3loves

O.K. I weighed in this AM and lost another pound...19 lbs total!! :clap2: I will start this challenge from this point forward. I cannot bring myself to post my weight, but my BMI is currently 42. :grouphug: I guess that comes from being judged so much. Just the other day my mom commented that she was getting worried about me losing enough....holy crap....I've only lost 18 lbs in 4 wks when she said that.:faint: No need to worry though b/c I will be totally honest and I realize I will only be cheating myself. LindaV ~ Glad to hear you got some restriction. Let us know how things go tonight and like you said, it may loosen after your TOM. BTW, I'm going to start the new July thread since I'm going away for the weekend and will probably not get online. I'll post a link.

Now you tell me.:faint:This is the funniest thing I've read today. I waited 2 wks and would have waited longer b/c of port pain, but I was getting tired of the whining from my DH. Really, it was more begging than whining and after all the support he gave me and continues to give, I just couldn't say no any longer.

I wish you the very best Michele. I understand the frustrations that came develop when it seems an insurance company holds so much power over your future. This is a highly emotional time and everyone of us understand that.....no need to apologize. Aren't you thankful for such a place where you can yell, scream, cry and even shout with joy if you want to? Before long, you will have a different story to tell. Keep us informed and ask questions. Chances are, there is someone on here that has walked in your shoes. Hang in there!!

Hang in there Julie....the weight loss will come. This time is for healing and not losing. Keep your focus on healing and the rest will follow. If you push it too much, things can happen. Relax and take care of yourself. You are a baby right now.....I consider myself one too (at least in the banded life that is). :baby: I've lost 18 lbs as of Sun, but the scales haven't moved since then and it's OK with me. I understand and can relate to how great it feels when the scales go down. Give your body time to adjust. Come to think of it, this is a good problem to have at this point b/c you could be going through a lot worse things with the band. IT WILL HAPPEN. Keep coming here for support and know we are all in this together!!!

Truly sad and breaks my heart. :cry If I would have known of someone like this on my floor at the hospital, I would have sent my DH down to check on her and he would have done it. Bless his heart....he slept on a cot in my room and woke up everytime I needed anything. What goes around comes around.

Don't you just love the innocence of kids? The birds would probably eat the butterflies by the time they arrived. I didn't remember naming the scents I like, but those are definitely my favorites. Even when I buy air wick, I choose those scents. I wish everyone a safe, happy, & fun 4th of July weekend!!

Please forgive me for not responding earlier. :wow2: 37 lbs?? I bet you are looking like some hot mama these days. :Banane56: You are such an inspiration!!! Yes, I started solid foods and was actually approved for solids a couple of weeks ago. I was just a chicken and wanted to go a bit longer on the mushies. I DO NOT want to experience an actual PB.....man, I'm such a baby. I've had ground sirloin, chicken breast, chicken salad, insides of a burrito supreme, peas, carrots, celery.....you get the picture. I think I am getting hungrier than b4 b/c I'm doing more walking and using up those extra calories. I am also at 18 lbs as of Sun. I am pleased as punch. I simply feel full. No pressure, I just feel satisfied so I stop. Like I said, I'm a big chicken so I stop while I'm ahead and get a snack if I get hungry later. My port scar looks great too, but I do have one scar that has healed slower and I can see 3 stitches. I guess they came to the top like someone else experienced (I can't remember who or which thread I read that on). christy668 and DrewsLou ~ You both look SUPER DUPER fantastic!! I just love seeing pics. I will post some when I get further along. I can't tell much difference at this point. NaturalBeauty ~ Thank you for your words of wisdom. Like others have said, it's nice to hear from someone with the real "time experience" under their belt. I hope to see you post often. After all, you are a May Bandster and we LOVE the encouragement!!! Cinderella ~ Bless your heart!! I'm so sorry you had to go through that awful experience. I hope you did call your doc since you had some blood. If nothing else, so they could document it. Glad to hear your doing better. Maybe I'll get on a horse too someday soon. I love all that power between my legs....give me a horse, motorcycle, or quad. I love to feel the power!! I'll take the Mayster's Challenge. I'm with LindaV....20 lbs by Sept 13th. I don't have a fill yet and want to put it off until I stop losing. I may need a fill to meet my goal....we'll see. Sorry for the loooonnng post folks. It's be awhile for me and I can get wordy. :nervous

Doty ~ You already know how thrilled I am for you!! You are not alone in the thick head dept.....just ask my DH. He has it too BTW. Holy cow.....just 3 wks to do. :clap2: Boy, time is going to fly. Keep in touch my friend!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!!! I can relate to the excitment.....things will go so fast from here on out. You will be on the other side in no time at all. :clap2: :peace: :dance: :mod: :love: :rockon: :banana :bounce:

Great info....thanks Pat!! I will keep this on my hard drive for future reference. :biggrin1:

I love it....every woman should get something for her husband's bday!!

