sleepyjean

Does opportunity cost count?

Hee hee hee! Ok, that part did not make me feel any better about this...

I really enjoyed reading your story. This probably sounds horrible, but I was kind of glad to read that you struggled at some times along the way. It makes this seem a lot more doable for the rest of us. :-) Totally unrelated and random question: your hair is naturally curly, yes? Did you have it chemically straightened? Was it damaging? That's one of the things I want to try when my face gets less pudgy.

I've made up my mind. I'm going to lie. I'm going to look 'em all in the eye and lie like a rug. I'm going to tell my boss I'm having surgery and I'm going to be out for a week. Now here's the thing - I'm not telling anyone I'm getting banded. It's not that I'm ashamed, but this kind of surgery makes people curious and I don't want to have to deal with a lot of questions and/or scrutiny. Therefore, I need to come up with some kind of condition that has no outward symptoms (e.g. rash, weakness, face turning purple, barfing up a lung) but requires surgery to correct. And this condition has to be something that elicits as few questions as possible. It has to be the kind of thing where someone asks "why are you having surgery?" And I can say "I'm having surgery because of X" and the conversation stops there because when someone is dealing with X, it's just plain rude to ask nosy questions. So what's wrong with me? Blood clot? ulcer? girlie issues? Anyone have any good ideas?

When I had my first info session, I stuffed quarters in my sports bra. Two rolls of quarters = one pound. I almost got busted though. The doctor went out into the hallway for a second and I whipped the quarters out of there. It was a good thing too, because right after that, he lifted up my shirt to show me where the surgical scars would be. LOL! I've never seen fishing weights, but I'm wondering if you could even sew them inside your clothes somewhere with a stitch or two so they don't fall out.

If I recall correctly, my insurance (Blue Cross) will cover it if the cause is medical ie: erosion or something going wrong with your port. They won't cover it if I eat around my band, expand my pouch, and then want an adjustment or GB.

Hmm....lots of good ideas and things to think about. I think my strategy will be to take a week off, and then if for some reason boss needs me to change my schedule, then I'll tell her about the surgery. That's a last resort though. Maybe I'm being silly, but I'm kind of afraid that if I do make up some kind of health problem, my liver will really fall out or something!

I'd never considered plastic surgery for myself until I read your post. Now it seems like something that might one day be a possibility. Your procedure was a lot less expensive than I thought it would be - but I guess it's much more than that in the states. Four weeks, though? How did you do it? Are you a student or did you take a leave of absence from work or something? I was curious so I looked up Dr. Quiroz. (FYI the website is www.cosmedclinic.com not www.cosmedsurgery.com :-)) It seems like a very reputable place. Is it a hospital? I don't know exactly what a surgical center is. Maybe I'm paranoid (comes from watching "Awful Plastic Surgery" on tLC) but they always warn against having any type of procedure done outside of an actual hospital.

Wow - very inspiring!

are you supposed to start using it right away or wait until your hair actually starts to come out?

