wannabaloser

Also another thing, I know Texas Medicaid won't pay but there is a place here that will for free. Its called TEXAS REHABILITATION COMMISSION. You have to prove that it is something effecting your life and stopping you from working and/or getting better positions. You have to be on a doctor supervised diet for one year and then they will put you on a waiting list. Maybe your state has something like that. You can also consider Mexico. I am paying $4700 plus a $250 plane ticket. You can save that, wait til tax time, borrow it, ask parents, or if you are a stay at home mom go to work to fund it. Believe me you will find a way, I did.

OP, My husband was against the surgery at first as well. I think he would have been okay with it if his insurance would have covered it but they don't. His main issue was paying cash for it and going to Mexico. He just kept saying why not just watch my calories and things like that. I told him I did not care how he felt and I was doing it. I started reading everything I could find on the surgery and having it done in Mexico. I came across a thread on here titled, something to the effect of, WHAT WILL YOU NOT MISS AFTER SURGERY. That thread has 100s of comments and lists things I had never even realized about myself. It lists things like not being able to tie your shoes or cross your legs, the chafing, the stares, your kids being embarrassed and so much more. I sat my husband down one night next to me and showed him that thread. I made him read the entire thing. I told him that everyone of those comments were the reasons I had to have the surgery and could not wait any longer. He has never questioned my decision again and he is supportive. Maybe you can search for that thread and show it to him. It will really put being overweight into perspective for him. It also states things that are hard and embarrassing to express.

Hey, I saw your tracker and we are starting out with almost exact stats. I am curious how long it took you to lose the weight?

Oh thank everyone for being so nice! It's nice to have people say your a good mom when you have 2 teenagers who disagree with everything that comes out of your mouth!! I can honestly say, without a doubt, this was the hardest decision I have ever made. My daughter got to help decide and she kept saying "why can't you just tell me what to do like everything else"!! She is used to making impulse decisions and this was very hard for her. She was very scared of doing surgery and there was a medical reason for her sudden weight gain and lack of loss and the surgery not working. She is scheduled for the beginning of Christmas break but if I see the diet and recovery is too much to deal with in such a short amount of time plus being the holidays then we will reschedule for the day after school gets out. Thanks again for being so nice and helpful. I had never thought of some of the things people brought up including how was I going to take care of her at the same time as me. I am a super fast healer and have a high threshold for pain so I just assumed I would be able to handle it but there's always a chance that won't happen.

She is going to start out at public school. I fully believe kids need that social aspext of life, especially when we are in a new city and theu don't know anyone. If she has any problems I will pull her out and home school again until the weight is resolved. That being said, I think everyone goes through some meanness at school, even the "beautiful people". Mine bullying was not for looks but for sex. I was called a ***** at school because boys were saying I was having sez with them. The ironic thing was I was a virgin until I met my husband. One boy tried to get me to have sex with him and I turned him down. He couldn't handle that so he told everyone I did it. Then another boy tried, I told him no but I had already had sex supposedly wity someone else and he couldn't fail so he said I did. This happened several times. Lets just say I understood the movie Easy A better than most. I had alot of boya asking me out in high school but I never knew if it was because they like me or because I was easy. Even after that I sincerely loved high school and don't want my kids to miss out on it, the good and the bad. My daughter is different than me though. I never cared what people thought about me so I just denied it and went on with my life. She is very shy so if it gets bad I will pull her out quickly. Like I said, I pray this program works but if not I have no problem with thw surgery as the alternate. I will not make her go through life obese, miserable, and slowly killing herself when a possible cure is so easy.

Thank everyone for their help and kind words, from people who were kind. I did not ask for help meaning to start problems. As a family we made a decision. I took EVERY opinion into consideration. We decided for me to do the surgery first so I will be able to take care of Kaleigh when she has it. We are planning it for the Christmas Holidays. This will also give her time to see first hand what she will go through. In the meantime, I signed her up for a very detailed, high dollar weight loss program. It is customized to her needs. It is not a LA Weightloss type place where everyone gets the same diet plan. They also believe in high protein and low carb diets so she will already be used to the after surgery diet. Shw will also get full lab work done including tests for diavetes, thyroid, cortisol, b12, cholestetol, and alot more stuff. She will be seeing a doctor so if there is something wrong they will help her fix it. She will see a nutritionist weekly, she will get her metabolism tested weekly to make sure everything is working right, she will be getting b12 injections weekly, shw will be monitoring her diet on a website daily for her nutritionist, she will wear a monitor 24/7 that wil monitor her exercise and caloric intake constantly. There is alot more as well. I paid half of what the surgery would cost for 3 months of this program. I pray it works but we all know how diets work. I am not expecting miracles but at the very least it will help her adjust to what life will be after surgery. So basically she is still scheduled for surgery but it is being put off for a few months. I believe she is mature enough to handle it. I hope this works and something that drastic doesn't happen but I am a realist about diets. This is a very intense diet and if it does not work for her it just proves even more how much she needs surgery. Thank everyone so much and I will let everyone know her progress as well as mine. She is still my support person fof Mexico so she will have a seat front and center for that portion.

I know what you mean! I am all paid up, airfare paid, and I start my diet tomorrow. I am a nervous wreck!!

My daughter is 14 and she is scheduled for August 9th, along with me, with Dr. Fernando Garcia in Tijuana. It ia $4700 plus airfare. That cover hotels and everything else.

http://www.amerefit.com/?gclid=CM-e98qdzrgCFSgV7AodN1cArg Oops..spelled it wrong

Oh BTW, always ask for a butterfly needle if you have this problem.

I have the same needle issues. Its sad that I am going to another country to be cut open and my main concern is the IV. I have had them try 5 or 6 times with no luck. Last time I had a baby they acted like it was a game to see who could get it in. They finally had to call up a doctor from anesthetics to do it. My husband was so mad at the nurses he said we were about to get up and leave to go to a different hospital. I am going with Dr. Garcia on August 10th and I fully plan on asking to be put under first and yes that is fully possible.

You can go to Amerifit.com and look it up. They seem to have everything you could need for weight loss. Its tailored to everyones needs depending on their blood work and metabolism. It is actual doctors and not just former fat employees pushing their weight loss miracle pills.

No, I plan on going August 10th regardless and she will be going with me as my support person. I meant I have no problem pushing hers back. I am taking this very seriously. Monday she will be going to a place called Amerifit here in Houston. They are a diet center that sees kids. She will be seeing a doctor and nutritionist. They will be doing a COMPLETE bloodwork panel on her including metabolism, pre diabetes, thyroid, and much more. Maybe they will be able to help her. She is already making plans with the money I will save if she doesn't have to have surgery. She is trying to convince me its a good idea to use it as a down payment for her a truck. How quickly they move on!! I did ask her though which one was more important and she said weight loss. She said she doesn't care how she loses weight as long as it happens. And ahe knows no matter what it will be hard. Also she is currently doing WW, like some have suggested, and it's not helping either.

She will be going to Cy-Springs

I eat bad but I cook very healthy. I cook breakfast and dinner everyday. The only time my kids are on their own is for lunch. My daughters favorite meal is southwest salad with chicken breast. I may be from the south but I don't even know how to fry food. I bake EVERYTHING!! I am a good cook and baker. I make desert and they get a serving after dinner. She usually eats fruit as lunch or a snack. I am the one that eats crap. I don't know why but in the last few years I went to eating crap non stop even though there i. A meal right there. Luckily I have kicked that habit and havent eaten sweets or that other junk in over a week while I get ready for my preop diet. I have 2 boxes of little debbies and a gallon of ice cream that I haven't ate any of in 2 weeks and not one of my kids have asked for any. My daughter is a volume eater. It doesn't matter how healthy a food is if your eating non stop you are going to gain weight. I can stop her when I am there to watch her but I can't be there nonstop as we all know. Like I said before she never has a feeling of being full, thats her problem.

