Hello everyone:

Technology c a n help people, and this is one example. Not only is this surgery amazing but this site is in that it can help people cope with all the changes that must take place.

How about the "lower" BMIers? I would love to know if the decision was more difficult and also more expensive if your insurance doesn't cover it. Has anyone had regrets? Are there any surgeons who will do the proceedure if you have a 35 BMI but NOT on meds yet?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Morgan

Well I'm in Australia and you dont have to fight here to get the surgery at a BMI of 35 which is where I was at, with no comorbidities (apart from a bad ankle). It cost me the same as it cost anyone else, and you really dont go self pay here as our medical system is entirely different - but basically if you have private health insurance and your doc agrees to do it, the health funds dont argue. And if you dont and have it done through the public system you may have to wait a long time, but it will cost you pretty much nothing. You can go privately and self pay but most docs wont touch that due to the likelihood of running out of funds if you need revision surgery etc.

It was the best decision I ever made though. I am now normal weight and whislt I would like to be a bit lighter still, I would be happy if I stayed here, I am maintaining effortlessly at the moment.

Dear Jachut:

Thanks for replying! I want to move to your beautiful country! You must feel great being so much healthier now? HOw long did it take you to lose 34 kg? I know I will be given a hard time here...we are backwards...you only get treated if you are sick if you are well you are ignored. Prevention is not subscribed to here which is so foolish ofcourse! My twin sis died last year in her sleep she was only 47 and obese. Iwonder if they will look at that? Thanks again !@ take care,

Margs

She died from obesity complications.

My BMI was just under 40. I had to pay for surgery out of pocket because my insurance has a total exclusion against any WLS. I have not regretted it for one minute. I also have no doubt that my weight would would have crept higher and higher as it had for the past 15 years.....so I am particularly glad that I didnt wait any longer to have this done. It was not a hard choice for me.......I looked at years worth of efforts in trying to take some of the weight off, and keep it off.....and realized that in 15 years my weight was slowly increasing each year. I didnt want to wait until I had created serious health issues and permanent damage to my body. I now think it is the best thing I could have EVER done!!

Wow good for you Lianna and great weight loss! Do you feel like a new person? You sound so clear about this and it helps me alot as I have almost the same amount of weight to get ride of as you did. One day I think this is exactly what I should do then the next day I think I'm being nuts. I think that if I had a health issue it would be a no brainer but thanks to your letter...it reaffirmed that it is only a matter of time before I cause as you said "permanant damage to my body" Thanks for the great response. Marg

Dear Jachut:

Thanks for replying! I want to move to your beautiful country! You must feel great being so much healthier now? HOw long did it take you to lose 34 kg? I know I will be given a hard time here...we are backwards...you only get treated if you are sick if you are well you are ignored. Prevention is not subscribed to here which is so foolish ofcourse! My twin sis died last year in her sleep she was only 47 and obese. Iwonder if they will look at that? Thanks again !@ take care,

Margs

Mate everybody wants to move to our country! Best country in the world bar none! Sorry yanks.:biggrin1: Susannah

America the Beautiful Words by Katharine Lee Bates,

Melody by Samuel Ward

MIDI sequencing provided by Melody Lane

O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet

Whose stern impassioned stress

A thoroughfare of freedom beat

Across the wilderness!

America! America!

God mend thine every flaw,

Confirm thy soul in self-control,

Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved

In liberating strife.

Who more than self their country loved

And mercy more than life!

America! America!

May God thy gold refine

Till all success be nobleness

And every gain divine!

O beautiful for patriot dream

That sees beyond the years

Thine alabaster cities gleam

Undimmed by human tears!

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for halcyon skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties

Above the enameled plain!

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee

Till souls wax fair as earth and air

And music-hearted sea!

O beautiful for pilgrims feet,

Whose stem impassioned stress

A thoroughfare for freedom beat

Across the wilderness!

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee

Till paths be wrought through

wilds of thought

By pilgrim foot and knee!

O beautiful for glory-tale

Of liberating strife

When once and twice,

for man's avail

Men lavished precious life!

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee

Till selfish gain no longer stain

The banner of the free!

O beautiful for patriot dream

That sees beyond the years

Thine alabaster cities gleam

Undimmed by human tears!

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee

Till nobler men keep once again

Thy whiter jubilee!

O, say can you see by the dawn's early light |ye - through What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming? |by Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, |bright stars and broad stripes - O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? clouds of the And the rocket's red glare, The bomb bursting in air, |bombs Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. O, say does that star spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave? On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep, |On Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes, What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? |now conceals, now discloses Now it catches the gleam Of the morning's first beam, In full glory reflected now shines in the stream: |on 'Tis the star-spangled banner - O long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! And where is that band who so vauntingly swore |are the foes / are the hosts - That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion, sweepingly A home and a country should leave us no more! Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution. |This - his No refuge could save The hireling and slave From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave: And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! O, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand |And - foemen Between their loved home and the war's desolation! |homes - war's Blest with vict'ry and peace, may the heav'n rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, When our cause it is just, And this be our motto - "In God is our trust." And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave |O long may it wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave! The following stanza was written by George Spowers around 1824 in an attempt to redress the balance of the anti-British sentiment in Key's third verse. However, it was also considered to drag the National Anthem into unnecessary politics, and is rarely sung. But hush'd be that strain! They our Foes are no longer; Lo Britain the right hand of Friendship extends, And Albion's fair Isle we behold with affection The land of our Fathers - the land of our Friends! Long, long may we flourish, Columbia and Britain, In amity still may your children be found, And the Star-Spangled Banner and Red Cross together Wave free and triumphant the wide world around! Probably the best known additional stanza was written by Oliver-Wendell Holmes during the Civil War, and was intended to decry treasonable acts against the US flag. When our land is illumined with liberty's smile, If a foe from within strikes a blow at her glory, Down, down with the traitor that tries to defile The flag of the stars, and the page of her story! By the millions unchained, Who their birthright have gained We will keep her bright blazon forever unstained; And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave, While the land of the free is the home of the brave.

Last update: 22-Mar-00 ©1996-2004 Mike Todd

Hi,

I had the band put on in March of this year with a BMI of 35. I have already lost 22lbs and my first fill isn't until next week. The band was a great decision for me. I think I had tried every diet out there with a yoyo kind of success. I of course did not qualify for insurance. I went to Mexico, and Dr. Rumbaut did the procedure for about half the price. I would highly recommend him. I say go for it. It is a shame America is so behind on this type of surgery

Oh dont worry - we'll have Americanised health and education systems before too long, grumble grumble. We already have Krispy Kremes and Starbucks moving in!

If John Howard sucked up to George Bush any harder, he'd disappear up his behind.

We'll probably be singing America the Beautiful too in 20 years time, lol.

Sooverit, its taken me 16 months to lose 34kg, quite slow but yes I feel like an entirely new person. And of course being lower BMI, you get noticeable results that much sooner.

That doesn't sound slow to me at all! When you are the non banded your just happy to not gain weight this month!

I was banded on 3/1/07 my bmI was 35 too. I was fully covered by my insurance I always thought I was 5'9" my dr. said I was 5'8" and I think He added a couple of extra pounds too. I did have health issues.