Lori Voss Green

Yay!! So exciting!! I actually didn't have any last minute questions. I was pretty calm, didn't have any nerves at all. Good luck to you!!!

I had a doctor's visit yesterday. It had been 4 weeks since my last visit. Now, at my last visit....I had lost 11 lbs in 4 weeks. At my visit yesterday? A whopping 0.4 lbs in 4 weeks. I was disappointed and frustrated. I am ok with it now, I mean, it's still a loss and not a gain, right? It was just frustrating because it is the first time since surgery that there hasn't been any real weight loss. The last 4 weeks have been rough. I've been suffering from migraines almost daily. I have felt like crap. I have not been monitoring my eating as much as I have and as much as I should. I did not get a fill at the appointment prior to this one because we felt there was no need. She did 1 cc yesterday. So I had liquids all day yesterday and am on soft foods today. Back to real food tomorrow, and I am determined to get back on track. How does everyone else over come a frustrating or trying time? Before the band I would have just given up and convinced myself I was not worthy of the effort. Now I know better.

As you can see, everyone's doctor is different and will have different opinions. I highly suggest talking to YOUR doctor to see what he/she advises for YOU.

My doctor allows me to have drinks with meals. HOWEVER, it has to be a minute after eating and I have to wait another minute before eating again, and it's just a SIP of water.

I work as a Customer Advocate for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois. When members call in with questions about benefits or about how a claim processed or why something wasn't covered.....or when they need help in finding a doctor in network, stuff like that....I assist them with those kind of issues.

Just sorta my story. Hope it is ok to post. I have battled weight my entire life. My sister was the skinny one, I was the "husky" one. Oh how I hated that word. Seriously, who calls a kid "husky" for crying out loud!? Is that supposed to make a kid feel better than calling them fat? I remember being little and my Aunt would joke around saying my sister was "the stick of butter" and I was the "tub of butter." Amazing how even adults can make kids feel bad about weight, huh? I never really remember being a happy kid. I hated going to school. My home life was not a great one. My parents divorced when I was about 3. My Mom had a lot of personal issues of her own that I don't think she really ever knew how to deal with. She moved us from place to place. She dated different guys. She depended on alcohol a lot. Let me get this out here from the start though. I LOVE my my with all my heart. She may not have always been the best Mom, but she is MY Mom. I love her. Having said that, my childhood sorta sucked. I know now that I suffered from depression, but there was no one there to notice or do anything about it. The one comfort I had was food. I turned to food when I was bored. I turned to food when I was sad. Let me tell you, I was bored and sad a lot. When you are a teenager and you have a weight problem, you also have self esteem issues. You do not like yourself. All you want is for someone else to like you. That is pretty damn hard when you don't like yourself. Sadly, when you do not like yourself, it then becomes easy for people to use you. You let it happen because, although it is negative attention you are getting, it is still attention. So at a young age I was doing things with boys that was not appropriate. Things that, if I could go back and stop myself from doing, I most definitely would. Crazy how something like weight can totally throw off how you view and feel about yourself, huh? I made it out of the teenage years and into young adulthood. I met my husband when I was 18. (Ok, still a kid really!) By the time I was 20, our daughter was born. Well, she was born on May 20th and I turned 21 on August 11th. He met me when I was overweight. He accepted me as the person I was....someone who was overweight. He saw me for and loved me for the person I was on the inside. I was so thankful for that. However, I still did not love myself. Over the years I still struggled with my weight. I also struggled with my depression. I actually did not get diagnosed and treated for depression until a few years into our marriage. There were ups and downs with that and the weight. In 2000, I lost 91 lbs while doing low carb. My husband and I were actually separated at the time. (We separated 3 times throughout the years. Don't worry, it has a happy ending since we are back together now and stronger than ever!) However, low carb was a temporary fix. I went through some hard times, the depression came back, and so did the weight....along with some extra. I then just gave up with the weight loss. I accepted the fact that I was destined to be fat forever. Fast forward to 2011. In August of 2011 I broke my ankle. Not a big deal, right? Yeah, it really wasn't. Well, not until a week later when I started to have some serious pain and the cast I had on got really tight. I went to the doctor and they decide it would be a good idea to just check and make sure I hadn't developed a blood clot. Turns out I hadn't developed one blood clot.....I had developed TWO, one of which had already moved up into my thigh. I was immediately rushed over to the hospital and admitted. I spent the next 10 days there as they tried to get the clots under control. It was at that point that I realized I seriously could have died from that. I could have died and never saw my daughter grow up and have a successful career and family. It was not directly because of my weight, but my weight was a factor. Once I got out of the hospital, I was on blood thinners for months, having to go to the doctor sometimes as often as every 3 days to have my blood drawn. Not fun, let me tell you. Fast forward to January of 2012. I will spare you the details, but I had to have an emergency hysterectomy. Not really life or death, but again another health issue. However, the part about THIS surgery that really made me start to think about the lap band surgery was the cost. I have health insurance. I work for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, so obviously that is the insurance I also have. Since I started working for them, I also got to know the criteria to be met for the lap band surgery. I mean, I had thought about it in the past, but never thought I could actually afford to do it. However, here I found myself in January having this emergency surgery. THIS surgery meant that I had met my out of pocket maximum of my insurance at the start of the year. For the rest of 2012, all of my medical bills were covered 100% by my insurance. That REALLY made me start to realize that lap band WAS possible for me. I mean, working for BCBS of IL, I knew that with my BMI and my health history, I more than qualified to meet the criteria. With my out of pocket max being met, it would be no cost to me. Why in the world NOT go for it?!?! So, one day in March I decided to go for a consult. I found info about a lap band surgeon in the area who was in my PPO network. I called and made the appointment. By May I had met with the surgeon, I had gone through the 3 hour psych evaluation/dietican evaluation, etc, and I had sent it for preapproval with BCBS. Within 3 days I had my approval back from the insurance company. This was REALLY going to happen. I still couldn't believe it. I then, however, had to wait until August for the actual surgery because I wanted to save up my paid time off at work. A week before surgery the doctor called and told me there was something "suspicious" with my EKG and they didn't know if I could have the surgery. I freaked out. Now, normal people would freak out over the abnormal EKG, right? Me? I freaked out over the idea of maybe not being able to get he surgery. Messed up, I know. So I ended up having to get an EEG done and was able to get it back and the results to the surgeon A DAY before surgery. Everything was fine and the surgery went on as planned. Surgery took place on August 7, 2012. On the day of surgery I weighed 304.5 lbs and wore a size 26 jeans. Today, December 22, 2012, I weigh 252.8 lbs and wear a size 18 jeans. I do not regret my decision for a moment. Six months ago, I am sure I would NEVER had told someone my weight or clothing size. Am I where I want to be right now? No, however, I am proud of how far I have come. I know the road ahead is not an easy one nor will it be a quick one. I WISH it was a quick one. My doctor scolds me all the time for being frustrated that I have not lost more. I am impatient. I admit it. I want this weight gone NOW. I know that is not going to happen, and I am slowly accepting that. I do know I am heading in the right direction though. I am heading in the HEALTHY direction. So yeah....that is me and my lap band journey.

Thank you, everyone! :wub:

I had surgery on August 7, 2012. On that day I weighed 304.5 lbs and wore a size 26 jeans. Today I weighed myself and am at 252.8 and I am currently in a size 18 jeans. Lap band was one of the best decisions of my life. My only regret is that I did not do it SOONER!

I had surgery in August, so I am almost 5 months post op. I don't think the fear of failure will ever fully go away, but when I think about the fact that I am down over 50 lbs and 4 sizes, I look at THAT and see success. My success outweighs my fear. There are stumbles along the way. We all have them. We are not perfect. However, it is how you react to them that makes the difference. GOOD LUCK!

:wub: Thanks, everyone! Not sure why, just sort of felt like sharing my story today.

I work for BCBS of IL. As far as OUR company goes, the 6 month doctor/nutritionist oversight has been waived and is no longer required in order to get approved by BCBS of IL.

I am starting to worry that no matter how much I lose, I will not be able to look in the mirror and see a difference. I am down 47 lbs since August 7th. I am down from a size 26 to a size 20 in jeans. I just put these two photos together, the left is from 2010 and the right from 2 weeks ago. Everyone else sees a change. However, when I look at it, I look the same in both. Is this normal.....not being able to see what others see?

Thank you all for the words of encouragement! I just might make a stop at the store and try some new things on!

I stop when I have a cup of food. I might not feel satisfied completely at that point, but it's what I have made myself get used to doing. At times I will have a bit more, but for the most part I just stop at one cup of food.

Thank you all so much. Unfortunately, hubby lost his job and finances are soooo bad right now. I can't even go buy a new shirt right now. I am stuck with what I have to work with right now. I don't even know HOW to buy clothes that aren't big or baggy. I have always hid behind baggy clothes.

Anything worth having and worth doing is going to be hard at times. I was banded on Aug 7th of this year, and I have not once regretted it. It was the best decision I ever made. I am down 47 lbs in less than 4 months. I do SOMETIMES still have cravings, but it's not bad. I gave up pop/soda 2 weeks prior to surgery. That was hard at first, but once I got over the withdrawal of it, I no longer crave it at all. I RARELY have sweets, just on occasions as a treat. I am still not feeling restriction after 4 fills, but I just make sure to stick to my portions and to make HEALTHY food choices. It's not always easy. I have bad days where I eat too much or something I shouldn't have, but those days are not the norm. To be honest, life after the band is much easier than I was expecting it to be!

You are not alone. I didn't pig out like I would have a year ago, but I did eat too much. I got to the point of feeling FULL instead of satisfied. I am upset with myself, but I also know dwelling on it won't change anything. I have made good progress since my surgery in August, and this is just a minor bump. None of us are perfect, so we should expect that we will falter. The important thing is to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, learn from it, and move on. Part of my problem right now is that I have had 4 fills and yet to have any restriction. I am doing good at stopping with a cup of food no matter what......Thanksgiving was just harder for me.

I haven't gotten there....YET! I'm getting close, but I am just happy to be losing at all! I will definitely celebrate that -50 lb mark though!

You are not alone. It's all normal indeed. Just wait until you see how great you feel once you recover!

Had my 3rd fill today! I'm losing at an ok rate....4 lbs the last 2 weeks....but I am hopeful that this will be THE ONE, ya know?

I had my 3rd fill today. Will this be THE FILL that gets me to the green zone? Maybe, maybe not. It's hard to be patient, but it is a process that takes time. Just remember that you'll get there!

Crossing my fingers that this will be the one to get me where I need to be! Lucky #3!

How in the world to people eat spicy food and NOT drink anything!?!? My husband is an amazing cook and does all the cooking around here. He makes a lot of spicy foods. I stay away from them most of the time because, to be quite frank, since having my gallbladder removed in 1996 after my daughter was born, my stomach can't handle a lot of spicy food. However, I do enjoy it from time to time. He made a Mexican chicken dinner tonight that was soooo good, but my mouth is on fire! I am looking longingly at my cup of ice water, but I am holding off. Anyone here eat spicy foods on a regular basis? If so, how in the world do you do it!!??!