Shelleymb

My insurance won't cover lap band and I found out friday that I do not qualify for care credit. After some research I found No Patient Left Behind. Look into it. If you can come up with the down payment, then it's just like financing. That's what I'm trying to do.

It's taken me a few days to even look at LBT let alone my blog. Thank you to everyone for your kind words and prayers. It was an emotional weekend for me, dealing with the idea of not being able to get Lap Band until next year and with having to pack Ty up to leave for Diego for 6 months. I took Ty to the airport this morning, and on the drive home I decided I wasn't going to let this get me. I'm not going to feel sorry for myself. I was denied by Care Credit because of the mistakes I made in the years past. I can't blame anyone but myself. It just sucks that I make enough money to make the payments, just can't get the whole 16000. So I started more research. (I swear... I should work in a college... I'm good at figuring things out) I figured out that I qualify for No Patients Left Behind. ( nopatientsleftbehind.com ) It is a program that helps those of us who have less than perfect credit get the medical loan we need. You just have to be able to put a downpayment down. Which I can do. Which Ty can do also. I think I found my solution. So now I wait for their phone call. I have a half hour before I need to go to work. ( I took half a day off to take Ty and to collect myself before work) I hope everyone has a glorious Monday. And thank you again to all my "family" here on LBT Shells

The hospital that does the surgery doesn't offer "in house" financing. We tried carecredit, and I need to contact the facility to see what other options they have. I just don't think I can wait a year.

True, I just hate thinking that in going to be fat for a whole nother year.

She actually told me today that she would help me find one in Japan, to make sure they were good.

Woke up this morning and headed to Seattle with Ty... First we met with the dietitian and learned a lot of stuff. It was nice because we got to do both consults together. After talking to the surgeon, she told us that it would be better if I did the surgery a few months before Ty, and that a few months before leaving for Japan. So I was excited and scared to think that I would be getting the surgery in a month or so. Then we came home to see if we would qualify for CareCredit.... and sadly we don't. So now it looks like we are going to have to wait until I come home from Japan in May of 2013. I'm sad. I don't know if I can wait a year.

I like you. : D

I've never gone to VA because the per diem is almost "not worth it" for the trip. It's only 37 dollars a day. Diego is 79 a day and Japan is 139 a day... I don't know about you, but I can't eat 139 dollars worth of food in a day, so you just pocket it all.

Ty is off to sunny San Diego for 6 months. I am driving down at the end of July to visit him and take my baby brother (17yearsold) on a vacation. Had to go buy a new swim suit and all. And by "go buy" I mean I ordered one online, because there aren't many places that have suits that fit.

I work at a Naval Shipyard (Department of Defense) and we travel mostly to San Diego, Pearl Harbor, Virgina, and Japan. It's pretty nice. Feels like a paid vacation, even when we are working. I maintain and repair Naval submarines and surface crafts.