Welcome to LBT!! :welcome: The best advice I have to offer is read, read, and read, and ask lots of questions. I encourage to do as much research as time will allow. Knowledge is power and LBT helped me tremendously in knowing what to expect from myself and my band. First I prayed.....then I started with my PCP and located a surgeon. Next I went through the insurance process and here I am 4 wks banded. Still praying BTW. I hope you will carefully look at all your options and I wish you the very best!!

:youcandothis:Way to kick some butt Maggie!!! So happy for you. Mona ~ Bless your heart!! Here's a hug for you. :confused: I just do not like the big dogs of insurance having so much power over our lives. I understand there must be rules, but I just hate this for you. Maybe you should check out the websites Maggie listed in her post. Keep us informed and good luck sweetie!!!

You are just too funny....no pun intended!!!

That's just not fair. Is your surgeon a control freak? I bet there are some people that just can't help but gain for various reasons. Wow....I gained 15 lbs from Jan till May having last suppers. Not the best example I know. I admire you for having such a great spirit about it. :confused: Stay strong.....you can do it!!! A Big Mac isn't that good anyway.

Oh this made me giggle out loud. It's not a club thing, but not a bad idea for a new product. You will probably want your makeup on for that. Sorry I didn't do a very good job of explaining it. Put the Cell Block-C on your clean face and only do half of it. When you put it under a black light, you can see the sun damage on your face and also see where the CBC provides protection. Here's a pic: OK, this pic is kind of small b/c I took it from the website. If you want a bigger pic, I can scan my version here at home.

Happy Belated Birthday Randy!!

We just saw Cars this weekend....or should I say I saw half of it. My 3yr old sat through the entire thing with my DH, but my 5 yr old got bored. After the second trip to the potty, we decided to take a walk. The most amazing thing happened. The owner of the theater asked if we wanted a pass to get back in and I told him no. He wrote me out a pass for all 4 of us to come back ANYTIME to see it again!! :wow2: He said he understood that some kids just don't like to sit still for that long, but maybe my son will want to see what he missed. I couldn't have thanked him enough and bragged about how great it was to receive such high customer service especially in this day & age. Isn't that refreshing to get treated so well? I will tell people about this place and encourage people to go. :popcorn: The bad thing is we walked to a coffee house and I had a very sinful coffee called a grasshopper. It was chocolate coffee with mint. I was still thinking about that silly drink on Sat. It would be very easy for me to become addicted to that place. :confused:

She is just too precious!! Thanks for sharing!! It seems we can never get enough of baby pics around here. :baby:

Now I know it's true!! :faint: I have a friend that told me a similar thing and I didn't want to believe, but when I would have to resubmit or call several times b/c the insurance company said they didn't have the info, it did raise my curiosity. Like I said in an earlier post, I feel like I have to fight to get my honest claims paid and paid in a timely manner in which does not affect my credit rating. This attitude that so many of us have experienced, shows that consumers are forced into a reactive mode instead of being proactive in most cases. It's no wonder some people feel it necessary to put quarters or sand in their pockets. They are just playing the game that insurance companies create. I'm not condoning these actions and hope that I'm never in a position to choose. What if one of my children needed a life-saving procedure? You can bet the house, barn, AND the land that insurance would have everything they needed to approve any such issue regarding my family. I would walk on Water with the help of the Lord if I had to. Bottom line.....insurance companies hold too much power to determine our health care. The sad truth is that some of these people that make final decisions are not properly trained in EVERY field that they are covering. This is wrong and should be fixed. Anyone have any ideas?

Wow....that is kind of scary. I would probably take this a little further and involve a mod. This is cyberworld and there are a lot of weirdo's out there. Maybe you should post of pic of your hubby and your pit bull.

