Howdy All! New Here :)

[Failure 32]

Hello everyone! I am new here, I guess I should have posted this first before anything else but I had been lurking for a few days and just got so excited to start meeting everyone, haha. Anyway! My name is Sara and I am 27 and I currently live in SW Florida for the time being. I have a fiance living in Tennessee, Chattanooga area and I will be joining up with him hopefully soon! I currently weigh about 350 at this time and I think my highest recorded is 365. I am not doing good with that! I am so overwhelmed when I get to thinking about how big I have gotten.

I started getting chunky when I was about 8 years old or so and have remained big ever since, gradually getting bigger and bigger until, well, now. I've never really lost anything at any given time that was more then 20-30 lbs. It's not that I give up, I just sort of stop losing. I am always trying different diets and things like that. I unfortunately have not tried too many things that I probably should have, like weight watchers because I've never really been able to afford it.

This past year I finally got my career rolling, YEAH!!! So I had a little bit of extra money to roll out so I decided to try this thing called Roca Labs because my fiance told me about it and explained that their websites advertises it as "mini gastric bypass with NO surgery" so I was all excited about that. I have a sister who is 30 now and she had RNY and has been successful with it but on the other token does not take care of herself. I am not the same way, I would never abuse some privelege as that because I absolutely have been fighting with weight my whole life whereas she only has in the past 5-6 years. Not that it invalidates her in any way, do not get me wrong. I'm just saying that I know better than to take advantage. It's only ever been a DREAM for me to have some kind of HELP.

So this Roca Labs things was pretty cool. I have a youtube channel that I documented my progress on and actually lost like 20 lbs somewhere in there but after having had a vacation where I could not take the stuff for the diet, I sort of fell off the bandwagon for about a week. Once I got back home and started to go back on it, it was almost as if I grew an allergy to it. There is nothing wrong with the product, I actually have all high up things to say about the product, it's just for me personally I could not get the stuff down anymore. The taste and texture just get to me too bad for whatever reason. I don't know why exactly either, because I didn't have much of an issue before my vacation.

So then I just sort of was down in the dumps about it all because my fiance is still actively on that diet program thing and he totally lost about 30+ lbs and he is doing so well but I didn't. 20 lbs is awesome and I'm happy about that, but it took so long compared to him that we think that maybe with my weight and how my body is that maybe it is just going to take a bit more assistance than what that program offers.

So we started looking into insurance for me because I work as an independent contractor and do not have insurance, and along the way I just sort of got to thinking about insurance companies and which ones would offer benefits for a surgery like that (like I know that a lot of United HC plans help with it and BCBS, etc) but when I started researching more about that my options got more and more disappointing for the fact that I have not had insurance in a while and usually you have to purchase some sort of "rider" and it is just a mess.

But not to fear, right? Because then I went onto my LOCAL bariatric surgeon's website and 'lo and behold they had some sort of out of pocket "Deal" going on. So I just had a whole new glimmer of hope shine before my eyes and I was wondering what that entails. Do you pay it all up front? Is it a payment plan? So then I talked to a friend of mine who is somewhat big in the RNY WLS community on YouTube and she told me about financing and how sometimes surgeons will have financer affiliates so I was like what? Really? So I could basically apply for a medical credit card to help with something like this to help me? And she said basically in a nutshell yes that is what could happen!

So I started looking up Tennessee bariatric surgeons in Chattanooga area and that is when I came across the Gastric Band Institute with Dr. Ponce, Dr. Paynter and Dr. Fromm that they offer both of the band surgeries as well as the sleeve! I will admit originally I had considered the band because yeah, it's removable if something happens and customizable and blah blah. But upon my research here on the forums it seems to come with a lot more complications and things, especially with finding followup doctors who will fill it and all that and I just don't like the idea of having a PORT attached inside my muscle for years.

So here I am, fully decided on the sleeve and already having had contacted the facility with a few basic questions and stuff. I am just here for support and hopefully to find answers to questions that may come up. I have yet to even move to Tennessee so it will be a couple of months but this is 100% going to happen when I get there. If it wasn't for my fiance, this wouldn't be happening. I love him so much, he is like.. my miracle, the man who is helping to make my dreams come true. I can't even begin to express how amazing he has been to me and that I have met him like "this".

So I hope to meet a lot of you and maybe buddy up, find a nice mentor, although I think I may have found a really good one, her name is Sassy and lives near me. I happened upon her on this forum by accident because I was researching people having gone to the local surgeon since that was and may still be an option but I think it will be happening in TN.

I look forward to chatting with all of you

[Dooter 1,457]

Hi there! I wish you good providence in your journey. Sounds like you got a good man there. Don't let him go! Keep us up to date on your surgery plans.

[jazzyjay 33]

Good luck with everything!!

[chitowngirl 884]

Good luck. It sounds like you have great support in your fiancé.

[Failure 32]

Aww thank you so much everyone It is great to have a place to go for questions and support as I start my journey. I love reading about others' journies!

[Ssilian 67]

It's exciting, isn't it?? I wish you much success. This is a great place to learn and make friends. We are all here for each other!

[Failure 32]

Thanks Ssilian, yes it is soo exciting. BTW I love your little avatar. Cats are so cute, aren't they? Haha

[Krysty 11]

Welcome to the group, and good luck to you!

[Ssilian 67]

Thanks Ssilian, yes it is soo exciting. BTW I love your little avatar. Cats are so cute, aren't they? Haha

Yes, that's my little Greyson. He's actually 12 years old and 16 lbs! He's so nosey, too! Here he's trying to read what I

was typing on my computer -- LOL

[Failure 32]

Thanks Krysty Ssilian I have 3 cats, 2 are like 12 the other is like 10. They are all crazy in their own little ways, haha.

[Enerfina 50]

welcome, and good luck on ur journey! its always good to try other means of weight loss, i have tried many myself, but i am loving my sleeve! so again wishing u the best n update us on how ur insurance goes, if u have any questions keep posting

[Failure 32]

Thanks Enerfina! I actually am not going with insurance but rather the financing program that the group in TN has. They offer BLIS complication protection insurance within the set price for the sleeve cost that lasts for 90 days after surgery that covers cardiopulmonary, thromboembolic (like clots), bleeding, infections, leaks, perforation and stenosis. The only thing I am responsible for that I may not be able to finance is the pre-admission testing such as x-rays and and whatever else they require since it would be through a different doctor but that's okay. I am going this route because having to have an individual plan since I work as an independent contractor, the insurance premiums are like $250 for anything that covers anything decent in an unlimited manner anyway and this is roughly what a doctor visit would cost at a sliding-scale type of PCP.