Marimaru

By "patient advocate" are you talking about someone at a surgeon's office? If so, find a different surgeon. When she finally does call you back, tell her you went somewhere else, since they obviously didn't feel like they needed the business. Patty, I'm sorry that your surgery was canceled, but it's normal to want any money up front that insurance wont cover. It's too risky to operate on someone and have the possibility that they wont pay you back, you know?

I was told a couple of horror stories about people who ate right after their surgery by my doctor, so I didn't do it. Unfortunately, the only way to get back on track is to "just do it".

I would have said "I've already lost 35#, thank you very much. Now maybe you could tell me where I can get a crowbar to help you remove your foot from you mouth?"

Holy crap that sounds painful... You might take a warm bath, and then you might want to think about going to the doctor on Monday to make sure nothing is broken...

Wow, that's crazy! I hope your poor toe is feeling better!

Well, I don't think the commercial is that bad. I've seen commercials where people were wearing clothes that showed more than that, lol. I really, REALLY don't understand AT ALL what the visuals in that commercial have to do with being a vegetarian...?

If you can't keep anything down, you need to get an unfill. I think you will be more disappointed if you get to goal and get that unfill, and then gain some back when you start eating again, than if you get the unfill now and the weight loss is slower...

A week isn't very long to be at a job where you are walking around all over the place, and kneeling to talk to children, etc. If you have aids that can basically do all of the moving around while you teach the class from the front, you'll probably do ok. If you can't take that much time off, you might want to run your surgery time into an already planned vacation time like Christmas Break. I have an office job, and I had surgery on a Thursday, flew home Monday and worked Tuesday. On Wednesday I felt really good and ran out and did a bunch of errands for the office. By the time I got home I was so exhausted that I just collapsed into bed for a few hours.

"Sweety, you loved me when we met, you love me now at my highest weight ever, and you'll love me then. Why would I give the time of day to some guy who's interested in me when I'm skinny when you've loved me the whole time?" That's what I said to my then boyfriend (now husband) when he finally let it spill that he was nervous that I'd leave him. He'd gotten all distant and we were arguing a lot shortly after my surgery and I sat him down and told him to spit out whatever was on his mind because he was driving me nuts!

I have lived in: Colorado Texas Southern California I am moving to Oregon in 2 weeks and I'm very excited. I liked Colorado, but moved after my parents divorced. I don't miss being bitterly cold in the winter, but I do miss the autumn there. We moved to Burbank, which I hated. Then we moved to Texas (Dallas/Fort Worth) area, and I liked it better than burbank, but it never became anything special to me. Then we moved to Ventura County CA, which got REALLY HOT. Then we moved to Redondo Beach CA, which is near LAX. It's not too bad here, but the prices for living are ridiculous. Oregon has a beautiful autumn, even though it rains all the time. My husband is from Washington state, so this is more like where he's from. It's also closer to his family, who is still in WA, which is part of why we are moving. Other than Oregon right now, I can't think of another place I'd like to be more.

You have to take a test to drive a car, but not to have a kid. Of course, that's because no one (including myself) knows who should manage the "parental permission" test. No one wants the gov't to do it.

I just ended nearly 2 years in counseling learning how to deal with issues. I'm not all the way there yet, but I'm moving, and instead of finding a new counselor, I'm going to try it on my own for a while. We went through a lot of my past to get to the issues of the present. I discovered that most of my pain was things that I had stuffed away and never dealt with, which was most of my childhood. My mom had a "get over it" kind of attitude, and since she didn't give me time to really deal with things, I had to stuff them away so as not to show her I was upset. So within the last 2 years I've felt about 15 years worth of pain that I never let myself pay attention to before. I'm better at dealing with things now. Whenever I am upset at my husband, I will tell him I am upset, and we will talk about what's bothering me. Not that he and I fought a lot before, but I used to just stuff it down like everything else until I boiled over. It's much nicer now. I still can't really confront my mom, but I can say no to her now. My sisters and I will have confrontations now and then, but they get worked out easily too.

