Request Pending & BYOC

Called the insurance company - no movement...the request is still pending.  *sigh*

In the meantime...BYOC...

1. If you could be a flower, which one would it be and why?
A Red Rose - classic, romantic
Or a Venus Fly Trap - those things are wicked!  Little Shop of Horrors anyone?

2. Which Sex and The City Character do you most relate to?
I guess I'm the anti-woman here but I have seen probably one full episode of this show.  I get the gist of the personalities but I couldn't decide...I just knew I wasn't Samantha so I took a quiz to find out.  Turns out I'm most like Carrie or Miranda depending on the quiz. When I was single, I was probably more like Carrie.  Married, I think I'm more like Miranda.  If any of you are struggling with this question,  you can a quiz at either of these sites.  Enjoy!
http://quiz.ivillage.com/astrology/tests/sexandthecity.htm
http://www.quibblo.com/quiz/prDH_/Which-Sex-in-the-City-Character-are-you

3. If you had a crystal ball or could know one thing about the future - what would it be?
Currently, that I'm approved for my surgery, all goes well and I lose a bunch of weight.  On a day where I'm not so consumed, that we have made it out of debt, own our home and my kids are playing with their friends in our HUGE backyard.

4. What's your biggest fear in your weight loss journey?
That I fail.  Isn't this everyone's fear?

5. Repeat question: Whose blog or comment spoke to you the most this week and why?
I've been really touched by how many people have checked in this week and have been sending good insurance thoughts my way.  I was particularly touched by Inspiration's blog today.  It is so difficult to face the skeletons from our past but she does it with gusto.  She lives up to her blog's title with this one and it made me feel fortunate for growing up the way I did and selfish for allowing myself to get to this state.  It reminded me that I haven't had any traumatic experiences that attributed to making me fat. I did this all on my own...there are so many out there that have truly had to overcome REAL struggles and obstacles and are coming out better on the opposite end. 

For those in the States, hope y'all have a great Memorial Day Weekend.  Always remember those who have fallen for our freedoms and our country.  For those in the rest of the world, just have a great weekend.

To pass the time...

So my husband thinks I'm crazy because I want to call the insurance company again this week.  Imagine how crazy he'll think I am when he realizes that it's taking all my willpower to NOT call TODAY.  As I said in Tuesday's post, I will call tomorrow because I don't think once or twice a week is too obsessive (many would disagree).  Soooo...since I'm sitting here NOT calling...thought I'd give y'all a taste of how I'm passing the time (lucky you).

Quote of the Day:

There are two ways to pass a hurdle: leaping over or plowing through... There needs to be a monster truck option.

      - Jeph Jacques, Questionable Content #1356, 03-10-09

Joke of the Day

While driving in Pennsylvania , a family caught up to an Amish carriage. The owner of the carriage obviously had a sense of humor, because attached to the back of the carriage was a hand printed sign..."Energy efficient vehicle: Runs on oats and grass. Caution: Do not step in exhaust.''

Word of the Day

regnant \REG-nuhnt\, adjective:

1. Prevalent; widespread.
2. Reigning; ruling (usually used following the noun it modifies): a queen regnant.
3. Exercising authority, rule, or influence.

Riddle of the Day:

The higher I climb, the hotter I engage, I can not escape my crystal cage. What am I?
***Answer at the bottom of blog***

And finally...the cartoon of the day

 

So for all prebanders out there, trying to kill time waiting for an approval, take heart.  I will probably be posting a good number of these as I await my own hopefully good news.  I am feeling much better...the stomach bug as finally flown the coop; however, it didn't fly far.  My oldest is now sick as well.  *Sigh*  It's always something.  My mom was kind enough to watch her today so I didn't have to call in.  Thank goodness for moms, eh?  I just hope she doesn't get sick too.  Otherwise, we're moseying along.  I hope you're all having a very happy Thursday!  Scroll down for the answer to the riddle...

*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

Answer to Riddle - A Thermometer

Under Review

I called UHC this morning and spoke a very nice woman who advised that the case was opened with them yesterday morning.  They received the file from my surgeon's office Friday afternoon.  Now a nurse will look it over and the final OK will come from the medical director.  She could provide no ETA on when any of this may happen.  But I figure just verifying that they did receive it is the first step.  Hopefully when I call on Friday (as I'm trying to limit my obsessiveness to just twice a week), this story hasn't changed and the nurse will at least have had a chance to look at it.

In other news...I have caught some sort of stomach bug.  Just awful with the vomiting and what not.  I left work early yesterday and slept pretty much clear on until this morning.  At that point, I had to get up and come into work as my partner was off today.  Ugh.  So I am muddling through and deciding that it may be time to try to eat a little something.  We'll see how that goes.  I hope y'all are having a wonderful Tuesday. 

Submitted to Insurance

My hubby confirmed with the surgeon's office that they sent my file off to the insurance company last week!  Wahoo!  So I'm thinking I'll call the insurance company today to see if they've received it.  Just to make sure.  Ron's pcp still hasn't faxed his records to the surgeon's office yet.  So another call will have to be made to them to see what the hell it is they think they're doing over there.  But the ball is rolling....  Please think speedy approval thoughts for me!

On a side note, I had a garage sale to help raise funds for my breast cancer walk. We made over $200!  Wahoo!!!  I'm having another one this Saturday to just try and get rid of a lot of the stuff we had left.  I hate packing stuff back up into my garage.

Happy Monday Everybody!!!

BYOC

OK...I never do these but what the heck?  I'm at work, I'm bored and this day feels like it's never going to end...so here we go....

1) If you had 3 wishes, what would they be and why?
Wow...I really wish I had all these nonselfish wishes like Jenny or Kate, but I'm just not that noble.  I am gonna steal one from Jenny though

1. Out of debt - Holy Cow!!!  We haven't used credit for anything in years but it still feels like we're drowning.
2. That I could give my girls everything they want in life...not just money but activities, confidence, the absolutely best educations, encouragement, self esteem, healthy lifestyles...the list goes on and on
3.  Creative talent - I wouldn't care if it was singing, painting, writing, playing an instrument but I am like the queen of UNcreativity.  I think my life would be more fulfilling in some way.

2)  If you had all the money in the world and perfect circumstances - how many children would you have and what sex?
The 2 I already have and probably 1 more.  Girl or boy makes no difference.  With already having 2 girls, I suppose a boy would be a nice change of pace.
 
3)  Have you ever faked it? (Because I need to laugh...feel free to skip this one if it's too personal.)
Nope - Lucky me!  LOL
 
4) What movie character do you think you look like?
Isn't it obvious?  Pamela Anderson.  Ummm...yeah...not so much.  Sorry - no starlet look alike here.
 
5) Repeat question. Which blog or comment spoke to you or stuck with you this week and why?
They all speak to me all the time but I'll name my 2 favs of the week.  I read through one entire blog today that I not only enjoyed but was really helpful to a prebander (and I love the name her blog) - Kristin's. The other is Lori's.  She's always so supportive in her comments but her blog entry about getting herself back.  Truly finding her old self when she was confident and happy and all the things she loves about herself.  I can totally relate to that.  THAT is why I want the band.  I remember how I used to be...and God help me...I will be that person again!
 
So there you have it...my very first BYOC.  I'm sure you all feel smarter having read it.  LOL

Up 2

I gained 2 lbs over last month.  These are the same 2 that I lost last month after gaining 2 the month before...see a pattern here?  Anyhoo...my hubby had a gain as well.  This wasn't surprising to either one of us as we knew we had a bad month.  So the sixth appointment is done.  We didn't get a chance to talk to Greg (the very nice front desk guy/paperwork organizer guy) at the surgeon's office after our visit to see if all the paperwork is in order to submit to insurance.  Mine should be but my husband was having some issues with records from his doctor.  So I called this morning and could only leave a message on his voicemail since he was with a patient.  Their office closes at noon on Fridays and I never got a call back.  So it looks look I'll be calling again on Monday to see what's going on with the paperwork and when they think they'll be submitting it to the insurance company.

Thanks for the all good vibes yesterday.  Hope y'all have a great weekend.

Almost there...

