Sandra Lail

I decided to go ahead and start out with the protein shakes and Lean Cuisine and Weight Watcher meals in the evening, and see if I could get a good head start on this. I'm going to see my primary care physician Monday, and ask him for a referral. Since I do have a metabolism problem, I'm not sure whether or not this would help me or not. I know I need to find out if the nodules on my thyroid are benign or malignant and get that taken care of first. Hopefully that will be done sometime next month. The surgeon increased my Synthroid from 50 mcg. to 100 mcg. and that seems to be helping a little bit with my not having any energy at all. I've lost 6 1/2 pounds since I started the shakes and those diet meals at night. I don't know if I'll be able to do that everyday or not. I really don't want to lose the weight this fast, either. I just started this a few days ago. I know that losing too fast will just leave me with a lot of saggy skin. I think I'll give myself one or two days a week at eating what I want to, but sensibly. Not pigging out or eating a lot of fattening food, just eating normally. I appreciate all of your comments. Thanks so much. I need all the information and help I can get! Sandra

My daughter is in the beginning stage of the lap band surgery. She's gone through the six months of seeing her primary doctor, getting weigh-ins, talking to the dietician, etc. I believe she actually has her surgery next Monday. When I looked it up online for Medicare it said that it did pay for the lap band surgery. I told the Lake Norman Weight Loss Surgery Hospital that I had Medicare and Medicaid they told me they accepted it. Now I've got someone else saying only Medicare will pay and I'll have to pay the rest out of pocket - and there is no way I can afford that. I guess I'll just have to keep right on digging and trying to get more information. Thank you so much for your input.

I went to Medicare.gov and asked if they would pay for lap band surgery. I have tried everything to lose weight, and most of the time I gain. I went to a gym at a local hospital in Hickory, NC and really worked hard at it for 2-3 months. I gained instead of losing. People were telling me I was gaining weight because muscle weighs more than fat. Then, I tried Water exercise for 3 months and lost 9 pounds, but, after that - nothing. I do not eat much at all, but I will say that because I have a BMI of 42, my knees kill me to walk, I have COPD and emphesyma, congestive heart failure, sleep apnea and sleep with a CPAP machine at night, I have to take pills to regulate my heart beat, and have absolutely no energy. My endo doctor diagnosed me with nodules on both sides of my thyroid, but had me on the lowest dosage of Synthroid possible. Still don't know if it's cancer or not, but I was told I had the smallest thyroid he'd ever seen. I know that if I could lose this weight, I'd feel better, and possibly be able to get off some of these meds I'm on. Medicare said they would pay for the lap band when you go to the web site at medicare.gov. I can't find a place to see if NC Medicaid will pay for the rest. I have Medicare parts A & B, Medicare prescription coverage, and Medicaid. I only make a little over 9,000 a year. I can't afford to pay for the surgery and doctor. My daughter is doing this in Ms., and she was able to buy her power shakes over the counter. Can anyone tell me if Medicaid will cover the other part of the surgery and doctor bill? Or will I have to throw in the towel and forget about it?