Wendiss

Hey that was mean :confused: You know how awful it is to laugh right after you get banded. I know I will be downing those mushies soon, but I never have never will be wearing a bikini. I will be slimmed way way down and in great shape, but no no no bikini. I'm a little more sore today than I was yesterday, but overall feeling pretty good. Have not had to take anything but Extra Strength liquid Tylenol for pain. Enjoying strained chicken noodle and egg drop Soup, but struggling to find someting I can handle w/protein in it. :hungry: Did have a Protein shake this morning, but I blended it and I think I made it a bit frothy. The froth was a bit to much for my new band to handle. I can not believe how small, clean, and neat my incisions are. I hope they continue to heal as clean as they are now.

I'm all set to go. Have to be at the hospital by 5:30am tomorrow, Monday, 1/24, By 10:30am I will be officially banded, One day and night of R&R at the hospital, Discharge by noon on Tuesday, 1/24. I'll post when I get home to let ya all know how I did and how I'm doing. My sister says to tell you all that she is praying for me. With that and all of the other support I am getting from loved ones and friends how can I not be good. :biggrin1:

For almost two months I have been poked, prodded, :omg: scanned, zapped, screened, evaluated, and all those other things doctors do to make sure one is fit to have surgery. I have cleared every hurdle, passed every test, and now they say I’m good to go. By noon on Monday, Jan 23<SUP>rd</SUP> I will be the happy home for a new Lap-Band. I want to thank you all for your support and words of wisdom up to this point. Special thanks to Christina for talking with me on the phone for about 90 minutes giving me all the low down on what to expect and helpful hints. Looking forward to sharing my new experiences with you all. Wendiss

From the moment I made the decision to get banded to help me fight :rambo my lifelong battle with weight I was convinced that it was the way to go. I continued to research, went to seminars, had consultations with a couple of surgeons in my area, posted and read postings in LapBandTalk, and did everything I my surgeon asked me to do before she would do the surgery. Thursday was one very happy day for me. I called my surgeons office and was told to cancel all my appointments on Jan. 23rd because I was going to be getting banded on that day YEEESSSSS..YEEEHAA I am so excited I can hardly stand it. My friends and family are so supportive and excited and happy for me. Heck, even during our New Year celebrations they were all discussing the different foods and liquids I could have during my different stages and ways they were going to help make me comfortable during my first few days after being banded. Okay, will someone please tell me why I am getting cold feet if I want this as much as I do, I have all the support from family and friends a person could want or need, and I have a WONDERFUL surgeon here in the US. For the past few months I have seen and read nothing but positive posts. Sure there have been a few minor complications here and there, but I really didn't notice anything really serious. Now all I seen to see and read are negative postings. Everything from gas pains to band removals. I have looked at the polls and I see the overwhelming number of members who are completely satisfied with their band and I have carefully read postings from the members who have had complications and gave explanations as to why they think they developed their complications. Don’t get me wrong here. I am still going through w/this, but I am freaking out a little bit about it these days. :confused: As a rule I am a very up, confident, and positive person, so this cold feet thing is kinda new territory for me. Does anyone thing I am just more sensitive to the negative because my date is finally a reality? Does anyone have an opinion to my cold feet and nervousness? :nervous

Delarla..Gurl how are you feeling today??? If I am not mistaken your last post was around 5pm yesterday and that is so not like you. However, yesterday when you were posting you sure sounded like you were one sick puppy. :hurt Your symptoms were not to be taken lightly and you needed some medical TLC ASAP. Did you get that? Are you feeling any better? Please post when you can to let us all know you are okay.:cry

Rest and get better.

I haven't had my surgery yet, but I already know my surgeon standard procedures after banding. A morning surgery, on one-night hospital stay, next morning small sip of barium, thank GOD far far less than I had to drink for the UGI she requires all of her patients to have before surgery, a little fluoroscopy, then if all is flowing good the new bandsters is on their way home.

Geesh...I LOVE IT!! I am so in and excited about being in. Maybe I am extra pumped up because yesterday I got a Jan 23rd banding date. I swear I am going to print the boot camp commitment, frame it, and put it where I see it all the time. Heck, with all of us working on this and keeping each other honest and on track how can we fail? Hey Eileen, I know she sounds like she is from Jersey, but I happen to know that the author of this boot camp pledge is practically my neighbor and a loooong way from Jersey. Coming where we come from I'm surprised she used "stinkin" and not something else MUCH stronger ) Good luck to all who are going to take this pledge on. Thank you for posting this for us.

Best of luck to you. Hope all is routine and you heal quickly.

Hey Michigan Bandsters...I am wondering if any of you had BCBS of MI cover your band surgery? Did you have to provide the 1 year of documentation of medically supervised wt loss? I have BCBS Community Blue PPO and I know they cover it, but I refuse to give them my first born child in exchange for their coverage

I saw Dr. Deol on 11/15 and was VERY impressed. If you are someone who wants a surgeon who will take control she is the type of doc you want and need. She told me what she expected before, during, and after banding. She gave me step by step directions and a check list to follow. The list had names and numbers of docs to call and how far out she expected these appointments to happen. Right now I am gladly in the process of jumping through necessary hoops Dr. Deol has asked me to jump though:PCP clearance, psych eval, nutritionist, xrays, and blood work. She says all of this takes about six-weeks, but right now I am way ahead of the game. I am hoping for a Feb 20 band date, so I can take advantage of my mid-winter break in the school year to have the surgery and recover a bit. Unfortunately, she will be in Australia working w/other lapband surgeons there for three weeks in Feb, so that may be tough. If I can and have to go sooner then so be it

Trish, you keep your head up and do not give up on this. Heck, now you know for sure it wasn't you. You are not, NEVER were, never will be a failure. :rambo Keep fighting. Good luck w/the hernia.

I agree w/Mousecrazy. I really doubt if there is anything any of us here can say to you that will make this go away. Whatever you may think, your husband leaving is not your fault. Just remember we will always be here for you to vent to. Instead of using your hands to put something in your mouth use them to type posts to us

Oh you all are so much fun w/this one. I love all of your answers. Thank you. I did talk to Dr. Deol today about carbonated drinks. She gave me a grocery list of reasons why a bandit should not indulge in carbonated beverages. I guess I am going to have to drink non-carbonated drinks or flat beer and Diet Pepsi once I'm banded. I know I will have to experiment just once, but I can guarantee it will be in the comfort of my home or of a good friend who will laugh at me and with me when the experiment goes REALLY bad.

I completely understand the reason behind limiting/eliminating regular sodas and beer because of the sugars and calories. I also understand that pounding back anything that is carbonated will cause some MAJOR undesirable side effects What I want to know is can you slowly work on a diet soda, a beer, or some other type of carbonated drink w/o these undesirable side effects? Is it an Urban Legend that drinking these will damage the band? I don't drink regular soda, but I will admit I have been known to indulge in a brew or two. I can and will live w/o if necessary. If even attempting to drink a fizzy drink is going to make me feel like I am passing a kidney stone or some other horrible thing like that I would certainly like to know. I like my fizz, but I am not into pain

I am so happy I went to my PCP on Thursday and we easily documented 12+ consecutive months of medically supervised weight loss attempts. Seriously, if there is anyone out there who must have the 12 consecutive months of medically supervised weight loss attempts for insurance approval go to your PCP and talk to him/her. My PCP pretty much had it figured out before looking at my records. Heck, she even signed the letter my surgeon uses for insurance approval. Through conversation w/my surgeon's office I think this is the biggest hurdle I had to clear. I will know better once I seen my surgeon on Tuesday.

Carolyn that is wonderful. I don't have a date yet, but I can only hope things go a smooth for me. Take it easy at work on Monday.

ts505050 I have to thank you for your reply to my post. Because of your reply to my post I now have my letter from Dr. Deol's office all signed by my PCP. On Monday I called Dr. Deol's office and spoke to Rebecca. BTW...Rebecca is wonderful. Besides all the typical stuff you talk about when making an appointment w/a new doc, we discussed self-pay vs insurance coverage. When I told her I was just going to pay for it by myself she mentioned the form letter and told me I might be surprised what we might come up with when I took it to my PCP and discussed my history w/her. She faxed me a copy of the letter to look over and take to my PCP. Right after we hung up I called my PCP and begged:nervous for an appointment with her before my 15th appointment w/Dr. Deol. They squeezed me in today. HOLY SMOKES...It didn't take us long to realize my PCP could have signed this months ago. I now have my signed letter and I am off to see Dr. Deol on the 15th to find out where I go from here. :banana :banana :banana:banana :banana :banana

Hello, welcome and good luck. Glad you joined up before your surgery. You can be assured that all of us will be thinking about you on Thurs.

Thanks to all for the replies. Hey Mandy, I have had Hylgen in both of my knees twice. The first series of three worked wonders, but the second series was not as successful. Never thought about the NSAIDS.Hopefully I won't need any of the meds a few months after I get banded.

Welcome busywoman. I am not banded yet, but I found this site on the day I made the decision to do so. Since that day I have had my ups and downs w/docs and insurance companies. I don't post daily, but I visit the site two or three times a day. The support from others in this site have kept me on the path to banddom I hate to think that there are others out there who fight the same war with weight and have felt the same pain as I have. However, there is a tremendous amount of comfort in knowing that I am not alone. Heck we are the BIGGEST DARN ARMY in the World and together we a fighting this war one battle at a time.

