ShavieLou

Hello, everyone, I've been lurking on this board for a couple of years, now; going back and forth as to whether or not to have the lap band. After yet ANOTHER failed attempt at weight loss (60 lbs this last attempt...now on the weight gain upswing again), I've decided to bite the bullet. I need this surgery. Since I am now working as an independent contractor massage therapist, I no longer have health insurance. I won't have it until I get married to my fiancee next November. As it stands, I'll have to be self-pay. :drool: My question is this: I know this varies, but what are the surgeon's requirements when a patient is self-pay? Most of the frustrating requirements seem to be the doing of the health care providers. It seems that with the insurance companies out of the picture, the surgeons requirements are a bit more leanient. Those of you who are, or have been self-pay, what were the requirements of you respective surgeons? Also, as a self-pay patient, did you have to wait months for your surgery date? Thanks for any comments! -SL

I would like to ask a question of those who hold to a decidedly Christian worldview (though anyone is free to contribute). I know there have been discussions about whether or not being obese is a moral failing but is WLS decision a moral/spiritual issue? I was just talking to friend of mine who also struggles with her weight. From a Christian worldview, we began discussing whether or not being overweight was a spiritual issue and whether WLS surgery is, in a way, circumventing God's ability to work in our lives in this area. For instance, are we overweight because we have not given our emotional/food issues over to God? And is having WLS another way of saying, "God, screw your timing....I'm going to do it my way." Is WLS a tool God has given us through physicians (who are supposed to be healers) to assist us in dealing with our food/weight issues or is it something that allows to to continue to avoid what may really be a spiritual issue? Most Christians believe that there is nothing (within God's will for our lives) that cannot be accomplished if we submit to God. So...what say you....are people (serious medical problems notwithstanding)overweight because we are not submitting to God in this area? Is WLS a way of punking out? We certainly didn't have any pat answers....I'd like your opinions on this. Hope that all made sense.

MELANIE (age 5) asked her Granny how old she was. Granny replied she was so old she didn't remember any more. Melanie said, "If you don't remember you must look in the back of your panties. Mine say five to six." STEVEN (age 3) hugged and kissed his Mom goodnight. "I love you so much that when you die I'm going to bury you outside my bedroom window." BRITTANY (age 4) had an earache and wanted a painkiller. She tried In vain to take the lid off the bottle. Seeing her frustration, her mom explained it was a childproof cap and she'd have to open it for her. Eyes wide with wonder, the little girl asked: "How does it knowit's me? SUSAN (age 4) was drinking juice when she got the hiccups. "Pleasedon't give me this juice again," she said, "It makes my teeth cough." DREW (age 4) stepped onto the bathroom scale and asked: "How much do I cost?" MARC (age 4) was engrossed in a young couple that were hugging and kissing in a restaurant. Without taking his eyes off them, he asked his dad: "Why is he whispering in her mouth?" CLINTON (age 5) was in his bedroom looking worried. When his mom asked what was troubling him, he replied, "I don't know what'll happen with this bed when I get married. How will my wife fit in?" JAMES (age 4) was listening to a Bible story. His dad read: "The man named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city but his wife looked back and was turned to salt." Concerned, James asked: "What happened to the flea?" TAMMY (age 4) was with her mother when they met an elderly, rather wrinkled woman her Mom knew. Tammy looked at her for awhile and then asked, "Why doesn't your skin fit your face?" The Sermon I think this mom will never forget.... this particular Sunday sermon..."Dear Lord," the minister began, with arms extended toward heaven and a rapturous look on his upturned face. "Without you, we are but dust." He would have continued but at that moment my very obedient daughter (who was listening!) leaned over to me and asked quite audibly in her shrill little girl voice, "Mom, what is butt dust?"

JustBeingMe, the first post was something I received in an e-mail...not a personal anecdote. Unfortunately, I don't have children, yet. But I still get a huge kick out of them. I laughed for a good 10 minutes. Butt dust.....haaa!!!!!

Personal story: When I was a kid and we would say the Pledge of Allegience in school - for the life of me, I couldn't figure out who Richard Stanz was!

Too bad there's not an option to choose the last three. Those would be me.

PhotoNut....never thought that for a moment, darlin'!

You know...it just hit me. I wonder if the question I posed, at least in some way, harkens back to the idea that WLS is the "easy way out". Which most of us know that it is not....just read some of these threads!! In other words, is it like asking, "Why would you 'cheat' God of this opportunity to work in your life??" I suppose it could be argued, as Vines alluded, that this is the opportunity that God gives us to allow him to work in our lives. Yikes...I'm givin' myself a headache. LOL But it's the good kind...I love stuff that makes me question.