Just a quick note to say I cannot freakin' wait for my doc appointment tomorrow.  It is the 6th, yes SIXTH, count them 1-2-3-4-5....6!!!! supervised diet weigh in.  I can't wait to be done with these stupid insurance hoops.  The weigh in isn't going to be pretty.  It has not been a good weigh in month.  But I'm done. I just can't take this holding pattern anymore.  Seriously...gonna freak out on somebody!  I'm thinking I'll start bothering the doc's office on Monday to submit the paperwork and once they do, I can start botherin the insurance company about approving it.  I love to bother people.  Just a quick post today...as nothing really to report.  Will post Friday about my appointment.  Toodles!

Check and...Check

Psychological Evaluation - Check
Nutritional Consult - Check

I'll start with the psychological evaluation.  It went fine.  The guy was CREEPY.  I really think he needed a psych eval before doing mine.  But whatever...I spoke with him for about 20 minutes and he said that he sees no reason to keep me from having the surgery as long as nothing goofy comes from my personality test.  Even then, he said if something seems off, he'll call me and we'll talk about it.  He said if I don't hear from him in the next couple days, then all is good.  So no news is good news and I hope I don't hear from him.

The nutritional consult was annoying.  First off, Ron (my hubby) hates nutritionists, not just her...but ALL nutritionists.  And I have to agree that they all seem to have (and yes I'm stereotyping and if any of you are nutritionists, I humbly apologize for generalizing and I'm sure you're the one nutritionist who isn't like this) a condescending attitude.  They're all thin (which makes sense because they eat right...duh) and, for the most part, they've always BEEN thin.  So they can't really relate and I don't think they can truly understand why we just don't say no to the Chick-fil-a and yes to the cabbage, but I digress.  She's basically recommending that I start taking a multivitamin (which I was planning on anyway) and a calcium supplement since I'm not much of a milk drinker.  She then went over the preop and postop diets that my surgeon office prefers.  First, the good news...there is no liquid preop diet.  Dr. Simpson wants a low fat, reasonable diet for couple weeks leading up to surgery but that it's.  Even the day before, eat your big meal about midday, a light snack in the evening and nothing after midnight.  At first, I was like "WAHOOOOO!  No liquid diet!!"  But then I got to thinking about Fat Bastard's most recent blog that you can read here.  In light of that and from what I've read in regards to what others have posted, I think I'm going to do a modified liquid diet for one week before surgery just to make sure my liver is good and shrinked.  I think I'll do liquids during the day and then a "sensible meal" (ala slim fast) for dinner.  We'll see. Here's the bad news - it seems to me that my surgeons postop diet is REALLY strict.  Full liquids for 3 weeks!!!  That seems like a long time to me.  Clear liquids only for the first day, then go to full for 3, then mushies for 1 and then regular food.  So the nutritionist starts going through what you can have the liquid diet.  Creamed soup (blended well), juice, smooth yogurts, coffee, tea, etc.  She basically said if you could feed it to a newborn (who doesn't have teeth) then you're good.  So I asked, "how about smoothies?" and she says "Would you give a newborn a smoothie?"  This ticked me off as there was no reason for attitude so I admit I got a little attitude and said "I wouldn't give a newborn creamed tomato soup either so can I have smoothie?"  She went 'heheh.  NO."  FINE.  That's all you had to say to begin with, lady.  Geez.  The other unfortunate thing is that this isn't the last time I am required to deal with her.  She's always available after banding for consultations (that's included with my program fee) but I am required to have another session with her after I'm banded but before my first fill to talk more about regular eating.  She gave us all a packet with the normal eating requirements (proteins, portions, etc.) so I don't really know what she's going to be able to add to that.  Of course, Ron has complete contempt for her and now, because she somehow thought I asked a dumb question (when there was this other lady there asking REALLY dumb questions) and had to get snippy, I don't like her either.  Also, she pulled the whole "and of course, you'll never eat pasta, bread or rice again."  I'm sorry but I just don't buy into this.  I know these things should be limited in our diet and that some people can't tolerate them with the band.  I am prepared that if my band doesn't like grains, I will give them up.  But never having pasta again just becuase it's not the best diet choice?  So unrealistic.  I've seen plenty of successful bandsters that indulge once in awhile.  Completely banning things from your diet just makes you want them more...even my surgeon says that.  Bah!  No offense to anyone who has banned carbs from their diet (It would be so much easier if I could) but I'm ignoring this no grains for the rest of my life tidbit.  So there you go.

Of course, all of this is dependent on my insurance giving me the green light for surgery.  I have my final weigh in (OMG! I CANNOT WAIT!!) next Thursday 5/20/10 at 4:40 pm.  Then the waiting game begins.

Other news: My oldest daughter is sick.  She has a fever and a sore throat.  Poor baby.  With all the recalls recently, I'm hesitant to give her medicine for it.  She's with my mom today who was kind enough to babysit.  What else?  Oh right!  My mom also had a garage sale last weekend to help me raise money for the 3 Day.  We got $130!!  Not bad.  The way we're figuring it is I need $1600 to get to goal.  If I collect it in cash, I can donate through my company for a corporate match so I really only need $800.  So I've got $130 from that sale, $50 from miscellaneous friends, $$ from my fundraiser two weeks ago (still don't know how much that is yet) and we're having another rummage sale 5/22.  Since I only need to raise $620, it doesn't seem so daunting now.  So feeling good about that.

I guess that's about it.  Hope y'all are having a great Thursday!

Crazy Questionnaire

So I have my psychological evaluation and nutritional consult tomorrow.  In preparation, I've spent the better part of my morning filling out the OMNI Personality Inventory booklet for the psychologist.  Holy Cow!  300+ questions about my personality.  Some of them sound so tricky too!  What exactly are they looking for here?  I don't understand how this test would tell them whether or not I would be successful with the band.  I don't see how they would be able to determine if I have an eating disorder from it.  Maybe if I was a homocidal maniac, they'd be able to tell but I'm not sure.  I tried to answer the questions honestly but if you ask me some of them are open to interpretation.  Not to mention your answer options!  Way too many shades of gray. 

Here's a little glimpse at what I mean.
My options for answers is "Definitely Agree", "Very probably agree", "Probably Agree", "Possibly Agree", "Probably Disagree", "Very Probably Disagree" or "Definitely Disagree."  Can't I just agree or disagree?  Why are their varying degrees of agreeing?

Think of how you might answer some of these:
Almost nothing frightens me.
Telepathy or ESP has been important in my life.
I have very little personality.
Homosexuals should be allowed in the military.
People should marry smoeone of their own religion.
Things should always be stored where they belong.
People think I'm odd or eccentric.
Charms or omens have influenced my life.
I agree with the statement: "My country right or wrong." (I had to google this because I had NO idea what it meant).

I think by far my favorite question was "I often try to get people sexually interested in me."  Ummm...sure...why not?  I assume the political questions are there to make sure you're actually reading the questions and not just answering neutrally throughout the test but some of them started getting me seriously overthinking things.

Another question that my hubby (who also had to fill one out) and I put opposite answers on was "A married woman's primary role is take care of her family."  Ron marked that he definitely agrees working under the presumption that a married man's first responsibility to be to take care of his family as well.  I read the question as "A woman's place is in the home," so I marked that I definitely disagreed.  A lot of things open for interpretation.  Hope they don't find me too nutty to be banded.  I wasn't worried about this part at all until I took this stupid questionnaire.  Now I'm all paranoid.  About halfway through the test, I expected the next question to be "I am very paranoid about personality questions."  Definitely Agree.  Anyhoo...that's about it.  Wish me luck for tomorrow!  Will post after the appointment.

Snow in May?? In AZ??

Hello all my happy bandsters in Blogland.  I've got all kinds of randomness going on today...

The Weekend:  Had a pretty good weekend all in all.  Friday's fundraiser was a flop.  Not sure how much we made but wasn't nearly what we needed so it's back to the drawing board.  All it really cost us was time so any money we made is good.  Saturday, my girls got up WAY too early in the morning and did not want to fall back to sleep so the whole family took a nice, long nap Saturday afternoon and then went to Home Depot.  Exciting stuff.  Sunday, we decided to get active and go for a hike up near Payson (about 3 hours away) and enjoy the cooler weather (even though it's not all that hot here yet) and the green foliage.  I checked the weather...I swear I did.  Weather.com said it would be 63 and partly cloudy in Payson on Sunday.  What I didn't realize is that the trail we were going to be hiking (kid friendly, 2 miles...should've been a breeze) is 30 miles north and apparently at a much higher ELEVATION than Payson.  Okay...so I've never lived in the mountains, OK?  I rarely drive through them, much less visit them so I didn't realize that while Payson is the closest city (town...seriously?  Payson is not a city), the weather doesn't exactly translate.  It was 45 freaking degrees!  So after driving for awhile on this obscure dirt road, we park on this pull-off thing and we get out of the car to change my youngest daughter's clothes because we learned that she apparently gets car sick when Mommy is driving through the mountains.  And I was FREEZING!!!!  Now, I packed long sleeves and stuff for the girls but I had nothing and their clothes certainly weren't warm enough for that wind.  But they had to get out and move around a little since they'd been in the car so long.  They loved it.  Maddie (my oldest) insisted on walking around and exploring everything.  They had a great time so it all worked out but if they catch pneumonia, it's all my fault and I'm like the worst parent ever.

