August 2010 anyone?

[kurby 0]

I know it's still a couple of months away but i just found this site last week and have been reading threads from people who were banded august and sept of last year.

I'm happy i've finally made the decision after thinking about it for a couple of years (could actually kick myself for not acting sooner)

I'll be filling out the paperwork this week and sending it in. Nothing is covered here in Canada so it's 100% out of pocket for me which is a HUGE amount of money but they way i figure it is that we don't need another car new or used, we aren't buying a house (live with my parents who are in and near their 80's) and even though we have credit cards and take vacations i'd like to be able to do it and not be exhausted after an hour of walking through Disney World or fit in to the seat of the plane next year when we fly to England.

so i'm here and thought we could support each other through our decision, preop, post up and through the months ahead of us.

i also thought i'd keep track of all our stats if everyone's ok with that. i'll do it in the second post and we'll take it from there :cursing:

Congrats to us all for making the decision to get and stay healthy for whatever our reasons are we've done it.

I'm 42, married, have a beautiful 4.5 year old daughter who has more energy then she even knows what to do with and i'd love to even keep up with half her day.

5'8, 320lbs and would love to see myself at 165 but would be thrilled with 175.

I don't have a surgery date yet until i submit the deposit of $3000 but it will be sometime in the second week of Aug.

[kurby 0]

August 2010 Surgery/new life date.

Name - OP date - OP lbs - Goal - Mth 1 - Mth 2 - Mth 3 - Mth 4 - Mth 6 - Mth 9 - Mth 12

Kurby - Mid Aug - 320 lbs - 165

[kittykat56 0]

Hi Kurby! I too am "hoping" to be banded in August. I have been preapproved by my insurance, but they require 6 months of monitoring before the surgery. I just had my 5th appointment today and scheduled my 6th for July 14th. My psych evaluation is next week, so I'll be all ready to submit for final approval at my July appt. Thus, I'm hoping for an August surgery date.

I am 38 yrs old, 5' 7 1/2", started in January at 296 lbs. I also am happily married with a 4 year old daughter. Sounds like we have a lot in common. :biggrin:

[kurby 0]

Hi Kittykat.

Great to have someone join me in the month. Hopefully more will join as the weeks go by.

good luck with your appointment - we don't have to do any of that here but then we have to pay 16,000 out of pocket for it too so i think i'd rather wait 6 months and have it covered :biggrin:

i tried to edit my second post to add you but the edit button is gone - wonder if you only have a short number of days to edit a post before they remove that option.

[kittykat56 0]

I'm just anxious to get going. I'm trying to learn as much as possible about my new lifestyle in the time I'm "waiting" for surgery. But not a day goes by that I don't want to just get going! I haven't had any second thoughts, probably because I did my research beforehand. Or maybe I will after I get closer to my surgery date. Either way, I'm ready to get this party started!:biggrin:

[kurby 0]

i know how you feel.

i've known about the slimband for about 2 years and thought and thought and thought about it.

kept putting it off because of the cost but my mom happened to mention a commercial she saw a few weeks ago and that's all it took.

within 2 weeks i had already had my first meeting to find out all the ins and outs, paid the deposit and book my appointment.

it's amazing how just a simple bump starts things rolling.

i think the timing is right in other ways too because dh and i have been trying for 4 years to get pg again and have a second child. i think my weight has played a huge part in not conceiving so maybe in a year or so i can report that we're expecting our second child. :biggrin:

[kittykat56 0]

We had a really hard time conceiving with my dd. It took over 3 years! I am convinced it was due to my obesity. And my pregnancy was high-rish due to my extremely high blood pressure. While I entertain the thought of a second child, I won't even consider it until I get my weight under control. It's not fair to me or my unborn child. I wish you good luck in your journey on both the weight loss and another baby! :biggrin: It will be so worth it in the end.

[losethemess 14]

Hello Ladies,

I am also an August 2010 Bandster hopeful. I am beyond excited, thinking about the possibility of being banded in roughly two months. My 5th dietitian appointment is July 17 and my 6th and final appointment in July 8th. Who knows I may get an July surgery date, God works wonderful ways. Of course I have to be approved first, I am very hopefully and faithful that I'll be approved. Praying everyday. KitKat56 I hope your approved. I have BCBS Texas and am required to, do the medically supervised weight loss program as well. To be honest I haven't really lost any weight, o well. Anyway ladies, keep me posted about your progress. I started a thread for August 2010 bandsters but it has little to no activity. I'm happy that I found this one. Have you both completed your Psychiatric evaluations? I hoping to loss weight this year so that my husband and I can work on having our second child next year, he really want to try this year. I'm like, no way I need to loss some weight first. I gained about 50lbs during my last pregnancy, being overweight and pregnant is horrible. This next pregnancy, it going to be better, healthier. Good luck ladies and keep me posted.

[jingleboob 5]

Hoping for August 2010 here too! Have 3#s left to lose for pre-op diet, my next appointment is July 1 and they told me if I have lost the weight we can submit paperwork to insurance. Was told it should take a week or so for insurance approval with my ins., and then about a month to get into the surgery schedule which would make it about the 2nd week of August! Very excited and dedicated to lose a few extra pounds before july 1st just in case!

I'm 31, a (future)stepmom to 2 super energetic little girls (6 and 11) and we would love to have a baby... or two... after we get married next summer. :-) but not until it's safer for me. I've also got a rotten back and have spent months of the past couple of years battling 3 herniated discs that are so painful. Lose weight. That's what all the docs say will help my back. So I'm finally ready. For my health, for my present and hopefully future children who I want to be able to play with more... I'm at 302 now and am 5'7" and would love to be a size 10! So whatever weight that is is where I want to be. (My mom was a 10 when I was younger and she looked amazing... we're practically clones so I'm thinking that will be my happy weight too)

fingers crossed all goes as planned for all of us:thumbup:!

[kurby 0]

i think its funny that you guys in the states have to lose weight before you get banded - if it were that easy to lose weight you wouldn't need to be banded.

plus you have to do a psych evaluation - we don't have to do that up here - in fact i still haven't even told my family dr i'm doing this - prob won't until my next visit whenever that is. but it most definitely be after being banded.

it's probably because we have to pay out of pocked for the procedure - which is very expensive up here - 16000.

there's little wait time too - pretty much only 2 weeks but i'm doing it in August because we're going away for all of July and didn't want to have surgery just before my vacation - i'll use the month of Aug to get ready and recover before going back to work.

[losethemess 14]

Kirby, losing weight pre-op is contigent on your insurance provider. My insurance provider does not require me to loss any weight in order to be approved for the surgery. The purpose of the 6 month supervised diet, is really not weight loss. I haven't read of anyone losing a significant amount of weight before surgery. Like you said if it were that easy, you wouldn't need the surgery. The purposes is to get you used to eating health foods, to adopt a new attitude about food, to practice getting in your Protein and some other reasons. You need to do all of these things in order to be successful after surgery. I think it's a great idea, even though I had having to wait so long to have the surgery. The Psychiatric evaluation is done in order to determine if you are psychologically prepared to have the surgery. I've heard of a lot of people who suffer depression and addiction, following surgery. I think it's terrible that you have to pay for the surgery out of pocket, good luck with that

[losethemess 14]

That's great, that you're close to submitting your paperwork. Who is you insurance carrier? What state do you live in?

[kurby 0]

Kirby, losing weight pre-op is contigent on your insurance provider. My insurance provider does not require me to loss any weight in order to be approved for the surgery. The purpose of the 6 month supervised diet, is really not weight loss. I haven't read of anyone losing a significant amount of weight before surgery. Like you said if it were that easy, you wouldn't need the surgery. The purposes is to get you used to eating health foods, to adopt a new attitude about food, to practice getting in your Protein and some other reasons. You need to do all of these things in order to be successful after surgery. I think it's a great idea, even though I had having to wait so long to have the surgery. The Psychiatric evaluation is done in order to determine if you are psychologically prepared to have the surgery. I've heard of a lot of people who suffer depression and addiction, following surgery. I think it's terrible that you have to pay for the surgery out of pocket, good luck with that

oh that actually makes more sense then what i thought.

it would be great if my clinic provides help in the area of teaching how to eat properly like you guys do - should find that out next week.

i'm really very bad at eating healthy. sugar, carbs, fat all the good stuff for taste

i pretty much lived off of Ensure drinks while pregnant because i couldn't keep anything down. i found out they have a high protine version which i was thinking of taking the week before - though my dr doesn't require a liquid diet like you guys down there but i might do it just the same.

[kittykat56 0]

Hi, All! I'm glad to see a couple more ladies added to our thread. LoseTheMess, I too have BCBS only out of WV. It sounds like we are having the same prerequisites. I had my first dietician appt in Feb and my last is scheduled for July 14th. I can't wait! I have my psych eval this week and my second support group meeting tomorrow. I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! I am hoping the final insurance approval will be quick too, but I'm not holding my breath after all the crap I've been through with insurance. As for the pre surgery weight loss, I've lost 10 lbs, which is much better than I expected, but nothing spectacular.

Kurby, I so wish this process was faster for me as I'm very impatient for the change. But, I'm glad I don't have to pay for the surgery and I really am thankful for the opportunity to learn the new lifestyle prior to the surgery. I think the waiting period is really like was said earlier, just to get you accustomed to the changes you must make post-surgery in order to be successful. The hardest one I've had so far is not drinking with my meals. I'm a big iced tea drinker and I've had to give that up as well. Anyway, I'm okay with it though as there's a bigger prize in sight.

Good to hear from you all. Let's keep up with eachother's progress. I love really knowing and talking to someone who's doing the same stuff at the same time. :thumbup:

[losethemess 14]

How are all of the August 2010 Bandsters doing? My Psych eval is scheduled for this Saturday, June 26th and my 6th and final Nutritionist appointment in July 8th. 16 days until everything is complete and my paperwork is submitted for approval. Please pray for me. I am beyond excited. Good luck everyone and keep me posted.