Angela J.

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I know anyone who has a calender can see that it has been a long time since I last posted.  My bad.  I wanted to get on here and update what's going on with me.  I did my medically supervised diet and didn't really lose anything.  I fluctuated a few pounds the whole time.  I met with Dr. Schauer at the Cleveland Clinic and told him that I wanted to have lap band surgery.  He feels that with the amount of weight I have to lose that statistically I would lose more with the bypass.  I told him that I knew what statistics say but I am determined to shatter the statistics.  To me statistics are just a number...I have seen many people on these boards lose what I have to lose and more.  So after I met with him I met with the Psychiatrist and Nutritionist, got an EKG, abdominal ultrasound, chest xray and a bunch of labs. I had all of that stuff done by the end of september.  Next was a waiting game...
    I had to wait to submit my stuff to insurance because I was waiting for my husband to be done with his 90 day probationary period at work at which time he would receive much better insurance than we had before (which is ridiculous that his insurance is that much better than mine since I work in a hospital and he works in a factory. $15,000 vs. $3,000 out of pocket) So that day was yesterday. Yesterday was the end of his 90 days and we got our insurance cards.  I have to fax some papers showing 5 years of weights from my PCP and they should be ready to submit.  I'm so excited.  I had considered having my surgery toward the end of january if i got approved pretty quickly (I'm kind of limited due to school) but for multiple reasons I have decided to wait at least until the end of march when I have my spring break.  
#1  I am going to lose some weight before so that I will have less to lose after and so I go into it feeling like i accomplished something I set my mind to.
#2 I started working out and am going to make sure I have a set routine.  Also my husband and I are starting a workout challenge at the beginning of the year that ends at the end of march.  
#3 I need to identify my bad habits (any habits, but especially those that have to do with eating) so tonight for the first time I went to a counselor.  We didn't delve to deep this time, but he wants me to write down anytime I have a thought that has to do with food, eating, weight, etc.  I am going to go into this surgery knowing what my bad habits are and what triggers them.
#4 I make too many excuses, i don't want to rush into this surgery and then try to use that as an excuse for why I haven't lost what i want to.  

Well, I know this is a little long but I'm excited and wanted to share.  Wish me luck!!

Well, last friday I went into my endocrinologist's office and met with her PA to set up my 6 month medically supervised diet.  She set me up on an 1800 cal ADA and suggested that I take a look at Bob Greene's new Best Life Diet book, so I went out and bought it.  No good excuses...but I haven't read anything in it except the foreward.  Even though I am starting this diet and am following it pretty well, I can't get the idea into my head that I can lose a substantle amount of weight before I have the surgery done.   This week I am on spring break and I am going to try to read as much of that book as I can. I'm also going to go through my kitchen and mark the calories for things I eat the most.  

On another note, I went to Kohl's and bought myself a Magic bullet.  When I tell most people that they give me weird looks because they think I'm talking about something "dirty" and when I tell them that my mom went with me the looks get even weirder!  I love my magic bullet though and have been having fun making yummy fruit smoothies.  

Last thing...my DH has his interview to get into the company he is working as a temp at on Thursday!  He won't get in right then, but he will be at the top of the list to get in when they do need to hire people.  This means a couple things...when he gets in it will mean no more $8/hour, and 90 days till my med mutual insurance kicks in so I can start the actual surgery process.  So far I haven't sent anything to the cleveland clinic for fear that if it has a date on it they won't approve it since I don't have their insurance yet.
 
Well, that's all for now!

I asked on the ohio message board if anyone know's what kind of things medical mutual requires to approve WLS.  They couldn't tell me much when I called because my husband doesn't have their insurance yet.  The first lady I called in January was really nice and helpful but when I called back this month (feb) the lady was not nice and wouldn't help me at all.  So from the people on the boards I gathered that I need the 5 year history of overweightness (i think i made a new word) records of a 6 month medically supervised diet, and a couple of other things. 

The 6 month medically supervised diet was actually a little exciting to me because I can't do anything with the surgeon and Cleveland Clinic for 3 months at the least (that's saying Jim gets into his company tomorrow) so this 6 month thing will kinda keep the focus off of him getting into the company and becoming eligable.  Maybe that doesn't make sense to anyone else.  It keeps me from worrying about how soon he gets in because now it doesn't matter if he gets in tomorrow or in 3 months because I willl still have to do the 6 month diet.  My appointment to start my 6 month diet is next week.  I hope to be able to lose weight with it to get a head start on my surgery and also to start working out so it won't be so hard to get into a routine once I have the surgery.  I am afraid to lose much though because I worry that if I lose any with this diet the insurance company won't approve me.  But for me it's not easy to lose weight, but I can do it, I just can't keep it off or lose the amount that I want to to feel comfortable getting pregnant.
Wish me luck!

I have so many questions about the lap band and my surgery that I started to search "lap band surgery" on my space and I met a girl who had the lap band and was very happy with it (she's a friend on here now but i won't say who to protect her identity :). She's really nice and was very honest when I asked her about having depression or other emotional issues due to the lap band.  Her one year bandiversary is coming up so i wish her luck!  From meeting her I found this website on her myspace page and started looking around.  I learned so much in the first couple days that I was on here a LOT.   I think my husband thought I would be on here that much until I have the surgery, it was hard to explain to him that I was on here so much at first because I am learning more through this site than I had in any other way.  

I started reading the messageboards and realized it's a great way to ask questions to the people who have been through it, or people like me who are learning a ton about it.  So I had to become a member and I absolutly love it.  thanks!

I started asking around about if the insurance I described was acceptable to go through with and found out  that it might be for someone who has no other choice.  If i had to have the surgery by june like i wanted to I would have no other choice, but i do...it's complicated so here it goes.

My husband is working at a factory that makes Honda parts.  Right now he is hired as a temp but they will be hiring him within the next few months, and after a 90 day period he will be eligable for health insurance through medical mutual.  I called medical mutual and the lady was really nice. I explained my situation and gave her a group number that someone at Jim's work gave me and she looked up the coverage under someone else's name that works  there.  She said that the coverage for WLS is 90/10 with a $250 deductible.  That's way better than my current because I would have paid at least $12,000 out of pocket to have the surgery at the Cleveland Clinic.  So here I am just waiting for him to get into the company...then waiting the 90 days.  Wish me luck.

Well, this is when i first started looking into the lap band for myself.  I checked with my insurance through the hospital I work at and the coverage is not great: after I pay the first $6000 they will pay an additional $15,000 and that is lifetime, so any complications or reversal or anything that could potentially happen would be my responsibility.  I didn't think that this was great, but i didn't know for sure.  I  figured "we can go ahead and do this and have some sort of payment plan and maybe i can have surgery by june, that would be great."  We'll see.