MeFirstFinally

Count me in. Robbie, certified couch potato :couch2:

I am sorry for all of the trouble you have had; there is a forum on this site called lap band complications which has a subforum on lap band removal. Just keep scrolling down and you will see it. Take care of yourself. Robbie

Congratulations on quitting smoking; that is a rough one. If you continue to smoke pot, be sure to tell your doctor as it will affect your anesthesia. I don't know if pot will show up in a nicotine test, but if your doctor didn't want you to smoke legal cigarettes, I cannot imagine he/she would want you to smoke an illegal drug. Maybe you can cut back on the pot. Best of luck with your surgery. Robbie

I have finally gotten a schedule date, December 12, 2011 for my required orientation class. Part of me wants to get started sooner, but I have a habit of magical thinking. I know, in my head, that the band will only assist me in taking off the weight and keeping it off, that I need to plan on at least a year of hard work, counting calories and exercising. BUT, there is still this part of me that thinks I will have the surgery and BLAMO, the weight will fall off in six weeks. I have done enough weight loss research to know that isn't going to happen, but it sure would be nice. Robbie

It has been a very interesting day. My car stopped dead in the middle of an intersection in a rain storm on the way to work. Not one person stopped to check on me. Got the car towed to my office, spent a couple of hours getting another tow to the garage and renting a car. The new compliance officer at work gives a whole new meaning to nit picking paranoid micromanager and he isn't even my boss. I had to leave at 3 to get to the first visit with my new doctor, which is normally plenty of time, except I got caught in a slow moving river of minivans; it took me ahalf hour to go less than a mile. Didn't realize school started yesterday. I was late for my appointment; I hate being late. According to my late father, if you were on time you were fifteen minutes late and I took it to heart. Then the doctor finally came in and talked about everything under the sun and pressured me to start insulin which isn't going to happen and then at the last minute, in a kind of afterthought as she was typing up the visit notes, she says "I JUST SENT YOUR REFERRAL FOR THE BARIATRIC PROGRAM TO THE COORDINATOR." :bananapowerslide: WooHoo, I am on my way. I had been thinking all day (because it was so stressful) that I would get dinner at the Chick Fil A just down the block from the Dr. office, but I decided against it...a kind of NSV from me to me. This post is way too long, but I had to tell someone and for the moment LBT is my support system. Thanks for listening. Robbie

Thanks to all. I think the car is completely dead; I don't know how I will afford a new one. I waver between terror and joy about the referral, which is normal, I just didn't expect to start so quickly. I guess I have been saving up since I normally hide my emotions under food. I will let you all know when I get my first meeting with the coordinator. I have to figure out some non food rewards and some goals. I am an obsessive list maker. :Banane37: Robbie

Maybe writing this down will make it stop burning in my memory. I stopped to buy dinner for my family at a pizza place near our house and after I paid for it and started to leave the counter guy started making snorting noises like a pig!! Instead of decking the guy and demanding my money back, I drove home in tears and then called to complain. To add insult to injury, first the manager claimed that something like that would never happen in his restaurant and then he said that he knew the guy I was talking about and he was a really nice guy (and his definition of a d8888bag would be what?), so I just told that neither I nor anyone from my extended family (about 50) would ever eat there again and happy loss of customers. Not sure if I feel better, but will see. Robbie

I have developed the weirdest pain in my ankle just below the main bone and above the arch. Periodically, for no reason I recognize, I get this sharp pain. It most resembles when you whack the very un-funny bone in your elbow. Last for a few moments of agony and goes away. But I haven't whacked my ankle, and I was wondering about stress fractures, since I sometimes (well usually) try to do too much too soon where excercise is concerned. I guess I am trying to make up for all of the time I haven't spent on the treadmill in the last ten years. Any thoughts? Robbie (and why does spell check keep eating my posts so I have to start over; asking forgiveness for any spelling errors)

Good for you. I hope to be right behind you. If you were not nervous I would be worried. Robbie

Bummer. I guess it is off to the xray for me. I have had this new insurance for just over six weeks and I have had 3 blood tests, a pelvic ultrasound (external and internal ). I hope they don't cancel me for excessive use before I get my band. I wonder if I can drink enough, Water of course, to be considered an aerobic exercise.:Banane34: Thanks to all. Robbie

"sucking it up" won't work on chronic clinical depression and it sounds like that is what you have. I have had it since I was a child and nothing ever helped me except exercise and medication. Have you seen a physician for the depression or at least discussed it with your band doctor? Why be ashamed on the chat line? They cannot see you and probably never will...and I am applying logic to an emotional problem...always makes me wild when other people do it to me. Try to do little things to help yourself, go stand on the porch for 5 minutes, tomorrow walk to the end of the drive, throw one "bad" food item out of your pantry. Eventually little things can make a big difference, but it is hard to get started when you are stuck in an old ingrained destructive cycle. I will keep you in my thoughts. Robbie

