afw

I just said, Abdominal Surgery - none of their business, and they ARE NOT ALLOWED to make you say more. Just saying abdominal surgery is not a lie at all, and people tend to get more imaginative - they start assuming it's something female, and once they think that they don't want to know the details. :-)

I hope I never, ever am able to eat a "normal-sized" meal again! We went to a restaurant a few weeks before my banding, and even then, no bands, all four of us - my husband, myself, and our kids - ate only half the food on our plates and took the rest home. Most restaurant portions are so ridiculous, but we start to think they're normal - "normal-sized" meals are what got me to morbid obesity in the first place. Now, I expect I should be able to eat a reasonably-sized meal in a month or two. I just got banded four days ago, so my experience is definitely limited.

I don't think you need to feel obligated to tell her. After all, if you had to have some other really personal procedure, you wouldn't feel obligated to tell her that either. Your job is to get yourself healthy in body and mind, and if she won't be helpful, then don't share.

That is heartbreaking!!! What an emotional rollercoaster for you! Please don't let your husband talk you out of it. If you decide to wait because *you* choose to, then that's one thing, but if you know this is the right thing for you, stick to it and be there at noon on Wednesday! If you can survive all of this, living with the band is going to be a cakewalk. Please come back and let us know what you're going to do!

I have Blue Cross of North Carolina's PPO plan, through my employer. I already loved my job - now I love it even more!!

It was great! I really enjoyed it. It was very informative and it meant a lot to me that the surgeon did the whole thing himself - I really like the fact that he is not afraid to make himself available and accessible, he doesn't hide behind layers of coordinators and nurses. That means a lot to me.

So my insurance will pay 100%, no copay, no deductible (in general, though I myself am not yet approved), and I've got my consultation scheduled. Yay! This is the phone message I just got (my phone company sends transcribed voicemails to my email, which I LOVE):

"Hi! This is ***** calling from Dr. ****'s Office. Just want to let you know that we have verified your benefits with your insurance company for the Lap-Band. If you could just give me a callback at your convenience. I can be reached at *******. Thank you."

And I go in to see the surgeon on May 20. They say they can usually get you scheduled within 4-6 weeks of your consultation, so I should be banded by early July! YAY!!!!!!!!!

So tomorrow at 6pm is my seminar. At this point all the info I have on Lap-Band comes from this website (and others), and those commercials with the really heavy people saying "If I lost the weight..." I am a little nervous, but only about something getting in the way of this happening. I can't see what that could be - I'm in very good health; I actually had a doctor say to me once, "you know, you really have no right to be in this good of health given your weight." My insurance policy covers the procedure, and I meet the guidelines, and as far as I can tell my employer does not exclude WLS.

I decided that I would never do gastric bypass, partly because the whole idea of slicing out half my digestive system completely freaks me out, and also because the mortality rate scares me. Half a percent seems like a lot! I have two children, ages five and almost two, and half a percent is too high for me - I would rather be fat and alive and here for my children than dead trying to be thinner. And since I don't have any health problems it's not like I'm facing a crisis. But .05%, that's one in 2000. The odds of dying in a car crash are one in 5000, and I drive my car every single day. So that I can live with.

I am starting to feel more excited, too, about the idea of being smaller. I think it's held me back professionally, at least to a degree, although since I pretty much mommy-tracked myself when my son was born five years ago, it's hard to know how much of that was my choices versus others judging me. I'm going to accept responsibility for it either way, because whether it was my choice to focus on my children or my choice to overeat, I own it.

I have decided, if there is a good reason not to do this, I won't - but it has to be a really good reason, like the insurance won't pay, or I have some undetected health issue that precludes it. I won't let the reason be that I don't want to live on liquids and mushy foods for a while after the surgery. I'm not too thrilled about that part; I've always been a person who liked texture as much as taste and I've never been a fan of gooey foods. I didn't learn to like mashed potatoes until my 20's, I like to crunch things! But it's time-limited. I might be counting the days until I can eat something with some bite to it, but if I know it will end I can tolerate it.

So, I hope the seminar tomorrow leaves me hopeful and not deflated. I have heard nothing but good things about the surgeon I am going to see, so that's in my favor. And I have already made a new friend on this board who will be at the same seminar, so that's exciting too. Wish me luck! I look forward to reading these posts from the beginning of my journey in 18 months, when I am a size 10 and my children don't recognize the old photos of me.