LilMissDiva Irene

Me too. When I read that I just had to laugh! I can totally relate.

Welcome! I am fairly new here, and everyone is very nice and accepting. They're great in a sticky spot!! =) I haven't been banded yet, but I'm almost there... Take a look around, you will find there are so many topics. Many you probably never even thought of. Best Wishes,

That is so awesome!! I'm not going to far behind you... Best Wishes!

I don't disagree with you at all, but the problem was - the psych eval was stressing me out. That is why I chose to go with another doctor, and I'm sure glad I did. In fact, everything had been going quite smoothly with all my insurance hoops up until that point. I don't think he was completely disinterested in me, however. His report was pretty detailed, and kept good notes on what we discussed. For me and my other co-patients, going to our eval are just being judged on whether or not we have any major psychological worries, that might need to be addressed prior to surgery. Anyway, I'm just glad it's over... :clap2:

Okay. I am about to lose it totally! :mad: I have been working my tail off (exercising, eating good, millions of appointments and group meetings) and now I am at a long stand still. I was never given a "list" of things I needed to do until I had gone through almost every one of my dietician appointments (6 months worth). When I did and I'd seen all the different pre-op appointments I had, which included a consultation with the BC (Bariatric Coord.) and a whole other appt with the hospitals' program dietician, and another mess of things (xrays, ultrasounds, pap tests, u name it) I'd done it - quickly. Then I get a hold up because I also had to have a Psych Eval. Okay. Fine. So I call the Psychiatrist who is THE ONLY approved PSYCH to do this according to my HEALTH PLAN. Great. No Problem! Yeah, that's what I thought. Don't even think about an answer from this guy. He has to call you because he simply does not answer his phone! :cry Okay, well I guess he is a busy guy. Free pass. He just so happens to call while I am at my monthly group support meeting, and my phone is on silent so I don't get his call. He mentions to me that he is going out of town until a weeks worth of time and says there is no way to book an appointment until he gets back!! By now I'm starting to get a little perturbed because I want to get in ASAP! I have been putting up with enough already for many months. Finally a week goes by and I even leave him a message to remind him I need an appointment the day before he is schedule to return to the office. He calls back when I am away from my phone and we do some phone tag until the end of the day. Like I said, he never answers his phone, so if I miss his - well, tough luck - even though I called him back only seconds off missing his call!! When he does finally get ahold of me, he makes my appointment for THREE WEEKS because he just so happens to be going on vacation at the same time... :tired Okay, I'm already going stir crazy at this point - but guess what. He called my cell last night (and when you call my cell at night you will never reach me) and tells me he has to re-schedule me from Monday to Friday 10/19 because he forgot he will be out of town on that Monday 10/15!!! AUUUGGHHHHH!!! :mad::mad::mad::mad: I even took the day off from work because the appointment is supposed to last about 3 hours! I wonder if he is doing this on purpose to see how well I handle difficult situations??? Okay, maybe not - but still... He did mention however that I could talk with his secretary, so I left her a message. It's still early here in Cali, so I knew I'd get a voicemail. I did also ask her to put me on a waiting list too... in case of a cancellation. I asked her to call me back to be sure she got the message. Anyway, I am stuck right now because my surgeon won't do anything more until I get this done. Believe me, I tried... Okay, I just needed to vent and now that I did, I feel somewhat better. It can be so frustrating sometimes though. I have had a looooong journey so far, and I just want to get this darn thing put in me already. Did anyone else suffer so much pre-surgery? Anyone? Help?

Name...................... Starting....Loss....Current.....Goal......To Go Rainer.........................283.........-3...... ...280......265..........15 Insubordination.............296.5......-8.5...... 288.......288..........0 RidinMyHDDream (Carol)..264.........-5.........259.........259..........5 LilMissBand-Aid..............287........3.4........283.4...... 277.........6.4 Not bad...

Hi! I just wanted to give an update. I did have my psych eval on Monday, as planned. I just received my letter in the mail from the Doctor advising that I would be a good candidate for surgery!! :clap2::clap2::clap2::clap2: He did his report much faster than I expected. I really didn't think I would get anything until tomorrow or the weekend. Maybe that was because in our little interview I went over the small problem I had with the other Psychiatrist and mentioned I am trying to move things along as swiftly as possible. He is GOOD! :whoo: Well worth the extra 150.00 I had to put up. Okay, so now that I am over that one last long hurdle, I expect things will move along swiftly now. Gee, I even think I feel a little bit of anxiety -- it's almost as if I was wondering if I would ever really get this far. Now for the next step. I emailed my dietician yesterday asking how long it should take to hear from my insurance companies case worker since she faxed all my appointment info to them about 3 weeks ago now. She said I should have already so she gave me their phone #, and who to ask for. She even re-faxed the papers directly to them. SHE TOO IS GOOD! I told her I am sticking with her post-op. Okay, well that's my journey so far -- so next thing is AN ACTUAL DATE. YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! I'll keep you all posted! Once again, thanks for being the BEST Lap-band support out there! You guys (and gals) ROCK!!!!! :biggrin1::biggrin1::biggrin1::biggrin1::biggrin1::biggrin1:

