wendy645

My insurance has an exclusion on WLS (of course :tea:) and also excludes consultations regarding to any excluded item/procedure. So I e-mailed the local doctor I'd been referred to by another WLS patient in town (our town has 8,000 people so we're kinda limited on doctors). Gotaa love being in a town so small you can e-mail your doctor LOL Anyway I explained the situation to her and she said to come in and she'd figure out how to code the visit, and told me she has pretty good luck with getting insurance to cover referrals to WLS surgeons (my ins. covers the surgeon but not the procedure :huytsao) and told me that I need to be on doc-supervised weight loss for 6 months, which I'm fine with. I can't help but wonder, though, if you can do the doc supervised, wouldn't they just say, "See? She can do it. Denied."? So what should I ask? What should I tell her? I'm so excited but I always end up forgetting things, so any suggestions would be GREAT!

I'm glad you're on the path back to bandster normalcy! Best wishes to you.

Good for you! Yay! What's your pre-op diet? I'm sure we all fear failing, but that's what we're all here4 for, is to help each other out! Keep us posted, I can't wait to see how it goes for you!

I'm sure it's very hard, but we're here for you! Like others have said, I just wanted to chime in and remind you that the post-op diet is in place to alow your stomach to heal so the stitches don't misplace. And the hard thing about that is you might not even know for a long time if they didn't take and you band slipped! So talk to the doc. If they're adamant you stay on the post-op the next 2 weeks, do it! When you feel the need to eat regular food before you're supposed to, come on here and talk to us! Look at all the recipies on the forums and try something new. pureed doesn't have to be boring! You'll find all sorts of idas to try Keep us informed, as we'll be looking out for you!

There's a sticky at the top of this forum called fill/adjustment info, you should check it out :-) A fill is when the dr. adds saline to your port that goes through the tubing to your band to tighten it and restrict what you can eat. I'm still pre-band, too, so I'll be learning too, but check out the sticky at the top, they're great info!

I hope you got the receptionist's name!! Or at least what time and day you called so they may be able to find out who it was. That nastiness is uncalled for!

Did they put you on antibiotics? Some turn your pee orange. Let us know!

I couldn't do that, I'm lactose intolerant! I'd be so miserable!

SEVEN HUNDRED? As for me, I have a feeling that my friendships will stay the same. I have 3 best friends and 1 good one that used to be a best friend before a fight over something stupid. One BFF is my size now and would consider the band if her mom hadn't tried to force a GBP on her a couple years ago, now she's got this mental block on it. And I don't blame her; her mom's evil. But we've talked about it and she supports me. Another BFF lives across the country and is dealing with bulimia with anorexic tendencies, and is extremely wary of anything foreign in the body. She was scared for me when I got an IUD. But she wholeheartedly supports me in losing weight and becoming healthy. I'll tell her after the fact. The last BFF is my thinspiration. She's my height, but a dancer. She's also a mom of 2 with c-sections. She has a pooch but is muscular otherwise. I figure if all goes well I could strive to look like her. She is a great girl who doesn't even see my size. At all. To her I'm just her Wendy. She's moving and I'm keeping this under wraps, and I think I'm going to surprise her The former best friend has struggled with her weight for years. I'm not telling her (I don't think) but she'll support me. She always has something positive to say even when I'm feeling frumpy fat and ugly. They're pretty much the only friends I have, besides co-workers (who won't know unless I'm successful as all get out, then I'll tell the world I think LOL) Other than that, my boyfriend and mom both support me, and I'm not afraid of how either will react in the future. Chris has never been concerned about my body (well, he does love my boobies lol) size-wize, just as long as I'm healthy, which is why he supports me. And he knows that this would make me happy, which would make him happy. All in all, I think I'm alucky one :-) Of course, time will tell if I'm right. I should bookmark this reply and come back when I'm all thin and shapely and see if things have changed LOL:whoo:

Wow... I'm in the exact same boat.. I fear I'm going to miss all this water! Then again, I've used water for years as a replacement for food, so perhaps I won't feel the same attachment/need. Good luck. I'm sure you'll find what works foryou very quickly!

"End your day by privately looking directly into your eyes in the mirror and saying, 'I love you!' Do this for thirty days and watch how you transform." -- Mark Victor Hansen "It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something." -- Franklin D. Roosevelt "Some people say I have attitude - maybe I do...but I think you have to. You have to believe in yourself when no one else does - that makes you a winner right there." -- Venus Williams "Forget past mistakes. Forget failures. Forget everything except what you're going to do now and do it." -- William Durant Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams.Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do." -- Pope John XXIII "Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your oldnonsense." --Ralph Waldo Emerson "The greatest mistake you can make in life is to be continually fearing you will make one." -- Elbert Hubbard, 1856-1915" What you did in the past, though it might have made you the person you are today, has absolutely no bearing on what you do in the future." "You didn't get out of shape and unhealthy overnight, and you won't get fit and healthy overnight - despite what the infomercials tell you" "A real transformation begins on the inside, not in a bottle or a package. The magic is sitting inside you, just waiting to be let out. The transformation is a learning process, one that comes from realizing you control your destiny, and that you can accomplish whatever you decide you're going to accomplish." "Make the decision, then do something - no matter how small - toward accomplishing what you want." And my favorite: "I've come too far to take orders from a cookie!" -???:clap2:

*takes a deep breath and cracks knuckles* I want to be able to go into a clothing store and not immediately look for the ugliest prints and most terrible cuts that they call a plus-size section. I want to be able to stroll over to a rack, find my size and try it on. And have it fit. My favorite store in the world is Torrid, a plus-size store. I don't want to be able to fit any of their clothes! (It seems backwards to me to not want to be able to shop at my fave store hehe) I want to be able to sit down somewhere and eat something and not feel like the people around me are judging me for it. I want to see my own pubes without shifting my belly out of the way! I want to be able to go for a hike in this beautiful landscape all around me and not avoid going because I know it'll damn near kill me as I am. I want to be able to take something out of the dryer and not have to wet the waistband with warm Water and do a tug-n-pull to stretch it so it'll fit me again. I want to be able to get into the positions for yoga and such that I know I can do because for being so fat, I am wicked flexible (my yoga instructor was jealous that I could move in ways she couldn't) but I want to see HOW flexible I can be. Currently, my hip fat pads will push against my side and thighs and I can only move so far. I want to wear something in the junior's department, dammit! I'm sick of being my age in pants sizes. This is the first year in loooooooong time that I haven't matched. When I was 9, I wore a size 9. 10, a 10. Etc this has continued through my life until recently. I wear a 26/28 now, and I'm only 24. I want to go backwards! Even though I know my boyfriend adores me and thinks I'm sexy, I want to find myself as beautiful as he finds me. There are a million more, but I have to go. heh.

Wow... have you been checked out for bi-polar disorder? What you described concerns me that you show signs of it. It's prevalent in my family and it sounded eerily familiar... :phanvan

I don't remember what the numbers were, but when I was working out at Curves (big waste of money), when you stopped to take your heart rate, you weren't supposed to go above certain numbers because instead of burning fat you were starting to burn muscle... or something... heh.

I wish I could be more help, but I'll be watching this thread. I, unfortunately have had bad joints for about 8 years now, and I'm only 24 It sucks. I have dreams where I'm able to run effortlessly and it's a huge high, and it feels great. It makes me think I may have a runner inside me after all. I just tend to shut her up with Cookies.

I've seen examples of a few bandsters who turn to exercise and go crazy with it. Maybe it's replacing over eating with another crutch, and in this case it's exercise The Addiction Transfer thread ( http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f15/addiction-transfer-37273/ ) spurred this in my head. So for those of you who are like the above, I'm wondering what your view toward it was before hand. Did you enjoy it? Did you hate it? When did you start working out more and more? I guess I'm trying to see if there's a correlation between those who turn to exercise, and see if I may fall into that category down the road?

I'm monitoring the radio station I work at because we've had transmitter problems. Now it's an interview. So far, so good.

nikki32- My advice is to go through with it. I know that being in a relationship like that, sometimes it's what you most desperately want to hear, but at the same time you hate to hear it, but coming from a childhood in a relationship like that, for the kids' sake, go through with it. I will always wish my parents would have just divorced already rather than staying together and being miserable and fighting. It's hard, no doubt, but do you have any resources to get on your own? Family to stay with or a women's shelter with resources?

crazyace, I'm so happy for you!! I hope hope hope my insurance will approve me but I've seen the exclusion in the handbook, so I'm prepared for a denial. But I intend to appeal until I'm blue in the face! How long did an approval take you?

Ok so he's techincally not my fiancee but close enough after 9½ years together and the intention to get married eventually. Anyway, I was really hesitant because the last time I told him I was considering WLS he freaked out and got very upset with me. But after years of consideration (and gaining weight :phanvan) I came to the decision I want to be banded, and I told him last night. Me: "Hey hon?" Him: "What's up, sweets?" Me: "Umm... I was thinkingof something that's probably a long shot and maybe that's why I'm thinking of it, but..." (pause) Him: (raising an eyebrow like get to the point already) "Uh huh?" Me: "I want to see if my insurance will cover a Lap-Band." . . . Him: "A lap-dance? Why would your insurance..." (We both start cracking up) Him: "Well, it's worth looking in to. I love you." Then we talked about how I didn't want to tell anyone and he was supportive of that, too. As far as I'm concerned, it's him, my mom, and my best friend. That's all that need to know. I'm going to do a board search to see what others have said. I don't want to be untruthful, but I also don't want to share it with anyone. Not now. Maybe later. I cried myself to sleep... good tears... just amazed at how much he's supporting me and how great he is. :kiss2: Especially given his reaction last time. But then again, I was looking into GB last time, and weighed 60 lbs less than I do now. So... just wanted to share. I know some people have had horrible reactions when they tell people, like one lady's (doddie?) sister cutting off all ties and communication with her... I feel very blessed right now.

Oh my gosh... wow. That's great to hear, because my insurance will put up a fight. Do you have to live in his state, or does he do nationwide?

I think I'll avoid doing a scavenger hunt, because it's something that's traditional every. single. gift-giving occasion with his family... he's rather sick of it. I think I might go with a July in Christmas deal, but now to think of how to package it :-) I'm thinking of taking a picture of him from the side (he's used to me snapping photos all the time so it won't be odd) and maybe make a card in the shape of an airplane, and paste his photo in one of the windows, and package that with some patriotic stuff. Only downer to that is that most of the red, white, and blue stuff is gone from the one store we have in town. Oh well, I'll think of something! Thank you all SO much! I'm so excited, I get all giddy every time his friend calls, or any time I see a plane!

I'm glad I wasn't the only one reading this with one eyebrow arched in suspicion/confusion. My best friend's mom tried to get her to have GB under similar circumtances, but she put her foot down and said no and it never happened. This seems... hole-y. Besides, if she never wanted it, why is she following the diet to a T? Wouldn't she eat whatever she wanted to try to continue with normalcy? Not go to the surgeon in the first dang place? Is she considered unable by her state to make her own choices? That would explain part of it, but still... *scratches head*

There are some references to bc/bs in the insurance forum, but I wanted to wish you the best of luck!!!

I have Meniere's too... just checking to see how it affects it. Because of the lessened intake and more focused nutritional value, do you find your symptoms lessened?