I just found out my surgery will be in July (granted my pre-op testing goes okay) SOOOOOOOOO

Here's a thread for everyone getting banded in July 07!

Does anyone have any good ideas for a neat name we could call ourselves?

Ruby,

Don't beat yourself up at this point, whats done is done. When the bill comes in, call the sleep study program and ask to speak to the head of the billing department. Tell them that you were not anticipating this bill and you would like very much to pay them but you will have to make a payment arrangement. As long as you are paying off the bill, they are not going to turn you down. Make it so that it is comfortable for you, but that they see you are going to make an effort to pay it. Facilities are usually good about making these arrangements. They just want their money in the long run. Also, ask if there is any way they can discount some of the bill. They accept alot less money if they are in a network than what an out of network insurance plan pays,(I am talking hundreds of dollars less) it doesnt hurt to ask-and you arent the first person to ask them this......Goodluck

Thanks for that Anna. Right now I'm resigned to the fact that I'll have to pay this. The good news is my husband's bonus came through this morning with an unexpected increase that will cover the bill. Reason to celebrate, I guess. There's always a silver lining. I'm going to speak with my doctor's co-ordinator when I go in for my first fill next week. She arranged my appointment and chose the facility for me knowing my insurance details and I would have assumed they had a list of my known network to choose from as each insurance company differs. Even if it makes no difference for me, it may help someone in future from this mistake.

If I'm lucky enough to be reimbursed for it, that'll be great but if not there's not much I can do about it now. Can't let it get me down!! It's only money? :rolleyes

Anyway, today's another day and I have waterbottle at hand and am ready to get back on the BANDwagon again. :biggrin1: I'm off for an appointment with my orthopedic specialist today. I can feel the difference already in my knee from my weight loss so far. Things can only improve from here as the pounds continue to fall off and take the pressure off my lower extremities.

<a href="Weight Loss - Diet Ticker">

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gOOD MORNING EVERYONE

I

Hi sorry about that reply as you can see I still cant get the hang of these tickers.

Well I have just had my first fill this am and i am down 18 pounds since surgery which i am thrilled about.

I had my op the 16th july so i am pleased with that progress. I am off to Amsterdam this evening so I will catch up with everyone when i get back.

Lainy x

woopes, that was a quick reply...

what I ment to say was.. I went to see the Beach Boys last night- they were awesome!!!

Brought back some fond memories.

I ate out in my 1st restaurant since "fill" ate about 1/3 of the hamberger patty (difficult to chew, fiberous) but I managed with 30 chews per mouthfull..

Salad was huge, and the lettuce was not cut up very well.. no plastic knives... so I just ate the cucumbers and cherry tomatoes on top.. Chewed that very well too as I didn't want the skins on the tomatoes to get stuck.

DH ate all of my leftovers... hummm I wonder if He'll puton weight now???

Anyways, it all worked out.. I am loving this banded life!!!!

Got any plans this long weekend? (in Canada is Labor Day)

I am going up north to my sisters cottage... hopefully the lake is still warm enough to swim in... plus!!!! we are having a big fish fry dinner... fresh Walleye and Pike... I can hardly wait.

YUM

Hi Everyone!

It's Labor Day Weekend in the United States too. I'm hopefully going to a lounge tonite and a bbq tomorrow.

Ruby

As soon as you wrote "water bottle" in your post, I ran to get mine, lol. "Ruby's Water Rules" are in effect people so get to sippin!!

BTW, I'm sorry ur having problems with your insurance company and what they cover. I wish u luck in paying off the co-pay for the sleep study.

Walking record

This morning, I dropped my car off to the dealer to get it serviced and I walked home. It took me 50 minutes to get back to my place. I might walk back there later on this afternoon to pick up my car. I definately made up for lost time yesterday.

I never thought I would even be able to walk that far. My plan was just to walk for 30 to 45 minutes to a nail salon while I wait for the car to be done and maybe stop at a stationary store to make some copies but I don't know what got into me! I just kept going. When I saw the major intersection that led to my house I thought to myself, "I wonder how long it would take to me to get home from here" and I went for it.