Just the word "insurance" irritates me. I feel regardless if you are going for WLS or just trying to get a regular claim filed, you will have an occasional fight on your hands to get the benefits you have paid and continue to pay for. At least this has been my experience since I was old enough to start paying my own insurance. I have to carefully watch and monitor every claim that comes through to make sure it is paid properly. I have a claim for my son from last year that is still unpaid b/c NGS (my ins company at the time) thinks it may have been a car accident. They sent a form requesting a life history (BTW, I'm not able to go online and provide this info, only my snail mail) to verify the claim. He was in an accident at school and needed stitches which is clearly documented in ALL paperwork. They paid part of the claim, but this part they just want to put off in an effort to see if I'll take the time to file the ADDITIONAL paperwork to get this claim paid. I don't know what this is actually called, but there are a certain number of claims everyday that go through a similar process to provide more cash flow for the insurance company. They can delay paying and sometimes get out of paying what they should have paid in the first place b/c some people won't take the time for follow-up. WHEW....glad I got that out. :tired Now, on to another point regarding insurance......this is copied and pasted from a thread I posted when I was trying to get approval. It seems I was nearly denied for being completely honest. I think we are living in a day and time where people are forced to respond in a negative way just to keep up with some of the antics being performed my insurance companies today. ~ The medical records I submitted from my Optifast last year showed non-compliance. Yes, they did indeed state that on different occasions b/c I was always completely honest if I had something other than the shakes/bars. On these occasions, I was light-headed, shaky, and thought I may even pass out so I would have A cracker or A slice of bread with Peanut Butter. Another time, I ate a piece of cake at my birthday party. Another time I ate 6, yes I counted and put that on my sheet, 6 Frito's just b/c I wanted them. I told Patty that I do not understand how they can consider this a failure for me since I did lose weight....I lost 32 lbs over 3 mos. She then said, well this surgery is for people that can't lose weight. WHAT?? I thought I was going to blow!! I stayed calm and told her that if I could keep the weight off, why would I be asking for WLS? It seems I am in a no win situation with them. I then went on to tell her that I have specific records from my family doctor (she confirmed they had them) from 1992 showing different weight loss attempts & I always put the weight back on and more. She said the medical records had to be recent. My records run from 1992 - Nov 2004. We moved to IN in 2004 so I had a new doc. I told Patty that I am very surprised that I need to address such an issue as the non-compliance and that I would go to my grave saying that I did not fail that program. She did try to be encouraging and said that they haven't said no yet, but they would resubmit if I got the new evaluations. I feel that once I get the evaluations corrected/complete with my surgeons office, they are going to deny me based on my Optifast program and non-compliance. My husband told me I was too honest. Now I'm feeling it doesn't really pay to be honest if this is the game I have to play. I felt I was only hurting myself if I wasn't forthcoming with every little thing I put in my mouth while on the Optifast program. I mean, I told everything every time. What is wrong with me? I ended up getting an advocate involved from my DH's company since they were self-funded. She even had to plead my case and told them she felt I was qualified. I plainly told her I felt this was a case of insurance trying everything they could to deny what I was entitled to. After a couple weeks, I was finally approved. Why should it take so much work and effort on our part to get the benefits that are listed in our policy? I am thankful to have insurance, but feel I also have to watch EVERYTHING very carefully to make sure I get what I pay for. Insurance is need of a MAJOR overhaul. Personally, I don't think universal coverage is the answer, but changes do need to be made. Insurance is a game and sometimes you have to play by their rules or you won't get the benefits you deserve. That is how I feel even though I have always been 100% completely honest about everything I've submitted. It's just that I've been Enlightened by my lapband experience & that being honest with insurance companies can have consequences. Boy, am I windy today or what.....sorry for the long post. :faint:

I got the Magic Bullet for my birthday and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I use it at LEAST once a day and sometimes more. I even took it with me when I visited my dad for Father's Day. I purchased it at Wal-Mart.

I tried Pilate's and didn't care for it too much. I did feel like I got a good workout, but it gave me a headache. I still have my Pilate's DVD set. I wonder if I'm allowed to offer them for sale on here? It's the Winsor Pilate's Basic 3 DVD Workout set along with a recipe booklet (they call it a meal plan). If anyone is interested, PM me and if I'm not allowed to do this, please smack my hand and send me to my room. :eek: :update: DVD's are now sold....thanks to all who were interested!!

Hugs to you Amy.:hug: Your kids are so lucky to have such a wonderful mommy that can take on any situation that comes her way. I love your attitude and your spunk!! This is bittersweet, I know. The Lord does answer prayers and this is His way of shutting one door and opening another one. Your eyes are open to see it. YEAH.....your going to have your band soon!!! :clap2: Good for you. :fish: Keep your chin up and don't hold back any tears.....it will do you some good. Hey, maybe we could vote on how much you will weight after you get home? Just out of curiosity, did the docs ever speculate as to how much they thought they would be taking off for your apron surgery? I'm very intrigued by the whole thing. I have a feeling I will need a tummy tuck myself someday. :eek: