Well let's see....I am 5 weeks out..almost 6.  I cant beleive I actually did it.  My experience in the hospital was great.  Only problem I had was in the middle of the night after surgery.  I was really nauseas(sp) and actually threw up, but the UGI the next day showed that my band was fine...Thank God!!  Recovery went fast...the only bad day I had was 3 days after being banded I had my daughter's last soccer game and end of the season parrty and of course I am team mom so I organized everything so I had to be there, well it rained and the game was delayed an hour and I just felt miserable...I think to when you dont feel to hot everything and everyone pisses ya off even if they dont mean to. lol  But things are going good....I didnt realize though how much of a realtionship I had with food.  I have stopped my evening eating though after the kiddies are tucked into bed I would sit and eat even if I wasnt hungry.  I have stopped that now, but DH hasnt and get this he still does and eats it right in front of me....that ass!!  As of today I am down to 318 from 346 at surgery and my all time high of 352 when I started this journey.  My first mini goal is to be below 300 before our trip to Myrtle Beach in August...we are leavingon August 18th.  So we will see.  I have my 1st regular appointment on July 18th, so I will see then if I need a fill or not.  I definitley have some restriction now....can only eat about a cup of food.  I swear and DH says he heard it too that Dr. Currie put 3cc in my band at surgery.  O am gonna ask him to make sure when I go in on the 18th.  Well off to do more laundry...I swear I would hire a maid just to do the damn laundry...how can 6 people go through so many clothes!! lol

Toodles!!

Ok where to start...my insurance was pretty much straight forward I thought!!  I started everything in October of last year.  It started with an introduction appointment at The Weight Loss Center in Harrisburg.  At that time there were 13 steps that I needed to go thru.  One of the biggest hurdles was a 6 month doctor supervised diet....I was like great I have been dieting my whole life...I just wanted to get banded quickly.  Anyhow the 6 month diet, nutrionist appointments, your BMI had to be at least 40 or 35 with co-morbities, had to attend 2 support meetings, had to have an EKG if there was a history of heart disease and a psch evaluation.  So started my 6 month diet in November and met with Dr. Weiger.  Along came the holidays and I got a letter from the WLC stated that CBC changed the 6 month diet to a 3 month diet.  What a great Christmas present.  Went in January for 1st Nut. appt. and was told to schedule EKG (grandfather died of massive heart attack at 45) and scheduled my psych eval.  Beginning of February comes and I had my EKG on Tuesday, heart rate was a little bit elevated ( at the time I was on vicodin and a muscle relaxor...had thrown my back out the previous weekend) so cardiologist said I needed a 2 day stress test...which I scheduled for following Thur and Fri.  The next day went to the psych appt anf she cleared me for surgery.  Then that Thur I got ANOTHER letter from WLC stating the CBC was changing their requirements once again.  Now you only had to have a BMI of 40, been overweight for at least 5 years and be at least 18 years of age. So the previous week I spent $100 in copays for nothing....ughhh  So I called the WLC and asked if I still needed to go thru with the stress test and they said no that it was no longer an insurance req.  So I cancelled it.  Now we are in the beginning of March.  The gal submitted everything to CBC and I was approved in no time and they sent we for pre-ops and I met with the Nut and Dr. Weiger one last time and then the called me to schedule my surgery for March 25th.  I was to be called the previous day with a time and when they called it wasnt the hospital it was the WLC....we are sorry but we are going to have to cancel your surgery because you need to have a stress test.  I said EXCUSE ME, your office told me in Feb to cancel the stress test.  So needless to say they would not do the surgery until I had the stress test.  So I did that the end of March.  Well by this time.....mind you I have 4 children, 9 yr old daugher, 6 and 5 yr old sons and a 18 month old daugher...so spring sports have now begun as well as the wind down of preschool and school and our schedule is horrible.  We also go on vacation the week before Memorial Day and Im thinking when am I gonna have time before vac and do I really want to worry about my surgery while im on vac.  Taking 4 kiddies on vac is stressful enough so when the WLC called me back to say that they could schedule me again I TOLD THEM what date I wanted and I am scheduled for May 28th.  So I guess it really wasnt my insurance's fault that I have had a hard time.  I mean it is in a way because they kept changing their req., but the WLC should have nver told me to cancel that stress test if they werent sure.  My SIL works for CBC and she said however that the reason that they no longer have so many req. may only be for that certain doctor becaus ehe has performed so many surgeries and they have confience in the WLC that they wont skip corners etc.

Yeah I know that is has been some time since I posted...things are moving along a lot faster than I had expected.  Over the holidays I received a letter from The Weight Loss Center...I thought great, now they are going to deny me or something, but it was actually a letter letting me know that my insurance was changing their requirements for members wanting to have WLS.  Instead of a 6 month doc supervised diet I had to only do a 3 month...WOOHOOO!!!
And I also had to have a psych eval. and a couple other things.  So now here is how my appointments are going:

This Friday 1/25 : Meet Dr. Currie and discuss which surgery might be better for me.

1/29/08: Cario Eval--due to heart disease history in my family
1/30/08:  Psych Eval--requirement for insurance
2/4/08:  2nd nutrionist appt
3/08:  3rd and final nutrionist appt

End of March--Early April--possible surgery date!!

I have been doing an aquacise class twice a week and I have lost 4.5 pounds last week...so by my scales I am down to 342.8.....that's a 10 pound loss since October.  Slow but steady!!

God Bless!!

Alot has happened...finally got in to see new PCP beginning of November and had blood work done.  And then had my initial consultation with the bariatric physician at the Weight Loss Clinic on Monday, 12/2.  Now my 6 month diet has started.  I havent done my best latley.  I hate TOM!!  I have my 1st of 6 appointments with the nutritionist on 1/02 and then I meet my surgeon on 1/25.  Still alot of hoops to jump through but each day brings me closer to my new life!!  Till next time.....take care and god bless!!

Ok...here we go....

Today I had my first informational appointment with Central PA Weight Loss Clinic.  I got 2 of the 4 kids off to school and put the baby down for a nap and my girlfriend came to sit with my 4 year old.  I arrived and checked in.  For some reason I felt like I was going to puke .  Nerves I guess.  Got called back and the nurse(I think that was what she was) took my height.  One weird thing it that she said that I was 5' 8" and I swore that I was taller than that...at least 5'10"...it says 5'11" on my driver's license...anyhow then the dreaded part...she took me to a room and weighed me.  347 pounds. HOLY COW!!  Cow is right. lol  With the lower height that mde my BMI 52.  Well I got a folder of info and a checklist of 13 steps that I need to do before my surgery.  I am blessed that my insurance does cover my surgery, but the sucky thing is I have to do a 6 month doctor supervised diet first.  Crap...I was hoping to have surgery before that. Looks like surgery wont be until May, which I will probably have to move to June because of vacation in May and pre-school graduation, etc.

One other crappy thing is that DH and I are in the process of switching PCP. So I have bloodwork that I need to have done and cant do that until I get records in the mail from old PCP and make an appointment with new PCP which the new PCP is scheduling visits 2 weeks out. I guess its time to start the waiting game.  Oh god I hope that I have enough patience.  

Wish me luck!!
God Bless!
Nicole