wendy645

I don't work at the hospital but lap-band patients get to use the gym at the rehab for 22.00 a month, my insurance reimburses me 20.00 a month if I go 12 times a month so my gym membership costs me $2. LOVE IT!!!

Wow, I wish our insurance covered gym memberships!!! That's awesome! Then again, for $5 a month I'm not complaining :-D

On the upside, I just found out we're expecting the fitness room to be available in late August!

I just started a new job at a hospital. Imagine my delight when I found out there is a fitness room that you and a guest can use 24/7 for $5 a MONTH!!! I checked it out last week and was so excited!

Except, here's the thing... we just started construction on an ICU and I just found out they blocked off the fitness room yesterday since it's next door, and it's closed until the ICU opens... which is slated for OCTOBER!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Just had to get that one off my chest. I'm so bummed out!

I would have to guess that the either the parents or the kids were at least aware enough that having teenage boyfriend/girlfriends living together might lead to something and therefore made sure that they had some form of contraceptives available.

Out of curiousity, are they still together today and how old are they now? I have always heard that teenage love never lasts, but I am not sure that I know anyone who started off together at such an early age.

A subject like this always hits home with me, in a weird sort of nostalgic way. My boyfriend and I got together when we were 14. (12 years :eek:) We have been together since, no breakups or anything. No kids, either, and we've been... active... since 15.

Chris rarely stayed at my house overnight, though there were times he would walk me home from his house and be too tired or it would be too cold to return so he would sleep in the living room and I would sleep in my room. There were times I would crash out after a long day at school at his house.

The first time I accidentally fell asleep at his house (I'd had a hard day and we cuddled and both fell asleep), I woke up at 3 in the morning and panicked. I dashed out to the living room and his mom was still up. She worked late in those days. I was so red-faced and embarrassed but she saw me standing in the hallway and laughed softly, inviting me to sit on the couch with her. She said she'd talked to Chris's dad, who'd explained that he'd seen us fall asleep and knew about the rough day, and they'd contacted my folks, who were fine with it. The door had been open and they'd checked on us, apparently. She asked if I needed anything and told me my parents had already gone to bed so I could stay there. I went back to bed in some borrowed PJs and life went on.

After that, and after talking with both sets of parents, the concensus was that it was generally OK for me to stay over on weekends so long as the door was open. That was fine with us. We weren't your average sex-crazed teenagers. We weren't your average teenagers, period.

I saw this article and just shook my head, my jaw on the floor. I wish that young people would take the time to educat themselves and talk to their parents or SOMEONE about all aspects of it.

Here in my hometown, the schools are not allowed to incorporate Chapter 9- The Reproductive System into Biology class. You go from chapters 1-8 to 10-16. Lame. Our school's teen pregnancy rates are off the charts and they can't seem to figure out why.

Chris and I were always pretty open with our folks, and they were open with us. It's only been a bit awkward, but in the end so worth it. We have a healthy sexual relationship and good communication with our parents.

The two of us sat down before our first sexual experience and discussed birth control, what we expected out of our relationship, if/how we figured sex would change things between us (luckily it brought us closer!) and explored all the what-ifs that come with sex. We waited until we were both ready and had another discussion about it afterward.

I realize we're the exception, not the rule, but I sure do wish more young people could have the sort of experience we did. I think it would change a LOT of things.

Cool cartoon, Wendy!

Thanks Devana! I love Garfield and thought it would be a cute addition to my siggy!

Wow. I was kind of dramatic as a pre-teen but I think it had to do with malnutrition- I had an eating disorder. But something clicked and I swore to myself I'd never be that typical teen. Backwards enough, I hit 13 and even though my first period started and messed with my hormones, I did what I could to be the good kid.

And it worked! I kept myself (mostly) in check, helped my parents, was respectful, even paid rent when I got a job.

My mom says it takes on a whole new meaning when she tells me she hopes I have one just like me :cursing:

Woohoo I was the 666th voter in the poll- is that saying something? :cursing:

I am pro-choice, and religion has NOTHING to do with it. I'm not a religious person anyway. I just think that it's a woman's choice. Now, I do have a disclaimer here- unless there's something really wrong, I don't think it should be done later than the first trimester. I don't know why, exactly, just my feeling.

I also don't know what I would choose to do if I found myself pregnant. My BF and I are not ready for kids any time soon. I really wouldn't ever know unless I crossed that bridge, which I hope never to!

This thread died off in August. What happened?! I hope you and your family are doing well and he got himself in some deep doodoo!