I've been fortunate never to have been referred to as "the fat sister" even though I am. My younger sister was actually wearing the same shirt size as me shortly after her son was born, and she said she thought it was cool that we could share clothes. That same sister broke down after a few glasses of wine to say that she was having a horrible time being her size (she'd never been over weight before and she had about 50 lbs to lose after he was born), and that she felt bad saying anything to me knowing that she was still smaller than me (in the waist) and that I'd been struggling for so long. I explained to her that her issue was completely different from mine, as in she KNEW what her body was supposed to look like and that I had no idea. I also told her that I knew that just because she didn't like her body didn't mean that when she told me I was looking good she didn't mean it. I'm sure behind my back I've been referred to as the fat one, or the biggest of the 3 or whatever. My mother on the other hand has seen fit to tell me that I'm "HUGE" (way back when) and other such things. I think my mom means well, but she's just not good for my self esteem sometimes. The dynamic among your sisters and you is likely to change. It really depends on your sisters whether that's a good thing or a bad thing...

I passed my 3 year mark in July, and I have had no complications. I'm not at goal yet, but that's not a complication of the band, it's a complication of my head .

I think not all people have a sweet spot honestly. I have days where my restriction is perfect, where I would call it my sweet spot, but other days I'm totally open, and other days I'm so tight it's a liquids day. You know?

When I was in high school (about the size I am now I guess) I used to make my own clothes. They had nothing to do with any 'trend' or anything like that, just something I designed that I thought looked good. I didn't quit doing that because I got big actually, I quit doing it because I entered the corporate world and wanted to be taken seriously. Once I got big, even when I started working for my mom I never went back to making my spiffy outfits. My mom has told me dozens of times she wishes for the me from high school. I like to think I'm getting close, lol. I'm moving out of Southern California to Oregon, so I'm hoping the extra money I have will allow me the extra funds to be creative like that again. Money is only one excuse, but a strong one. heh.

lol, that's a great story!

Oops; I found out when I was trying to donate blood and they said that my red blood cell count was too low. Then I went to the doctor and mentioned it and she checked my Iron.

What I don't understand is that I'm pretty sure there are longer needles that can be used for this. How can a band clinic not be prepared for this kind of thing? I think the doctor you most recently went to just wants your money. It's asinine to say that you should have surgery to remove fat so that he can get to your port. Unfortunately, I think you should keep looking for another doctor.

I think that people can overcome addiction with the right motivation, but I also think that if you were his right motivation, he'd have done it by now. Telling you that he was going to stop, and then disappearing the next day with money and your car is a pretty big indicator. I am reminded of my sister's relationship. Her husband has a thing for strip clubs and porn. He has told her over and over again that he wont go, but he keeps going. The last time just about tore it for her. It's not even about the strip club at this point, it's about the huge lie. I think you need to look at it from the same standpoint; your boyfriend LIES to you about this stuff. The fact that he takes money and goes and buys drugs every few months in and of itself is a big deal, but the bigger deal is that you are being lied to, and treated as if you are too stupid to figure it out. Respect yourself more than that. I don't know what your situation is that he works and you don't, but don't let him hold that over your head. Go work at 7 Eleven if you have to. 6 years is a long relationship, but you said yourself that you think you'd be in a better place if you'd never met him. You can't take the last 6 years back, but you can stop another 6 years of the same thing from happening. *hugs*

Head hunger is the worst for me. It strikes when I am bored, or when I do something I used to always eat during; like playing on the computer... >.<

Well, exciting goals I have reached, are to be smaller than my driver's license says (especially since I was lying at the time), at the same time, that made me smaller than when I graduated high school. In one more jeans size (I'm a 14 right now), I'll be smaller than when I was 14 (I remember this because I moved to a new school and was wearing a size 14 that year). Anything smaller than that, my little brain doesn't really remember, so that's all new territory!! I want to be able to walk in heels. I can walk in them, but by the end of the day/night my feet are killing me. There are women who wear them every day just fine, and I want to be like that. I wouldn't wear them every day, but I don't want to have a crisis every time I have to wear nice shoes because I know my feet are going to kill at the end of the night!

I would have your pcp write that your BMI has been over 35 for the last 5 years (if it has been) and the conditions you have that would be helped by weight loss. Good luck!

I have heard of it, but it only works for spot fixing really... if you need a tummy tuck, it's not going to work, because the tummy tuck removes skin, not just fat...

Unfortunately an exclusion is an exclusion. I'm 95% sure that if it's excluded, you're just out of luck, no matter WHAT the insurance company would avoid paying for by paying for your band. I agree with Alexandra though, the day is coming where this wont be so hard to get paid.