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I am 44 and married with three great kids, 2 boys 23 and 21 and one daughter 14. My date is March 12...I'm both nervous and excited! I have United which will pay 100% of the hospital costs but I'm into my surgeon for 20% of reasonable and customary (which he charges about 2/3 more than that) plus my $515 deductible...so I figure a new life for about $5k. A bargain. And after surgery...I'm going to live with Betsy so I can go to Disneyworld every day!!! LOL!!

What a great idea Louise, THANKS!!!! I just turned 54 (February 1 .. yeah .. Kimmer you missed the party .. LMAO). Have been married 25 plus years, no kids (unless you count the 4 legged furry kind, then I have two 13 y/o boys (twins). They are b/w tuxedo cats named Poncho & Lefty). I work as an accounting manager in local government. Oh, lest I forget, I have a BMI of 50.0 (or in that vicinity depending on how tall I am on any given day.. lol). Before I went to the first doctor for a consult, I had to put together a 'diet' history. I was horrified to realize that it spanned 40 years. The first diet I remember was the summer of 1964, when I lived with my grandmother, and a kindly physician put me on diet (speed) pills. The weight has come and gone (mostly COME) over the last 25 years, and has been out of any pretense of control for the last 5 or 6 years. I have HBP, a fatty liver, and borderline type II diabetes. I am looking forward to living the 2nd half of my life in Newpouch. Hugs, Mo (doin' the 28 day boogie )

Mo, Fiend... Darned TOOTIN' I missed that party! But I ain't missin' your DOUBLE-NICKEL!! Kimmer Party Animal As Long As I'm In Bed By 8 Zero-minus-15 dayz 'n countin'!

Hey folks, This is fun!!! Hi...I'm 44, married for 21 years, with a son that'll be 18 the end of June. I have been an optician since 1981 and had my own shop for about 18 months. When it went belly-up after my father passed away in September 23 of 2000, I decided to go back to school and finish my Bachelors degree. May 2003 I went through the ceremonies at the University of Oklahoma to graduate, so my Mom could see me take "the walk", she died September 23, 2003. I still owed OU 2 classes and I finished them in December 2003. My degree is in Sociology and hope to do something either with kids or with the elderly. We have a Golden Retriever - Jade she's 5, a half Basenji/half Eskimo Spitz - Sugar she's 2, and a Gray Tabby - Jazzi she's 14. They are "my girl's"!! I was scheduled to start the process of having my both knees replaced in November, but my PCP talked me into delaying it and having WLS to help with my recovery. My left knee will still have to be replaced (long story) but maybe I won't have to have my right one done after the weight loss. To go along with the knees, I have poly-arthritis, a family with a history of Type 2 diabetes, both parents died of congestive heart failure, plantar fasciitis (both feet), bad hips (they pop out of socket real easy, it has a name but can't remember it), asthma, etc..... My DH is retired AF and we have Tricare Prime, they are covering everything but co-pays $12 to $25 each appointment. So I figure to come out at about $200 - $300 outgo in the end. I'm scheduled for March 2 for Lap Rny. Happy thoughts, Va 8 sunrises until my new life begins Offishal Paper Monkey and Secretary Extraordinaire Offishal Squirrel Wrangler (willing to share this title) My Angel ==> Whitney

Hi, I am Renee' I am 43 years old, married 17 years. I have 2 daughters, 23, and 22. (18 months apart) 2 beautiful granddaughters. One 3 and the other will be 1 year 2 days before my surgery. Which is 3/31. My BMI is 41.5. I am having open RNY. I need knee replacement surgery but my dr. says I'm too young and I really need to loose weight for it to last. I have adult diabetes typeII. I have DJD, I have depression, reflux, and the worst is lead in my a$$, so I never get anything done and I can't keep up with my granddaughters. I take approx. 21 pills a day. (at last count) I won't have any room for anything else in my pouch Virginia, I am so sorry to hear that Sept 23 is a bad day for you. My husbands birthday is Sept 23. Our first granddaughter was born on Sept 23, 2000. I quit smoking on my granddaughters 1st birthday Sept. 23 2001. Talk about a strange coincidence. DODODODODO. and I don't have an angel. But shouldn't it be someone in the same area or state as you?? My DH has insurance that will cover 100% of the surgery. I pay $10.00 co-pay for office visits. Yes I know I am very lucky. Good luck to everyone. Oh and by the way I have been a lurker for quite some time. Renee'

Hey Renee', Angels don't have to be from your area. Angel's often will go on boards and ask for positive thoughts and prayers on your behalf the days before and day of your surgery. An angel, if local, may actually come to the hospital and see you when you have surgery. They then report back to the group and let them know you're ok. If your Angel is not local, they can call the hospital and check on you. You MUST exchange all pertinent information for this to happen, and also include them on the list of people that can obtain information from the hospital. Due to the HIPPA laws they MUST be on that list to ask a healthcare professional about you if you're unable to answer your phone or speak coherently. Your angel also provides moral support in the days and weeks to follow. When it's your turn, you return the favor. Hope this helps... Happy thoughts, Va 8 sunrises until my new life begins Offishal Paper Monkey and Secretary Extraordinaire Offishal Squirrel Wrangler (willing to share this title) My Angel ==> Whitney

Ok Renee, Now you are out of the lurker's closet !!! Welcome to the Marchers to Newpouch Hugs, Mo (lead lurker!!!) (doin' the 28 day boogie )

Hi! I really enjoyed reading all about those who have posted so far. This was a GREAT idea! I'm 34, married 3 years and I have two beautiful children. William is 2 1/2 and Anna turned 15 months yesterday. I am 5'4" and I have a BMI of 48. I am insulin resistant (PCOS), have asthma, sleep apnea (CPAP), and pain in lower back and most of my joints. I also have a long family history of heart disease and diabetes. I start my new life at 1:00 on March 11 in Topeka, Kansas. I have my preop this Friday (Feb. 27) and I am very excited to be on the LOSING side! I have been on this journey for about a year and a half. I spent 6 months researching before I decided I wanted to do it and then another 6-10 months trying to get approved with Aetna. Since my husband was medically retired from the Marines with a permanent disability we qualify for military insurance. However, I did not know this until last August. At that time I decided we would drop Aetna and just forget about them and go with Tricare through the military. However, we could not drop Aetna until the end of the year so I had to wait until January before I could get the surgery approved through them. My Dr.'s office sent in my letter to Tricare on January 2 and by the 6th I was approved. Then came the wait for the surgery date. They were scheduling into March and April by the time I was approved. With Tricare I will pay $12 co-pay for each consult with the Dr. (x2) and $11 per day that I am in the hospital. Since I am having a lap-RNY I expect to spend about 3-4 days in the hospital. So I will end up paying $57-$68 for the surgery part plus a $15 copay for the psych eval (because I had it done under Aetna). I will end up paying less than $100 total for this out of pocket, $150 if you figure gas and turnpike tolls to get back and forth to Topeka. Not bad! Carrie

Okie doke - laptop is about to go night-night w/only a few minutes left to go before the battery dies, so I'll hurry this up and try to respond to everyone else's stories later. I'm Dina, 37 years old and a mother of a 2.5 year old son, married to Jack for 10 years and work full time as a police dispatcher. I live in Southern Oregon and have seriously crappy insurance. Working for the state, if you live in the Willamette Valley you can get Kaiser insurance which will pay for this surgery. If you don't, you aren't allowed to take Kaiser and you are stuck with Regence BC/BS which NEVER pays for this. So here I am, going to Mexico for surgery on March 10th with Dr. Alejandro Aguirre. He has a stellar reputation, so I am less worried about that and more worried about things like complications later after I get home. Thankfully my DH's doctor agreed to take me on with my aftercare, so hopefully I'll do fine. I also have a similar story to many of you - have PCOS, recently developed diabetes (was just insulin resistance up until about 6 months ago) and lots of back, joint and ligament problems. I have had slightly elevated bp lately and did have pre-eclampsia when I was pregnant. I see this handwriting on the wall, and I'm desperate to get this done before these problems solidify for me. I need to be healthy. I WANT to be healthy! Sorry for going on so long. Now to hit the send button before the battery say "times up!" Dina --who loves the thrill of living on the edge....even if it is a race against a laptop battery!

i am 22 years old,with a bmi of 52 and i am scheduled for lap rny march 15. i have been married for exactly 1 year and 9 days.i have a son who will be 3 next month(i wont get no birthday cake )i am a special education school bus driver and i really love my job. melissa