Anemic

This is what I look like as of yesterday March 12, 2008. I'm blond again. Cute, huh?


Went to the doctor last week for my 15 month check up. I am down 88 pounds! Very pleased with my progress. The not so good news is that I am incredibly deficient in iron. He said I am one point away from being anemic. The doctor advised me to take an iron pill three times a day! Yikes!!! If you know anything about iron supplements you know that they can constipate you. He advised three times a day so that my body can catch up and so I bought iron pills at GNC that claim to be non-constipating...we'll see about that. I will also step up my fiber intake as I think I am going to need it.

I know part of the problem is that I do NOT take my vitamins every day. I know it is silly, but on some level I resent having to take these pills. I mean, I'm not 70 years old and yet I have this ridiculous pill box laid out with all my vitamins in it. How can I forget when the pill box is right there on the table, right? So I think there is some deep-rooted psychological reason for my "forgetting" to take my meds every day. I'm hoping that the doctor visit will be the wake up call that I need.

Oh, and of course he told me to exercise more because, as he put it, "you can still lose more weight." Ouch! Yeah, I know! I want to lose 30 more pounds and it has been hard the last 10 pounds or so. Hubby and I joined a gym together and I think we went about 10 times at 5 am together. After that we split up and go on our own time. Still, I haven't been going often enough and I need to. Yeah, there were some good excuses I've had recently for not going, but even if it is just for a practical reason. I'm paying for this so I better get my fat ass over there! hee hee.

Insurance Companies Suck

My husband wants to have this surgery too. We went to the information meeting (see post http://fat-chronicles.blogspot.com/2006/11/informational-meeting.html ) together and he got scared. I knew when he saw how well I was doing that he would want to do it too, and that is exactly what happened. Because he is a school teacher, he wanted to wait until the summer to have the surgery.

He knew the drill as far as all of the tests that you have to do before you see the surgeon and so he started doing all of that in April. He made his appointment with the surgeoun for July 5th. After the meeting, the surgeon will give you a surgery date and then they will secure the authorization for the surgery with the insurance company.

After his meeting, my husband was told that he would not be approved by the insurance company because the insurance company added a new stipulation for approvals last week! In order to be approved for surgery you now had to have 6 months of supervised weight loss with a nutritionist & physician. Our insurance company is Horizon Blue Cross/Blue Shield. They had been the easiest of the insurance companies to get the approval for bariatric surgery.

The insurance companies are trying to dissuade people from having the surgery because it costs them too much money. I think the surgery costs around $35,000 and since it has been so successful in weight loss, people are lining up to get it. The more obstacles the insurance companies put in your way, the less likely people will follow through to have the surgery.

He was so disappointed. He was really counting on having the surgery this summer. He is following up with his new PCP, Dr. Fink, who was going to do all of his post-op routine visits. Dr. Fink is going to set him up with a nutritionist. He is also starting a work-out regime at a gym that is affilaited with the hospital. It has lot better hours than the re-hab hospital gym that he was going to. It is like a regular gym and opens at 5:30 and closes at 9:00 pm. Gym memberships for men are pretty limited. At least women have women only gyms, but men pretty much have things like Gold's Gym or Bally's and they are clubs that you dodn't feel comfortable being at when you are overweight.

Anyway, I say screw the insurance companies. Follow their requisites to the letter so that they will have to pay for your surgery. Make them pay!

Yoga: Heaven or Hell?

Went to a yoga class last night. Truthfully, I was not looking forward to it at all. I didn’t think I’d like all the crazy poses and such. It was a gift from my dear husband, three months ago on my birthday he gave me an introductory session. I put it off until the certificate was about to expire. I have a cold, so I really wasn’t feeling up to going, but I didn’t want to disappoint AR, so I went.

As soon as I stepped into the office I felt as if I were in a different world. The lighting was dimmed; soothing Asian music was playing and there was a fresh pot of tea brewing beside a water fountain gently splashing water. Maybe this was my kind of place.

I was asked to fill out a form, and I did. One of the questions: weight _____. Why in the hell do they need to know that? I filled it out anyway and then checked off some boxes as to why I wanted to come to yoga. No, gift certificate was not a choice and neither was guilt. I chose: relaxation, improved emotional health and weight loss. Why not?

Then this tiny Asian woman came out and looked at my form. She took me into another room and closed the door once I was inside. There was one yoga mat on the floor. She told me that she wanted to evaluate me before class. She had me lifting my legs, turning my head and arms and stretching all different ways. When I was lying on the floor, she pulled on my feet and said my right side of my body was longer than my left side. She said I was imbalanced.

She had me breathe in and out and told me that I was not breathing properly. Huh? I’m alive, aren’t I? My breaths were too shallow. I need to breathe from my diaphragm. Then she touched my upper back and neck and said there was a lot of tension there. I was holding on to too much inside and need to let it out. My CHI is not flowing properly. When I am stressed, it always goes to my neck and upper back, but I’m sure most other people have the same symptoms.

I was a little out of breath by the time she finished evaluating me. In fact, I thought about maybe just going home, but the opportunity did not present itself as she shuttled me into the other room where the yoga class would begin. They showed me this intestinal exercise and we started doing that right away. As people came into the classroom, they just joined right in. Before I knew it, the class began.

You know what? It didn’t suck. I enjoyed it. It was challenging for me since I am so out of shape, but I found it invigorating and relaxing at the same time. It wasn’t a traditional “dog facing down” yoga class, I am happy to report. It was very much like the stretching exercises we did in tae kwon do. The only difference is that the stretching didn’t stop! It was a great work out. I couldn’t do everything due to my bad knee and excess weight, but I was able to do so much that I impressed the instructor. Of course, I failed to realize that the class was 70 minutes long! Christ, that is a loooong time, especially when you don’t know anyone and your muscles were getting wobbly from holding positions for such a length of time and you thought it was a 45 minute class!

They brought in a cup of tea for everyone, but I figured that this was my time to exit. I thought it would be awkward sipping tea with these people. I don’t know why. Maybe on another night it wouldn’t have seemed so strange, but I still was unable to make a quick getaway. They had to make their sales pitch, right? I sat through that and told her I was interested, but not sure when I could start classes. I know they will be calling me to get me back in.

I really think this would be great for me, once I've lost some weight after the surgery and I am cleared to exercise vigorously. I just can’t see starting it now, but I also don’t feel the need to tell them all the details of my life either. Of course, I am telling all of you, so I guess, what’s the difference? Good point.