Suggest certain gift cards for stores you might want to buy your new slimmer clothes in. Nothing wrong with that, so that way - when you are ready to go shopping, you will have some extra money readily available. :biggrin1: The only reason I say that is because, that is what I am asking of everyone for this coming Christmas. Then, when I am ready for a few new outfits in a new size, I can pull out one of my favorite clothing store gift cards and do some happy spending! :heh:

PS, does anyone actually just crush their vit/mins into a powder and just take it that way? If so, does it have a terribly heinous taste to it, or is it even recommended? I have a brand I have been taking for a long time now and I just love it. I get it from costco, 400 pills for about 12 bucks. Can't beat that. However it is simply huge and I know I will have problems taking it after surgery.

Hi All, I am having some trouble trying to find a really good, reputable brand that provides both Multi Vitamins & Minerals all in one dose. I do get some material from Nutrition Express and they have some Multi Vitamin/Mineral formula in powder form (mixes in 8 oz. of water to make an orangy tasting mix), but when I look at the Nutrition Facts, it has crazy, almost insane amounts of it. Like some are 8333% RDA!! Lindberg - Varsity 2 Powder Vitamin/Mineral Formula 3 Pounds - Save 37% No way, my body does not need that much!! I'm shocked over this, is this even remotely safe? Anyway, I would just like it to be a normal dose. Not much over the 100% RDA -- Any suggestions out there? :help:

Great, thanks for the suggestions! They are really good ones. I'll check out all that have been given. Thanks again.

Best Wishes for your surgery tomorrow!! Let us know how you do, especially with the soft fill. I have not had surgery yet, so I can't give any words of advice - only my concern.

Best Wishes!! Let us know how you are doing as soon as you feel up to it.

Thanks!! :eek: And congrats on hitting your goal already, WTG!!!! :clap2:

Wow, thanks for all the info - and mentioning what you did to marker yourself. Good advice, well received. :eek:

Hi! I live in Sacramento, so we are neighbors, :eek: I haven't been banded yet, but hopefully soon. Wow!! You lost 60 lbs., that is so awesome -- I just can't wait.

Oh, no - like I mentioned in the other thread, most of the ideas were a conglomeration of many other posters here from long before me. I just wanted to make a list that was more shopper friendly. We're all here to help one another.

I'm glad to have shared the list. However I did get most of the ideas from others around the board. I just thought I would make it more shopper friendly.

<p>Hey everyone! </p> <p>I was just over on the FAQ's pages, and read through the Shopping List ideas. Thanks to everyone who provided some good ideas on what to have. I compiled everything together on a Microsoft Word document, and thought, hey, why not share it?</p> <p>I hope you all can find use for it!</p> <p>Good luck and lots of loss fellow bandsters!!</p> LAP BAND SHOPPING LIST.doc

I think you would do just fine. Many, many people suffer from this problem. I did many years ago, only just the opposite. I was a little chubby as a young girl, but as I became about 12 years old some of my mean family members pointed this out to me in almost a tortuous manner. I look back on those pics, and I have to tell you, I wasn't really all that bad. However, I was able to control keeping myself thin & (what I thought was) fit, by almost any means necessary. Now some things I wouldn't do, but I would actually almost punish myself if I ate something "bad" by working out until I would nearly pass out (NOT GOOD!). I know I did all this, because I had a lot of problems growing up and it was the one thing I was able to control in my life. Well, once I overcame that and many things in my life changed - I just pretty much got out of shape and very much overweight. I stopped punishing myself and became very comfortable eating whatever I wanted and basically NEVER exercised. It did catch up with me, but at least I am doing what I can about it now. I also realized that this was wrong for me to do also. I have been trying for several years now to lose weight and exercise in a HEALTHY way. Well my body is shaping nicely, but the weight is just not coming off. I chose the band to help me with my portion control, because I know that is what my problem is. So you see, even people like "us" can succeed. I will be having my surgery very soon. :clap2: Let us know what you decide, and WELCOME!!

Aha! Reason #27 why I am NOT going back to work before my two weeks liquid diet is finished.

Thank you! That's the best BMI calculator I've seen yet. :embarassed: Geez, I'm in bad shape...

I was just going to ask what constitutes "morbidly obese", because a 37 doesn't really seem "morbid" if you know what I mean.

OMG!! That's so great, congratulations!! :whoo::clap2: You may even go below without blinking, who knows? That reminds me... I have so much to do!

I totally agree, sometimes she can come off as being really insensitive. Like, "why are you so fat???" "You just need to deal with your issues." She always seems to want to be negative toward all the patients and say they will never succeed, when most all usually do. Even the ones who were up into the 900-700 pound ranges.