Things in my neighborhood are alot easier to get to then i realized before. I am so tied to my car that I couldn't see myself walking to get groceries, to get my hair done, pick up a prescription, etc. These little errands burn up gas and put miles on my car meanwhile, if I could just budget my time better, I could burn up calories by walking instead.

Love you guys!

About the restaurant cards...mine says I had Lap-Band surgery and for me to be allowed to order half-portions. Anybody else have this and what experience have you had at restaurants? I'm 4.5 weeks out and haven't eaten in a restaurant yet. I kinda figured if they were to give me a hard time, I would just eat half and take the rest home for another meal later.

I have the restaurant card but I don't use it. I've eaten out quite a few times and just take home the leftovers and have them for 2 or 3 more meals. Just now, I finished a sheppard's pie that I originallly ordered for dinner last Monday and I'm satisfied. I was able to get 4 meals out of it so my band is making food become a lot cheaper for me in the long run.

I enjoy the left overs especially since I don't cook that much.

I am heading out of town in about and hour. We are going to my family reunion in Waxihachi for the Labor day weekend. Well I hope everyone has a great Weekend and any of you traveling be very careful. Bye!!

Hey all,

Sorry I didn't make it on yesteday, but I splurged and got my hair cut, them got some blond and a few red highights in it. It's awesome.

So I got to work today, and one of the guys says to me, so are you palnning to leave your husband!!!!!!! I was like, what????? He said, well, you've lost all this weight and went out and got your hair all done up, so I figured you'd be leaving your husband. I said, "NO, it's not like that at all, just wanted a change. Can you believe it. Why do guys think we're up to something other than just wanting to look good for ourselves and our significant others!!!

Oh well, the 2 days of liquids is almost over. My scale showed 205 this morning, so I was happy about that. Only 6 more until ONEDERLAND!!!!!!

Gotta love that!!

Huge weekend coming up for us. We have a huge firework show on Sunday evening. The set them up on barges on the Ohio river, and set them off. There are 10's of thousands of people that come from all over and line the banks of the Ohio river on both the Ohio and Kentucky sides to watch. It's amazing, but I hate going because of the huge crowd, but my DH has never missed a year since he was younger, so I guess I'll be going, again.

I have the restaurant card but I don't use it. I've eaten out quite a few times and just take home the leftovers and have them for 2 or 3 more meals. Just now, I finished a sheppard's pie that I originallly ordered for dinner last Monday and I'm satisfied. I was able to get 4 meals out of it so my band is making food become a lot cheaper for me in the long run.

I enjoy the left overs especially since I don't cook that much.

Where did you get a restaurant card? I didnt get one!!!!!!!!!

I admire those of you who are exercising! I am so tired after working all day I just can't get up the energy to do it. Since I got my fill 2 weeks ago I've lost 10 pounds (6 the first week and 4 last week) and I'm thinking that's too much too fast. The problem is that I think I was a little overfilled b/c after even a couple of bites (or even sips of water) I burp and belch and hiccup for a half hour or more. I tried eating a protein bar for lunch today--very slowly--and couldn't eat it all. Hopefully soon I will lose enough weight that the band will "losen" up and I will be able to tolerate a little more, but in the meantime, I can't even think about exercising. If you haven't been filled yet--never fear! It makes all the difference.

The good news is that this weekend I plan on going through my closet and purging all the really big summer clothes because they're not gunna fit next year! (I live "up north" and fall gets pretty cool pretty fast, especially at night. Plus I have to work during the day and can't wear capris and tee shirts anymore)

Have a great weekend everyone! Be tough at the cook-outs :waytogo:

only4me, I got my restraunt card from the dietician at the doc office.

Sorry, but what's the heck's a visual?

Shannon,

I'm getting caught up on posts, and a visual is the person who works in stores and works on the displays. Mostly, when my mom did it, it was dressing the mannequins and the wall displays. But, she also had to make sure the product displays were correct and met the corporate standards.

**Not sure if anyone else answered this, but I figured I'd at least respond.