Sunday...

Good morning everyone! Everyone ready for the heat wave? lol. Well..the weatherman said 57 (with thunderstorms) for Tuesday...34 (with snow!) for Wednesday! At least the warmth ought to melt off most of the snow/ice off my truck today so there's less for Bill to have to scrape.  I was going to wait a few days to go to the store but some of my bandage supplies is getting low so I think I'll go today. That's the big woo-hoo of my life today.  Tomorrow is going to be a little busy though. Bill has an eye appointment at 5 pm (which means we won't get out until 7-8 pm!!). Before that, we need to go to where he has to get his glasses made (a regular place like LensCrafters can't get the special strength needed for his eye). He had dropped his reading glasses from them on the carpet and didn't realize it..and stepped on them. I tried to straighten them out for him but it messed up the frame portion that holds the lens and no matter how much I tighten the side screws, the lens won't stay in. The bad thing is that he just got these glasses the end of October. The good thing is that the lens are ok..and that is what's so expensive. At least new frames should be under $100. I also have to get hold of Dr. Greist's office (hemophilia center). They sent me a calendar to get me back on coumadin post-op and has me starting back on it 3 days post-op...Dr. Greist had told me that because of the white count getting lowered due to the coumadin that she'd wait a good week or two before starting me back on it to be sure I stay healthy enough to heal well. They also sent 2 scripts for bloodwork...without telling me when I am suppose to have it done..pre-op? post-op? They also didn't put down a diagnosis on them.  Anthem has started this little thing as of Jan. 1st (for their contract with Lilly's anyway) that they require the labs that draws the blood to put down a diagnosis for why it is to be drawn. Well..if the doctor didn't write it down for the lab to know it, then Anthem count them as 'routine' (I take it that it's like a Healthy Baby check) and won't cover it! I know that here it is the beginning of the year so I'll have to pay 100% until the deductible is met but...when they 'allow' charges, the place also accepts the 'allowable' payment..rather if it be out of my pocket or Anthem's. So..bloodwork that Anthem normally pays about $30 for, I am getting charged $200 for because if it's not an 'allowable' charge, the place doesn't have to accept the 'allowable' payment! When I called Anthem about it, they said it was because of the diagnosis thing. So...I called Dr. Bergman's office to try to get them to get hold of the blood place and have them rebill with a diagnosis. That call didn't go so well so we'll see (try to explain to the nurse the difference between needed pre-op due to the diarea to be sure I was getting all my nutrients...and a routine pre-op check. and even if routine pre-op, wouldn't that be a diagnosis? It's not like it's a routine annual check...you know?) . It may have to wait till I go in person to talk to them. Anyway, I definately have to be sure that any bloodwork we get done has a diagnosis on it! That's going to be different for doctors to get use to I think. I'm sure to them, why should the blood lab need to know why they are requesting it? They want it, end of story. Remember, I've worked in a lab for almost 19 years. The first 10 was in a Quality Control lab and I ran tests because they were requested. It did not matter why. Run them, period. I'm in a tech service lab now....I get to ask why! lol.  It ought to be REAL interesting to see what other little surprises Anthem has in store this year (no offense to our members who are employed through Anthem). So far, all the changes have sucked big time. I doubt I stay with them for 2009. I probably wouldn't have for 2008 if I had been at work in November (when we make the following year's decisions) to learn more about the other options. Anyway, although Bill's appointment isn't until 5, we may need to leave home by 2..lol. If we go by Dr. Greist's (to get new scripts for the lab stuff), I need to remember to wear my pedometer! I swear it's got to be close to a mile from the parking lot to her office! I hope everyone has a good day today!!! Hey! All of our newbies to the board...please feel free to join in! Daily, we try to have a general post...much like this one...that doesn't really have anything to do with weight loss most of the time, just what is going on in our lives today. Sherri

Well I woke up pretty early today for a weekend... around 7.... tossed and turned for awhile and decided not to fight it.  I'm going to try and relax some today because I have a pretty busy week ahead of me. with my extra AM time I already got my work out, out of the way. So, I'm such a kid at heart, but my exercise is usually playing the game "dance dance revolution".  It's great actually.  You have this dance pad on the floor with four arrows one up, down, left and right.  So then you put the game in your playstation and put it on exercise mode.  So music comes on and arrows start to travel from the bottom of the screen to the top of the screen.  When they get to the top there are four stationary arrows (going all the directions) you have to step on the dance pad arrow at the same time that the arrow that is moving up the screen hits the stationary arrow at the top.  Sounds complicated, but it's really not.  It's a lot of fun.  It counts calories for you at the bottom of the screen and you can increase your level as you get better and more fit.  I burn about 250-270 calories in half an hour.. I'm on the medium level.  The funny part is... I can not dance at all in the real world! I'm sitting here nibbling on my breakfast (banana, a few grapes and a few strawberries) thinking I should probably be getting ready for church.  Since I moved here I found a church with a Saturday night service, it attracted me because it is bilingual and I'm pretty good in Spanish (I think about 75% fluent).  Well I decided today I was going to give the Sunday morning service a try, but the service at the church I normally go to has 400 people!! and it's not bilingual... so I am going to the "south campus" which is on the other side of town, but it's a lot smaller and is bilingual. No other plans for the day really other than a little bit of homework for work... I really don't like being the new girl in the office, but what are you going to do right? My anemia is causing me problems again... I've been anemic... hmm for awhile now and every once in awhile my blood level gets really low and I need a transfusion.  I get really light headed, I turn really pail, my vision gets worse, and my memory and concentration suffer.  I've been ignoring the signs for awhile now, but they are getting impossible to ignore.   Last night a lady at church told me I'm China doll white.   I'm going to get checked out hopefully next Wednesday on my adventure home. How are you all today?  Hope you have a great day!

Good morning everyone Ive fixed breakfast and got lunch started. Dh and the boys are cleaning the garage and ridin the go cart today. So im gonna do bills and paperwork.lol Im still sore from falling its slowly getting better. Jody so glad you are home(theres no place like home). Sherry i swear you should wear roller skates you always on the go. Well gonna get done got to watch the superbowl(for the commercials)..

Hehehe!!! Wait until this summer when I'm all healed up! Bill & I will probably be heading out to somewhere every weekend! It's great having your kids all grown up & out of the house! LOL! Right now, it's pretty much doctor appointments keeping us busy. I would much rather be camping or at an amusement park! LOL!!!! Sherri

Hello, how are you doing? I'm doing well. My family's all grouchy this morning though. So I'm just sitting here at the computer. I'm doing some school work. This is my break from school work. Actually, I'm doing it at the same time, while I'm listening to a video stream.  I have to work from 12:30-5:30pm today at Sears, but then I'm planning to come home and watch the superbowl tonight. I think my hubby told me that that was tonight.

Good afternoon all.  It has been a very chaotic and busy weekend for me, but I have managed to get thru it for the most part.  We went to church this morning, and this afternoon we are going to a superbowl party with some friends of ours.  We will be watching the game and playing poker so it is going to be fun!  I can't wait!!! On the good side, I have dropped down to 212!!!!!  I haven't weighed that in so long, I forgot what it was like.  I am in size 18s!!!!!!!  I haven't been in this size since high school!!! It is so hard to believe!!!  I am so happy with my progress.  It is really a blessing.  On the downside, my DH is really getting jealous and being very accusing of me now.  He said that it was because of the surgery that he feels that I will now decide to leave him and enjoy my life again.  Just keep me in your prayers over this. It is very hard to stay positive with comments like that. Have a great day all, and enjoy the warmer temps.

Well it's not exactly morning and I'm not just waking up but just getting to the PC. I'm soo tired. I didn't sleep well last night. I'm coming down with this nasty respiratory stuff everyones had (a few people have had the flu I'm hoping its nothing like that). So far it seems more like bronchitis to me but so far I'm keeping the Asthma at bay somewhat. This is a bummer because I wanted to hit the gym every day this coming week to get back on track. I do have an appointment with my Allergy/asthma doc on Friday sooo hopefully it can behave til then. :) This g-tube is doing funky things too.. It's sloooowly migrating into my stomach again BUT I'm still able to pull it back out and it stays out for a while whereas before I pull it out and it went back in immediately. Also I've developed these icky ulcers on the inside of my cheek and lip, it's somewhat annoying but I did some research and it could have to do with my not so great lab results. Overall I feel OK though other than just plum exhausted and junky. I am just blessed to be home, awake and overall breathing.  We've had Rich's 13 yr old cousin here all weekend and I like the kid but all Rich has done is play video games the whole time and theres just some stuff left to do that I am NOT capable of doing. To add to it this kid is just disrespectful and doesn't listen and takes or helps himself to whatever he wants which is really annoying to me because we buy certain foods and stuff for me specifically based on what I can tolerate with my picky stomach and he just helps himself without asking. I wouldn't care but our budget is soooo tight right now we cannot afford to go out and re buy everything. Oh well though I'll live heh.. Sherri - I am soo ready for a warm up. Our Anthem did some funky things this year too (we had to do a health assessment through their website which was a riot because it told me I had poor nutrition habits and stuff hehehe well duh I can't eat what you classify as a FULL serving lol like it asked me if I do x amount of this a day well umm not really, at the time I was eating nothing but protein mostly) plus they also doubled our co pays and made us sign up for health coaches that call us all the time and stuff.. Our prescription copays took a big jump too (generics were 6.00 and now theyre 10 so I have no choice but to go to Walmart for them now, before it was more of an inconvience to go there for the 4.00 plan for 2.00  but now to save 6.00 I HAVE to go there). Ummm Can you get Dr Gupta's office to contact Appria healthcare and order your supplies through there?? Thats where I get all my G-tube bandages and stuff and Anthem covers 100% of it. The other perk is I don't have to deal with stores. I call 2 days ahead of time and they show up within 48 hours with the supplies I need, tape, drain sponges, syringes..etc The only thing I'm not crazy about is they auto ship the formula a few times and I've told them I don't need it but they send it anyways. Brooke - I'm glad to see you jumping in!!! :) We're a lively crowd round here most the time. I also deal with really bad issues with anemia. I was very anemic preop op too though. I won't say it's gotten a whole lot worse since surgery because for the most part theyre the same. I've had 2 transfusions since surgery on 7/31/07 though. Recently I was started on a new prescription iron to try and see if that will help even things out (Repliva). Lizzie - Don't ya love paying bills? Of course I'm blessed and thankful that for the most part we CAN pay them but it's still no fun hehe. Linda - I hope your day at work is smooth and enjoy the big game tonight. I'm going out on a limb and picking the Giants to win by a field goal (DH insisted I pick a score so I'm saying 31-28) LaChelle - Rich has been very accusing and jealous also since I've started losing weight. I'm not allowed to go ANYWHERE alone if he is around. It's really annoying because this weekend I've really just wanted to get out the house and take a drive ALONE but I get lectured or accused soo I didn't. If I go to the gym when hes at work I get smart comments too. The best we can do is reassure the men in our lives that we love them and just because we're changing physically we're NOT changing emotionally and our feelings towards them aren't changing. Oh yea I'm sooo jealous of you being 212 hehehe.. I'm still stuck at 215-217 lol.. Scale should move this coming week though because my lovely auntie is due.

Misty, Our prescription co-pays have stayed the same for the past few years..$10 for generic, $30 for name brand. That makes no sence to me since I work for a 'brand' pharmacutical company (Lilly's). You'd think they would want us to get name brands! But they are suppose to be charging more than just $30 this year if the patient requests the name brand rather than the doctor writing that it is to be name brand. Which..that even bites. With my synthroid, I KNOW that the doctor put 'do not substitute' on the script, but they always try to give me generic. This year, I am going to have to make a copy of the script to keep with me to prove that it was the doctor who said not to give me generic! Another thing they changed for me is that instead of just doctor appointments having a 20% co-pay, so does all surgeries, hospitals, OR's...everything. I am really dreading to see my part of my upcoming surgery. I don't think our deductible has changed but I'm not positive yet. I should have an idea of that within the next month as the bills roll in from the surgery. I think just my doctor appointments in January will cover most of it. We haven't been told to do any surveys or sign up for a health coach.  I'm not too worried about our OTC stuff. Most of my supplies, the visiting nurses got for me while they were still coming around so now it's just a bottle of saliene solution. No biggie. Pretty much everything else, we had plenty of from past surgeries. Sherri

hey everyone..........happy sunday :) I got up and went to church today....it was awesome.......we had a group there today called Higher Ground.......it was so awesome!!!!!! I go tomorrow for my third lapband fill which im in much need of........i still do NOT feel much restriction whatsoever ITS DRIVING ME NUTS!