Sooverit!

$12,000 for a low BMI study.....but turns out during the process I developed Hypertension and pre diabetic symtoms...so I could have been covered by my insurance ...but it's too late I think....hey but it re inforced the fact I need this procedure!

It's crazy but I started going on this site to research the LB when I was 47! I'll be 50 in March but my number doesn't change s the years roll on.

Thank you dear Joanne. I agree with you I don't think the recovery will be the hard part. After having a C-section and a ruptured appendix... nothing is new to me and probably most folks here? Yesterday, after 7 hours of a frightening nuclear stress test for my heart they found high blood pressure that I will be on meds for! Now they find it after I'm paying out of pocket. Too funny...you have to laugh...or.....but I think I will work on being reimbursed by my insurance company. I am very grateful for this wonderful devise that can finally help people win the war over obesity! Have a wonderful Turkey day Joanne...are you able to eat? I can eat veggies...and maybe I'll practice for the mushy stage. Have a blessed thanksgiving day, God bless, Marg

Has anyone in this age group not used a scale to measure weight loss? I am not planning to purchase a scale because in the past, a lack of weight loss in numbers has devastated my progress. I seem to have two strikes against me for weight loss; lower BMI and age; 50. Has anyone used tape measurements and clothes size changes to judge their progress? Just wondering if the people in my situation that aren't "losing" are getting smaller despite what the numbers say? I just don't trust scales any longer as I have dropped 2 dress sizes and only lost 4 lbs. on the scale! I hope this is the case for me after surgery. m

Sorry I was responding to a post ..but can't find it now when I wrote about the study.

Anyone under a 40 BMi is considered a lower BMI in insurance terms and medical. I'm in a low BMI study. Today is my second day of liquids and I'm shrinking already...woke up and my stomach didn't feel bloated out for the first time in almost over a year. I am also turning 50 in March, in the past year or so I just CAN'T handle food like I used to. Glad for this week long liquid diet...it gives you a taste of what being fit will feel like! I am excited and happy to be having the LB surgery in a week! m

Hi everyone: I agree three cheers for exercise!! Outdoor exercise such as power walking in nature ...on trails...is a mental exercise for me that keeps me happy and sane. When I walk ...easier on a wooded trail...I only focus on the sounds and beautiful surroundings and my legs and none of my thoughts. 45 minutes later I feel like I can keep going but usually have to get to get to some task. Unfortunately I sprained my food this summer and can't go to far...there is treatment though. 1 week to go ...I am excited about feeling alive again...

Jess: Welcome home hope you are doing well? Congratulations on taking the leap of health! Tray: Would you mind sharing what where the rough days like? So I can be prepared ..I will be banded in 1 week! thanks

Hi Joanne: :thumbup: how are you today>? TOBIG4PANTS: You get no breaks being just a chubby chick Keel the same way. I wanted to share that I don't think recovery is going to be an issue at all. I am having an out patient LB proceedure performed where I can walk out of there and go home after an hour or so. My dr said someone left and went back to work once. The less you weigh now the better you have it for recovery also. I will let you know though for sure after I get home. My concern is for how I will handle eating ...I am an absentminded eater and it's sure going to be a change.

OMG...TOOBIGFORMYPANTS...! You have me laughing for real out load this morning! You are soooo funny! I am actually going to print your post and put it on my refridge for humor for recovery! I contemplated waving $bills at my insurance company to cover me....I was borderline BMI too. This is the count down week...yikes and liquid diet. So far so good...but it's only 7:22 a.m.!

geez....I 'm scheduled for on DEC 2. lap band surgery. I have NeVEr in my life seen more doctors and had more tests in all my life (I've been lucky). The more tests I have the more they supposedly "find" something that they can send you for another test. I litreally hit my sress meter this morning. I spend all day at the hospital yesterday in Westchester/Bronxville for PRE OP testing for the BAND and being tested for everything under the sun by nasty sad people who have chips on their shoulders - they should be grateful they have a job!!!, and filling out a zillion forms. I had to be there at 9:00 but got there a few hours late so that started them off good. Got home just in time for dd from school. Then this morning had to go for a 3 hour nuclear stress at 8:30 a.m. on a treadmill and they would test my heart. It took me a few hours to firgure this out but while I was in the waiting room i started crying ...I mean crying like waterfall so embarrassing could not stop! Thank God a nice nurse asked me if I wanted tissues and what was wrong I told her both my parents recently passed away. She was nice and I ended up rescheduling the appt. for next week. I realize that I was thinking about my sister who died of a heart attach 3 yrs ago and all that. I got home still crying and thinking I don't want the band if this is what it takes. people are treaded like cattle in this healthy care system. Pls promise me we will get Dr. Kavorkian's number so we can have it when we get feeble...if we do!!!

Hey Denise: I am going to go out there today and weather the 30 something degrees here to walk a mile and a half ..my goal. You are right ....I can not lose weight since I turned 40 without exercise daily. It's a great thing to do anyway and a great habit. I belong to a gym but don't go enough of course. I'm thinking of trying the spin class even though I usually dislike those classes....I know it's better for you on the feet, joints etc. Also Yoga is a powerful exercise to help calm the appetite also. I think I just need a food cop because I see now our body doesn't fogive us for mistakes that we make with eating now. If I sit down and absent mindedly eat a bag of popcorn at the computer ...I will pay for it for a week or so with a bloated stomach and pain. I used to have an iron stomach and a metabolism that was enviable....I am grateful for this devise! One more week!!

HI Trina: How are you doing? Tomorrow I start the Optifast week long (thanksgiving:rolleyes) diet. 5 shakes a day and I can eat on thanksgiving just not too much fat. I am lucky my doctor and fill people are pretty relaxed about the pre op diet. I can still have my coffee....I don't think I would have made it without my cup or two o Starbucks. Have you practiced with the mushy stage yet? I am going to take out my little food processor this week and see what ground up turkey tastes like! Also have to go food shopping this week for the 1 week post op liquid. Are you getting nervous? I think I'm more excited today than nervous.

Wooohoo.STEPH..just made it! Congratulations Holiday Hottie ! Welcome to the fold...! Best supportive month of the year on the entire site! :-). I have received more caring support here than I have going through any challenge!

Thank you again Joanne ...for being so kind and caring. I really did "stuff" all that grief ..especially since I didn't want my daughter to see my "fall apart". You are a love and I appreciate your understanding and compassion more than you will know. God Bless, Marg

Dearest Joanne: You will be in my prayers and thoughts as well. I thought about you today actually ..(even when I was not on the computer!). The words sexy sixties came into my mind. I am currently helping out with make up in a community play my daughter has a role in. What a blast ..you should have seen all the sixty, seventy and eighty! year old going to auditions every night and having a blast. There is some much life and love to yet to give. I wish you all the love and health you deserve in this life ! Marg One week to go... gulp!........

Thank you for your honesty. I am not banded but can eat till I feel sick even without the band. I'm glad I read this post as it really is a reality check. This isn't going to be a piece of cake. I can rationalize any of my bad behaviors...now that it is the winter and I can hide behind alot of clothes I think oh why am I bothering as I'm a lower BMI with not real health issues yet, but I have to remember it's not going to get any better the older I get and I will probably just keep gaining weight.

Thank you so much Joanne...for caring! I can see now that of course I will have more test as it is a controlled study and that's why I am being put through the mill. You are right I am much better than that day. My eyes are still swollen though as I haven't cried like that in years! I feel like I let go of something that was "stuck" in my body..called grief I guess. I viscerally feel like I am different after that cry...in public no less! So Joanne you are two days after me! I will drag myself to the computer and report everything to you! I think this is a wonderful step for both of us toward a healthier life. Blessings to you Joanne, marg.

Good for you Pete...to add the shakes and the exercise...that's is a good idea to add in the shake gradually . I know I should be doing this so the thanksgiving week isn't a shock but I just don't have the will power...hope I do that week before surgery!

Hi you supportive wonderful people out there. After almost two years of being on the outside I will soon be an insider being banded. Surgery scheduled for 12/2/08. I must be crazy but I have to be on the Optifast diet during Thanksgiving week! I figured if I made it for Jan. i'd have even that much more to lose. It's going so fast now ... My mind is searching for the negatives now or dangers as is expected. The one thing I don't know about this band is what happens 20 years down the road. I will be 70 and will I have to have it removed? Don't want problems at that age. Justing wondering. I know obesity kills but our bodies get weaker and just wondering if there is a shelf life to the REALIZE band that anyone has every heard of? Or how long was it designed to last? Or I guess there's no studies yet....our 10 year lap banders will be paving the way to this knowledge?

Wow ..this is good news thanks guys!

Hi Trina and congratulation on your decision ..you beat me by one day, I'm December 2nd. I feel the same way you do but from what I gleamed here we are very lucky to first know about this sophisticated miracle devise and be courageous enough to do something about this problem. I posted on "mourning food already"in this dec. thread and received some amazing advice and encouragement if you can to see.

Hello everyone: I guess this is a typical case of be careful what you wish for, for when you get it, you may still not be happy. My surgery date is scheduled for December 2nd 2008. I've been wishing, praying, hoping to be able to get banded with the Lap Band for over 2+ years now. Recently everything fell into place as if by a miracle. Money I didn't know I had turned up in a hidden bank CD where the bank didn't have my new address. (for real.. not from a crazy email from Nicaragua :-)) I found a low BMI study near my home that accepts patients under 40BMI and the price is affordable! I found a great follow up center with caring wonderful people. I couldn't ask for more. Why then am I so depressed? I think finding a solution to one problem only relieves that pain then switch, focus moves to next or real"problem". I am so afraid that I will miss one of my only friends left....food. I realize at night while my husband is watching sports/financial news with the remote in one hand while his laptop in his lap watching like a prey animal for bad news. I am in the other rooms of the house escaping with a book or TV and you guess it my friend food. I am so afraid of losing this loyal friend who I know eventually will ask for my health in return for friendship. Currently I'm not working....I switched careers at age 49!! ...what was I thinking. I am bored and lonely lately and dealing with a puberty stricken 12 year old girl who hates me most of the time. This girl, my dd, was a living doll who idolized me up until last year. I probably spent too much time making her life wonderful while I forgot about mine. Oh and my parents and sibs are gone, friends moved away, I'm an older mom and no longer a person everyone wanted to be friends with...being older and overweight doesn't help matters, I have no one with kids to bounce things off of. On top of it all I'm in the throws of change of life hormones....up, down, up, down. I know my life was pretty cush for the past 7 years so I guess I'm due for a new test. Thanks for letting me ramble and keep me in your prayers- just kidding. Just thanks for letting me take up word space. With hope and gratitude to all, M

Currently reading Martha Beck's Steering by Starlight: Find Your Right Life, No Matter What! Funny brilliant girl she is. On my fifth read of Eckhart Tolle Power of NOw. Recently really feeling the magic of keeping an eye on the mind and not letting it run away with negative hogwash.

This may be a duplicate message if so I apologize. I included Chris Cornell's web address and may have been cut. I am sitting her listening to Chris' amazing music in the background while reading all of the most inspiring, thoughtful, honest, wisdom filled words I've probably ever read personally! My heart is bursting now from all your support. For those who have not been banded yet, I wish you all the wonderful things that you have waiting for you that you so much deserve. Those banded ..thank you for your excellent advice. It is great we can all support each other. in gratitude Mar