9/5/00 - Back to school month. Can you believe it? Things are still the same for me. I'm still having some trouble getting the stomach ulcer under control. Mostly my fault though. I've never been very consistent with taking my own medications. So if I were to concentrate on taking the meds as prescribed, I'm sure this Ulcer would be a thing of the past.

My sleep has been very fitful the past month or so. So maybe that is worthy of mention here. I attribute it mostly to my stomach, but maybe others seem to notice sleep pattern changes as they progress with their weight loss. Let me know if any of you have experienced anything like this.

Well, there is not really much to update. The weight hasn't dropped any since my last update - I'm still at 192. So I will just post an updated picture here and write again if anything changes. Take care, and thanks for checking in on me.

9/14/00 -  Well - very exciting news.  Monday I met with a plastic surgeon at the Hershey Medical Center (the same hospital where I had by GB) and we discussed the possibility of abdominoplasty and a breast lift.  The appt. went wonderfully with the doctor exclaiming that he feels I am an excellent candidate for both procedures and he would put the wheels in motion with submitting the request to the insurance company.  The likelihood that the abdominoplasty will be paid for by insurance is high.  But is still remains to be seen if the breast work with qualify.  I'm feeling a bit pessimistic about the breast lift making it past the scrutiny of the claims adjusters at the insurance company.  So, I did inquire of the scheduling staff as to the additional costs involved if both procedures were done during the same operation.  They said this is quite common and that the costs may be reduced significantly because of the portion that the insurance company would already be paying for the primary procedure - the abdominoplasty.  

My belly has been a big disappointment to me throughout this weight loss endeavor.  It seems that no matter to what extent I exercised and tried to reduce the fat on the belly...it just stayed and stayed.  The doctor explained that it was very unlikely that any amount of exercise would have decreased this apron and surgical intervention would likely be the only avenue available to permanently correct the situation.  Whew....you should have seen the grin on my face when he said that.  I think I'm still grinning.  They took a plethora of pictures of my saggy belly and boobs for submission to the insurance company along with the letter from the doctor.  In hindsight, I contacted the office and asked to be faxed a copy of the request that goes out to the insurance company, and to date, I still have not received it.  I called yesterday and found that they are unsure if the letter has even yet been composed.  So I will remain patient.  After all, I didn't get to this point over night, and I can't expect to rush "everything"!  More later....thanks for checking in on me.

9/25/00 - Just a quick update.  I still have heard no word from the insurance company.  But I'm excited because I have lost a little more weight.  So I have updated the weight loss chart and also updated the inches lost chart.  That was very exciting to take my new measurements.  So far, I'm down 122lbs and 107 inches...woohoo.  Oh  yes....one more milestone....size 16 jeans....can you believe it?  Remember, that is down from a 30-32 (I think that is the biggest they make around here :) )

Well here is another picture I had taken today, only because I wore this dress to work today and I must have gotten a million compliments, so I decided to share the day with you.  Thanks for checking in on me.  More soon!