Monday Roll Call

Good morning Crystal and the rest of Illinois!

How strange about your alarm clock.  Sounds like it got re-set somehow.  Hopefully, you will get to catch up on that sleep tonight.

Liv woke up yesterday and no longer felt the urge to vomit, but was still not feeling great.  She DID manage to keep the Sprite and rice down throughout the day and had a hot bath later yesterday afternoon which seemed to do the trick.  She will be going to school today.  I do not know what she had (no fever) but I hope I don't catch it!

Working today then home with no big plans.

 

Good morning everybody!

Whew it's been a while. It has been such a crazy holiday season. I am doing well, busy though. My husband finally ended his contract on his second job so I will be seeing a lot more of him yay!

Work is insanly crazy. We are going through another conversion and everything has to be done yesterday.

I've had a few health concerns here and there but everything has worked out. I was having some intestinal and BM issues last week. I think it may be related to the Click protein drink I was using but after a ton of water, milk of magnesia and stool softeners all is well and I feel normal again.

I officially hit 50lb lost last week! I was so excited! :) A friend of mine had WLS a few months before I did and she is handing down all of her clothes that are too big for her, which is awesome and helps a bunch. I went through my closet last night and got rid of 3 bags of clothes! I also bagged up 2 bags of clothes that no longer fit my son and will be taking all of those bags to good will this week.

Now that my hubby will be home in the evenings I will be upping my exercise routine to include him as well. We have a bike and bowflex in the basement that we will be using. I hope to have him down 50lb in the next 6 months or so.

I hope everybody is doing great and I hope to be around more often too. I miss you all!

-Crystal

Hey Crystal -

I wonder why your having problems w/ CLICK.. It's my all time fav protein shake. 

You may want to check w/ your surgeons office to see if they have a clothes swap.  It is so helpful to be able to get clothes past on when you're losing so fast.  As you know from your friend.

Glad you'll be able to spend more time w/ hubby.  Congrats on 50lbs gone!

Christina

Click is such a wonderful drink! I love love love it! I am not 100% sure that it caused my stomach issues but I am slowly adding things back in. I took my fish oil chew this morning and will do that for a few more days to see how that works. Maybe later this week or next week I will try the click again.

In the mean time I mixed in some pistachio pudding mix into my vanilla shake and OMG it's so yummy! :)

 Good Morning Everyone!

IT Is a brisk 7 degrees here.  I think I need to become a polar bear and then I would love this weather.

Crystal, this must be the day for alarm clocks to go on strike.  I set mine last night but woke up before it went off.  I was laying in bed and relaxing with the knowledge that it would go off soon and fell back to sleep.  I woke up 45 minutes AFTER it should have gone off.  I swear that alarm clock has a mind of its own!  This is not the first time it has done that.  Shrug.  It has 2 alarms so I usually set both.  I like its size or it would get the boot.  

I have physical therapy today and need to go to the store and run some errands.  Not looking forward to going out in the cold.  Need to try and get in to the dentist as well.  Not sure if it will be today or tomorrow.  

Stay warm and have a great day!

I hate to say it but I'm so glad the holidays are over.  It's time to get back to normal and into a routine.  My trainer took last week off so of course, I did too.  Bad, bad, bad.  I kept telling myself I would just do the same workout at home w/out him but it was too easy to make up excuse, after excuse.  Man, some things never change.  I'm convinced this will be a battle for life. 

So today is a new day and I work out w/ him at 1:00.  I have to get moving or I will be late.  Stay warm everyone.  It's sooo cold outside.

Christina

 

Hi - Day two here. :) I'm still relying on my blog posting for OH to help me get my feet wet. I should be into the swing of things by the end of the month with msg boards, I hope! Nice to see what's up with everyone, too!

Here's what I put on my OH blog:

Rollercoaster! And my butt doesn't even fit in a rollercoaster.
---
Was quite high yesterday on hopes of tapping WLS as a tool to live longer, live stronger. Then, today, after many befuddling calls to my medical insurance "entities," I finally get a copy of the WLS "criteria." Dang. It's very picky.

I definitely fit some criteria, though I'm not sure how I might prove all of the ones I do meet. Others, well, I straight-up don't meet. Well, maybe just ONE! Is there ever any wiggle-room in criteria? Can a criteria ever be waived for some (good) reason?

Let's see:

1) Must have five years of at least BMI 35 w/ any co-morbidity, or BMI 40: I think that one's in the bag, but will have to check on my weight in January 2005. Hope that's in my PCP's medical record.

2) Obesity is threat to my life due to complications: diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, sleep apnea. - Oh, yea. I'm there.

3) Attempted weight loss in past without long-term weight reduction. Conventional weight reduction measures have failed. - Check. But how to prove?

4) Completed a doc-supervised nutrition & exercise program that's docu’d in med record & meets ALL these criteria:

a) Doc worked in cooperation with a nutritionist or dietitian. - True dat.

b) The documented effort lasted six months or longer. - Have to wait on the answer this one. I think it did. I hope the wellness institute finds the medical records.

c) Made the six-month effort sometime after June 2008 (placing it "two years prior" to a tentative June 2010 surgery). - NOPE! Might it be possible to get this criteria waived b/c hardship or other extenuating factors that took up my time and energy and money during those two years???

d) Attending doc must not perform bariatric surgery. - Bingo! My bariatric doc is not a surgeon, but some of his colleagues are. (Insurer: Suspicious a little, of conflicts of interest?!? Sigh. Well, I guess that's a prudent check and balance.)

So, it's looking like the most vulnerable factor is that my most recent doc-supervised nutrition & exercise stint did not start in June 2008 or afterwards. This is crushing news to me. I have to talk to my doc's insurance coordinator, but I'm not feeling very hopeful about it. WHAAAA! (Definitely not WHEEEE!)

Still, I guess this would be the worst outcome: Instead of a possible June 2010 surgery, I'd have to wait to complete a new six-month long doc-supervised nutrition & exercise program, and perhaps be able to time a surgery for August 2010. I've already started with a nutritionist meeting last week, so I guess Jan. 2010 counts as month 1. Am scheduled for a nutrition class this week, too. All out of my baritatric doc's office.

It's just that I was fluffing up a simple little fantasy of having surgery timed perfectly in early June, between my May and July rush periods at work. (Haven't even checked the likeliness of this with the hospital WLS surgeons, though.) This would give time for recovery, and would have me adjusting to the changes in (a Chicago) early-summertime. Now, if I'm stuck with these criteria, and there is no wiggle-room, the next "down time" at work is only two-weeks long in the dog days of mid-August, which also totally clashes with my child's school vacation (she's in school year-round and only off for two weeks at Christmas/winter-break and in mid-August, natch). (And I bet these surgeons get outta town for most of August! Totally guessing.) Fun for her to have summer vacation filled with medical stuff, eh? Plus, in August, I have to be firing on all cylinders at work at the end of that month. In June, at least I have the whole month to ease back into work. And of course, because this is the stuff of fantasy, there are no complications or other ickies that will take more time.

Caveat: All these ups & downs, and yet I am still in only the "research" phases, not having made a concrete decision this WLS will be a "go." Sheesh! - Definitely in the pipeline, though. Definitely trending that way.

Make sure they document your weight each month at the nutrition classes.  If there is a lapse and not six consecutive months of supervised weight loss, you may have to start over.  You will discover quickly that there is red tape and lots of hoops to jump thru.  And yes, the roller coaster ride has just begun.  Just when you think all is going well, they will throw a monkey wrench in your plan but in the end, it will all work out.

Good Luck,

Christina

Yeah.....What Christina said.

The 6 month supervised attempt is usually non-negotiable.  If it makes you feel ay better, when I had my surgery, my insurance required 1 year.  Even though my doctor sent them a letter explaining that I had no luck losing weight for 10 years, they STILL made me do the "supervised diet".  The good news is that in month 9, I found that they had changed their criteria to 6 months.  I had my surgery 3 weeks later!

Thanks for the feedback! I visited a support group (in person) tonight. The folks were very happy with their results. Very inspirational.