Chickie

If I am not wrong, she is seeing the same surgeon as I went to, and he requires for his bandsters to be seen. It's manily to see if the bandster to be will comply with the band rules. Not anything to do with the health funds. Although most funds do pay for the visit.

The link to my insane rambling is in my sig. I do need to get onto listing my fave blogs there too. Oh. And an update would be nice. It's on the to do list. :smile:

Welcome & Congrats to both bella64 & Danni!

Good luck with your surgery.

From one Aussie Sam to another, Congrats! (although I was not banded in August {I was banded Feb 2005} I wanted to say 'Hi" I hope no one minds)

I ate low GI, went vegetarian, and started running. Within 6 months I was off all my meds for my type II, and my hormones were normal. I didn't do anything special, I just ate well and exercised. And the weight just came off.

I just assumed that the test took that into account. I mean, if you walk / run outside there is a natural variation of incline. But I would think that even walking at a 5 or 6% incline wouldn't burn quite as many calories as a good run.

I don't remember the exact wording of the referral letter, but from what I do recall, there was nothing overly "creative" about it. Just stated that I had lost a massive amount of weight, and that I needed reconstructive surgery.

Fanny, you would be surprised whet people think and say at times!

I had a TT almost 2 years ago now, and it was pretty simple. Went to the GP, she sent me to see a couple of reconstructive surgeons, I picked one I liked, and because I had a referral from my GP my surgery had an item number, and my fund ponied up for the op and hospital stay. From memory (the memory is a bit wonky) I was under $1800 out of pocket (I'd have to look it up to be more exact) Don't know about boobs. Well. I do, but you know what I mean.

Great article.

I am hopeful that he will let me run a little more than that after a month or so... But even at 3x 3k, I am still running.

Will do. Not bloody likely! The physio has me running 3x a week for no more than 3k till we have my back re-aligned and my knee stregthened. And I don't know how long that will take

I don't know how common it is for people to have a backslide after a few years, I haven't, nor do I personally know any who have, but it appears to be fairly common on the online community... So I really don't know what the stats are. But you have a good idea of what made you regain the weight, so that is a great starting point in getting back on track. Best of luck to you.

Yeah, that's why I think it's the go for DH. He has a shuffle, and no plan to upgrade. When I saw them online, I thought they looked nifty, glad to hear that they indeed are.

I have a Nike+, and I looovvveee it. I am thinking a sportsband might be DH's Xmas gift this year... They do rock, don't they?

Getting to goal and staying there for over two years has been reward enough. The material things I brought along the way, and thing I did are long forgotten, but the being healthy, and free from morbid obesity is more of a reward than I could have ever brought at a store.

LMAO, I can imagine the looks you got. I have been known to sing loudly (and badly) when on the treadmill :wink2: I am yet to slip up in public, but my time will come. I agree. It's not a bad thing to see yourself as an athlete when you are running. It's not so much about how I look, but how I feel. I feel strong, powerful, graceful and lithe. It sadly doesn't trasnlate to how I look 100%, but that few K's I pound out, I AM all of the above, regardless of how I really do look. Thank you muchly LJM and Jachut.

