Sissy907

Im not a fan of hers either.. but she has always been upfront about all her other surgeries, why would she lie if she indeed has this as well? I think is bologna..

I have, and I have been in the gym for years. I will try stepping it up and seeing if I cant get that to work as well.. Thanks for the thought!

We are watching, reading, praying, and waiting for you to say you need us... We are here!

thats the plan with the ankle weights!

Actually with the military I have to have bmi 35 and one comorbidity or 40 with none. I do have weight related health issues just not the "big 3". And as far as proving why I want one over the other, there is no proving. If I am going to have a wls, I get to choose which one I want. They cant force me to do one above the other. -that is illegal and unethical... Your right I dont have bmi of 40 for the last five years. I have bmi 36.8 for 7 years.. and if I happen to hit the magic 40, I only have to weigh in once to qualify, since I have a history of being heavy already. I think the difference between my view and yours, your talking TriCare, Im talking military -as in a guy in cammoflage will be doing my surgery, not a civilian doctor paid for by TriCare, because as I stated before, they dont cover it.

Sunshine, I happen to think 1) you look alot like a friend of mine and 2) your stunning. Keep up the good work!

Just an easy way to hid 10 lbs ya know?? 'Sept I live in florida and would look like a damn freak when its 80 and humid wearing jeans but whatever people have been seen in weirder things in this weather.. Thanks for the compliment. Many people have told me I am funny. Course it probably grew out of my childhood. When I was little if we made mom laugh we werent in trouble anymore (cause ya cant punish them when you are laughing hysterically at them!) So I became an effin comedian.. cause I was ALWAYS in trouble!

Yes TriCare-south. However, they dont pay for anything down here but the bypass, which I am not interested in getting at all.. they make up all kind of excuses from its "experimental", to we dont pay for laproscopic procedures and on and on... So I figured somewhere in the military someone has to do lapband right? I mean if they do bypass someone has to have had the training to break open lapbanding in the military... So I started looking into it and doing some research for my mother who is interested as well, I did a doctor search in her area and found a guy at the base we just moved from, thought heck I will get them to send me up there and have it done (which they do all the time- sending patients to other hospitals for things that cant be done where your at) and figured if I was going to have to go somewhere and have surgery might as well go home and have mommy take care of me right??!! Anyway I called and he had PCS'd (permanant change of station) at the same time we did. So I had to track him down and put in a call to him, and then made calls to the other major medical facilities in the area. The nearest hospital that does them is Walter Reed in DC (yes the one under investigation). Which made me nervous but I thought with all the attention its getting right now, they will be cleaning up their acts (and rooms) and following the book with everything they do. So I started doing all the tests that I could to get everything out of the way and taken care of before I send my records up (which included my sleep study last week- which I am waiting for the results) at which time I will ask my pcm to send up my records for concideration. In the mean time I figured ok I am at BMI 36.8 and I am watching veryyy carefully how much I eat and what I am eating. I hadnt had junk in months. I figured between now and sending my records up if I didnt pay so close attention to what I was eating, or how big or small my portions were and I happened to put on a few extra pounds (and of course raised my bmi closer to 40) that no harm could really come because they would have me do the liquid diet anyway and that I would more than likely drop all-or most of that weight I just put on. Only for some reason, I havent really put any on! I have stayed right in my zone within three pounds as I have always swayed in the area and for a little while even lost about four pounds, altho I put that back on since then -about 4 weeks ago- and am back in my "zone". Of course four weeks ago I had a hysterectomy and have been resting a lot since then so as not to over-do it. So here I am. Kind of just hoping that I have apnea so I have a "real reason" to have this surgery, instead of having to need to put on 10ish pounds to get it anyway. I thought about ankle weights, which freaked my husband right out, and I am still concidering it (shh dont tell him) just too kind of help it along without the gaining thing... But I need to find a really cute pair of flare leg jeans to kind of cover the ankle weights so the tech doesnt see them before I go back in my room and remove them and toss them in my purse so they arent discovered.. but I am having a hard time finding a pair that is long enough to cover the weights and keep them covered while I am sitting in the waiting room. So, I will probably pull it all together and have the weights on when I go in for my follow up to the sleep study so We can just kill two birds with one stone if you will... Im already at 40 bmi doc, so who cares if I qualify with the apnea. *blink* He thinks I should be able to have the surgery now, and thinks my issues are plenty enough reason, but hes not a surgeon so, we have to go by what they say, some docs will smudge it even if you are just below 40, so heres hoping we find one of those doctors! Thats my story... and Im stickin to it! Alli

