On February 17, 2012 at 3:21 AM Pacific Time, amyanne4 wrote: Quick update: still haven't heard from the financial dept. about the cost of the infusions so if anyone knows a rough estimate please pass it on. And as for fighting the insurance, the hematologist said he had a patient in the same cir****tances with the same insurance (it's a common one) a few years back that fought for months and still never got it paid for. He said I could hire a lawyer, but that would probably cost as much as the treatments. I think that since we've already alerted them to the fact that it is gastric bypass related, if we re-submit it under a different diagnosis they will see right through that and even consider it fraud. Meanwhile, I've had the blood transfusions and they've helped a little but it's only a temporary solution. I need these infusions!

I think that the assumption that it's bypass-related is fraud...

I have had lifelong iron problems that were not noticed until I had the DS.  (My iron was actually LOWER with the band, btw, because I could eat less.)

But the REAL culprit is a generitc condition called Thalessmia.  MANY, MANY people have it and don't notice it because they spend their lives at the border of okay & anemic.  Just eating less can cause cause them to become symptomatic...but the REAL cause is the Thalessemia...because people with Thalessemia--that includes MANY people of Mediterranean heritage, which I have--as well as other backgrounds, depending on the type of Thalessemia...start at a deficit.

And that starting at a deficit is the true cause.

No, because I wasn't a fat kid.

And, now that you mention it, people who are still reliving all that stuff need to go get professional help.  Someone who goes through life trying to locate and persecute those they think are "hurting" others the way they were hurt need to realize that THEY may have a bigger problem than their perpetrator. It's a crazy way to live.

The Talmud says, "We do not see things they way they are.  We see things the way we are." 

When there are bad guys hiding behind every tree, the problem may well be with the person spotting all the "bad guys."

Have you tried Ponce in Dalton?


Other than that, you'll probably need to go to Florida.  Fill Centers are closed but individual doctors are still doing adjustments.
www.fillcentersusa.com/locations.html

Yes, my memories of the Challenger explosion an 9/11 are just as vivid.

I was at work (I had graduated from HS at age 16, it was later that year) and was in a training class in the basement of the building at 737 S. Flower St. in downtown Los Angeles...when the door opened and the BIG boss said, "The President has been shot."

In those days, there were no 24 hour news shows, no cell phones, no 24-hour radio news shows to tune into...so we stared at each other for a while and then went into the employee's break room, which housed the only television in the multi-story building.

We watched Walter Cronkite. 

And I'm pretty sure that NONE of us will ever forget where we were that day.

Yup.  I've been to parties where kids were expected to enjoy the expensive gifts they had just received but were having WAY more fun with me ...because I was a grown-up who paid attention to them...AND I brought lots of graham crackers, lots of frosting, and Christmas candies so we could make "almost-gingerbread houses."  Beats the crap out of electronics every time.  (And in the circles I travel in, that includes 7-years olds with Autism, and almost-40-year olds with Down syndrome and many others as well.)

...this cynical old woman wants to remind you that, for most people, especially in this economy, it ain't worth it...and you didn't need it...and your kids will get over not having it.

As an atheist, I'm NOT a "Jesus is the reason for the season person," because there was a holiday celebration this time of year for YEARS before there was a Jesus.

And I'm not trying to deflate the economy any further because I feel like, if you've got it, spend it!

It's the rest of you I'm after...those of you who are FRANTICALLY trying to find a way to buy something/some things you just can't afford.  I'm not looking down at you, I've really BTDT...but in a better economy.

Yes, your child may actually face disappointment.  My sister was disappointed every year she DIDN'T get a pony.  (She may still be a bit pissed about that.)  That came in handy the year our mother could afford NOTHING for us for Christmas. 

