llamalluv

This! Even my friends who have no weight issues have commented in the week since my surgery that they never noticed how many commercials are about fast food, chips, desserts, etc. One person said they saw four different pizza brands advertised during a 60 minute news program. (We are in Chicagoland, though.) It's enough to make me pay the extra for fewer commercials on Hulu!

I did not have time for multiple food funerals. I got approved for my surgery on April 2nd and my surgery date was April 18. I literally had 12 hours to do my last meal before starting on two weeks of liquid protein drinks. I do wish I had eaten more savory things that last meal. I am sick to death of the super sweet taste of the Bariatric Advantage.

I have three kinds of "blenders". I have the regular traditional type of blender, the stick blender that you can use in a bowl or pot, and a food processor, which can blend, but also shred, chop, slice, etc. I use the stick blender more than the other two, because it's easier to store (I keep it in a draw with my knives), set up (just slide the stick onto the motor housing and twist until it clicks) and clean up (I usually just run it for a few seconds in a cup of soapy water, then rinse it.)

I have those moments where I think like that. Especially when looking at old childhood photos of myself and wondering what would have happened if my parents never split up, and I didn't spend my formative years semi-homeless and in poverty, with poor quality medical care, housing, and educational opportunities. What if my parents had worked out their marriage problems, Dad had kept his good job, I grew up in that nice working class neighborhood in California, and I was able to continue taking those dance classes I loved and added a sport to it? Or music? What if my PCOS had been diagnosed when I was 12, and already obese, instead of at 29? What if instead of feeling helpless as my weight ballooned up on the garbage food that can be easily stored and prepared in a motel room or car, I'd had a stable home life and a pediatrician that said, "Get Kristy to a gynecologist or endocrinologist" when I was complaining of heavy periods that left me doubled over in pain and a constant feeling of hunger? Would I have had one of those cute teenage California girl bodies that the boys liked? Would I have been less shy and more outgoing as a teen? Would I have had the confidence and energy to get involved in clubs at school, and make lots of friends, and get into a quality college and finish in four years and become a math teacher? But, we can't go back. And we have these bodies, no imaginary bodies from an alternate life. The only direction we can go is forward, toward greater health and a better life. And I plan to save up loads of cash for Beach Babe Body surgery.

I did just pay the cost out of pocket. I am fortunate to have the means do that, and to have a husband that looked at the total cost and how miserable my weight struggle makes me, and mutually agree it was worth the cost. I know not everyone has those things. It was $70 per visit, times 7 doctor appointments, plus 5 visits with the registered dietician at about $50 each. I'm not sure on the exact number because they billed me after the insurance company rejected their claims. But BCBS did cover two doctors appointments.

I was told the same after I had my c-sections. Granted, a much smaller less complex incision, but for about a week it really did feel like I would burst open if I stood all the way up!

It's all about what's in the plan coverage. Your insurance company should be sending you an annual Schedule of Benefits that explains what is covered and what isn't. They are required to do so at the start of every plan year by the ACA. I was annoyed that my insurer was not going to pay for the visits to the weight loss clinic they require prior to surgery, but it wasn't a surprise.

I'm not covered by Horizon BCBS, but I'm covered by a union that uses the BCBS of Illinois network. This week is my 6th of 7 total visits required by my insurance provider. They aren't covered. It did seem stupid to have to go through six months of dieting with a doctor watching over my shoulder, when I've basically been doing that for the past 10 years since my endocrinologist diagnosed my PCOS, but I've learned a lot about coping with my food impulses and it's been good to have the dietician look over my food and exercise logs.

Wow, totally unprofessional. Both of those. Keep looking. I have a great therapist who basically guides me through self therapy. What she does is ask me very open ended questions and allows me to think for myself. This is important because I only see her one hour a month. The other 700+ hours a month, I need to be able to talk myself through stuff, right?

I had a really crappy childhood and a rough go of my 20's. If I hadn't honed my sense of humor and sarcasm as a teen, I would not have made it to 30. There's humor in anything, even death and mental illness. (I almost committed suicide at 21.) I joke about my own post partum psychosis and my dead mom (I have a tiny urn of her ashes and take her out to lunch on her birthday.) I used to be very sensitive about how people perceived me, but something happened when I hit 30, and as I approach 40 I no longer have the energy, time, or F's to give heed to others opinions. Unless they're positive opinions, of course. This might be a good thing to discuss with your therapist.

Getting upset doesn't help anything. My son once noticed a little boy (about 3) at the grocery store who only had a thumb and one finger on his right hand (congenital defect) and started asking loudly, "What's wrong with his hand?!" I hadn't noticed, so it took me a second and the boy's mother chimed in, "That's how God made him!" My son was still asking why, and so I said, "God wanted him to be left handed!" And the other boys mother laughed with me, and said she would add that to her repertoire.

Well, here's the thing. Children that young are not judging you, they're just curious and inquisitive. Just try to keep that in mind. And though it sucks to have to educate people all the time, if you try to pretend that they are from a foreign culture (because obesity is really a whole different way of life) it can help you detach from people's stares and unkind statements.

They will handle it the same way they handle bloody show or discharge during a C-section. I had an induced labor turned emergency C-section after my water broke, and the nurses did not bat an eye at the blood and fluid when putting in the catheter.

When you have the new one put in, ask your gyn for lido for your cervix. That makes the sounding a lot easier.

I got a Mirena when my daughter was 6 months old and I was going to start my first diet pills (Qsymia). Right around the three month mark with it, about 20 pounds down, I had to have a new one put in because it fell out. Like completely fell out. I was in the shower and washing up my "undercarriage" and felt what I at first thought was a wiry gray hair (you know how those gray hairs have a coarser texture?) And then I realized it was the thread from my iud and that's when the whole thing just fell into my hand. The worst part was that hubby and I had just had a "date night" so I had to take Plan B and it made me sick as a dog for three days. I never had morning sickness with either kid, but now I have so much sympathy for women that get it.