Wendy Age 46 5’5" Currently 246lbs, 41 BMI , 46fat% So I can quit feeling like a stranger to all of you I wanted to take a few moments to finally introduce myself. I have been reading through the posts in the forum for about three weeks and felt like it was time I stopped being so rude I have battled my weight my entire life. Fortunately, I have also been VERY athletic my entire life so I managed to keep my fat as toned as you can keep fat . I have never been one to allow my weight to keep me from doing things socially or physically. I have a great job where I am very respected by my colleagues and students. I have always loved a good party and always managed to use my ability to become the life of the party to distract the other partygoers from noticing how heavy I was. Pffttt..Who was I kidding they noticed. Wendy is so much fun, but the poor thing is so heavy. Unfortunately, over the years my excess weight, athletic activities, party habits, and stresses of the job have put a real strain on my health. I have developed arthritis in my knees, which is now very advanced and seriously affecting my way of life and my ability to do my job as an assistant principal at a high school. Besides my aches and pains my blood pressure is up, I have high cholesterol, acid reflux and all the other serious life threatening/altering illnesses being fat causes. Five times in my life, over 26 years, I have worked out and dieted and lost 80+ pounds. With the weight loss and increased fitness level would come an increased self-confidence that was so powerful I could physically feel it. I felt incredibly great, I felt great about myself, looked great in my clothes, was performing better in my athletic activities, and was determined to keep the weight off and stay healthy. However, every time I stopped hitting the gym three hours a day five days a week and went off of the super healthy diet I was on I would see the scale start to rise and feel the clothes start to get tighter. Over and over I went into an out of control downward spiral. Up up up went the scale down down down went my confidence and self image. This last unsuccessful attempt at keeping my lost weight off has been the worst yet. My energy level is at an all time low, I get depressed about my weight, I hurt all the time, I can’t believe that this is all ME inside this skin, and I fight the constant urge to just give up this battle and just let my weight go. After all these years of fighting this battle I know five things for sure: 1. I AM DONE BEING FAT. 2. I obviously can’t win this battle fighting it the way I have done in the past. 3. If I don’t do something about my weight something related to my being obese will kill me. 4. There is a weight loss option that I can use as tool to help me lose my weight and keep it off. 4. I am so not alone in my battle. After reading the posts on this site over the past few weeks I now know that there are others out there just like me who have fought the same battles I have with weight and they are winning with the help of the band and support from each other. I also have a partner, family, and friends who all love me no matter what my weight, but they want me around and healthy, so they have vowed to support me in this venture. 5. I am going to be healthy, comfortable, and confident in my skin next summer when I am WALKING 18 holes on my favorite golf course

I am an avid golfer and up until 3 years ago I was into some pretty serious weight training. Are there any bandsters out there who are weight training and/or golfing who have experienced anything negative w/their bands because of the activities? Heck, have any of you experienced any weird/negative side effects from any type of strenuous physical activity?

This insurance thing is killing me. I have the BMI and weight necessary for approval, but the documentation of supervised weight loss is a problem. Forget the fact I have tried numerous times in my life w/Weight Watchers, Sugar Busters, calorie counting, working out, etc... to lose weight and keep it off. Forget the fact that I am over 100lbs overweight, have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and arthritis so bad in my knees I can barely walk 100 yards. Forget the fact I do have 6 months of documentation of a medically supervised weight loss program. All the insurance company is worried about is 12 consecutive months of this bleeping documentation. Here are my questions to you all. I can get the documentation if I go back into the program I was with, but then what? I am being told by BCBS of MI that it has to be 12 consecutive months prior to talking to a doctor about the surgery. How long did it take some of you who did get insurance to cover your band surgery to get this approval? Better yet, how long did it take from the time you decided to get the band until you actually had the surgery? I guessing this hoop you have to jump through to get approval is the reason so many bandsters self pay. SERIOUSLY FRUSTRATED

I want to thank all of you for your replies to my post. I am amazed at how all over the board your replies are. Seems some you got approved w/o any documentation or trouble at all, while others almost had to sign away their first born just to get a hello from the insurance company. Obviously depends on your doc’s efforts to help you and the state you live in. I am almost certain BCBS of Mich., just recently started covering WLS, so I guess they are going to make anyone who tries to get approval jump though all the hoops. GET THIS. When I called my insurance company and the customer service rep started telling me EVERYTHING I was going to have to need and do I immediately started to get a sinking feeling that I was going to be on my own with this one. After listening to the very nice, but not very generous CSR basically tell me it was going to take a miracle for BCBS to cover this for me I decided to ask her a question. I asked her if I paid for this on my own would they cover any treatment necessary if there were a complication with the surgery? I was stunned when she quickly told me "of course we will cover any treatment necessary related to any complications from the surgery. COME ON….BCBS has willingly covered and will continue to cover YEARS of medical treatment necessary due to my obesity: prescriptions, tests, arthritis medications, knee surgeries, and even treatment necessary if there are complications with the band surgery, but they do whatever they have to do to not cover the band surgery itself. Looks more and more like I am going to be paying for this on my own. I am a stress eater and the very thought of battling the insurance company makes me want to order an extra large round pepperoni pizza and eat the whole thing by myself. I just can not handle the thought of doing everything BCBS asks me to do, it taking months to get all their ducks in a row, then having them ask me over and over again for something more. I have done years of weight loss programs, but I really do not have any documentation to give other than the last medically supervised program that I left six months ago. After four months of nothing but liquids, minimal weight loss, and hundreds of dollars I was done. You all know how though this battle is already. I have been fighting and losing my battle with weight for so long I really do not think I have it in me to fight the insurance company and my weight at the same time. I figure why wait months just to still not be approved. Every day I wait is a day I don’t lose any weight. Again, thank you all for your replies. Regardless of how my band gets paid for it helps to know there are others out there just like me who I can talk to and turn to for support.