Three at once--Yikes. How did you manage? I really think this is not a fracture, since it is intermittent (sp?) and I can walk on it without pain most of the time. A pinched nerve maybe? I will just keep monitoring it and being careful on the treadmill. Thanks to all who responded Robbie

Welcome aboard Robbie

I am sorry you are going through such a hard time right now. My mother and sister pass out ten seconds after they hit the pillow; it makes me want to murder them in their sleep (sometimes, LOL). Tell all the devils and angels living in your head that you are the only one who has a dog in this hunt and you are getting banded for your health and future; the mind games are not helpful (which you know already). Anyone who doesn't have doubts about a life altering decision like getting banded, is taking too much happy juice or is a little psychotic. Just keep taking it one day at a time, when the doubts come up, acknowledge them and move on, maybe only allow yourself one fruit roll up or one tablespoon of pity peanut butter and then be done. I have not been banded yet (1st PCP meeting next week), but I have had doubts about every big thing I have ever tried just roll over me and try to crush me down. Sometimes the doubts won, but sometimes they didn't. I hope you can beat them back and move on to your future. Robbie

Try brushing your teeth right after your dinner or whatever time you want to stop eating or set an alarm clock to ring at that time. A little extra reminder couldn't hurt. Robbie

Don't forget small pillow to cushion the seat belt on the drive home. Robbie

Don't forget to document your rashes with pictures and doctor visits. It could help persuade insurance to pay for TT as a medical necessity when the time comes. Robbie

"The problem is other than two friends who support my decision to have the surgery no one else knows…I won’t even tell my brother (normal one) and sister in law who live with me as honestly they are not supportive at all of any health issues I have (I could talk for days about what they didn’t do but the best example of how they act is ever day during chemo I worked but left early to come home and have a nape at around 4 pm every night they woke me up at 7:30pm so I could make/serve/clean up dinner for my disabled brother and take care of my dog…when I was craping my brains out (wonder if I can say that here?) and food tasted like I was licking a metal pole I had to get up and cook so they are not going to help when I have this little surgery. I wish my mom was alive so I could talk to her about it. I know it’s all in my head. I know if I call and cancel the surgery the minute I put the phone down I will regret my actions and will beat myself up for the next year about chickening out , I have a history of making snap decisions and regretting them once I do…" It is not all in your head. The brother and sil living with you need to do their share or get out. Are they at least helping to pay the bills? Sorry, I have a moochy sister and bil and reading your post made me angry. You need to put yourself first in this instance. Check with your physician's office and see if there is a support group you can join. As a caregiver myself, I know what it is like to feel totally trapped. Please feel free to PM me if you like. Robbie

Thanks for the reply. This is not a shin splint. I remember shin splints from my one and only venture into step aerobics. At the time, I worked in a three story building with no elevators; it was agony going up and down stairs with shin splints. This is more like electric shot, not all the time, just every now and then. I hope it is not the beginning of neuropathy. Thanks again Robbie

Rozie, I love your baby ticker!!!

I don't know what state you are in, but in Ohio, the licensing board for physicians is accessible to the public. You can see when they got their license and where they went to medical school and if there are any public actions against them, lawsuits, license suspensions, etc. It is one way to check on the doctor. Good luck Robbie

Hello, Congratulations on the beginning of your journey. I have Kaiser Permanente in Ohio and was told by their bariatric coordinator that they would cover RNY, sleeve and band. I have the PCP visit on August 24, so I will learn more then. I am 5 ft tall with a BMI of 37.1, but I also have three of their 4 hot button co-morbidities, diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure. I probably have number 4, sleep apnea, as well but have never been tested. She seemed pretty confident that it was a slam dunk. PCOS is a pre-diabetic condition and you are already on a diabetic medication. Have you been tested for apnea? With you BMI I don't know why they wouldn't cover it. Except that prevention is just not the way our health care/insurance system works. I wish you the best of luck. I be cheering for you. Robbie :party:

Congratulations. Have you called your doctors yet? Is hubby over the moon? I read another thread about someone who just got her band is now pregnant. Maybe I need to stay off this board, lol, I am happy with my cats. Robbie :Banane14:

Not banded yet and I expect I will be really nervous when my time comes, but here is my two cents anyway. Instead of thinking about NOT eating, think about NOT being fat, NOT being unhealthy, NOT being uncomfortable in your own skin. Robbie

Thanks for all the input. Finally had my appointment with the nurse midwife. Lots of blood tests and I noticed the blood looked a little orange rather than dark red. I am anemic. So I go to the appointment and expect to hear the usual soothing medical doubletalk that doesn't actually say anything. Apparently they don't teach that in midwife school. The first thing out of her mouth is,"With a woman your age and these symptoms, my first thought is endometrial cancer." Picking my jaw up off the floor, we schedule an ultrasound to check the thickness of my uterine lining (it should be under 4 mm). So more tests on August 17. Robbie (moving on):scared: