Manda87

I have Empire Blue, but Anthem is kind of the same. All of the paper work they sent me was addressed from Anthem. With my experience, they have hospitals that they approve. I didn't pick one of those hospitals, so my doctor was out of network. It wasn't hard to get approved. I wasn't required to do any diet. I would give them a call and see what they require pre-op. :thumbup:

True. However, they just sit - read a book, search on Facebook, google Viagra and giggle at the side effects, read the newspaper, eat, gossip. Once in a while they'll do a med pass, but most of the time it's sitting doing nothing productive. However, I know nurses in hospitals work their butts off. Hospital nurses have very stressful jobs. All of this is from my experience though. :thumbup:

I've never had kids or anything major happen to me, so I haven't experienced a lot of pain in the past. However, this was the worse pain I've ever been in. The port incision was the worse. It felt like the tissue inside of me was ripping and tearing open. It felt sooooo bad. I was prescribed liquid hydrocodone, and it hardly helped. I couldn't bend down for a while, so try not to drop anything. Use your arms to push up if you're sitting down.

I'm a CNA. I work 8 hour shifts, but I'm on my feet the whole time plus I'm pulling, pushing, lifting, etc people the whole time. I decided to take 4 weeks off. I work in a nursing home, so if you were an RN at my nursing home, you'd only have to take off a week since the nurses just sit on their butts the whole time. lol :thumbup:

Hahaha. No.

Make sure you carefully read the contract. I went into a contract with Peak Fitness. Well, they ended up filing for bankruptcy, and I lost out on a lot of money.

Drink lots and lots of water!

Last year, at my work, I was reading a chart of a patient I had. It said "Happy obese lady." Why do they have to phrase it like that?

There is a possibility of death with every single surgery. Hell, there is a possibility of death every single day that we live. I wouldn't let one story out of BILLIONS to ruin your chances at a better life. :smile:

I really like this one. I told my mom that I gained 4 pounds (I now kick myself for saying that), and now she monitors what I eat. I'm only 3 weeks post-op and she'll say "Don't eat that because you gained 4 pounds, remember?" It's annoying. Everyone in my family is FAT! I annoys the hell out of me when a fat person tells me to how to diet. GRRRR! But I will try your suggestions. :smile:

I hated my two week Optifast diet. Today, I was mixing a chocolate Protein powder into milk, and it reminded me of mixing the Optifast shakes. Even though my Protein shake didn't taste anything like the Optifast, I still had a hard time drinking it. I felt so blah. The sound of mixing mixing anything into a cup gets to me. The other day my sister was making some kind of shake and the sound brought back memories. It just turns me off. It'll get better though. :redface: I also like how Kalipso2 to said that "if you like ice cream before sugery, you're going to like it after." That's such a great example. It's all about choices, and this, by no means, is the "easy way out." At times I wish I had done the gastric bypass because I could eat all kinds of junk, but still lose weight. But of course, I'm still happy with my choice. I still have all of my organs in the right place. :thumbup:

As soon as you get banded, your mind doesn't change. You'll still want food. You'll still want chocolate, cheetos, cupcakes, beef Jerky, etc. Your mind doesn't change at all. I assume you're on Optifast? Drink lots of water! I enjoyed Crystal Light a lot. Also, I enjoyed chewing gum.

There is one thing that I would like to add. I think many people do feel upset is because they have family memebers watching them like a hawk. My family is like that. I live with the food police. "Are you going to eat that?" "Don't you think you've had enough?" "Shouldn't you be done?" Their comments make me feel like crap, and that makes me be harder on myself. Don't say to "just ignore them." They are my family and I've lived with them all of my life. We have outside forces screaming at us. And that make us question ourselves even if we know better. Do you see what I'm saying?

I think it's a common sense issue. When many adults know they are chewing gum, most won't swallow it. However, if you have an "issue" with gum, don't chew it. Go with a breath mint.

Patience! Also some pain meds because I never thought it would hurt THAT BAD! Also through in some Gas-x. I was very lucky that I didn't have the bad gas pain that many describe. I did have gas, however, just not bad. :thumbup:

Thanks for the post. I have gained 4 pounds, but I feel as though I can eat a whole cow. I hate that feeling. However, I did manage to lose 2 pounds in one week, but that was all hard work! I will try to be a bit more softer on myself. :thumbup:

Has anyone gained weight before their first fill, and possibly after? I've gained like 4 pounds in the past 3 weeks. :thumbup:

I worked as a CNA for the whole time when I did my pre-op diet. I mostly stood for 8 hours. I was surprised that I didn't have any fatigue that many people complain about. I'm sure it will probably get better when you get back on regular food. :scared2:

I honestly don't understand why your DOCTOR doesn't wait until you are approved to schedule the surgery. Many doctors do this and I believe it's because they care more about your money than the actual patient. That just drives me crazy. I'm glad my doctor's office had a enough sense to wait until they heard from the insurance company. You need to talk to your doctor and ask him why they aren't waiting to schedule the surgery until they hear from the insurance. PLUS, you should have gone to the cardiologist BEFORE your paper work was submitted. I wish you good luck. I'm sorry that you have to deal with such insanity!

If you are poking exactly on the incision site of the port, then you aren't exactly poking the port. The port is off to the side. For example, my port is above and a little to the right of the actual incision site. I can feel my port when I go searching for it. As you lose more weight, you can feel it even more.

Instead of telling people that I was having the Lap Band surgery, I told people I was having gallbladder surgery, lol.

Yes, I think that normal though. Your doctor to go through subcutaneous tissue and fat to place your port. The first 5 days after my surgery, the port incision was the worse. It feels like a ripping/tearing sensation. I'm 2 weeks out and it does hurt from time to time.

First of all, Betsy, did an awesome job with laying it out! If I can make it through the 2 week Optifast diet, anyone can! Drinking A LOT of Water helps with the hunger. I liked chewing gum also. That helped with the chewing sensation also just something to keep in my mouth. I didn't try sugar free candies, but maybe that might be a good suggestion.

Ebay, Craigslist, yardsale, Goodwill, clothing exchange. :thumbup:

I'd rather have 5 scars than all of this excess weight. Honestly, I wouldn't mind losing a finger if that meant I would lose 160 pounds. :thumbup: