It's so weird, I just went to the seminar and I already have all my paperwork and my psych eval done and now I am kind of dissapointed. I had thought about lapband and drug my feet, and then I decided to do it and now I can't seem to wait! lol I want to get started now! I want a ticker and want to be a great big loser too! Alas, since I can't stand the weight, I guess I have to wait! lol The doctor says he is back logged and I can't even have my consult until late October <pout>. Maybe by then Medicare will have already approved it and I can get a surgery date for December (If it's December then I wont miss classes). Well, I just wanted to vent and am kind of hoping maybe someone can tell me what they did to make the wait bearable... I am going home to Oregon next week and will see my family (I haven't seen my siblings for 3 years!) and now I am so sad that I did not get banded months ago so I could go home skinny instead of 60 pounds heavier AGAIN!!! Of course, I inherited the only fat genes in my family...my sisters are all size 4's. <sigh> Well, I guess if they see me really heavy this time, when I go back in a year or so I will have LOST weight!! Yay!! Okay, I did not mean to write a novel LOL

Thanks for letting me rant!

~Patti :eek:

Hey Patti !

Yes, it is a hard wait! Mine was about 3 months from the time I decided to DO IT... so you've got a bit longer. It sucks. Have you researched like nuts? Do you feel like you know almost everything there is to know? If not, start doing that. Read as much on this board as you can, get some books on it, start eating, or try to, like you were already banded. Practice the small bites and super-chewing. The time will probably fly by, if you keep yourself busy. I was lucky enough to have alot to occupy my while I waited, so it wasn't so hard. Then POOF! it was time !

And maybe by the time your see your family again you WILL be 60lbs lighter! Good luck :eek:

Mandi

hi patticakes, im patiently waiting for everything also, i spend alot of my time on here reading, but that makes my want it even more, i also want to be a big loser. i have started to practice chewing and not drinking during meals which is really hard to for me. i havent had my psych eval yet that is coming up the 21st so i dont for see getting banded before december as well. we will hang in there together.:eek:

I was a little impatient, but also glad for the time. It's more than psych eval - you should (if it's part of your program) see a nutritionist, perhaps have multiple psych evals depending on the psych, pre admissions, etc.

That's one thing I'm glad I did - I submitted my paperwork before * was certain I wanted to do this. That way, when I decided to go for it, I had the approval ready for me. Still had to wait a while tho. :eek:

I'm having a hard time waiting. I've done everything but my sleep study, that's next week. I may have to do the two week liquid diet, depends on how much I can lose before that point.

I'm feeling very jittery, anxious and excited. I keep looking at the calendar and wanting the days to go by faster.

I know it is hard. I waited almost a year. Now with the new laws, as of 1/1/06 most insurance companies HAVE to follow. You need to have supervised weight loss attempts for 18mos. I started last July, sent in my info in Nov, got denied. Had psych eval, saw nutritionist, exercise consultant, went to seminars, took a friend to learn about my surgery, pretty much everything I needed to for my program. We finally sent it all back in in June. I got approved in July. My surgery was set for Aug 24th, but I have a cruise planned for Sept. So we moved my date to Oct 12th.. Which I was bummed about, but not only do I not want to be on liquids/mushies on a cruise,, Id hate for something bad to happen and me be in the middle of no where,, so Oct 12 sounds like a fantastic new birthday to me!!!! Good Luck, and keep your chin up. It is a hard stressful time to go through. I actually almost gave up. I prayed and prayed for God to show me an answer if I should give up or pursue, and I found LBT. After reading posts, I knew it was for me. Ive been going like a freight train ever since!!!!!

Thanks for the help you guys, you are awesome! I know that when I get into classes on the 23rd I will not have time to even realize I am waiting! That is a great idea to practice eating like banded, I never thought of that! <duh!> I hope that I don't get denied and have to appeal on top of everything else :cry . I will just keep my chin up and think positive! Thanks for the support, glad to know that I am not alone!

~Patti

Hi Patticakes,

Like you, I wanted the surgery to be tomorrow! I actually only had about an 8 week wait but, I decided that I wouldn't wait to start losing weight so I went on Weight Watchers and started the weight loss journey before my surgery.

Since most people lose 1-2 pounds a week with a lap band, I figured I could do it too. I have a goal to ski this season so, I really didn't want to wait until my surgery to start losing because I knew I was already pushing it to make my goal. I also felt empowered to stick to the program because I knew that I would only have to last for a short time before I had the band to help me.

I ended up losing about 15 pounds before my surgery and I was very happy with that! It's 15 pounds less I have to lose now!

So, why wait?

I am editing and adding this as an after thought. I don't want my post to sound preachy because, I totally understand the struggle with weight and I am the last one to start telling someone else the right way to lose weight. I simply meant this as an encouragement if you choose to start now. Starting early was the right choice for me because of my skiing goal. If it's not the right choice for you then keep reading, keep posting and keep thinking positively!

Hi PattiCakes this is your Mother! It looks like I found the site you referred me to. To answer the basic questions for others this is my first look at LapBand! I am anxious to find out more. Patti says she got the only fat genes but that is not true, I'm 4'11" and over 170 lbs! I have discovered that if it can't go up it goes out!

Mommy!!!! How funny! After I gave you the site I had a sneaking suspicion you would track me down! lol Have fun on the site mom, and I will see you Wednesday!

Thanks to everyone else on the advice, they are all very good ideas and I will get started immediately trying them out!

~Patti