She will be mad and upset but she is a teenage girl. She is devastated when I won't buy her a $100 pair of jeans or when she gets her phone taken away. I am not worried about that, she is devastated 10x a day. I will feel horrible about getting the surgery and losing weight while she doesn't. I think I didn't make myself clear, I am not considering surgery so she looks like everyone else. Of course I want my daughter to be able to wear normal sizes and not have to shop at Lane Bryant but I would not consider surgery for that reason. I am considering surgery because she is as unhealthy if not more so. She is borderline diabetic, I am 32 and don't have that issue. She is 14 and can't walk up our stairs without gasping for breath. She can't ride rides at the amusement parks cause she is too big. She has more stretch marks than I do and I have 3 kids. She is constantly tired. Hee blood pressure is higher than mine. These are just a few of the reasons we are thinking about surgery. She knows the only thing that will change after losing weight is her weight and weight related health issues. She knows she won't be anymore outgoing or be any happier than any other normal teenager. She also knows she will be different than all of them because of her food restrictions. I said we just started considering this surgery a month ago but that's not true. We had already planned on her doing it next summer, if she needed it, if everything went well with mine. Then I saw other younger kids have had the surgery and decided to do it sooner since her health is getting worse. She has done lots of diets and didn't lose weight. She understands that this surgery is not a miracle. She knows that she will be working her butt off and that there is still no guarantee that this will work. She may just have something wrong that the doctors cant find. I have not made up my mind at all. She has a doctor's app Monday to go see what they think plus to run more tests so I no there is nothing medically wrong like her thyroid. I appreciate all your responses and she and I are going over each one together and talking about each point made. Our appointment in Mexico is in 2 weeks. I have changed my date 2 times and have no problem changing it 10x if need be. I have been fat for 10 years so it wont hurt me to be fat another couple months if that's what it takes to get everything cleared away for her.

She is great. I am booked for Saturday 8/10 with Dr. Garcia. I am flying in early Friday and back home Wednesday. I didn't know I could do it for a shorter amount of time.

We are going to Mexico because my insurance doesn't cover WLS and the price is so much less there but you get just as good care. We have 3 kids, there is no way we can afford $20,000 just for my surgery. Believe me I was terrified of going to Mexico but I researchedit for 2 years before I decided it was safe.

I know she will have to work harder to get in her Protein and food than we do because of school but I think she would adapt better than us as well. As far as diets they don't work and we all know it. Even the doctors she has seen have told us that. They said the only thing that works consistently is WLS. Not to say thats what they are suggesting for her especially since I don't think she can get it as a minor in the US. I have a book about the surgery and she is having to read it right now. I am also making her watch a video of the surgery and we are going to watch videos of people who had bad experiences. We have been watching videos but only the good ones so now she can see the bad side to it as well.

We are talking about all this right now and ahe has admitted she is worried about how to do the work at school. She doesn't want to wait til school gets out so she is asking to do home school for a few months til she heals and gets used to everything. She did home school last year after we moved and it was a disaster. She needs the social aspect of school. If she cannot handle the issues of working the diet at school then she may have to wait until June. She will probably get the surgery anyway, unless she loses weight doing the diet with me, but it may be put off until then. I am going to the school tomorrow to talk to the nurse and find out if she thinks she could handle the diet while at school.

My daughter will be devastated if I say no. She already has a plane ticket so she will be my companion regardless. My daughter lost a toe and a portion of the top of her foot when she was 8 due to my mom n law letting her play with a lawnmower. She already feels different due to that. I hate that she has her weight to worry about as well. I can't do anything about her foot but her weight is something that can be, hopefully, changed. We are having a conversation right now about all the points people have brought up.

Sarsar, Thank you for your help. My daughter has gone to a close knit country school her whole life. She has never been bullied. This year we moved and she will go to a large school with 100,000 students outside of Houston. It's going to be a MAJOR change!! She is a smart girl and she knows bullying happens especially when you are bigger or different in any way. She i. Terrified of being bullied over it. She said no one ever did it to her face at her old school but she said they probably talked about her behind her back. My kids have been taught that under no circumstance are they to ever make fun of someone but unfortunately other kids haven't or just don't care. Another reason I am leaning toward surgery is because she has been caught faking who she is online. I don't want her to go through life lying about who she is because she is ashamed of the real her. Also we have all heard about girls becoming promiscuous because they thought no one would like them if they weren't. I would do anything to keep her from doing that.

Wow, I honestly did not know this question would cause such an outpouring. I talked to 3 other people who had this surgery before and they said it was a good idea. I knew there would be a few against but not so many. My main concern is her going to school and trying to maintain this. I know it will be very hard. Our original plan was for her to follow my diet to the T. Then I decided to check on if ither kids had done surgery. I found they had and did great so I figured shw could. My first thought was the lapband since it is reversible but I hear of so many complications from it that it scared me more than this. You have given me alot to think about. It will break her heart to not get to go but she will get over it, probably, if that's what we decide.

No, not at all. It never occurred to me to take her to a NUT, which I will be doing. I appreciate hearing from people who were overweight as teens because I don't have that experience to consider. I appreciate hearing from people who think its the worst idea ever. I appreciate all opinions and it makes me think of things I never considered.

And also if it matters to anyone she will be 15 one month after surgery and a freshman in high school