Yup, it seems like the first thing she always wants to know is if you're shacking up or an unwed mother. She's real clear about her opinion on those issues. Anyone who calls and admits to doing either of those things is going to get torpedoed. They know it, so I can't feel sorry for those people. Dr. Laura is blunt and gets right to the point. That alone is a novelty in these politically correct times. I disagree with most of what she says, but I'm willing to admit that sometimes she does have a point. The only issue where I'm fully behind her is the basic idea that when you decide to have a child, from that point on, you must consider that child's needs before your own. {SIDEBAR} It's amazing how many people call in and don't realize this. One time I was listening to the show when a woman called in because she was having problems with her 14 year old son. She said he was disrespectful, disobedient, running with a bad crowd etc. The woman was completely bewildered that her son had turned into this nasty creature "overnight". She wanted to send him to live with his grandparents and wanted Dr. Laura's advice (read: blessing.) During the course of the conversation, the woman revealed that she had divorced the boy's father 3 or 4 years prior and recently moved the family several hundred miles away from their hometown. (The boy's father was, of course, a deadbeat jerk). The woman had moved the family so she could be near her new boyfriend - who she hadn't actually met at the time because he was in prison. Soon after the move, the mother got engaged to the jailbird/future stepdad. Meanwhile, the boy was uprooted from school and all of his friends, moved hours away from his father, and presented with a future stepdad who is a convicted felon. Mom was so happy now - new home, new man, new lease on life - but her son was trying to ruin everything for her. Needless to say, Dr. L ripped that lady a new one. This was a clear case of someon who really did need to be smacked upside the head.{/SIDEBAR} Anyway, regarding the caller with the overweight husband, Dr. Laura's comments have been rude, prejudiced, hurtful (and the same as many people who've never had a weight problem.) Obesity is a lack of character. What an incredibly stupid thing to say. Dr. Laura's show is offensive to many, but she must get ratings if she's still on the radio. I guess my point is, when you call into the show, you know what you're going to get. And when you tune into the show, you know what you're going to get. It makes no sense to be hurt by something that is said by a woman who is known to be offensive and unkind. It's like a heroin addict telling me I'm raising my kids improperly - who gives a crap about their opinion?

I'm not banded yet (fingers crossed) but when I read the scary posts, I get a little panicky too and wonder if I'm making the right decision.

oh gosh, I know that's scary. Hopefully everything will be ok. And congrats on getting approved!

When I first joined this forum, and realized how difficult it would be to get the surgery covered by my insurer, I was gung ho to head south. But I just finished paying off a pretty big debt and am just not willing to go into massive debt again - at least not right now. I decided to exhaust my insurance options first - even though it takes 10x more time and effort to go through all of the approvals and requirements. I have read great things about the surgeons in Mexico - especially Kuri, Sanchez, and ortiz. I've read some not-so-great things as well. (Same goes for surgeons here in the states.) But for me, it comes down to my gut feeling. I am not a risk-taker by nature. It's important to me to know exactly what I'm getting into and to have planned for all likely possibilities. I want to know that I can rely on the same doctor/office for preparation, surgery, follow up, monitoring, complications, etc. I want to know that I have some recourse if the guy uses plastic twistie ties instead of the inamed band or if he uses grape kool-aid for my fills. In all likelihood, the surgery will be fine and I will be fine. But knowing that I'm covered gives me some peace of mind, and that's something I really need in order to get through this process. That's something I wouldn't have if I went to Mexico. Things would have to get really bad for me, Healthwise, before I'd be willing to take the chance. But that's just me. Overly cautious by nature.

For those on meds, how do you take them? I read somewhere that you have to stop taking them because they could get stuck above the band and block the opening to your stomach.

This morning I got out of bed, washed my face, got dressed, fed the cat and left for work. It wasn't until I'd gone down three flights of stairs, got to my car, started the ignition, and started to back out of my parking spot that I realized I was wearing a raspberry colored shirt with a red and black skirt. Not an attractive combination of colors. It made me realize that I never really see myself anymore. I can look in a mirror and see if my hair is standing on end or if I've got toothpaste on my face. I can see the individual parts, but I can't see *ME.* Where did I go? I'm used to being invisible to the general public. It's so strange that the bigger you get, the less people actually see you. Now it seems that I am turning invisible to myself! It's scary. But sometimes I wonder if losing weight and becoming visible again isn't even scarier... Are you invisible too?

I would find out exactly how long he's been banding and when/where he was trained to do it.

I tried Lexapro about two years ago. My shrink put me on it and told me to come back in a month for an evaluation. For the first couple of weeks, I felt great. But then it stopped working - almost overnight - and the depression was worse than ever. It was so bad that I cancelled my appointment with the shrink. I figured I could not be helped. Fast forward a couple of months and I was in really bad shape and went back to the doctor out of sheer desperation. That was the end of Lexapro for me. Right now, I am on a cocktail of prozac, wellbutrin, and effexor. The drugs are doing their job, but I hate the fact that I have to take them at all. I know depression is common but if I have to rely on those four pills just to feel normal, there must be something really really wrong with me. LIke maybe the doctor lied and one of those drugs is an antipsychotic or something. One of the reasons why I really really really want to lose weight, is the hope that it will relieve some of my depression and I can either stop or reduce the amount of meds I have to take. Is this a goal for anyone else?