Wow. I never thought of how lame mine is LOL

Wendy is my first name. And I live in a small town that, for the longest time, all the phone numbers started with 645. I just liked them so they've stuck in my usernames since, oh, 1993 or so... :-)

So I got to thinking about how there are just certain songs that I like to groove to, ifyaknowwhatImean!

Here's my current sexlist (I put it on repeat hehe)

Adam Lambert- For Your Entertainment

Natalie Imbruglia- Identify

Coldeplay- Violet Hill

Blue Foundation- Eyes On Fire

Three Days Grace- Pain (who doesn't like to trace that line between pain and pleasure sometimes? )

Justin Timerlake- Like I Love You

Nine Inch Nails- Closer

Backstreet Boys- Everybody (what can I say, it was playing when I lost my virginity and it holds good memories! teehee)

On a sidenote, I found this mashup (has bad words!) and wanted to recommend it- the Beatles and NIN- pretty sweet :-) YouTube - The Beatles vs. Nine Inch nails Come Closer Together#

So what's on YOUR sexy playlist?

My BF and I tried it a few years ago and I enjoyed it.

And I, too, thought of this thread last night. Didn't act on it, but it popped into my head and I giggled. When he asked me what was so funny (not in a self-conscious way, he added "silly girl" to it) I said "Sometime I'll show you... "

why is that....its so funny a girlfriend of mine and I were talking about it last night and oddly she's thought about the same thing.....so obviously its more common than I thought.....its just getting up the courage to go through with it or suppressing the urge with male attention lol

*sings* Blame it on the a-a-a-a-a-alcohol...

:cheers: :w00t: liquid Courage!

I've always wondered what makes a thread just die off... it's a year later from the post above me! Weird!

Anyway, even though this is an old post, I don't care...

I'm with Kat- I have a totally different attitude and love doing it. I have no idea what'll happen when I'm banded, but until then...

(snip) But it's all good because it makes you think outside your box.

:w00t: Perfect choice of words, there, Melolo! HAHA:biggrin:

My husband made a comment about how at least I wasn't screwing up the liquids phase of the post op diet...

OMFG I have tears in my eyes laughing so hard! I'll have to remember this in reverse when I'm banded!

"Hey, honey, at least I won't be cheating in my liquids phase..." *sultry look*

LOVE IT!:w00t: <--- haha perfect smilie!

Woohoo! Someone's getting some hot boobie action!

I say good for you, and maybe you were more forward than you would expect due to increased self-confidence! That's AWESOME!!! :-D

Good on ya, and I'm glad you guys had a good time

I haven't been banded yet, but me and my boyfriend have a pretty healthy sex drive as it is, as we're both big. Both of us feel a lot more randy with each pound we lose- so I hope it stays that way once I'm banded!

:w00t:

*clears throat* I'll take any of your old 9.5W's...

This excites me SO much! I love shoes but have crazy trouble finding them in my size. I only have 2 pairs that I will cry if I have to give up, but then I have SO many more choices that those tears won't last long! :-D

I got mine replaced last night. I'd had it for 5 years and loved it! Still love it!

I came off of Depo and went on this. I had pretty much no period since. Every once in a while I'll get spotting, especially when I'm stressed out. But it's nothing unmanageable, to be sure.

The first Mirena I got put in HURT! The cramping was terrible for a few hours, then highly uncomfortable for the next few days. I was afraid of the pain when I got it replaced. Yesterday I was a triple threat: I had a well woman, then she was to pull the old one, then install the new one. I was on the table probably 2 and a half minutes. My OBGYN was amazing. Just as I was expecting the cervical scrape from the pap, she told me the old one was out! Then in went the new one with some painful cramping, but the worst of it only lasted a minute.

She made it very clear that when the cervix is manipulated like that, it can cause dizziness, so it was good my boyfriend was driving. I felt OK, though. I had taken a muscle relaxer and pain pill beforehand in anticipation. I went home and fell asleep for 5 hours. An hour after I woke up, my pain was totally gone. I have had very, very slight discomfort here and there, but nothing bad at ALL.

I love my IUD, and realize that while everyone has different reactions to it, I have been glad that mine has been great! :-)

That's AWESOME!!!! High five to you! Yay! Keep us all updated!

:confused:

So after 7 years... yes... seven YEARS... without insurance that will cover this, I finally got a county job with amazing BCBS coverage that includes WLS! I had to work VERY hard to contain myself and not do a happy dance on the table in front of me- including some very funny moves- in employee orientation when I saw the line for Bariatric Surgery!

Because of their policy, my benefits don't kick in until the first day of the month following a full calendar month after my first day. A whole lot of fancy words to say I started in November, add a month puts it in December, then the next first day is January 1st. New Year. New chance! Couldn't be more perfect!

http://www.napebt.com/summaries/2009_medical_ppo_500_summary.pdf

Here is the paper I'm referring to for the following questions:

So since I'm new to having insurance I have to pay something other than copay up front for, can someone help me figure this out? It says, "$1,000 access fee, 80%/20% after meeting deductible." It says my maximum coinsurance is $3,000,and elsewhere in the booklet it says that the 20% coinsurance is based on their allowable amount, not the amount of the bill. And I've heard the allowable amount is lower because insurance companies don't want to pay as much as the hospital bills, and the hospitals are happy to get paid anything so they go along with it. Is this right? And I have a $250 deductible. Does this mean that I would end up paying the $250 deductible, the $1,000 access fee, and $3,000 max out-of-pocket co-insurance, bringing my total to $4,250? Are there other costs associated with this that I don't know about? I want to know as much as I can up front.

I can't call the insurance reps and talk to them about it yet because I am not insured yet, so they can't look up the policy. At least that was my experience with my last insurance company. And the HR rep said it'd be the same case here.

So anyone have experience here? Any words of wisdom? Thanks so much for reading!

gosh this post really made me depressed. i am being banded in 2 weeks and now i wonder if i am making a mistake. i just can't imagine going through all this and not losing one pound.:thumbdown:

Why?? I'm not banded yet and this post is inspiring to me. It's filled with both sides of the story AND advice from tons of people who've made the band work for them. It's the perfect thread, IMO! Keep a positive attitude and you'll get out of it what you put in, as so many posters have mentioned!

OK since no answer on THAT one... will there be another one of these?

Is there any way to record this and save the MP3s? I cannot miss work but this sounds like something I REALLY need right now.

I quit my job for many reasons, but a big one was that my insurance laughed at the thought of preventive or mental health. For instance, they covered fills but not the surgery. And nobody needs to talk to anyone or take meds for depression, whatchu talkin' bout, Willis? Not covering the surgery even though I had two doctors who recommended it irked me enough, but the mental thing, well, if you're reading this you understand the mental toll of being obese.

So I left my job and enrolled myself in state insurance which covers it after doctor supervised weight loss. Plus, I'm now enrolled in the mental health part of it, which is helpful on many levels.

There are two state insurance options in Arizona, one of which requires a 12-month supervised diet, and the other requires a 6-month supervised diet. We found out I'm on the one that's only 6 months! :drool:

I had my first appointment to talk about weight loss Saturday. I don't know if they do date or month in general, but I wanted to make sure I had one in January as soon as I was on the new insurance! The last day, but technicalities are the base of any legal/paperwork process so I got that January visit in! hehe

I didn't know that having rather good health (all things considered) to begin with was a good thing in the eyes of the insurance company so I- *gulp*- hyperventilated before they took my vitals so my BP was higher than usual. It still ended up only being 127/84. Or was it 124/87? I don't remember.

But once I saw the doc, she told me that actually, being in decent health with some budding problems made me an ideal candidate (love that term! :tongue:), because recovery would be easier on me than someone who already had lots of issues, and my age put me in a better position as well because I had more time to benefit from it. I felt silly for faking higher blood pressure. heh. Then again it puts it at pre-hypertensive, which also looks good to nip in the bud.

So I'm on my way! Got one appointment down, my next one scheduled. I also found out I have an ulcer and got meds to treat it, and the referral to the bariatric surgeon for a little later. I'm looking at Dr. Berger in Flagstaff since Page, my hometown, is only 2½ hours from there but to Phoenix it's 5. It really hit me how big I am when I looked at what she wrote- "Morbid Obesity- BMI over 46". Wow.

I'm so excited! I just need to figure out how to support myself on the income limits to stay on insurance. But that will come in time with faith in the universe/higher power :thumbup:

So I had to share! After the crushing denial from my insurance company I ditched them (and a stressful job) and am taking slow steps toward this monumental step in bettering my life! Yay!!!

Hey Banders! :scared2:

I just got approved for AHCCCS/Medicaid and was wondering if anyone has had any luck or experience with them. I'm praying they cover it!

My last insurance company pretty much told me too bad so sad sucks to be your fat ass! :thumbup:

Any experiences?