Elaine C.
The Time Is Near
Jan 22, 2010
Since my last (and first post), I've met with Dr. Leclerc in Montreal a couple of times. My last meeting with him was this past Wednesday. I will get banded in April (2010) and someone will call me next month to set up the exact date. I'll be so happy when this is all over and done with!
I've lost 25 lbs since I've started this journey and am so looking forward to it being a bigger number. I've been counting calories, making sure I eat healthier (more veggies and fruits, less sodium, less fat, eating out less and when I do, I try to behave), and incorporating more physical activity in my life. Swimming was great but unfortunately, I've ran into some problems with my shoulders. I plan to take it back up on a frequent basis again, I just gave my shoulders a break because they were causing quite a bit of problems for me. I now have my treadmill located in a good spot. It's easy to use, I leave it set up so it's ready to go whenever I am with no hassles.
So this was just a quick update in case anyone was wondering what's going on
0 comments
I've lost 25 lbs since I've started this journey and am so looking forward to it being a bigger number. I've been counting calories, making sure I eat healthier (more veggies and fruits, less sodium, less fat, eating out less and when I do, I try to behave), and incorporating more physical activity in my life. Swimming was great but unfortunately, I've ran into some problems with my shoulders. I plan to take it back up on a frequent basis again, I just gave my shoulders a break because they were causing quite a bit of problems for me. I now have my treadmill located in a good spot. It's easy to use, I leave it set up so it's ready to go whenever I am with no hassles.
So this was just a quick update in case anyone was wondering what's going on
First Appointment
May 18, 2009
My first meeting with the surgeon is June 15th in Montreal! I can't believe I'm doing this... Surgery scares the hell out of me but I have to keep telling myself it will be OK. The first and last time I had surgery was to get my impacted wisdom teeth extracted and I woke up part way during surgery as the surgeon was cracking one of the teeth out of my head. An interesting and gross sound but I didn't feel the pain and couldn't move anything but my eye lids... I figure the anaestheseologist for the Lap Band surgery has given a lot of overweight women enough anaesthetic that he should know what he's doing by now (or she). The surgeon has probably performed this type of surgery countless times so he should also know what he's doing by now. Although there's always that "... but still..." factor that remains. I have a list of about 30 questions for the surgeon when we meet. He's going to hate me! hehehehe I'll be getting the referral from my doctor this week; I don't think she'll have a problem with it.
RAMQ will pay for the surgery but I'm responsible for the $5100 for the band. I checked with my insurance through work and they don't pay for the Lap Band because it's considered as an implant. The only implants they pay for are for the lenses (or whichever part it is) for cataract surgery, which is understandable or penile implants (huh????). I guess they figure it's more important to pay for something so a man to have an erection than for something that could save a life... Stupid! Obviously someone's priorities were severely screwed up when they came up with that one. Anyhow, I figure with the money I save on food alone, it should have the band paid off in a relatively short amount of time and I'll claim it on my taxes. I'll also have to pay for hotel stays while going to Montreal, meal supplements (Ultra Meal seems to be good but expensive!), and whatever else comes along.
One worry that comes to mind about getting to my end result is that my skin won't "snap back". I've seen before and after pictures and in some cases, they were a little gruesome. After researching it a good bit, apparently a lot of people lose muscle when they lose a lot of weight this way. Excercise isn't only important for weight loss, but very important to ensure you don't lose the muscle you already have and to build more muscle to help the excess skin hang on to. I can understand how someone could weight 150 lbs with an appropriate amount of muscle mass looking better than someone who weighs the same and has considerably less muscle mass considering that that would mean there was more fat to get to that weight. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it but I want to avoid going in for surgery after Lap Band surgery. I'll have to excercise my ass off (pun intended
) to avoid looking like a Shar Pei. I certainly don't want to look like I'm a weight trainer, I don't find that feminine, but I'd like to avoid cosmetic surgery if possible.
0 comments
RAMQ will pay for the surgery but I'm responsible for the $5100 for the band. I checked with my insurance through work and they don't pay for the Lap Band because it's considered as an implant. The only implants they pay for are for the lenses (or whichever part it is) for cataract surgery, which is understandable or penile implants (huh????). I guess they figure it's more important to pay for something so a man to have an erection than for something that could save a life... Stupid! Obviously someone's priorities were severely screwed up when they came up with that one. Anyhow, I figure with the money I save on food alone, it should have the band paid off in a relatively short amount of time and I'll claim it on my taxes. I'll also have to pay for hotel stays while going to Montreal, meal supplements (Ultra Meal seems to be good but expensive!), and whatever else comes along.
One worry that comes to mind about getting to my end result is that my skin won't "snap back". I've seen before and after pictures and in some cases, they were a little gruesome. After researching it a good bit, apparently a lot of people lose muscle when they lose a lot of weight this way. Excercise isn't only important for weight loss, but very important to ensure you don't lose the muscle you already have and to build more muscle to help the excess skin hang on to. I can understand how someone could weight 150 lbs with an appropriate amount of muscle mass looking better than someone who weighs the same and has considerably less muscle mass considering that that would mean there was more fat to get to that weight. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it but I want to avoid going in for surgery after Lap Band surgery. I'll have to excercise my ass off (pun intended
) to avoid looking like a Shar Pei. I certainly don't want to look like I'm a weight trainer, I don't find that feminine, but I'd like to avoid cosmetic surgery if possible.
