Newbie with lots of questions

Hi, How is everyone out there! I want to get everything in order to work toward WLS. I am 31 years old and have been overweight all of my life, and like many others I have tried everything. So, where am I today.... I appreciate any advise any of you can share on what will my doctors/insurers require. I am in the upstate and would appreciate any advise over the pros and cons of the different doctor practices. What kind of documented weight loss program will I have to provide? Anyone work with an independent insurer? My company is self insured and that scares me! I know this it wayyyyy to much to ask, but any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Lisa S

Welcome Lisa,How are you? well dont ever worrie about asking to many ?'s thats what the boards are here for.My name is Renee and I am 37yrs old and I had my WLS 3/8/05 and as of 5/13/05 (last time I weighed)i was down 65lbs... I live in West Columbia and Dr.Strickland was my suergen,he is wonderful Ok as for your ?'s I had to first slect a Dr. then I went to the seminar,were they explain everything to a group of people regarding the WLS. It all happend really fast for me,I went to my seminar in may of 2004 and had surgery in March 2005(ok so it seemed fast..lol) You are a canadete for WLS if..you are at least 100lbs over weight.your BMI is over 40 and also if you suffer from any problems,such as .suger,high blood presure ect. they will want a list of all the diets you've been on,such as weigh****chers,pills,Dr. supervised programs ect.I have been heavy all my life so I have done it all...lol As for your type of insurance,Im not sure on that,your HR should be able to tell you if its in your plan. Pros and cons ....I wont lie its not easy and it's a very seryouse surgery.I did great.I have NO REGRETS at all I had bad days when I was wondering 'WHAT THE F*** DID I DO",those were few though.I am an emot eater so I had to learn new ways to cope,so a lot of my issuses were with head hunger.I am doing great now though.Taking the risk to have this done is scary but living in a fat bogy for another 36yrs was even more scary to me.You'll hear this a millon times over from people whove had WLS but,I feel like a new person. I hope I have helped you some and if you need me Im here,feel free to e-mail me at anytime and I will do what I can..Take care and good luck to you.Renee SC [email protected]

Renee, Thanks for the great response. I really appreciate your advise! WLS makes me feel excited and scared, simultaneously! Congratulations on such a great loss! 65#! Way to GO! So step one, find a doctor and attend a siminar! and of course one more question... How long were you out of work?

Lisa if you read my profile you'll find some answers to help you out until you go to the seminar yourself. I mention information on Dr. Bour and Dr. Rowitz.

Hello Lisa,well I felt good the 5th day and was out and about(and I over did it too) lol..I dont work due to breaking my neck back in 2000.I was unavle to walk for months and had to learn to do so again...I had injured my spinal cord.I am happy to say that I am able to walk and doing well though today.The Dr's said Id never walk again...fooled them haahaa..If you need anything holla at me..Renee [email protected]