Christmas of 1960, my mom--a factory assembly line worker at the time--was asked by her boss what Santa was bringing the girls and my mom had to say that the girls (we were 11 and 13) were aware of our financial situation and decided to give Santa the year off.  The last work day before Christmas, that boss called my mom to his office and asked where she was parked.  She told him and he told her to meet him there.  He opened the trunk of his car and handed her a "record player" (we had those back then...with an automatic record changer, eat your heart out) for my sister and a "portable radio" (they were heavy plastic with leaky batteries back then, but state of the art nonetheless) for me, that he said Santa had accidentally delivered to his house.  Mom cried and wanted to hug him but he was Black and she wasn't and somebody would have beat him up after work...so she just cried and thanked him.

So we actually DID get something material.  (I demanded an explanation because I KNEW she couldn't afford it...my sister was oblivious and probably still a little pissed about no pony.)

But the REAL part of the story (besides what a nice man Mr. Johnson was) is that while she was sad that her kids would be going without, she knew they COULD.  Back then, our parents...children of "the depression"...ALL knew we could live through that kind of thing.  They had.  They didn't die.  It IS easier when everyone else is broke, but it isn't fun either way...it's just survivable.  Knowing my mom, there would have been church in the morning and plans for red and green pancakes...we would have gone to her dad's house and played--and then fought with--our boy cousins who were close to our ages.  I don't remember more than one or two Christmas gifts from my childhood, but I DO remember seeing the cousins at the grandparents' houses.

While there were department store charge accounts (you paid them off at the end of the month, "revolving charge accounts" came later), there was not the wild array of credit cards that allowed people to put themselves into bankruptcy.  No one even THOUGHT about buying things that they didn't have the cash for.  Now, young folks need to learn that way of thinking.  This lousy economy is either here to stay or here for quite a while.  Those of you who have never gone without probably don't understand, at a gut level, that we can survive this.  And your kids can, too.

Enjoy the time with your families the day after Thanksgiving and leave the insane shopping to those who have something to prove to themselves.

The ad essentially said...

"Small..$999 for 12/ $1470 for 24."
"Large...$1950 for 12/ $2840 for 24."

We went to buy the $1470 thing and they rang it up as $1950.  We said, "No...look at your website."  Clerk said, "Oops."  She called the manager.  Manager said, "Oops...that's the price.  The person in charge of the webite was supposed to fix that."  We said, "We think you should honor that price." The we bought none of them.  (Athough we paid for other services we had already received.)

Should we insist on being sold the items for the advertised price?  (And how would we do that, anyway?)  When you do the math for all of the items--which we didn't do--you can see that indeed the prices should probably be $999 for 12 / $1950 for 24 and $1470 for 12 / $2840 for 24.  It makes mathematical sense that way.

But I went in because of the advertised price and didn't think I was cheating anyone.  Should they have sold me the package at that price? ****pt a copy of the webpage.)

Perhaps more experience here will give you more insight.

A fairly recent attention ***** of the "Ooo!  Look at me, I'm now too cute for THIS man" variety STARTED by going out with friends.  Just friends.  Not dating.  Putting kids and hubby to bed and then going out whoring around...I mean...clubbing...until the wee small hours.  Nothing wrong, you see.  She just liked to visit and maybe dance a little and hubby was a homebody.

A few months later--maybe a year, I don't recall because I stoppd even reading her bull****it seems he wanted a divorce.  It may or may not have had anything to do with the STD she had. 

She turned into a pathetic human attention sponge...and ruined a marriage and uprooted kids to get the attention she craved...and all she "wanted was to go out with friends."

And she wasn't the first and won't be the last...she was just the most flagrant recent version.

If all you've heard are great things about him and his staff, you haven't been looking very hard...

In all honesty, a LOT of people can "pull $2900 out of their ass"...or their bank account...especially if they paid attention to what they were told MOTNHS AGO, and have had MONTHS to plan for, instead of vaguely remembering bits and pieces.

I had three choices in CA at the time.  One required a full payment of EVERYTHING up front and then, if and when the insurance paid, I'd get back something,  The next required $3000.  The last required $800...but their surgeon was (still is) an asshole.

Are you going to be able to afford all the follow-up?  The blood tests...the protein drinks...the supplements...they all add up.  And you need to LISTEN to that info so that you don't lose your teeth or your mind.