Jump to content
×
Are you looking for the BariatricPal Store? Go now!
$99 Yearly Supply Alert! 🌈 "1 per Day!" Bariatric Multivitamins
Sign in to follow this  
Followers 0
  • entries
    32
  • comments
    108
  • views
    4,919

Entries in this blog

 

Consultation---CHECK!

So, I had the consultation with Dr. Pinnar yesterday!! All went REALLY REALLY well. He thought I would be a "good candidate". I spoke with the insurance coordinator, as well, and she was so encouraging. She will be submitting to the insurance TODAY for approval. I am HOPING and PRAYING that everything goes well and gets approved!!!! I will be on pins and needles until I hear!! Half of me thinks that I will get denied and have to appeal---which I am getting myself informed about all of that right now.   Dr. Pinnar says that this band isn't the "magic bullet" and that I will still have to be in the driver's seat in the car...it won't go anywhere unless I drive. But, with all my past failures under my belt---I know how I am. Exercise is never the issue with me--I LOVE to work out--if I can find a tool to counter appetite and assist in dietary control...then that is 90% of the battle for me. If this band does its' job, then I'm good for the rest!   I ate dinner last night and was looking at my plate wondering---how much my meal would be different if I get the band. Then watched Biggest Loser last night and the girls put on their "goal" clothes and it was like a DING DING DING!!! bell going off in my mind about MY goal clothes that I have been debating throwing out for the past ten years. Those low-rider GAP khaki pants (size 6) that I LOVED to wear. I got this urge to ressurect them and hang on the closet door---but I can't get too obsessive compulsive about this stuff yet UNTIL I get approved!!!   I was telling the Doctor about my past attempts...and it was kindof a wake-up call to me that I have really never had success in a healthy way...so doing this is a step in the right direction. Not taking ECA stacks that will cause me a stroke or something.   I really really really really really hope the insurance approves this!!!!!!!!!!
JazzyMom17

JazzyMom17

2
 

Should I start Weight Watchers AGAIN?!??!?!!!!

Ok....I'm Dying (!!) from not hearing from my insurance yet. I'm almost 100% that they will say a big DENIED!, because the nurse didn't send anything in with the letter she wrote to them explaining Hypertension (controlled by meds), High Cholesterol (controlled by meds) and Sleep Apnea, and the weight she put down for me.   So, I KNOW they will be requiring more proof...SURELY---but this is ANTHEM BCBS COVACARE---the nurse acted like this was a "shoe in" insurance. SO MAYBE hope against hope that they would approve it, but in the back of my mind, I KNOW I"ll have to do more and prove more that I am worthy of the lapband.   I"ve done a REALLY good job of bloating up this last ten pounds so fast and it's great to be able to eat whattever I want, but the looming FAMILY VACATION, my newphew on my skinny in-law side is having a dreaded pool-party for his bday. AND I want to have a baby before I'm 35!!!!! It would be absolutely PERFECT if they would approve me and I could get it done, skip bandster hell and go right to the sweet-spot, lose 50 pounds, then get pregnant and be down to goal a year after I have the baby.   If they come back and say six months of weight-watchers or something....I'm not sure what to do!   I think I'll go ahead and try to get the last weight-watcher's attempt a couple years ago ON PAPER, and then start it up again. The worst case is that they approve me and I can cancel it. But then I'll be stressing about what to put down there as eating. I really don't want to lose anything right now. I'm right on the wire!!
JazzyMom17

JazzyMom17

1
 

Downstairs is growly!!

Somthing funny about the band now that I have restriction is how you can feel SOO full in the "upstairs" stomach, but the "downstairs" stomach is GROWLING!!!!!   I'm eating MEAT for the first time since my fill. It's pulled barbeque chicken---pretty soft, but I am chewing the heck out of it. So far so good.   This morning I didn't even THINK about scrambled eggs....just had some milk with my Protein mixed in and called that breakfast. I've always tried to abide by the "Eat like a King in the morning and a Pauper at Night" motto....but since Monday all has changed. No more King in the morning. So far my lunch is going well---havn't thrown up or gotten anything stuck for 24 hours now. Taking it VERY slow. Chewing like crazy and waiting a minute or two before I take another bite. This so far has been really critical for me!! I'm asking myself before I take another bite if I am really hungry for it or not.   I'm beginning to feel what "head hunger" is....
JazzyMom17

JazzyMom17

1
 

Everyday life with the band.....two weeks postop

I'm kindof feeling a little panick and a little obsessive about the sense of needing to make a plan. My new "lifestyle" of eating. (NOT calling it a DIET!!!)   Here's the thing. I followed my PREOP Adkins--then two days preop liquid adkins---then one week postop liquid diet to a tee. When I was sitting on my hospital bed one week postop I called, and the awesome nurse at my LB Surgeon's office told me that it was ok to start introducing purees and soft foods. After I got over the initial shock from hearing THAT I did. I've only gained a pound since then, but I've found myself during the liquid postop phase especially, using sugar again---alot of it. They gave me only grape juice for two whole days after surgery. Which coming off Adkins tasted like nectar from the gods.   Anyway....I am able to eat almost anything now. I am not "testing" my band--but if it is something soft (meatloaf) then I will eat it. I haven't PB'ed, Slimed, or thrown anything up yet. But I definitely feel the "hard stop" feeling and the need to march the halls after I eat something just to try to either get some gas out of my stomach or move the food thru--not sure which. Some times I can only eat a few bites and it's like "AAAAGGGH!!" I have to walk....other times--like last night I ate a whole hotdog/bun/ketchup/mustard/onions/relish and could have still kept eating. Also---I have not ever had a problem drinking when I eat. I know I shouldn't and try not to, but when I forget, it goes right thru.     I was reading BandGroupie's blog yesterday about "redefining full" and that really struck a chord with me. I'm still feeling restriction, but I'm finding myself mindlessly eating or comfort eating STILL. That is what scares me---to death. Did I have this surgery without really nailing down head hunger first--the real culprit?? Can I get a grip on this NOW??   I am on the verge of "Bandster Hell" I know it--if I'm not already there, but I really want to get a grip on my mind before I'm completely in the middle of it all.   There is alot going on. Next week my family is meeting in Gatlinburg, TN....can't wait. But everything has revolved around food. :crying:) I do feel a real sense of FREEDOM like never before---where before I would have been DREADING this free-for-all of food like the plague then getting there and going WAY OVERBOARD. This time I have a calm sense of "cool, food" indiference. I'll get to taste some things I haven't tasted in a long time, but it won't rule or consume me. That
JazzyMom17