Here's a picture of them all bundled up in the van - luckily I had a spare blanket in the back.

Maddie and Lori exploring.

The Johnson Girls up high on the side of the mountain.

Random News:  In other news...heard this on the radio.  Full story is here...but the gist is that an woman bit off part of some guy's ear because she heard him call her fat.  Sheesh.  Okay...should people be calling people that just to make them feel bad?  No.  Should you intentionally try to hurt someone's feelings?  Of course not.  But come on!!!  To go all Mike Tyson on the guy???  It's kind of proving the point...if someone calls you fat, threatening to eat that person by chewing off his ear isn't exactly making a great argument.  Think people!  Incidentally, the guys on the radio said it was an "overweight woman" but I have yet to find a story on the internet that states that.  Is this a valid assumption?  Is it possible she is a "normal" sized person (or even thin) who is a fatty-hater whose worst insult in the world to her is calling her fat?  Who knows?

Band News: Got a call from the surgeon's office last week.  They had looked over all my medical records and they look great - all 5 years with dates and weight are perfect.  The letter of medical necessity looked good.  So now all they need is the psych and nutritional consults (already scheduled) and the sixth month of the diet (already scheduled) and they'll be able to package it up and send it off to the insurance company.  Seems like the surgeon's office is really on top of things so I'm hoping they fax it quickly after that 6th appointment.  In turn, I hope the insurance company answers quickly but I'm not holding my breath for that one.  My husband's paperwork isn't quite complete...still waiting on his current doc to fax over medical records.  Once they're in, he should be good as well.

Kindergarten:  Maddie starts kindergarten in August so we went to the Kindergarten Orientation at her school last week.  We're choosing a public school system out of our district (just because our district sucks) and I was very impressed with facilities.  Man...school has sure changed a lot since I was a kid.  The technology alone is amazing.  We got to meet with 5 out of 6 of the kindergarten teachers so the likelihood is good that she'll have one of them.  They all seemed really motivated and genuinely concerned about the kids.  Maddie so excited to get started and was a little upset that she wouldn't be starting school the very next day.  Overall, I feel really good about our decision to send her there.  I think it'll work out really great...which makes this whole me-getting-so-old-my-daughter-is-going-to-an-honest-to-god-real-elementary-school-next-year epiphany a little easier to manage.

Other Thoughts:  There have been posts by just about everyone regarding how they see themselves when they look in the mirror.  Some say they just don't see the new skinny girl, they still see the old fat one.  Others, like Amykins, admits she had reverse body dysmorphic disorder in that she never saw herself as big as she was.  I don't have this problem.  Overall, I think I have a fairly realistic view of my body itself.  It's fat... I know this... I try not to swim in my clothes to hide it.  I know I'm not the biggest girl out there but I also know I'm not "fit."  What I never hear about is your face.  When I look in the mirror, the face I see just doesn't seem right.  There are no wrinkles (yet) so it's not an aging thing.  It just doesn't look like ME.  Does that make sense?  I'm not sure if it's because it's so puffy but when I really look at it, I don't recognize it.  I just can't figure it out.  I've never been particularly "thin" so I'm not sure if losing weight is going to make a difference.  I realize this doesn't make much sense but it's something that dawned on me over the weekend when I was washing my face.  I took a long look at myself in the mirror and thought "Really?  This is it?"  I guess I just didn't think that this is what I would look like when I grew up.  Ever happen to you?