mrs kaje

If I don't do this, I won't be alive in 30 years anyway...

Is "crap-ton" a metric or imperial unit of measure?

I bought that mag solely for the story on Kate DeAraugo. It was mainly about her personal struggles with weight, but not much else (I was only interested in it because of the sleeve aspect, but from memory it was sort of just glossed over). They went a bit overboard with the Photoshop, too, I reckon!

I was made redundant one year ago, with one day warning. I had been in that job for 12 years and I always thought it would be the end of the world if I lost my job. After two weeks I started to stress that I wouldn't find another job. As it turns out, my skills and experience are quite an asset and I got offered several jobs. Got the perfect one... they went broke ten months later and I was out of a job again. This time, I felt much better about it and actually enjoyed the few weeks I had off, before taking on a temp role. That finished just before Christmas, and I'm currently enjoying our summer holiday. When we get home, I plan to have a few more weeks off until the kids go back to school, then I will start looking. It made me realise that my job is not my life. There are others out there, and losing one really isn't the end of the world, like I always thought it would be. You're lucky you have some time to plan, and save some money before this happens, at least.

I have said to other people's kids before "Oh, that's not a very nice/kind thing to say". Not in a bitchy or mean way, but just kind of planting that in their minds. Has anyone seen the kids movie Flushed Away? My then-6-year-old daughter held up a pair of my knickers once and sang the line from the movie, "...and the lady wears big undies, huuuuge undies". It was too funny to offend me and both kids do it every now and then and we all have a good laugh. Now-7-year-old did it a few days ago when one of the in-laws was in the next room, and I explained to her how it embarrasses me if she says things like that in front of other people. I have tried to teach them to never make comments about other people, because I know how it feels. (Although the youngest one did say, upon seeing a little person at the shops, "Look, there's an Oompa Loompa!". Cringe!).

I'm counting down, too - my PHI won't kick in until December 2015. The last two months have gone so slowly (even with Xmas and holidays), the next ten will be torture! Plus I haven't even had the initial consult yet, so technically I don't even know that I can even get it done. I'm NSW central coast-ish. I don't know a single person who's had any type of WLS, so these boards are great

Duplicate. Stupid Kindle!

Duplicate post deleted.

Must be on Foxtel, is it? I've never seen it on free to air. I like watching eps of Fat Doctor on YouTube. Shaw Somers is a bit of alright, too, lol.

Good on you for making the decision to move ahead. I'm ten years older than you and I am just starting the process - wish I had done something at your age instead of waiting until now.

I particularly want to know: . Will he look for hernia and at gallbladder, and if so, will he repair or remove if required? . Will he stitch as well as staple? . I definitely want him to fit the support band to avoid stretching. . Will he check for leaks during surgery, and how? . What rate of patients later convert to bypass, and what are the main reasons? . What rate of lap procedures are converted to open, and what are the main causes? . Do I need to do a barium swallow after surgery? . If stitches are used on the incisions, are they dissolving. . Will I have a catheter, and will it be placed and removed while I'm under sedation? There are other smaller things but those are the important ones to me.

I had to book a seat for my seminar, and provide contact info. When I got there, they had a printed sheet of attendees and highlighted our name when we arrived. I also had to fill out a one page info sheet. So basically they know whether I attended or not. I asked, and they didn't care that I had a referral, I had to attend the seminar before making the appointment for the surgeon consultation. Oh, and the second surgeon I was referred to doesn't do seminars, they just mailed out a DVD to watch!

Wow, you're very lucky getting it so quickly, and at a good price. There are only two surgeons in my city and the one whose seminar I went to has a six month waiting list, and there's a considerable cost. I got my GP referral in October and couldn't get a consultation until mid-Feb. Maybe I should move to Qld, lol.

Congrats! - I know where you're coming from on this one. On our honeymoon we needed to wear wetsuits whilst snorkelling, due to the risk of stingers. None of the ladies' ones fit me, and the big men's ones were huge at the top but still too small at the bottom, so I had to go without. It must have felt great to be in the group of 'normals', lol.

Whoops, I actually swallow mine - must get out of that habit

5'11" here - I'm very pre-op, but it's great to have a thread like this so I can at least compare myself to people around my height. I try and get an idea of where I could be in two years, from other people's starting weights, but it's no help to me when they're only 5'2"

I feel the same way, Rubygirl - I just can't understand how I will be able to change my habits when I haven't been able to previously. Thanks for all the responses so far - it's great to know there are so many people who used to be the way I am now, and it has been a success for them - gives me more confidence that it'll work.

Mine will be 10 and 8 and I don't think they need to know what I'm going in for. I don't want to put the idea in their heads that if they put on weight they can just go and have surgery to fix it, and I don't want them telling their friends or anything.

I'm envious - I have a whole year to wait! In Australia there is a 12 month waiting period (for major things) when you get health insurance, so I was going to just pay for the procedure using my superannuation. But the surgeon said he has a six month waiting list to do it, so I figured I may as well wait the extra six months and get it mostly paid for by the health fund. I first rang in October and couldn't get into a seminar until 27 November; I then booked by first consultation with a couple of surgeons and those appointments are in February and March next year, as that was the earliest they had available. I'm obsessed at the moment but I'll get over it in a few months, then the time will probably go quickly (at least I hope it does!).