Chicky....

You are wonderful and have taken a load off my mind. I have the # for United Health and hopefully all will go ok.

I went to my PCP today and he took me off the Lasix (ankles swell) and put me on bp medicine that has stuff in it for water retention too. I talked to him about the lapband and he thought that I had made a very good decision.

I'm kinda at a standstill right now because I can't do anything else till I attend my surgeon's seminar. It will be July 22nd and then my initial consultation is set for July 27th. They will gather all the necessary information and my pcp told me today he will write a letter of medical necessity that "will leave no doubt in Cigna's mind that I need this surgery". He is fantastic!

I'll keep you guys updated! :D

I vote on UHC too. Through my vast experience :lol: with insurance companies by spending years as a biller for doctors, I can tell you the from the doc's side, we had much less problems with UHC than any other. Mainly the difference with United Healthcare, is that they are pretty upfront and well tell you what they will cover and for how much, and what they will not even consider. They pretty well stay with what the say at the first. When we startetd looking around for a new carrier for our employees, I chose UHC for us too.

Hi Guys. I went for my consult with the nutritionist today and all went well. I do the upper G/I on 7/15 and hopefully I'll be a "bander" by July 26 (not the 27th as I thought!!); My PCP, wife, friends who are physicians and health professionals are behind this ALL the way. I am so PSYCHED!! Next year at this time, hopefully, I will not mind taking off my shirt at the pool!! Health To All!! Phil.

Congratulations! Good luck!

I Love This Wonderful, Wonderful Band!
 

Hi Everyone,
I haven't posted for awhile, but thought I'd do a little updating.

As of this morning, I've lost 43 pounds. I was so happy when I got off the scale that I ran screaming through my house about my loss. The reason I was so happy is because I've been a little stuck weight-wise and now I'm not.

As all of us veteran dieters know, plateau-ing is always a part of the process and it happens to everyone - not fun, but something that's pretty much inevitable. This time though, I didn't get upset or depressed about the stuck scale, because I know my band is working, no matter what the scale says. I'm eating well, exercising and following all the rules, so there's no way it won't work. I will be 46 in a couple of weeks and this is the first time in my life that I had a positive attitude about a little plateau. It was such a relief not to be worried about it or just to say "to **** with it" and eat everything in sight!

This band has given me my confidence back. I am doing whatever I want these days and I'm not even halfway to my goal. Imagine how I'll feel when I've lost it all. I am speaking my mind much more freely (very scary!), saying "no" more often to things I don't want to do, and not feeling so self-conscious when I go out. It's just amazing what a little piece of plastic (and my hard work) can accomplish.

The best thing is that I'm not dieting. I eat what I want, when I want, but always in smaller quantities. It is so wonderful not to have to deny myself things. In the past when I've dieted, I've always had incredible willpower - to a point. Then all **** breaks loose because I start feeling sorry for myself. I always had a deep-down anger that I couldn't have what everyone else was having. Now, if I want it, I have a little. A lot of times though, I don't even want crappy food, but it helps so much to know that I can have a little if I choose. I'm so much happier this way. I would probably lose faster if I stuck to a diet, but that's never been what this is about for me. I just want to be normal and happy.

This post is a novel, but I'm just bursting and had to get it out!

Phil - I wish you much success on your LapBand journey and hope you are as happy with it as I am. It makes what once seemed impossible within our grasps!

Chicka-happy-dee
:D

oh chickadeedeedear... i'm so happy for you i'm just about in tears!!!! so glad it;s working for you. in a perverse way, all our previous attempts have been excellent training. the only piece we lacked was that the weight wouldn't go away and STAY AWAY.

soooo my hat's off to you. when are we going shopping/???? sounds like you've lost a couple of sizes already and that things are starting to get REAL baggy!!!!

Way To Go Chick!

Chickadee: You can write all the "novels" you want. You are such an inspiration. I can relate to everything you say about the feeling sorry for ourselves and angry that we aren't "normal", etc., and can not wait to get that confidence and success you have. I am going to my PCP tonight for the "pre-surgical testing", then just the upper g/i on Thursday. I am SO ready and anxious for this to happen. . . I have a lot of weight to lose (150+ big ones) and want to get going. Keep us up to date.

went for first visit yesterday. The doctor is really pushing gastric bypass instead of lap-band. He says I wil only get down to 190 from 255. I am a little discouraged. Any advice would be welcomed. I am on the practice diet for the next 8 weeks. If I meet all the goals that they have set for me then at my next appointment, they will schedule my surgery.

Another question. When I lose my weight I want to have a tummy tuck. How would that work with the port under my skin. Thanks.

Hi Mac,
My first response to your post is that I think you should talk to another doctor. It seems to me that doctors, like us patients, have their favorite surgeries - generally the ones they are most familiar with. I think that your doc's attitude possibly stems from inexperience with the band and reliance on old statistics. If my memory serves me correctly, my surgeon told me I could expect to lose 80% of my excess weight. Math is not my thing, but I think that's better than what your doctor told you.

I don't know your height or co-morbidities, but at a starting weight of 255 you probably are an excellent band candidate. I hope you are doing lots and lots of reading and research. My long journey to getting the band turned out to be a blessing in disguise because I was able to really educate myself about the whole procedure. I haven't had any nasty surprises yet and feel like I went into the process with my eyes wide open. Hopefully your doctor has a good pre-surgery program set up with nutrition and behavior classes. They're very helpful. We got a ton of literature to refer to also.

If you haven't discovered the following websites, they are full of good reading too. They are message boards for bandsters and full of people with good and bad band experiences.
http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobe...and/posts.html
http://lapbandtalk.com/forum/

As for the tummy tuck, I've read a number of stories of people having successful plastic surgery after banding. There's an area at Lapbandtalk.com just for plastic surgery discussion.

One more thing - go back in this forum and read my post from July 9 (or is it July 8). I don't want to repeat everything, but my favorite thing about this surgery is that I'm not really on a "diet". I know some people stick to a diet plan, but a lot of us just make mostly good food choices. I'm curious about your 8 week plan. The band rules are protein first, veggies second, everything else after that. Lots of people (me included) have trouble with doughy things (untoasted bread, pizza crust, etc.) and dry meat (chicken hurts!). For me, there's no diet, just following those simple rules. I don't eat anything sugar-free (because I can't stand fake sugar) and am losing just fine. I have treats every so often, but find I don't have cravings for crap like I used to. I'm also exercising and taking my vitamins. This band is a good thing!

I tend to get kind of high on my soap box sometimes, but I'm really sold on the benefits of this surgery. Hope there was something helpful in this (again) novel.

Chickadee

psstt.. chickadeedeedear.. you'll tell me when this thread gets too big for you to load won't you? so i can start up another one for you??

Great minds think alike Jiffypoo. I was just thinking I would ask you for a new thread. How cool is it that we're about to start LapBand thread #3?

Your secret admirer,
Chickadee(deedear)