That is awesome! Congrats! Thank you muchly! I am still pretty thrilled that I got that job. While being a SAHM was in so many ways a wonderful job, I feel more human when I am working outside the home at least a couple of days a week. Thanks again :biggrin: There wasn't a thread, I did blog (or whine, take your pick) about it a bit. In a nutshell, I have had a funny rubbing sensation under my ribcage, but above my belly button when I ran for at least the last 6 to 12 months. Nothing painful, or annoying, just odd... Went for a good run one night early this month, went to bed, an woke up at some awful hour with a real sharp, throbbing pain in the same spot under the ribcage, but above the belly button, and a nasty, nasty referred pain in my left sholder (it was worse when I took a deep breath). So, 9am rolls around, and I make contact with my surgeon, he gets me in to see him, organises a scope for first thing the following day (Friday 11th) to rule out an erosion or slip. Scoped on Friday, everything is cool (band is in place, and no erosion is evident) get taken in for xray's and ultrasound to confirm that it is in fact the tube coiled up, and sitting on top of my diaphragm. That was the cause of the pain. As we get smaller, there is more slack in the tube between the port and band. And given I have lost the sort of weight I have, there was a good amount of slack. So much that it curled up and found a nice spot on top of my diaphragm. So Monday morning, I got admitted to hospital, had a quick lap surgery to chop off that extra tube, and I was good to go. The pain was gone as soon as I woke up. I spent the weekend on pain killers, and spent the night after surgery on coffee! I have had a tiwtch since. So, it's not really like what you have been going through, but I am really glad you are able to wait it out till your fund kicks in! Oh, She! I finally got around to seeing a physio about my knee today. Only, it's not my knee! It's my back! Totally fixable with accupuncture and exercises. I had some accupuncture today, and go back again next week. I remember that you had it done a while ago. How long did that awesome "no pain at all" feeling last?

You are very kind She. I just prefer how I look in my head to how I really look out there on the road. For some odd reason, when I "see" myself running, I am always sleek, powerful and graceful, nothing like the huffing, panting, dripping wet, plodder I am!

I totally could have been doing more than I have though. My "effort" in exercise this last couple of weeks has been walking the kid to school and home. A 2k round trip. I do suck, because it really wouldn't have been beyond me to haul my ass out there a couple of extra K's. I feel like crap about it. It's getting me down that I am not giving it 100%. But, funny story, this afternoon, I took MIL to have the staples out of her knee / leg (she had a full knee replacement a couple of weeks ago) anyway, the nurse is taking the staples out, I am holding MIL's hand, watching the gore (I grew up on Nightmare on Elm Street, I live for this crap) next thing I know, I wake up on the ground with the nurse patting my face and calling my name! I passed out COLD. Holy crap, how embarrassing. I have NO idea what that was about, because blood and guts don't bother me... So I shall chat with the good Dr tomorrow.

You look fab! Congrats on the time. That's pretty dammed cool. But seriously, do you wanna see thigh jiggle? Me running the MDC (yeah, I brought the photo, DH wanted his, and it was only a couple of bucks more to buy all 4 pics, lol, I am usually too cheap. And vain, I don't want to know what I look like, somehow I am far more graceful in my mind, my reality is so ugly!) Lookit that thigh wobble! LOL

Very true, there is always something New & Improved!! But I was so exhusted by the pain I was in (and other issues) that I simply wanted it all over, if you get what I mean. And band out, VSG in, was a simple way of getting rid of this pain, and any I might go through in the future. Thankfully it was just a matter of going in, and chopping off some tubing, but that was still a surgery. Still carried risk, blah, blah, blah. And joy of joys! My hair is falling out again (just like every other time I have had surgery) I hope that when I see my doc tomorrow he clears me for running. I am losing my mind here. I really have missed running. It's cathartic, and I needed it over the last few weeks. *sigh* I really am in a mood tonight.

Real tan = lobster Fake tan = oompa loompa Either way, I look the same size.

Thanks muchly ladies. The staff discount on the jewelry and giftware made me swoon. So this job is a keeper. DH said I wouldn't have a pay packet left after I was done shopping every week. He might be right. That's not too bad, I guess. It still sucks that you have to wait though. Hopefully Mr Mac can get there. My DH wasn't really into the who deal till he met my Doc and he explained everything to him. These days DH is thinking about banding himself. I think you are very smart to think about the sleeve. Part of me hoped that there was something "wrong" when I had my dramah's this month. Part of me wanted the band out, and to have a VSG. The band not being perminant was important back then. Not so now. The thought of having the band removed to go back to "normal" scares the crap out of me, and if I knew then, what I know now, I would have had a sleeve. Don't get me wrong, I am happy enough with the band. Most of the time, I am not realy even aware of it. But the "what if's?" get me. I am fairly young, so the chances of this band lasting a lifetime are slim, and I guess, at least now I know that there is another option when the time comes. /Debbie Downer