Your right. I agree. But I dont mind Revolution stating their opinion here, I was just hurt that they would be so mean to a fellow fatty. 100 pounds, 200 pounds, 300 pounds, to lose, we all have the same right to pursue health. I'm not being lazy sitting on the couch eating bon bons all day, watching Oprah, letting the pounds pack on, wanting the band so I "don't have to try". I'm very active, just fat, and unfortunately, ten-ish pounds stands between me and a healthier, happier, better functioning me. I'm just unlucky (if you can say that) not to have what I have come to call the "big 3" comorbidities. (Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, sleep Apnea). So I have to find another way to get my band, because with military doctors, all the other health problems I do have, aren't enough to qualify me in thier eyes, for this procedure. And unfortunately, my insurance isn't willing to pay for this "experimental" surgery, so there is no going to a civilian doctor. I didn't think that ten-ish pounds was a big deal, and many of you said so in another thread I posted the question in. I was simply hurt and lashed out, maybe over-reacting, but how would you feel if it was about you? Much as Lauren said, we get enough discrimination, we don't need it from fellow fatties....

Thank you for all the positive care guys. Makes me feel better.

Kat... I think I have a crush on you! LOL

Thank you Lauren and Larua! :confused: Revolution-Who the hell are you to judge me? Because you weighed 300+ lbs that gives you more right than me to have this "tool"? I guess because I only have a little over 100 lbs to loose then I should just stop eating so much and excersize my way back to health right? PULEEZ You do not know what has put me where I am today. And because I happen to be a "healthy" fat person because I don't eat loads of foods laiden with calories and cholesterol that would give me high blood pressure and diabetes and all the rest I some how dont DESERVE to have this? How many people that DONT qualify in the states go to Mexico to have this done as a preventive surgery? Do you think they dont deserve this either? Or is it more because I am a military wife, and it would be YOUR tax dollars paying for my "friviolus" surgery so I might live long enough to see my grandchildren born? Cause lord knows any fat person who puts thier mind to it can just stop eating so much, and put forth SOME effort to excersize and the pounds will just fall off right?? And its SCIENTIFICALLY proven that those that arent as obese as you are/were, the pounds will fall off reasier for me than you right? And GAWD forbid someone on this Gawd forsaken earth might want to do something about their weight getting out of hand before it gets insanely out of hand and they "loose their will and desire" (is that what you said?) to even care about it like you right??? Just because I dont have the top three comorbidities to qualify me for this surgery doesnt mean I dont have weight related issues. Just because the United States doesnt do this surgery as a preventive doesnt mean I dont DESERVE this surgery. Just because I am having to fight my way thru the militarys STRICTER than civilian rules to have this surgery doesnt mean I dont DESERVE this surgery. Just because I cant manage a self pay right now doesnt mean I dont DESERVE this surgery. Just because I want to take care of me while I only have a little over one hundred pounds to loose doesnt mean I dont DESERVE this surgery. Just because you have much more to loose than me DOESNT mean you deserve it more than me. Its not like I am trying to gain fifty or more pounds to have this done. Frankly it pisses me off no end to have to gain any weight at all, I mean if I gain ten pound and they agree to do it they will put me on a preop diet and guess what I will loose?? TEN POUNDS! So what exactly is the point? Well apparently I have to please the "man" -not just the militarys lame ass rules but your insane decision to tell me because I am TEN pounds away from having a happier healthier me I dont DESERVE it... I didnt think that fat people were so judgemental of other fat people. Thanks for introducing me to this Revolution. It was kind of you to show the new "not fat enough" chick the ropes around here... And just so we are "square" I NEVER said I was looking for an easy way out. And I never said this WAS the easy way. I, just like you, are looking for a tool to help me be ACCOUNTABLE, for my work -or lack there of, in loosing my "measly" 100 pounds. NOTE: To the friendly people: I dont mean any of the above as an insult to those that understand or even asked questions because they didnt understand. I dont mean any disrespect to those who went to mexico for their surgeries, because they qualified or not. This is strictly for Revolution who wants to insult and degrade someone who isnt "fat enough" in his eyes....

Thanks Kat and Derby for showing me the love! Glad it makes sense to some. <3 Alli

what exatly doesnt seem right? I have nothing to hide. ask away. funny how some feel that way and yet others on this site suggested I just go ahead with gaining the little bit of weight I would need to get the band... Research me.. I have no conflicting stories...

I am a military spouse and have recently been told that TriCare Prime will not pay for it. I was also told by one of the doctors in the family health clinic that I should switch to tricare standard and that I could/should be able to get it that way. My co-pays would be higher but 2000.00 vs. 10000.00 is a very different payment.. I dont know if this is true or not as I never looked into the possibility, I am trying to get thru all the co-morbidity tests first (including the sleep study) before I go thru with all the switching and such. I dont know anything about the needing to have two co-morbidities to qualify for any of the WLS, as my surgeon on base just that I need to have at least one... Also, do you know if you DO qualify for WLS thru the military (most wanting to do the bypass), that there are some doctors in the military who do the LapBand procedure?? I am in Florida, and the closest to me would be Walter Reed, -which is scary in light of the trouble they have had lately- but I figure by the time I qualify and get up there, things should have drastically changed being that they are under a microscope now... You will need a referal from your family practice doc to go, and they might make you buy your own ticket, or they could let you fly Space A (is it still called that?)... It would be something you would have to discuss with your PCM.. But this is certainly something to think about and help you get started on your way. Most importanly get all your tests going now, so that you know what you are working with. (high blood pressure, sleep apnea and the like...) If you havve any more questions I would be happy to help you more, You can send me a private pm if you like or thru this thread...

Because I am just under the cut off (36.8 BMI) and I have no co-morbidities. -Unless I have sleep apnea, which I highly doubt, but will find out the results in a weekish. So gaining 10-20 lbs is that fastest and easiest way to get the band, but I am having trouble gaining! To read the rest of my story you can click my name and search my other posts if you want the whole low down! Alli

Well I wouldnt think they would inspect me at all to be honest... Usually I just go in and sit and chat with him.. I would be a little nervous of a weighted bra as I am quite busty (38DD) and If they decided to run their little stethescope over me for whatever reason I would think they would be more apt to find that than some ankle weights that I can slip off and toss into an extra big purse I happen to take along that day... Conveinently hidden under some cute really flare leg jeans..... Ya know? I dunno. I am gonna salt everything... I am not one for salt and pepper on everything but I am now! I cant belive I ate so much today :girl_hug: I feel like a big ole BOAT. Blech

I went to see the doc in Pensacola yesterday, and he told me, if you were my daughter, I would say for your age, weight, and height, the lapband is what I would do for you, however, your bmi is at 38.1 and as far as we know (I havent had a sleep study done yet) you have no complications. Unfortunatly you are in limbo. :cry (the nurse measured my height at 5'7" with my same weight- which is why I came out as a higher bmi than my signature) The only option left to me is, belive it or not, GAINING weight! Which of course he did not reccomend, but seriously, I want and need this done so how else do I do it? Is gaining the extra few pounds I need to get them to agree that bad an idea? I will obvioulsy loose it in the pre-op diet they put you on. I could even start it a day or two early to help shed those extra pounds I had to put on to get them to agree. Financing and going to mexico, there is simply no way... Unfortunatly this is one of those times I hate being a military spouse. Any other day of the week I will wave my flag, but right now, I am a little to depressed. I'd love to hear what some of you have to say about this. What are your ideas? :help:

I have a laundry list of issues but apparently if i dont have one of the "bid 3" its a no go... I want to use the ankle weights with some flare leg pants but my husband is afraid of them discovering them and me loosing my medical benefits thru the military. He has begged me not to attempt it. I am between a rock and a Really freakin hard place! LOL

HAHHA Thanks Waterlily!! I giggled when I read your post.. I wish I could say that would work. I went to fitday.com and posted everything I have eaten the last few days.. I am averaging about 2500-3000 calories a day, and I am loosing weight? wtheck?

And get this.... I weigh 241!!!!! All this time eating myself til I was so stuffed I couldnt move and drinking those nasty ensure shakes.. (for an extra 1000 cal a day) and NOTHING! I quit working out, sat infront of this silly computer and got super lazy and NOTHING!!! :faint: I am so frustrated... at this rate I will never hit the right bmi for these clowns! My pcm is ordering a sleep study just incase, but I honestly dont think there is anything to find... so I am stuck unless I win the lotto and have money to spend on a self pay. :phanvan Cause being military and our family size, its not gonna happen any other way. /end rant

Hello, I am From Alaska, unfortunatly not living there right now. My mother is in Anchorage and doing research on the doctors available there. There ARE doctors available in Anchorage.... You do not need to fly to sSeattle if you dont want to. Which Island are you on? Kodiak? It's not much to fly into Anchorage if you had to often... At least its much cheaper than Seattle. Anyway It's not hard to find information on the docs in Alaska. I just started helping my mother look into it recently and have had a fair amount of success. Just by searching the net... You can always pm me if you want more info. I would be happy to help where I can.

