I am done mooing!

I currently weigh 397.8 pounds. My top weight was over 435. I don't know how much over as my scale only went so high. I am waiting to hear back from the insurance company and to attend my seminar. I have read the book and have a list of questions. I really want to be healthy before I am 30. I feel like I have so much life that I haven't even lived yet. Most people are starting to settle down and I feel like I haven't even gotten the chance to live yet. Here is hoping that 2012 brings a new me. My birthday is November 23. I will be 29. I hope to have a date by then at least.

Hope things are going well for you

Because of my diabetes I am always SOOOO thirsty! I currently drink around 6 liters of water a day. What is going to happen when I have the surgery. Will I still have this thirst?

I always seem to loose 30-40 pounds really fast, then I stop. COMPLETELY. Can't budge another pound. That is why I want to wait until I am "on the clock" with it.

I am so anxious to start loosing the weight and showing that I can do this, but I don't want to start until after my first weigh in with the surgeon because I am afraid that if I start now, by the time I get to the surgeon I will be at a plateau.

This is something that I worry about. I am diabetic, but I am also very poor. I don't have a whole lot of money to spend on groceries. Are they going to be wanting me to eat really expensive food because my food budget is about $7 a day!

I was told that depression is considered a co-morbidity. Maybe he put the stress thing in there as a depression type thing?!?

Good luck on the first day of the rest of your life

I see that many patients travel to other countries to have their procedures done. Why is that? I would feel very afraid about travling to a strange country to have surgery myself. I would be afraid of getting a fraud or wierdo lol.

I see that many patients travel to other countries to have their procedures done. Why is that? I would feel very afraid about travling to a strange country to have surgery myself. I would be afraid of getting a fraud or wierdo lol.

Looking for people that may be familiar with the facilities I may be using

After all the research and digging today I am exahusted. I learned though that I can have it done at the same hospital that my bestie is having it done at, over an hour away...ugh. I have to call there tomorrow and see about going to one of their seminars and to see if I can go to the support groups in my area as opposed to driving all the way out there all the time. Hopefully better news tomorrow, or Wednesday since I have Wednesday morning off work Fingers crossed! It really sucks that the dr here will only do the bypass. Just because I am a cow doesn't mean I want to be butchered.

More bad. The surgeons office just told me that they don't do the sleeve procedure. I feel like I am back at square one again.

Where to start... The Good: I called my insurance company today and found out that my surgery would be covered 100% as long as I jump through their hoops and at a local hospital! My best friend is having to travel over an hour away for hers because of her insurance. I have the name of my surgeon, 2 seminars set up (they are for 2 different hospitals, I want to see the differences of opinion) and a list of support groups. My insurance company is mailing me all the information about their requirments and I printed a booklet that has to be filled out and returned to my surgeon before the first appointment. The BAD: I am uninsured. They said that it looked like a paperwork mis-hap on their end, but that I may have to wait a full 30 day billing cycle before they can add me back to my policy. Ugh. So I have all the tools that I need and now I can't make the first consultation. I have the first appointment with the dietitian. Oh well. This will give me a few extra weeks to go through all the paperwork and get a head start on it

I am looking forward to those hormones!!! I have had very little sex drive for the past few years. I would like to feel desirable!

Share water hahaha I love it Admit it, it's going to improve our sex lives and that is going to be fantastic lol.

I want to know if any of you have been sleeved in Elmira NY at the Arnot Bariatric Center? If so, how was the experience?

My list so far 1) Going to an amusement park. I have never been on to an amusement park. When I was about 8 we went to the county fair and I was too fat for a ride so I never went to another one because that was the most embarrassing thing of my young life. 2)Traveling. My best friend has to travel a lot and she is smaller than I am but still quite large. She always has to pay extra because of her size. I have never gone on an airplane because I don't want to deal with the embarrassment that she has. 3)NO MORE INSULIN!!! I am so sick of injections! 4)I can not wait to be able to shop at the mall! I have never been able to. Even when Lane Bryant was in the mall, I was too fat to shop there most of the time. 5)Being on top... 6) Playing with my son. Right now I get to sit and watch him play because I am so exhausted all the time that all I get to do is sit and watch him. 7)Enjoy fruit. If I want a piece of fruit it costs me 2 injections so I don't eat fruit I am sure there is more on my list but this is a good start

My best friend is going through her journey to have gastric bypass. Her psychologist asked her to make a list of all the things that she has never done because she was overweight that she is looking forward to doing when she looses the excess pounds. I decided that I am going to make a list as well and am wondering what everyone else would put on their lists? I will update after I have my list completed

I accidentally found this site last night while doing research and am very greatful for it. I have NO support. Everyone thinks that surgery is the easy way out. I would love to see them last a day in my shoes as a 405 pound woman.

What steps did you guys take when first starting your journey?

I have been extremely overweight ever since I can remember. I joke and say that the only time I have ever been thin is when I had lead poisoning in 3rd grade. Sad, but true. When I was in 5th grade I weighed 250 pounds and I was diagnosed as type 2 diabetic. I have been battling with diabetes(insulin dependent since 2008) and weight loss ever since. I am now 28, weigh over 400 pounds (my bmi is over 60), have a whole list of health problems and have had enough! I am ready to take back my life. I have been looking into weight loss surgery since 2004, but had always heard that you can't have children after you have the surgery. I told myself I would wait until I was done, then I would have it. I now have a daughter and son in the ground next to my brother and a 3 year old little boy who barely made it. All because of my weight and diabetes. It is painfully obvious to me at this point that there will be no more children because of my obesity and diabetes. Now I begin the next step. I have an appointment with my endocrinologist on June 4th, he has to give me the referral for the surgeon. I am going to my seminar on the 30th, and I am half way thru the book by Barbara Thompson that they make you read. I have been researching my insurance to see what they will cover, and it looks like they will cover all parts of the surgery itself but none of the skin removal after the surgery. Woot for the surgery being covered! I don't yet know what hoops I will have to jump through, I really don't even know what my next step is from here but I am determined and that's what matters