Hi everyone! My name is Misty and I am scheduled to have the LapBand procedure on August 4. It's been about a year since I first considered LapBand. My first seminar was with Dr. Felix Speigel in 9/07. I found out that my insurance at the time required a 6 month Dr-supervised diet, and visits to a nutritionist and psychiatrist/psychologist, so I left the seminar frustrated. In May of this year I attended a JourneyLite seminar with Dr. Matthew St. Laurent and really loved his team approach and support. Unfortunately, the JourneyLite center in Houston is not a Bariatric Center of Excellence, which is a requirement for my insurance. I also found out that my insurance (United Healthcare Options PPO) will not pay ANY part of an out-of-network physician's charges for bariatric surgery..and, of course, Dr. St. Laurent is out-of-network. So, I did some detective work, cried on the phone with the insurance people out of frustration, and finally found Dr. Ricardo Bonnor. I attended his seminar on 6/14/08. He fit all the criteria: he uses a team approach, with a dietician and a life coach in his office; he's an accomplished surgeon; he and all of his staff seem very caring and invested in their patients' success; his office is less than 10 minutes from my home :biggrin:; he's in-network for my insurance; and the hospital is a BCOE.

I had my initial appointment with him on 6/20, and managed to book appointments with the nutritionist, life coach and a Bariatrician for a complete physical that next week. Dr. Bonnor also requires an Upper GI, and I had that done last week, 7/2. Then, on 7/3, his office called to tell me my insurance had officially approved my surgery!! Woo hoo!!! So, unless ins. pulls a fast one on us, I will have gone from seminar to surgery in less than two months. Then, of course, the hard part begins.

If you've read through all of the above - lol - I guess I should tell you a bit more about myself. I'm a former elementary music teacher - taught for 16 years, experienced major burn-out, then resigned while I still had my sanity. Been married for 11 years, no children, 1 spoiled cat. I love reading, ballroom and folk dancing, singing and spending lots of time on Second Life. I've been a Duranie since 1984, and also love the music of Marc Broussard, OK Go, Carbon Leaf, the 80's, Broadway show tunes, standards, classical...well, I like music. :thumbup: and Star Wars. and Harry Potter.

I'm in my early 40's and have been enjoying the heck out of them, but I know I will be able to enjoy them a WHOLE LOT MORE after I rid myself of this extra person I've been carrying around for the majority of my life. I reached my highest weight in 2004 - 312, then found the motivation to lose about 40 pounds between August and December of that year. The motiviation? Meeting Duran Duran during their 2005 tour...which I did...and I have the pictures and perma-smile to prove it! I kept most of those 40 off for about 2 and a half years, but it has slowly crept back on in the past year. When I hit 300 again, I knew I had to do something. And I am! I know it's not going to be easy, and that the band is just a tool...it's up to me to use it and make it work.

I look forward to gleaning advice and support from you all here on this forum and hope I can return the favor! See you around.:biggrin2:

Well Misty, as a fellow geeky Texan, let me welcome you to Lap Band Talk. It's very exciting to be starting your journey. Good luck!

Hey Misty,

I'm a TEXAS girl too. I was just banded on June 26th and am loving it so far. I always thought that I would get my weight under control myself and just considered this surgery in February of 2008. I too first went to Dr. Speigel's seminar and made the decision to have the surgery. I used Dr. Cliffton Thomas to do the surgery because I liked his manner better. Anyway, I am so happy that I have done this because now after fighting my weight for all these years I am looking forward to SUCCESS in a big way. Best of luck!

Welcome Misty! I am a fellow Texas and Houston gal as well. Sounds like you are on the right path! Good Luck!:cool: