Mystie

I've told my husband, my immediate family, and a few friends. I also told a few people at work, so of course a ton of people there know now, but that's not too bad of a thing. Since our insurance covers it, there's at least 7 people on my floor that I know of that had WLS. I'm going to the shore with my husband's family this weekend and I'm gonna try not saying anything about it. They're all thin so I'm not sure they'd understand completely, but they'll probably be supportive. I'm going to make a public fb announcement on the day of my last pre-op program visit, Thanksgiving Eve. I'm a little nervous about telling one of my oldest friends, because I think while she'll be super happy for me, she's going to feel really jealous and sorry for herself, and I don't want her to feel bad. Growing up, we were both very heavy, very tall and blonde, so people always asked if we were sisters. I seem to have accomplished a lot that I know she wants for herself... a house (albeit a mobile home), a good-paying job great job, a child, etc. When she finds out I'm going to lose a ton of weight now, too, she'll probably be really sad that she can't have WLS, too. I know she's been wanting to for years.

After losing weight with the band, has anyone lost so much they went down a shoe size? I was a 11WW before pregnancy and am a 12WW now. I have huge arches and a venous insufficiency in my left leg, so my left foot is always swollen. I'd love it if after losing weight I could actually find a pair of sandals to fit over my swollen feet!

I want to go to comic cons and wear those skimpy little costumes that get girls all the attention. Ooh, and be able to pick a Halloween costume right off the rack and not worry about them having it in extra huge size.

I just had my first visit, which was a physical with the nurse practitioner. She asked me which surgery I was thinking about, and I told her the lap-band. When she asked why, I said because it seemed a lot less invasive. She said it's probably best I not go with all the re-routing of the RNY on account of I'm still young (29), but said that I won't lose as much weight with the band and should maybe go with the sleeve because it's better and I'll lose more. Confused as to why she said RNY is not preferred right now, but removing 75% of my stomach is... ugh. Sometimes when people discuss the statistics of the lap-band, it's like they're trying to tell you "YOU WILL ONLY LOSE 45% OF YOU BODY WEIGHT!" Which isn't true, right? I mean, that number is an average, correct? I think it seems like you get what you give with the band. I know one girl so far that had it done, and she lost about 50 pounds, and probably had 100+ to lose. Before surgery she was stuffing her face with Chinese, pizza, and subs. After surgery, she at the same stuff. IDK, I think I'm going to put my faith in the band and if I have to revise to a sleeve some day, well, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

I've been thinking long an hard about WLS for a long time and after my pregnancy I decided it was time to give in. I decided to start the ball rolling to get a Lap Band. I started my research and got my information night scheduled. When I was having dinner with my family, my sister brought up that she'd heard I was considering WLS, and my father chimed in that his doctor told him he should go get a Lap Band because he has bad knees (he retired and has done nothing but sit on his lazy boy eating ice cream for 3 years) and has sleep apnea. Meanwhile I'm still online researching like crazy online, go to my information night, set up all my appointments, and get my initial physical. Today I saw my dad and he asked what the surgery I'm getting is called and I told him, and he goes, "Oh! That's the one my doctor told me to get! Yeah, she told me that she could fix it so that I can get the surgery right away with my Keystone East insurance because of my sleep apnea." Okay. It's got to be sour grapes or something on my part. Seriously? You don't even remember what the procedure is called and you're just going to toddle in and have it done and skip over the months of preparation everyone else has to go through? Yeah. We'll see. *SIGH*

I only just started recently, so I may just see you around! I have my support groups scheduled in August and October, so if you go to either of those, i'll see you for sure!

I've heard Dr. Boorse is very good.

I only know one person that got the sleeve, and that was just a few weeks ago. She seemed to think that the band had way more complications, especially the eroding thing. I like the band because I think the sleeve seems just as suseptible to stretching your stomach back as the bypass. I personally know at least 3 people that had bypass, stretched their stomach, and gained most of their weight back.

My hospital charges $525 and I believe that covers the whole 6-month pre-op program. I work for the hospital, and employees get $700 a year for wellness programs, so I'll get reimbursed once I complete the program. Everything else is covered by insurance... thank God, cuz I'm broke as hell. I guess I'm one of the very few super-lucky ones that will pay $0.

Sometimes I just like to add a little bit of True Lemon to my water.

When I went for my information session this week they said the hospital's surgeons pretty much exclusively use the Realize band. I'm glad, cuz I was hoping to go with that kind, anyway.

One of your doctors probably tacked the diagnosis on your visit at some point without you even knowing, guaranteed. Granted, they SHOULDN'T be sending in claims to your insurance listing obesity unless they're actually treating you for it, but they do it all the time. I work in billing and lots of docs just add the diagnosis in with the mix of whatever they're seeing you for. My OB/GYN even put it down during my pregnancy.

Thursday I'm going for a WLS information session. I'm a little nervous about the whole thing, but also anxious. I'm very lucky that my insurance covers WLS after the 6-month prep. In fact, where I work I can't throw a stone without hitting someone that's had it, but usually they opt for bypass. My preference is to have an implant as opposed to removing part of my innards. Plus I know a few people that had the bypass and wound up stretching their stomach back after a few years. And I don't want to lose my ability to digest sugar, cuz I'd still like to eat a small piece of cake on my birthday! My breaking point has been the weight gain from a recent pregnancy putting me higher than I've ever been combined with a venous insufficiency in my left leg. My left foot is always swollen up, and with a family history of diabetes, I'm pretty terrified I might wind up eventually losing my foot if my weight doesn't go down. I can't even find decent shoes to fit my fat, swollen feet anymore. I've never been under a size 16 in my entire adult life. If I ever get under a 10 I'll probably die of shock, lol! But I'll just be happy to not groan and hear my knees grind when I get up from a chair.

That's so amazing! I'm jealous... and can't help but thinking that even if I get under "plus" size, it'll probably still take me over a year later to pay off my Lane Bryant charge. Lol!