Sorry to be so long winded!! LOL

Good Morning All and Happy Mothers Day!! I haven't posted in about 5 months. I was so upset when my surgery was scheduled for 12/6 with Dr. Campbell and my insurance company CIGNA said we're sorry we made a mistake this surgery is and exclusion on your benefits. This is after Jan. 07 receiving an email saying yes its covered. I went through a year of this program. Anyway enough of the old and in with the new; i now have HMO Blue New England with my rider that covers the WLS surgey. I am self employed and decided that i would purchase my own insurance, i made sure it covers this. I was going to CMC last year, and now i am going through Lowell General's program. I believe as the saying goes " when one door closes another one opens. At CMC they only did blood test, and the nutrition visits and Phy eval; at Lowell General they have done every test, like Cardio, EKG, Upper GI, Endoscopy, Nutrition vist, Phy. eval and sleep apenea study, lab work everything under the sun. I am so grateful that they do all these test to make sure everything is fine before you have your surgery. I started there April 1 when my new insurance started and i have completed most of my test, met my doctor Dr. Jiser and have lost 5lbs. of the 12.5 that is required. I am well on my way to getting my surgery. I had the benefits of already knowing what my requirements were going to be which helped alot. They say its all of what you want to put into it to get it done, So it all depends on you and your schedule. I put myself into the habit of every morning when i get up ihave my daily scheduled for the day. I have a weekly med container that atthe beginning of the week i fill all my pills into it, i have my replacement shakes sitting on the counter to drink every morning, and buy the South Beach lunch packs for lunch. My scale is on the counter so after i (or whoever cooks) makes dinner for everyone and then i measure my intake of my plate. Also because sweets is my problem i have the Weigh****chers desserts in case i need something after dinner. Yes i have decided to have the Lap. Bypass because of the sweets issue. I have a log book where i write everything down to bring in to my nutrition visits. I have bad ankles so i don't do alot of walking on the treadmill, but i do all the other excersises at the gym for sit down ones. I am so ready!!!!!I see my nutritionist at the end of the month and hopefully by then i will have lost the amount of weight i need to get a date. I also wanted to comment on the use of Alli- the weight lost pill. I did try that last summer and it works on the part of if you eat something that you know is bad then you will be running to the bathroom. If you eat healthy most of the time than it does nothing. It just shows you how to eat right. Anyway sorry to be so long winded, i guess i had alot to say. Have a great day!!!

Hello Diane,  Nice to meet you.  What a great attitude and I think it is super you didn't let the CIGNA/CMC debacle steer you off course.  Onward and upward, as they say, right?  Good for you.  And I am just sure to my core that the time will pay ividends for your post-op life.  We are talking forever so how can a few or several months weigh against that, I think.  I am tring to do the same as you in terms of adopting better habits pre-op but I hadn't considered the South BEach lunches - never seen them but I'll look for them now.  So good to hear from you.  Treading

Good Morning Treading,
If you shop at Market Basket i know the South beach lunch boses are there, above the area whenre they keep the kid lunchables. I bought the Southwestern, ham and cheese, and the turkey one so i could try all 3 of them. They actually weren't that bad. I have also tried the snack bars, very gross tast like your eating cardboard. I was pretty surprised that they didn't taste bad, i expected YUKKY!! LOL. I really have written in a while on the board not only because of the issue with my insurance but also because i have noticed before anyone has they're surgery they are on this board everyday asking every question under the sun, after they have it and they have lost all there weight they drop out of the site. Its very sad because people that haven't had the surgery are left to guessing whats going to happen, and try to answer all other questions. Thats just sad, my sister to has done this i have yelled at her for it. I am going to a post op meeting tonight down at Lowell WLS center. This is my first post op, just to talk to people and geta feel on whats going to happen after for me. I met my daughters bus driver at Walmart (unexpected) buying the same Whey Protien powder andwe started talking (thats how i found out who she was) and we are going to the meeting together. I will voice my opinion there. LOL, I will talk to you soon!! Have a great day gotta get ready for work.

Congrats on not giving up when the first door shut!  Sounds like you have your eyes on the prize and are ready to get there.  Hope the rest of you pounds go quickly for you.   You've probably already found the store already, but Nashua Nutrition  on 101A is a good place to find a good selection of WLS friendly foods.  ~Donna

thanks for the tip, i knew it was there i just never been in there. I will also post tonight the sites that i got from my nutristionist that offer free samples of the shake stuff. And YES my eyes are on the prize, thats all i focus on, the nutistionist said if i replace one of my meals with the shake than i should lose the weight quicker. NICE!!! ITs all about me RIGHT!!! Talk to you soon

Congrats Diane- I am happy to see that everything is moving along with LGH!!  I know the wait seemed like forever- but now you are nearing the finish line! It sounds like you have really set up a nice routine for yourself. That will help a bunch after the surgery! I haven't been to a meeting at LGH for a while (vacations etc.....) I plan to get on track this month and attend the groups! Keep us posted- Carolyn

Hi Diane - Welcome Aboard !!!    I also went thru LGH and had Dr. Jiser (RNY 12/10/07).  It was a little rocky after my surgery but things have gotten a lot better.  I am down approx. 95 lbs. and the difference is just unreal.  I've come off coumadin, anxiety meds, high bld pressure meds, etc.  It is definately life changing.  Good Luck and keep in touch. Carol

Happy Mothers Day to you too. It was interesting reading your post. I am at the very beginning stages of planning for the Lap Band surgery in the Manchester NH area. The insurances are a pain, but (keeping my fingers crossed) it looks like my insurance will approve the surgery as i meet the criteria for the procedure. Its too bad that what they (the insurance companies) cant seem to consider is that the cost of helping with the weight loss saves $$ in the long run as so many are able to get off meds that they would need for the rest of their lives otherwise. Go figure! Hopefully this new legislature will help. I have so many questions..i dont know where to start. I have read a posting on "dumping" What is that??? It sounds awful! Again..i appreciated your post...keep up the good work! Sherry

Thank you all for your kind words. I hope you all had a great Mothers day. I had my Endoscopy yesterday. I was scared but they told me exactly what they were going to do and then gave me the meds. Its weird they say you are in a consious state but don't remember anything. They were right. I also had to tell them that i had a little mouth and my dentist always has a hard time with the xrays they stick in there, they put this thing in your mouth to keep it open, i had to use a pedi (kids one) LOL. I've also heard about dumping, and i believe that it is caused by eating something you shouldn't have, eating to fast, and maybe not chewing your food too well. My sister had the surgery and she did all of these and said to me, you know that puking feeling you get that from the bottom of your stomach, thats what happens as your puking. Anyway good luck to you, ask lots of questions, i would go in each week and have a notebook full of questions for my team, and don't be afraid to express how you feel. Its all a process that will change the rest of your life, i am so there!!!!! Talk to you soon