Redheads have a way! *smiles knowingly* :bananalama:And this little guy being riden is from Yugi'oh or Pokemon or something of the like. Some kids thing. (I have four kids and have seen him many times)

I am not banded as of yet, but I can't wait to be. When I saw this post by The Cascadian I really became firm about my decision. There will always be negativity, you are going to have to learn how to deal with it in a positive way for yourself. I don't think your ages matters as long as you are ready to stop being fat. At 20 I wasn't even close to fat, at 32, I am with extras. I can tell you at 20 if this surgery was available, and I needed it, I would have been a guinea pig leting them try it out on me. I hope this copy of Cascadians post will help you figure a way to tell your Ex and everyone else who is negative why you need/want this procedure. I did. It helped more than I ever thought, and now they now support me. And if they continue to be negative, maybe you should say enoughs enough, and hang out with the people that do support your decision! :lalala: TheCascadian I had a minor/friendly debate with a coworker about the merits of obesity surgery. But I think I might have made some progress by the end of it. We were talking about all of our coworkers who have had gastric bypass and how great they look. I mentioned that they had inspired me to get banded and he asked me about it. He listened for a moment and then, in a very friendly way, began to question my diet, exercise and personal history. We are normally very open with each other so I didn't feel he was prying or being nosy, but my answers didn't seem to satisfy him. He suggested elliptical trainers, cardio, seeing a nutritionist, eating 6-10 times a day, the usual clap-trap. He basically stated that surgery really was unnecessary that that fat people should just work harder. He said they are eating too much and if they just ate a normal 2,500 calorie diet and did some cardio they'd shed the pounds and be thin. I pointed about that my diet was well under 3,000 calories and that I worked out regularly for years and was gaining weight the whole time. He responded that I must have a thyroid condition. I told him he was dead wrong, that I'd just had that test last week and have perfect thyroid function. Clearly, he didn't get it, so I tried to explain things to him a little more, to no avail. We went back and forth on it. Finally, I got a bit fed up and pointed something out to him (coworkers names changed to protect the innocent): I said, "Jim is thin and healthy, right? So if he got the bypass surgery, what would happen to him?" Coworker says, "He'd prolly be really sick and might even die. His body wouldn't be getting enough calories! He's too thin to have the surgery done." I responded, "Exactly. So Peter was really fat, got the bypass surgery done almost 3 years ago and ever since then he's been thin. In fact, he's about the same size as Jim, right? Same height and weight, right?" He agreed this was true. Then I laid down the clincher: "Why isn't Peter now dying from malnourishment and hunger? Why is he struggling to maintain his weight loss even eating tiny portions and exercising, all while Jim still eats whatever he wants and never exercises and stays the same weight?" My coworker looked stumped at this idea, that clearly the patient's starting body weight was irrelevant for a permanent surgery like gastric bypass... But I was just getting started. I said, "If what we ate and how we exercised were the solution for morbid obesity, there would not be very many morbidly fat people. It took a massive rerouting of Peter's digestive track to get him to where diet and exercise even have a chance of controlling his weight. He and Jim may look the similar on the outside, but inside they are hardly the same species.' 'They are obviously processing and using calories very differently or else people who had bariatric surgery would all eventually get too thin and die off. Instead, even with surgery, some people never lose all their excess weight and have to put in constant effort forever just to stay thin!" He seemed impressed by this and said, "I never thought about it that way, but you got me with that one. If what I said was true, Peter should be really getting sick by now!" He was laughing ruefully and I was getting into it, so I continued on my rant. I said, "Have you been on a strict diet and exercise regimen every day of your life to stay thin? Or do you generally eat what you want and exercise when you feel like it? When you gain a few pounds, does it really take more than a few weeks of mild effort to shed that weight?' He laughed again and agreed that he didn't really do ANY of the things he was suggesting I do and that he easily lost weight. I kept on my rant: "Normal people maintain a healthy weight with nary a thought of diet or exercise. Obese people gain weight almost inexorably. Some fat people cannot control their compulsive eating due to mental health issues, but most of us are simply hungry too often or for too much AND our bodies happily convert everything we do eat into fat. It packs on easily and burns off hardly at all. We are not normal and someday doctors and thin people are going to realize that, stop putting us down and start looking for a cure to the disease we have- a cure that doesn't involve chopping into our guts." He threw up his hands and surrendered the point. Though I was off on quite the tangent, it was all in good fun. He could tell he really got my goat even though I ultimately won the debate, so I guess it was sort of a draw. Anyway, I do think I made progress helping him understand what we go through. No, more than that... I think he understands now just a little bit about WHAT WE ARE. It was a good conversation, so I had to share it with all of you.

Uh... So I figured I would start eating "freely" and include at least three of those ensure shake things a day.. I lost four pounds yall!!! How the heck does that happen?! After 4 days of shakes and free eating I lost four pounds... Ack! lol Im adding an additional 1250 cals a day in addition to eating whatever I want and Im not budging! lol Its just my luck!