Today is the last day that I will be sitting at a desk for a while. I'm glad to be going back to the waterfront. I feel like part of the reason why I have gained some weight in the last month is because I stopped being active at work. But don't get me wrong, I don't want to be on the waterfront for the rest of my career. At some point I woulnd't mind a job that is less demanding then what I do on the waterfront. But I'm still young, and I still have some work left in me. Tomorrow is my and Ty's consultations with the nutritionist and the surgeon. I'm so excited!! It feels like everything is happening for real! I called the receptionist and asked if Ty and I could combine our surgeon consult and they said yes, but no to the nutrition consult, which I figured would happen. I wanted separte nutrition consults because we eat so differently. I can't believe Ty leaves in 4 days! This is going to be the longest TDY trip for either one of us while we have been together. But at least I will be able to go visit him. If it were 6 months in Japan, that is a different story.... I am, however, trying to get a trip to Japan to pay everything off. Ty and I are ok with being apart from eachother for almost a year to get the things we want, but for some reason our families have a problem with us being apart from eachother for so long. I just don't get it. Ty and I both have the opprotunities to travel and earn a lot of money to pay for the things we want in cash and our parents think that it's a bad idea. We don't want credit cards for everythinig. If I didn't think the Care Credit card wouldn't help out in the future after the band (tummy tuck, boob job, emergencies) then I wouldn't even want that, but I can't wait a year for the band! I have been doing some research on the Fitbit and everyone seems to love it. I really want Ty and I to get ones after we get banded. And the new fancy scale that they have. I wish I could keep myself off the scale that I have at home. I almost want to throw it out. It upsets me more than it makes me happy, and anything else in my life that would do that, I would throw out. Maybe I'll just put it somewhere that is hard to get. On saturday I am doing my second 5k! It's the foam run. Check out this website to see if one is coming to your hometown, because it looks like so much fun! www.5kfoamfest.com My friends from work are doing it with me. I am, sadly, the fat friend in the group, but they are nice about the fact that I can't run as much as they can. We did the color run about a month ago, and that 5k was a bit more difficult because there weren't any obstacles to break up the running...but it was a lot of fun. This is me and my friends doing it. It's kinda long, but there are some pretty funny parts in it. Also, I did the music mix myself with a dj app on my ipad ... it was my first time. Hope everyone has a great rest of the day! I will probably write something tomorrow because I will be so excited! Shells

http://omg.yahoo.com/blogs/balancedliving/real-housewives-jersey-star-lauren-manzo-admits-weight-221800590.html?fb_action_ids=10100434938561703%2C10100241113683300%2C10100241112775120%2C2912822079295%2C2912816439154&fb_action_types=news.reads&fb_ref=type%3Aread%2Cuser%3ADG9zinY1qxvyDIAwayAa_dNEe6I%2Ctype%3Aread%2Cuser%3AuqJtkq1DfNZeLYSr0s2AfJ0okhw&fb_source=other_multiline&code=AQDOB09fv8d49GpiD2uYE38k189DzvwaF4srZF0hrs2zGTi_tc1WB8pEWS3cPiLgHVEGqtQPUnQCTcxHj353JGvJ358YMManMpt0326M3irnRuFvYcHVb2jB8XSrpi8MRG4HzMltTIY95cdrLUj9me9_JKc5rh2nvkYoqT-3nUzKXoxKZwHiGyle-M6nlRIGHBmBz5bYGscE5fJ79RQsCBWX#_=_ great article!

Thank you, I figured that if I do end up going to Japan, I will just take with me a copy of my medical records from the hospital regarding my Band. I just really don't want to turn down the trip to Japan, but I also don't want to wait on the band. I'm selfish I guess.

I think it will be a bit easier for me since I will be trying to get a fill in Japan, health care is totally different there. I had a root canal there in January, walked right in, told them my tooth hurt and got it done for 45 bucks. America abuses health insurance and doctors are afraid of being sued. We have a twisted society. I'm curious to what people do who have their LB surgeries in Mexico and such.

I'm still doing the research, but has anyone ever had their fills by someone other than the one who did their surgery? Like the first few fills? I'm having surgery in December, but there is a chance I will be in Japan the months that follow the surgery, I have found a place that does the lap band and have sent an inqury email, but I'm just wondering if anyone else has done this. And what did you tell your surgeon?

I’m so excited! Hope is the greatest thing in life. It keeps you going, allows you to believe that things are possible! I’m still researching this (my hopeful outcome) and I need to speak with my surgeon about it too, but I think I have found a way to get Banded in December and still get to go to Japan in 2013! There is a facility that does Lap-band and other plastic surgeries and WLS and seems like a great place. I emailed them with some questions, and now I’m waiting for a response, but this has given me hope! Going to Japan was going to give Ty and I the money to pay off the Care Credit card in just a few months instead of the 48 or 60 months or whatever we decided in December. I’m just glad that I’m getting to have my cake and eat it too… hehe

I wouldn't use it on an incision, but I use it to remove permanent marker (from work) a lot. Actually a lot of us do. But DON't use it on an open wound.

mr clean magic eraser!

Take notes! That's where I got most of my information, and where I got to ask as many questions as I wanted. I learned so much at my first seminar. It was exciting!

So AGRAVATED right now!! I can’t stand the shop that I work for! (In the shipyard we are broken up by specific trades <shops> and we all have our own General Forman and Superintendants for each shop) well, my shop thinks it’s ok to treat everyone unfairly and it makes me want to quit. I would have quit years ago if I didn’t make so much money, but alas, here I am almost 7 years into my career working for a moronic upper management with a dilapidated system to attempting to keep order in a sea of sh*t. Each year we are “graded” on our performance, which has always been a screwed up system to begin with, and the higher you score, the larger your bonus will be. Well last year they came out with a new rule that you couldn’t grade your workers to high, and then there was a set limit on how many Significant Strengths you could give a worker, well some supervisors follow this rule and some don’t. I just found out that a co-worker of mine was graded 12 S.S. when I was only given 2. I was only given 2 because the limit for our shop is 5 and when I had my evaluation done with was with a supervisor I had only worked for for a month. I told him that I wasn’t comfortable with him giving me my evaluation due to me only being on his crew for a month and I asked him to please contact my previous supervisor for more information on my work ethic. He said that he would call my General Forman, because he felt the same way. (My last supervisor at the time was while I was in Japan at the beginning of the year) My G.F. told my supervisor at the time, that it would be to hard for him to contact my pervious supervisor because he was still in Japan and that I would just have to deal with it. LONG STORY SHORT.... I ATE A FREAKING DONUT BECAUSE I HATE WHERE I WORK. And you know what? It tasted like heaven dipped in baby angel tears. I almost want another.

I would do the tummy tuck... you can buy a bra with padding.

That is what happened with me. My employer excluded the band and the sleeve from all health insurances provided. It seems silly, after all my research, gastric bypass is so risky and more expensive.

Oh the weekend. I don’t know why my mentality changes so much from the 5 days that I’m at work to the 2 days that I’m at home. I’ll list the differences that can make or break my health: AT work I drink almost 64oz of water a day, at home it probably less than half. At work I can keep up with eating healthy, at home I had Jack in the Box Actually that’s about it, lol, but that’s still terrible for me. I need to get better at this. Last night I had my weekly softball game, and I left so frustrated and so upset with myself I wanted to cry. Ty couldn’t play because his hip has been bothering him so bad, but he came to watch. Every time I got up to bat, I would hit the ball, drop the bat and run like hell for 1st base. And all 4 times as I was right above the base in the air, the 1st baseman would catch the ball and I would be called out. Less than a second away each time. I’m so upset with myself because I keep thinking, “If I was a little less fat I would have been just a little bit faster and I would have beat the ball.” Or “If I was just a little stronger, I would have hit it a little further and I wouldn’t have to run so fast.” It’s frustrating to be held back by my body. Ty told me that each time I hit it was a good play because I advanced players on the bases, I was just sacrificing myself to get more runs… it still sucks. I wanted to at least get to second base. Oh well, after I get banded, game on. On Friday Ty and I have our consultations with our surgeon and nutritionist, it’s exciting because it’s becoming so real. The appointments on top of our “Lapband Savings” account, I know I’ll make it the next 6 months. I just keep telling myself that most people have to wait and jump through hoops for 6 months all the time, I can do it. Well I hope we all have a great week! Shells

Back to my "No carbs during the day, only for dinner" diet. I ate like I used to the whole weekend and I felt lousy!

Here's the difference between now and when you were a size twenty, even though it took a little bit of time, you are able to say, "Yes, this is my fault, but now I'm going to fix it before it becomes a big problem." How many of us never said this to ourselves for years and then when a big defining moment came along (not fitting on a roller coaster ride, not being about to keep up with kids, not fitting on an airplane, getting a comorbity, or a doctor just calling you out on your weight) figuring it out. Sometime you must take a step or two backwards to be able to really and truely figure out what you are feeling and where you want to be in life. You've already hit rock bottom, you're not even close to that right now. KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!