JazzyMom17

1
 

Come on----JUST ONE LITTLE POUND, PLEASE!!!!

So, about a week ago, after working out hard and being on liquid diet with my first fill--I suddenly dropped 3 1/2 pounds taking me to the lowest weight since starting this journey on June 17th. I was THRILLED!!! Then the next day two and a half were back on. And literally the scale hasn't moved any further than .6 pounds up and down.   I have been working out at least an hour each morning for the past week. I thought FOR SURE that this morning would do the trick...but no...STILL there. Same.   I got out the measuring tape and started measuring. That really was exciting. From the first day of my pre-op diet till now, I've lost 13.6 (not 13.8!!) pounds is all, but I've lost ALOT of inches. 1/2 on my neck!! (Double chin is shrinking)...2 inches off my chest, 3 1/4 inches off my waist(!!), an 1 3/4 off my hips!! 1/2 inch from my arm (!)...so ok...this is doing some good, but WHY OH WHY is this scale not just falling off!!   My husband keeps telling me that it's because I've been working out and I'm replacing fat weight with "tight" muscle weight....it sounds good in theory, but it doesn't cut it for me.   My restriction is still VERY good....and I'm learning to let it work for me instead of just staying liquid or mushie (a huge temptation). Today I had tuna salad and ritz crackers for lunch and that came back up. It was because I ate it mindlessly--I'm in the middle of an audit at work---so I was stressing trying to get this spreadsheet done...and forgot COMPLETELY that I had the band. I made it calmly to the bathroom (THANK GOD the handicapped bathroom was free---it is it's own personal BR). I was impressed that I walked calmly down the long hallway....careful not to swallow and stretching ALOT!!!   I am not sure --since I've been way too swamped to track anything lately---whether I am getting ENOUGH calories. I quick count thru the day, but after you throw up it's HARD to get anything else down for awhile. I am thinking I'm getting around 1000--but it may be a little less than that, said and done because alot of the things I count---I don't finish. So....my plan for the rest of the week. TRACK MY CALORIES AND PROTEIN at a minimum...increase my calories to 1200...drink plenty of water!! I'm putting my scales up in the linen closet until Saturday. I'm just so ticked at seeing that dumb number...I could just write it on the floor and then I wouldn't have to get naked to see it!!!!!!!!!!!!   I didn't work out this morning out of disgust of the scales...and I felt drained of energy (another hint that I'm not getting enough) and havn't been sleeping too good. I feel much better now and more in control of my feelings since I've vented a little. The inches are an awesome thing and I will choose to celebrate that tonight.   I was getting dressed for church yesterday and my little girl--she's 6--came in the room, saw me wearing this bright coral colored bra--that didn't fit 13.6 pounds ago ...and she just started exclaiming about how skinny I was getting!! That made me feel really good.   There's people in Africa without any scales...so I shouldn't be ungrateful for mine!
JazzyMom17

JazzyMom17

1
 

Seminar down!!

Thanks everybody for your comments!! The seminar was great..I asked tons of questions. What I learned that I didn't know from this forum (which has been SUCH a great resource!!):   Getting pregnant and adjusting the band..etc after becoming pregnant should not be a complication whatsoever. Doctor said that there have been ALOT of happily pregnant people in the last two years especially. This is SO exciting to me to think of being pregnant WITHOUT the extreme high blood pressure and other weight-related problems with my first baby!!!
This usually RESOLVES GERD as opposed to complications with GERD.
Hypoglycemia (self-diagnosed allert---shaky, emotionally-frazzeled and dizzy feeling if go without food for too long)...can be cured with a little bit of carbs on the pre-and post-surgery diet without causing harm (they require 1 week of liquid protein-shake diet limiting carbs to 50/day. AAAAUUGGH! I've NEVER been able to sustain 50/day....and that makes me nervous--but doctor said--no big deal, if I get shakey have some carbs. Whew!
So, I have my appt with Sleep DR today....just the talking one. I am looking forward to that. Have had HORRIBLE insomnia lately and feel like my blood pressure has gone thru the roof, since I have begun eating WHATEVER and not monitoring my sodium intake. If it is really high then I may not need the Sleep Apnea diagnosis, although I think I do have that.   THEN, I called my surgeon's office this morning and they can get me in TOMORROW for my consulation!! Woo-Hoo!!! THIS part is going very fast at least--I'm scared about getting approved thru insurance!! Please, please, Lord!!   Hubby is going with me tomorrow. He is being supportive of me!
JazzyMom17

JazzyMom17

1
Sign in to follow this  
Followers 0

PatchAid Vitamin Patches

Bariatric Forums

For Patients

Health Professionals

Search Surgeons

Bariatric Surgeons: Want to research a weight loss surgery surgeon? Enter their last name below to start!

×