I have never Blogged before. I have been on several sites for my hobbies and interests, just never Blogged.

Lets see, I decided to start this journey two weeks ago. I made an appointment and will be seen by Weight Loss Institute of Arizona. I am hopefull that my insurance will cover me, I have a BMI of 43.5. I am not sure if I have any Co-Morbidities but am sure that I do. I am 38, 310 pounds and have been heavy all of my adault life. I am so ready for a healthy change in my life. My wife is very supportive of me and has pledged to be by my side through this.

One thing that may be different from many of you is that I will keep this journey between me and my immediate family, and the internet I guess:lol:.

I will use this blog to document my journey so check back often, Wayno

Good luck, I had my surgery aug.17,2009 about amonth and ahalf ago and its been great. I've lost 35 pounds and I started at 300lbs. It's amazing how much better you feel when you start losing weight. My wife is a big help to keep me on track and it's good to have someone to help. I'm 36 years old and I just felt bad all the time so I went to the doctor. My ins. wouldn't cover any of it so I had to be self pay it's been hard but worth it. Carecredit.com is a credit card for doctors and hospitals so if you need some help thats a good way to go. Good luck

I have my first appointment October 21st. I am super excited! Thanks for the advice, its always appreciated.

Try to control your excitement a little bit. It is a bit of a slow process if you are looking for insurance to pay for the surgery. You will be waiting at least another 3.5 months following your initial consultation.

I had my first appointment on September 18th and won't even get a surgery date until my appointment on January 6th.

Others have to wait 6 months.

Good luck

I have been doing some research on my insurance and looks as thought they require 6 months supervised diet. I am ready but understand the wait will be long. Heck, I have wated how long until now? 6 months to a year is nothing.

There are a lot of people waiting and even more that did their wait and have been banded. So, you definitely have plenty of people to talk to that have been on both sides.

Wayne, there are a lot of us that keep it secret for many reasons. I only told very close friends - maybe 5 of them? I also had to tell my boss due to the erratic schedules I knew I may have to keep - such as the day I took off to go get filled (2.5 hours away) and then taking off the entire next day because I was overfilled and spent the whole night throwing up. Had to drive back to Tucson (2.5 hours again) to be unfilled.

Had my boss not been aware, he may have questioned my behavior LOL!

Feel free to shoot questions my way if you'd like. I've been banded since June 4.