I don't think anything is covered so it aint gonna happen. boo hoo. I'll live thru y'all.

Well, I have a date -range- for an appointment for a plastic surgery consult. I went to my doc for a referral for a breast reduction, those are covered here sometimes. My breasts are totally flat against the chest wall, but the dragging ends of them are still holding onto the fat so I am still a 38DD. I am getting rashes on the top of my breasts where my skin is folding over on itself. I know you can relate, its like squashing a down comforter into the bag. Hopefully the surgeon can find a way to fix my boobies and still get the surgery covered, since skin issues is supposed to be a covered cir****tance I think. Anyways, universal healthcare may be a fantastic notion, but it has huge pitfalls. The surgeon's office told me that they are booking into May 2008, and that is just for the initial consult. I am not even on the May list yet, so I am guessing I will be on the June or July list. Yes, you read that right 2008! Surgery is then booked about 3 months after the consult. The ONLY plus I can see with this, is that I should be at a stable weight by then. I was so hoping that I would be able to have some flexibility about booking during my kid's summer break. So, since I have to wait forever, I am hoping I can talk the surgeon into doing it all at once--tummy, breasts, and thighs. I am getting too old for this waiting $#^!. I don't know what will be covered yet. I know that I can get a panni covered, but would prefer a TT anchor cut. So I will hope that all of you who start your PS journeys will post updates so that I can be green with envy. Lori

This is funny - people keep mentioning this and I went into a store last fall and tried to get a half size smaller shoe (they didn't have what I wanted in 10s) and it was too small. Now, my feet feel smaller. I have pumps that I haven't been able to wear in years that now fit, in fact fall off. But I still can't buy a smaller size. Weird?

No experience here with kidney stones. The only thing I've heard is that WLS patients need to be sure we are getting calcium citrate and not calcium carbonate because the latter can cause kidney stones. Something about not digesting properly due to WLS. But it sounds like you might be predisposed. Good luck!

Hi everyone, I just need some informed perspectives I think. About 20 pounds ago, when I looked in the mirror, I was pretty happy with what I was seeing. I felt like my stomach was flattening and things were coming off pretty evenly. Nowadays, when I look in the mirror, all I see is this big roll sitting around my hips, my butt looks really big to me, and I can't shake the feeling that I am getting fatter. The scale says I am not, my clothes don't fit any tighter (sadly not any looser), but I am definitely less comfortable in my clothes and my skin lately. I have some theories. I thought I would bounce them off the group, see if anyone is in the same weird head space as I am. Theory #1: My skin, having sagged to unprecedented looseness has now dropped below the waist band of my pants, so I am definitely rounder there. THeory#2: My brain is punishing me for poor food choices, by giving me my fat girl image, trying in a vain and misdirected effort to inspire better habits. Theory #3: I am getting fatter, and my muscle development is reversing so the scale numbers don't go up. Theory #4: I have post surgical pyschosis and this, and all of you, is really a figment of my very disturbed imagination. Theory #5: I'm bloated--yeah, that one didn't work very well when I weighed 291 either. Thanks guys, I look forward to your great insights. Lori