ladytonya

Right now, we have me, P'Nut, Kathy (the best me) and her sister, and Diva Girl and her DH. If anyone else is coming, let us know! It would probably be best to send me an email since I may not remember to check this board and the other board tonight. I am off to Concord for my initial consult with Dr. Bauman! Yeah!

Ditto what Wavy said! I made straight A's and graduated 8th in my class in high school but I never had to study. Never. Ever. I was taking AP and Honors classes and I still never had to study and I went in to college with 15 hours credit from all my AP exams. Because of this, I did not know how to study and to this day I still do not have a degree. I keep saying that I will finish it some day, but that day hasn't come yet. I really wish I would have been more challenged in high school.

I've never read any of the other boards very often except the one for starting BMIs over 50. I haven't seen any of the nastiness but they were talking about it over there. PhotoNut's account says she is suspended. I hope she wasn't involved in any of that. I need to send her an email to give her some hotels for her trip to Asheville. Anyway, hope to see some of you up this way if that happens! I can't wait until September 14! That's my first appt with Dr. Bauman.

Dr. Bauman is in Concord, right outside of Charlotte. I am going down there because Dr. Bradshaw and his group won't even meet with me at my current weight! I went to my first info session at Mission and was told I was too fat for weight loss surgery. I was devastated! It has taken me over a year to get back in it and realize that I could find a doctor fairly nearby who would operate on me. I'm "only" 440. I have read about people who are 500 and 600 lbs getting banded so I know there's no way 440 is "too fat". I started doing the research and found that most other surgeons don't have such arbitrary guidelines. I chose Dr. Bauman after reading all the positive comments on him both here and on the OH site. Anyway, it's nice to finally have some Western North Carolinians on here! BTW, why do you have to register to attend a meeting? I often don't know until the last minute what's going to happen at work so I might make one last minute. Is that not possible? Just wondering because if you absolutely have to register, I'll probably never get to one! Seems kinda silly to me anyway to have to register for a support group, but then again it is Mission! Go figure! Anyway, I've been rambling on long enough. It's great seeing everyone on here and I can't wait to meet you all sometime!

Hmm, I'm not sure what I'll be up to that weekend yet. I am in Asheville and would love to meet you guys! That will be after my initial consult with Dr. B so it would be nice to meet some bandsters. Let me know if you need any suggestions on places to go. I've lived in Asheville my whole life so there are too many places around here that I haven't eaten. PhotoNut, what are you going to be here for? Are you going to be in Asheville itself or just the surrounding area? A gathering would be great! I too hope we can work something out!

LOL! Well, if the meetings are at 6:00 pm I should be able to make them! I was wondering about the 6am thing. Maybe it was just a typo wherever it was that I saw it. Anyway, when are where are the meetings and are they mostly people who are banded or is it mostly RNY? I might actually attend sometime and see if I like it. I think it would be especially good to have a place to go once I get banded that is local for support. The doc Kathy was talking about in Winston should only be about 2 hours away. That's not bad. Of course, for what you pay there you probably could fly to MX and build up some serious frequent flyer miles in the process! I know some of the docs in MX include at least the first fill with the price of the surgery. You might want to check that out, at least for the first one and then see if you can find someone around here that is reasonable. If not, then you get to go work on your Spanish! Of course, I would be sure to stay down there at least a few days after the fill to make sure you're not too tight. I've read where people have gotten too much and been tight for long periods of time because they couldn't get unfilled locally.

Hi, Allison! I too am an Asheville girl. I am not having surgery here in Asheville because of their arbitrary weight requirements. They will not operate on anyone over 400 lbs. No reason, they just won't do it. Not the band or RNY, so I am just going somewhere else! I asked about future treatment here after having my surgery and was told that as long as I had my records and the surgery was done in the United States that it would not be a problem. She said they have people trying to get help with bands that were installed in Mexico and they have seen too many complications so they won't touch them. But somewhere I heard from someone else that they would fill bands done in MX so you might just want to check. Anyway, I have never been to the local support group meeting but would like to, but doesn't it meet at like 6:00 am? Not gonna see the whites of my eyes at that ridiculous hour of the morning unless there's shopping or a ball game involved! Anyway, this has gotten rather long so I'll shut up now! Nice to have another Ashevillian online! Good luck and keep us updated on what you find out!

Oh, I know exactly what I would have done! I would have probably hauled off and smacked the insensitive slob, then I would have gotten to the car and cried for a while, then I might have actually looked at the card and called the number on it. I have actually had similar things happen, although not quite as brazen. Wow, I guess it takes all kinds!

Just thought I would ask here since I can't find this information anywere. Currently, BCBS of NC will not pay for the lap band because they consider it experimental; however, the policy indicates they last reviewed this in August 2004 and are reviewing it again in August 2006. Anyone out there have any clue when in August this is supposed to be? I keep checking the website and it still says the same thing. I'm hoping they update the site as soon as it is changed, but knowing them they won't. Any "inside" knowledge or just simple suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

I didn't mean it negatively toward anyone! I'm just saying that I would feel guilty myself. Definitely nothing against any working mothers out there because my mom was one. Both me (I think?) and definitely my sister were in daycare from very early on. My sister stayed with an older lady that with the help of her daughter kept a total of 6 children. She would always keep them until they were 3 and she took two at a time. When the kids turned 3, they would move on to other daycare options and she would take in 2 new babies. It was a constant rotation and worked really well. I only hope that I can find that kind of arrangement when I can finally get rid of some of this fat and have a baby of my own. :phanvan Please don't take any offense from the way I worded my post! I definitely didn't mean anything bad, just the wrong choice of words.:embarassed:

I want a baby! :think Gotta get banded so I can lose enough to get rid of this insulin resistence and then maybe I'll start ovulating again. Anyway, ya'll are making me sad and I don't even have one yet! :cry One thing that troubles me about having kids. My hubby and I will never in a million years be able to afford for me to not work. I'll finally have my baby and I'll have to dump her off with a babysitter 5 days a week. I know lots of people do it, it just doesn't seem right. :phanvan Good luck to all of you with kids going off to various stages of school!

I've often wondered about the strict, lengthy liquid diets before and after surgery, specifically the people who have to be on clear liquids for a month after surgery. I don't see how they can heal if they aren't getting proper nutrition. I don't care how many vitamins you take, there is no way you can have proper nutrition on a clear liquid diet with no protein. I'm reading on these boards where there are doctors making people do a full month post-surgery and won't even let them have protein shakes! I would seriously question my surgeon if he had that kind of strict requirement. Of course, I haven't even had my initial consultation yet so I guess I'll find out soon! I have the same doc as Wavy so I'm hoping I have the same requirements! Hey, Wavy, how long was it from your initial consult to the surgery with Dr. B?

One of the NSVs that I can't wait to have will be going to Carowinds and being able to ride what I want to! Of course, there are things I could ride the last time I was there. I rode Rip Roarin' Rapids, the log flume, bumper cars, carousel, and I could ride the Carolina Cyclone if I sat in the front car. There were a few others, but not enough for me. That was the last time I went and that was several years ago. I want to be able to ride Top Gun and the Borg Assimilater! Less than a month till my appointment with Dr. B! I can't wait!