Last night I had the weirdest dream about getting banded. There were a bunch of us in bathrobes sitting in folding chairs in someone's living room, waiting to get banded. We were all wearing elastic headbands with a bright orange mailbox flag attached to the front. You had to keep the flag up so the staff would know who was in line. I had a hard time keeping my flag up. It kept falling down and then the nurse would skip over me and take someone else into surgery. The other thing was I had to pee every five seconds and the bathroom was one of those British phonebooths and every time I went in there, I'd miss hearing my name called. Also, Randal from the Apprentice was there. I have no idea why. I finally got called to go in for surgery and as I was laying down on the table, Aunt Flo showed up. I could hear the nurses talking about inserting a catheter and I woke up in a total panic. Now that I'm awake, what *does* actually happen if you've got your T.O.M. on surgery day? I know nurses have seen it all, but I just can't imagine getting banded under those circumstances, especially since **WARNING:TOO MUCH INFORMATION** I use pads not tampons. Ew ew ew. Has anyone had to deal with this?

Really? that's the first time I've ever heard of an insurance company doing that. I'm curious - who is your carrier? Amen to that. Let me preface my comments by saying that I am emphatically anti-WW. I've been on WW four times, in four different places and have in the past attended meetings regularly in upwards of 10 different centers. One of those times, I lost 70 pounds and made lifetime. Everyone was applauding and oooh and ahhing for me and WW gave me an application to become a leader. I think all you have to do is make lifetime and then have a couple hours of training and voila! You are a leader. Just because you have lost some weight doesn't make you an expert. Exhibit A: (holding up current photo of myself.) To be honest, I felt that I lost the weight despite (not because of) WW. I hated the meetings. Most of my leaders were excellent by WW standards. They were well-spoken and encouraging and led energetic meetings. But most of the time, those meetings were thinly disguised infomercials for WW products. I got sick of that, and I got sick of the clique of women you find at every WW center across America. Those are the women have been attending that same meeting with that same leader for years and years and they do almost all of the talking and the meeting feels like their personal coffee klatch and everyone else is just observing. (I always wondered how you could be in WW for that many years and be hundreds if not thousands out of pocket, still not be anywhere at goal, yet give advice to other members and Celebrate every pound lost as if it's not coming back the next week.)

I was in a similar situation a few months ago and because I'm extremely debt-phobic and am saving for a downpayment on a condo, I gained the weight. I've gained about 15-20 pounds. I'm bigger than I've ever been and feel absolutely miserable. Physically, I feel absolutely rotten. I have a lot more pain in my back, legs, and feet. This is definitely not the healthy way to go. The only thing keeping me going is knowing that it's only for another month or twoHowever, I do have a lot more peace of mind knowing that my BMI is officially over 40 and I don't have to come up with a bunch of bogus health problems or get creative about my family's health history in order to get approved. Like I said, this is defnitely NOT good for you and because of that, I have a hard time advising you to do it. But in my case, I felt it was my only option.

I know it feels rotten, but it's probably not that unusual. When you have to stop on a dime and change your habits, the effects aren't just mental but physical as well. Your body is used to the way you normally treat it and what you normally feed it. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a withdrawal-type thing that happens, much like when coffee drinkers give up coffee - headaches, the shakes, pain, and other physical manifestations of your stress. I believe you will get through this though, and you will probably be stronger for it.

ONEderland! Woohoo!

wow, the majority of bandsters are crazies like me! You know...if the majority of us are nuts, doesn't it seem likely that it's *everyone else* who really has a problem? LOL

I was going to get banded at UCLA where (until recently) they did both GB and LB. They stopped doing bands very recently - a month or so ago. When I found out, I asked them why and the program coordinator said the band has low success rates and requires too much follow up care.