MacMadame

Good luck finding a support site where everyone thinks President Bush is wonderful.

Maybe you have too much fill? :wink_smile:

I think it depends. My insurance wouldn't accept my hypertension as a co-morbidity because it's easily controlled with very little of the first level medicine. If I went off my medicine, at most my blood pressure would climb to about 145/85. This isn't good, but I don't think it would *really* be life threatening if I did it for a month or two. In fact, at times my PCP has me go off them for other reason for a day or two. But to make work for insurance purposed, I'd have to lie and say that I was taking the medicine and it wasn't working. That would be insurance fraud and *that* is definitely a bad idea, whether or not going off my blood pressure meds was a good idea.

There are a lot less hoops if you self-pay but there are still hoops. I had to do a nutritional consult, a psych eval, an EKG, an Upper GI, a Cardiac Stress Test, labs and a physical. The physical usually includes a PAP and Mammogram but I had them done less than a year ago so they accepted those instead of demanding new ones. What tests you get depends on your pre-op symptoms. I probably didn't really need the Stress Test as it turns out. But no 3, 6 or 12 month diet, no classes, no documentation of 2 - 5 years of weights, no having to submit a list co-morbidities and other documentation of medical necessity, etc. I could have had surgery 2-3 weeks after my first surgical consult if I'd wanted to.

My snack fairy buys me cherries and cheese sticks. :-D

I'm done with all my pre-op testing. And now I'm working the forms for the disability leave. I thought that it started the first day you were in the hospital but it appears that is no longer true. Bummer.

My experience is that UHC rarely (if at all) requires a weight history. You should never give an insurance company information they don't require as it is just giving them ammunition to deny you.

This is why we have chinchillas. They live about 12 to 20 years. Unlike the hamsters, guinea pigs, rats and mice we had before. The Yankees jersey belonged to my late MIL and I feel guilty for never wearing it and for even considering throwing it away. But if it gets to be way too big .... well, I'll have good excuse then, right? :sad: I like to wear a Christmas-y sweater on Christmas morning so I can look festive in the boring holiday videos Mr. Mac makes. As you can see, this amount of use did not justify buying a new one every size. The one I have now is only wintery anyway, but I still bet I get rid of it before I wear it again. That's a good idea! Make a Facebook page and we can talk.

Awesome! My mom sent me her "fat" clothes. Lots of XL and L and size 16 and a few 14 and ..... wait for it ..... I can fit into some of them now! Whoot! Whoot! Only the tops though. I think most of the weight I've lot has come off my face and my upper chest and almost none off the bottom. I can wear all the XL and some of the L though the L are all ones that have some give. None of the skirts or pants fit either though two are close. This caused me to go into my closet into the "special occasion" section and pretty much everything in there fit too. Some of that stuff I haven't been able to wear in years and only keep because how often do you need a Christmas sweater or want to wear a Yankees jersey?

As someone who has had two kids, the whole "knowing the sex is like knowing what your presents are before you open them" line is a bunch of BS. There are *so many* happy surprises about having a baby, but knowing the sex can make the baby seem more real and also can really help you with planning and pre-baby chores.

A gentler version of OH is Living After WLS (Living After Weight Loss Surgery) They have sub-boards for all the surgery type but it is heavily RnY dominated.

BBK, if you have joint accounts, make sure you have some money in your name NOW.

Would that be a pound of wood or a pound of gold? :biggrin:

LapSF charges 14000 for a band and that includes a certain amount of follow-up (I'm not sure how much though -- probably 1 or 2 years). It should also include the psych consult and the nutritional evaluation. They have a counselor and dietician on staff -- you can use them pre-op and then use them post-op too if you need extra help.

That's weird. You might want to try at LiveStrong.com. I'm pretty sure that version is accepting new members and it's the same database.

OKay, I definitely need a poo hat.

My surgeon says both bands perform the same in real life. He also says that just because you start off with some Fluid in the band, that doesn't mean you'll get to true restriction sooner than someone who doesn't. It's very individual how fast it takes you to get there. Since his practice sees 10-20% better EWL with the band than stated averages, I think I'll go with what he says.

I had to take my shirt and bra off and put on a paper gown but my bottom wasn't naked at all.

I wish I were in perimenopause. Sigh.

I never pay in advance. Why should the vendors have my money when it can be sitting in my account earning interest? Not that much of it does earn interest, but it could if it's in my account and it can't if it's at PG&E.

It's really, really hard to stretch the sleeve though. You'd have to significantly over-eat -- like at every meal-- to do it. Even then, it's going to be limited. Now, this assumes you had yours done with a smaller boughie such as a 32 f. Originally VSG sleeves were made the same size as DS sleeves and those sleeves did stretch more because they were bigger and included more of the stretchy part. But 32 f or 34 f are pretty much the gold standard now. Now gaining weight back, that's another story all together... you can do that with any surgery. Are you tracking your calories? I think that helps a lot. There is a Sleeve group on the Daily Plate. (link in my signature.) Come join us!

Actually weight loss is supposed to be much quicker, more like with a bypass. My surgeon says at first I'll lose 1-2 lb. a day though that will eventually slow down, of course. Then it's about 2-3 a week. Lap band is supposed to be about 1-2 a week, more like dieting. Er, dieting without WLS that is. It's not like we aren't dieting. I really don't care how fast it comes off though as long as IT DOES and, more importantly, it STAYS OFF.

Well I am.... I actually lost *two* pounds this week. Unexpected.

I've heard that about fills. The thing is, the vagus nerve is on top of your stomach. So if they cut off the top, then they have to cut it, right? A lot of people report being very hungry the first two weeks and I was wondering if that was part of the problem. That's the nerve that signals that your stomach has stretched out a bit in response to food.

I couldn't make myself get through enough of the suit to figure out if it had merit or not. I've heard that the OH people went through a tough time where lots of bs behavior was going on and wonder if the suit was related to that.