I'm quite excited. I got my referral today from the GP and I've booked in to see Dr Bowden (Brisbane) on 13 Feb. Well, his nurse actually, but its a start and I'm on my way. Just have to wait til October for the waiting period for health insurance to be up.

Good luck with your journey!

Good luck, October will be here before you know it.

My appointment with Judy is tomorrow morning. I can't wait. Then got my appointment with Dr Bowden on the 20th. I'm hoping to be done just after Easter if all goes well. All the best for your appoinment.

Thank you everyone for the support :tt1: I know the year is gonna fly, its just when I look at those before & after pix, I wanna have it now :confused:(

Soriminah, good luck with the appointment (or did you have it already?). Hope all goes well. Who knows, we may even cross paths when getting a fill one day.

I thought the Nurses' name was Judy but it's Jenny. Anywho, I had my appointment this morning, have my appointment with Blair on the 20th and am scheduled for band on 18 March. No Easter eggs for me.

When I initially rang beginning of January they said the wait list was 5 weeks, however, today when she asked when I wanted to book in and I said ASAP, I was given the date of 6 Mar as an option, only 2 weeks later. That didn't leave me much time to make sure the paperwork was done and had the cash in my hand so 18th March is better. Also, because it's over Easter I don't need to take an extra week off work because it's incorporated into my Easter break.

I'm soooooooooo excited.:confused:

BTW, Jenny the Nurse is lovely.

That's great news Soriminah! Congratulations on receiving your op-date. I'm sure the time will just fly by... it did for me.

That's great news about the date :tongue2:

I've been told I might have to expect upto $10,000 out of pocket expenses. But I'm hoping that person didn't have health insurance. Does anybody know the best health insurance company to go with, to get the most cover?

Hi Everyone...

Once you have an op date time does fly and before you will know it your life will change forever. I had the op on the 9th of March 2007. It was the best decision ive ever made... here i am 40kg gone and wearing size 10 pants and 8 tops ( i dont miss the size 20-22 at all!!)

Good luck to you all.

Bronnie,

that's excellent news! Congrats. It also gives me hope that I can get down to a size 12 at least (hoping for a size 10).

Michelle

Hello...

If someone had told me in March last year that in less than a year id loose 40kg and drop down so many dress sizes i would have never believed them. After i was banded it took me roughly 10 days to recover and then i became so motivated and started excercising straight away. I walked everyday starting at a slower pace for 30 minutes and then increased. I was really sensible with my choice of foods and the weight fell off in no time. It can be an expensive adventure as when i got to size 14 i got rid of all my 'fat' clothes and went on a major shopping spree. That was a bit of a mistake as the weight continued to fall off and now as stated before im a comfortable size 10. I actually purchased a size 8 top the other day and it felt great.

It can be a hard and challenging journey at times but its definately worth it. This summer ive been taking the kids to the local swimming pool on warm days and actually wearing bathers and feeling okay about myself. I have a bit of excess skin and my modelling career definately isnt going to commence but i can honestly say im happy. Like many others i regret i hadnt got this done earlier. I was booked in to have it initially done in october 2006 but i cancelled as i dont believe i was emotionally ready for the massive change it would make to my life. I have to admit... i do miss some of the foods i once binged on but i have accepted that 'old' me has gone forever.

Good luck...

Bronnie (do you have before and after pics on here somewhere?)

Your post filled me with joy. I want to lose 30kg before Christmas and I was hoping I would be able to do it. Even if I lost 20kg I would be happy! So there is hope for me yet.

I believe I am emotionally ready for the changes it will make to my life, not just the physical, but I wonder if I will ever get out of the habit of always thinking of myself as the fat one, or go to the sizes at the back of the rack first!

I am looking forward to being able to wear the clothes in my wardrobe again. I love my old denim skirt, I have some slimming black work pants and a beautiful suit jacket that I used to wear all the time. I can't wait to be able to wear them again, but not only that but update to a smaller size.

I am really ready for this and looking forward to making the changes.

I am on day one of Optifast today. 9 days to go!

Kylie,

you will get out of those habits, but it won't happen straight away. Even 3,4 years gown the track, you are going to be out shopping and catch yourself in the plus size clothes section before you realise. Its just human nature.

But just as buying larger clothes and thinking of yourself as the fat one are habits, so will be the thin one and buying smaller clothes become habits, they may just take longer to get used to

Michelle

I havernt got before and after pic's on here because i have no idea how to put them on. Step by step directions by someone who knows how to do it would be appreciated.

Hi Bronnie,

you need to do a couple of things. First you need to have the photos already online somewhere. Photobucket and flickr are the most popular for hosting.

Once the photo is hosted elsewhere, you have to get the url of the photo. eg. http://www. thehosting website .com/your account name/name of pic .jpg. Just highlight the url and then copy it.

When you go to post a reply here, you will see a little yellow picture at the top of the reply box, that sort of looks like a square letter. If you go to the very bottom of this page where the quick reply is, you'll see them. You have an A, B, I, U etc. 2nd from the right is the picture symbol I'm talking about. Click on that then paste the url in the box that appears.

And that's pretty much all there is to it :scared2:

Michelle

I had my first appointment, with Dr Bowen's nurse today. It went really well. She said I'm an excellent candidate and then booked me in to see Dr Bowen next month. After that I just have to wait til a month or so before the op to see the dietitian and then I'm away!

I will have to go back in 4 months or so to get another referral because they only last for 6 months and mine will run out before I can have the op but that's OK. I'll get that no problems.

Michelle