The Waiting Game

We have not heard back from the surgeon's office since Chris had his psych exam. I have urged him to contact their office on Monday to check the status of everything...I feel like we are playing an eternal waiting game although I know it really has not been that long. Chris will also ask if we can go ahead and attend the support group meeting this Wednesday night (they meet the first Wednesday of every month). One of the items on his Bariatric Checklist (given to him at the first seminar) is to attend a support meeting. I think they will actually assign him and "angel." That is, someone who has already had lap band surgery, someone that he can call on when he has questions and/or is struggling with anything. I think that is pretty cool.

I added a couple of links to the blog. One is for the surgery center that Chris is using. The other is for a guy by the name of Todd who had Lap Band just over one year ago. I stumbled across Todd's blog while doing some of my endless lap band information searching on-line. I read his entire blog from start to finish and it was very enlightening and I thought it was a great idea (hence why I now am blogging...such a copycat!). Anyway, I had emailed Todd to say how proud I was of him and all that he has done, etc. He has been so sweet and has emailed back and forth several times on different issues. I think that is just wonderful that he is willing to help out and offer support for someone who is in process. So...check out his blog if you get a chance. One thing I am going to go back and re-read is the section about his friend who changed his diet to somewhat match what Todd is doing as part of his Lap Band process...and he lost weight. I am going to attempt to "eat with Chris" but I know that I will be hungry when he is not so I have to plan out what I will do for "in between" meals...a piece of fruit or some sort of protein shake or something...not sure yet.

Oh...found out this week that my brother's wife (Paul and Janice) is in process of preparing for Lap Band too! My mom called to tell me about it, not knowing that Chris is already in process too. Chris has not told anyone in his family about his decision yet. His father is 85 years old (pictured on this blog with Chris) and we are concerned that he would be overly concerned and worried about it. So...we likely are not telling anyone in his family until it is done. We hope that with Chris' success (yes I am thinking very positive) it might be inspiration to his two sisters, Cheryl and Rebecca, who are also overweight.

Psycho Exam

Well, Chris had his psycho exam earlier this week and all went well. I told him that I am surprised the did not commit him! LOL Anyway, I think he got some good information out of the visit. I found it interesting that she talked to him about things like her wanting him to eat his meals at the table instead of in front of the TV (that will certainly be a change for us), he is to eat with good posture, not with slumped shoulders, put the fork down after each bite. She also told him to find a way in his crazy schedule to work in 10 minutes of exercise two days per week. From there he is to build that up to 30 minutes twice per week, then 30 minutes three times per week, etc. She said 30 minutes is all anyone needs unless they are a professional athlete...I think I like her! :) I think giving up soda will probably be one of his biggest challenges...he has drank diet soda for years but he drinks a whole lot of them. She was going to issue her approval letter and get it over to the surgeon's office by the next morning. We will likely hear from the surgeon's office early next week for an appt. with the dietitian/nutritionist.

The psyco exam was $220, not sure what the next appointment will be. I have been checking into setting up a Health Savings Account (HSA) so that we can at least get some tax advantages out of some of the money for the surgery. I found out that Chris qualifies because his health insurance has a $3,000 deductible. The HSA will have to be set-up for just one individual since we do not qualify for the family limit due to my health insurance deductible being only $1,000. Oh well, we'll take any tax break we can get, every little bit helps.

Interesting that Chris found out yesterday that one of the owners where he works has a cousin that had lapband surgery. They gave him her phone number and he called and talked to her last night. Turns out that her daughter had lapbad surgery too. The daughter has lost more weight but it seems that might be due to her commitment to exercise. I think the more people he talks to about their successes is really helping him a lot. I told him that we have to find something that interests us and let that absorb us rather than our love for food which has absorbed us for way too many years. We have spent this week eating those things that we love and should not eat...I am about to the point of not loving some of these foods anymore after eating way too much...am actually looking forward to starting the pre pre-op diet next week. It is simply reasonable eating with portion control. He will be required to do that until such time that they tell him to start the pre-op diet. Now that is where I think the challenge will begin...protein drinks. Sure hope we can find some that we really like...if anyone has a recommendation please share it!

More to come!

1st Consultation

Today was the 1st consultation with the surgeon. Everything went well...I really like Dr. Strickland. He went over some information about the different types of surgeries and looked over Chris medical information. His biggest concern, of course, was the diabetes and the need to get rid of that. He was trying to help us make a decision which would be most beneficial for Chris, not ruling out any procedure as an option. When he realized that we were self-pay, he agreed 100% that we should go with the lap band. He said all of Chris' medical problems are weight induced and the lap band should solve the problem. He did warn him against "overeating the band" so we'll have to make sure we stay "in check" with reality after the surgery. I think Chris has some concerns about not having any "punishment" from eating things that would make him sick if he ate them after the gastric sleeve or the gastric bypass. The risks are so much higher for complications with those procedures and the doctor said the cost is at least double that of the lap band...so lap band it is. Which I am very comfortable with. He said Lap Band cures Diabetes in 47% of patients; the % is much higher if it is Type 2 Diabetes which Chris has. Plus, even if not totally cured, the meds would likely be reduced to near nothing. There is $300 a month for us just accounting for the meds alone! So...we are on the road of trying to come up with $14,000.

The next step is the psychological exam. And...the doctor is writing a letter to the insurance company just to see what happens. And he advised us to have an attorney send a letter as well.

As an added note to some issues in the prior posting...we purchased a new washer and dryer...and Chris sold the 4-wheeler. Now if we can just sell the pick-up truck! :)

Appointment Scheduled

The good news is that Chris finally got his 1st consultation appointment scheduled with the surgeon...June 11, 2008 at 3:30. The bad news is that the appointment will cost us $420...ouch! Chris has listed his old pick-up truck and his 4-wheeler in the Carolina Trader in hopes of selling them to raise money towards the surgery. Hopefully we'll have a good response but with the economy the way it is right now, you just never know.

I'll add that he also got a call from the Columbia Heart Center today in regards to the sleep study that he had done back in May. The results were terrible...something like 13 or 14 times that he stopped breathing during the night. They have schedule him to come back for another sleep study this Saturday night (June 7th) in which he will wear the "breathing machine." I guess this is to see how much it would help him to have the machine at home. I can't help but keeping in my mind that he has a $3,000 deductible on his insurance so all of the costs involved for these sleep studies and/or for the machine will be "out of pocket."

Adding to the financial quest of this whole situation, our dryer decided to stop working this weekend! Now, we really can't complain...the washer and dryer are 21 years old and we have never, ever had one single problem...it just HAD to pick now of all times to decide to stop working. Guess that's the way it goes!