! Alli

I agree the new haircut is quite becoming on her sweet little face. And just for future reference.. her hair was a bit to short for long layers, but the stylist did screw that up.. if you cant do it you be honest and say so... :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2: :clap2:

I am in Florida and they (TieCare) doesnt pay for them for Prime or Standard. They do have doctors in the AF and Army that do them, the trick is to find them. I know for certain they do them at Walter Reed as that is where my refferal was sent. You may have to pay your way (or catch a hop -dunno if you can hop the whole way with these kind of medical orders- I havent found out yet) but really paying for a ticket is WAY less than being self pay for the band.... I am up to my neck in this situation right, if you need someone to talk to or bounce ideas off of I am always here! Alli

It's not a yellow triangle in the upper right anymore. Now it is a white and red triangle in the lower left! Thanks Alex for fighting spam for all of us! :girl_hug: Alli