You know...it just hit me. I wonder if the question I posed, at least in some way, harkens back to the idea that WLS is the "easy way out". Which most of us know that it is not....just read some of these threads!!

Word up!!!!! We've gotta meet God half way (or some of the way)! I can pray and pray for a husband, but if I don't leave the house or make any steps toward making myself available...it is unlikely that God is just gonna plop him on my doorstep! Still...the question remains...what are the steps we should be taking to allow God to work in our lives in this area? Do we give it the old "college try" with your standard healthy diet and exercise and Holy Spirit guidance and nothing more? Understand...I'm just playing devil's advocate here. Trying to see different sides of the issue.

Hey, Ladies...thanks for your responses! Dutchgrl, I became a Christian while I was in college....back in 1993....ish. I have a family history of overweight and all the associated health risks that go along with it. Even if I lost all the weight I wanted, I'd never be a small girl...and I'm actually fine with that. Call it a cultural thing (I'm African American), but my "ideal" standard of beauty has always been heavier than the euro-centric ideal of beauty. Honey...I'm pretty hot now...but I'd be FIERCE at a perfect size 16. :heh: I like having hips and a behind...serious ones...little miss J-Lo doesn't have much of a behind as far as I'm concerned. LOL But, seriously, if I were to be honest, I'm carrying around more weight than I'd like (and much more than is healthy) because I love food waaay too much and because I equate food with comfort....in short, I eat too much...and it is difficult for me to control...at times it seems nearly impossible. I can't really blame it all on genetics. I do believe, however, that at least some of this is a spiritual issue (using food to fill a spiritual void). But, if I can do all things through Christ....(you know the rest)....why, then, can I not control this? This is a very tenebrous issue, I think. My friend and I weren't judging ourselves (because there is no condemnation....how cool is that???)....we simply didn't have an answer It's true that I am afraid, not because of spiritual reasons, but due to my family history. I'm walking in a minefield. I'm not convinced it is so simple as labeling overweight as sin or plain gluttony. I'm pretty sure it's more complicated than that. But, I still wonder if it's at least in part a spiritual issue. And that leads me to wonder whether WLS is a tool or a cop out. Personally, I lean toward the former, but everyone might not feel that way. And I really meant it as a general question...I didn't want to point fingers...but I geuss it's hard to pose or answer such a question in general terms without at least some anectodal reference.

This thread is cracking me UP!!

Way to embrace your fabulousness, girl!!!!! You're beautiful!

Fat people, smokers, and foreigners....the last accepted prejudices.

I think people, even overweight people, tend to think of being obese as the moral failing of weak and lazy people. If you're fat, you deserve to suffer...that's your penance. They think WLS is a way of bypassing the consequences of being weak and lazy. Hence, the "it's not fair" or "cheating" comments.

Wow...and what a doozy of a first post it was, too. Yikes...what a way to be outed about your bypass surgery. Not that most folks didn't suspect anyway...but still.

Well, that's true enough. I suppose you dont' become a famous actor because you hate the spotlight and just want to blend into the background. LOL

You couldn't pay me enough to be a celebrity. I value my privacy and my right to say "stay the heck outta my business" too much. I'd be like a female Russel Crow...all grumpy and bitter and morose....getting on everybody's nerves.

How much protein have your respective doctors/nutritionists required you to have daily?

THis is something new to me that I'd never read about. Why can you not take ibuprofen? What makes extended release tabs taboo? Are they too large to go down?

Really? The band actally makes noises? What kind of noises?

Oooh! I hadn't even considered the vomiting that comes with pregnancy! Not too wonderful for the band. Yikes! Anyone else have this trouble?

How did being banded affect your respective pregnancies? Did you get unfilled? Was it difficult to get adequate nutrition? Thanks!

Puddinpie, what a blessing to have such a wonderfully supportive boss!!! We should all be so fortunate!! :clap2:

Frankly, Monica, IMO, you needn't be embarrassed about your WLS OR your HPV diagnosis. I completely understand, however, about not wanting anyone to know. I woldn't either. I hear the comments at my job that people make about the young woman in our office who had a bypass. Things like, "I can't believe she would put herself through that." "It's just not worth it to me to undergo elective surgury just to be thin." The usual cluless remarks. Granted....she has had a LOT of problems, poor thing, but still...who the hell asked their opinion??? Still, people who don't have struggles with weight are clueless and often hurtful and don't even know it. I would probably keep my trap shut, too. Concerning the HPV...I recently read an article that said that about 75% of women have been infected with some sort of HPV strain. 75%!! So...over two thirds of folks on this board could have it (me included) and not know it. Kinda blows the stigma all to hell in my eyes.