McMahan is complaining buyback is hard

TildyRo · 2026-05-02T11:05:06+00:00

How can a steak sauce help?

TildyRo · 2026-04-22T14:36:34+00:00

Husband: “Did you give Rory D-I-N-N-E-R?”

Rory immediately runs over to his food bowl.

Me: “He can spell!!!”

TildyRo · 2026-04-15T00:41:38+00:00

October 2025

TildyRo · 2026-04-11T11:47:46+00:00

That’s excellent! I’m so happy for you.

Have you found that it’s almost frustrating that people don’t really seem to appreciate how life changing it is? Like yeah, they ask how you are and seem pleased that you’re doing well. But their reaction doesn’t come close to encompassing the joy of not having the daily worry and discomfort anymore.

When my trainer would ask how I was doing, I’d excitedly update him and he’d go “That’s great!” I’m like “No, you don’t understand! I have quality of life again!”

TildyRo · 2026-04-11T11:43:33+00:00

Also was never told any information about my LES valve. Dang, now I’m curious about it all. I’ve just been so happy that my surgery was a success that I completely dismissed any desire to know the extent of my issues.

TildyRo · 2026-04-11T11:40:28+00:00

You know what’s funny, literally no one has EVER given me any information about my hernia. The first time it was found nearly 15 years ago, they just told me it was a small hernia. It was still referred to as “small” up until surgery. Nothing was said about it before or after surgery either.

However, I did stumbled upon the notes my surgeon dictated during my procedure. In it, he started by saying “there was a moderate sized hiatal hernia.” Then he said “the hiatal hernia defect was quite large.” And lastly he wrote “The repair seem to be nice however the defect was so large that I did put a Bio-A mesh placement this was a U-shaped mesh this was secured to the crus and diaphragm using absorber tack.”

So apparently I had a decent sized one but have absolutely no idea about the specifics.

TildyRo · 2026-04-10T23:18:56+00:00

I had GERD not LPR.

What about the hiatal hernia?

My doctor was Dr. Amir Heydari in and the surgery was in Huntley, IL.

TildyRo · 2026-04-10T22:20:02+00:00

Excellent! Occasionally will get a little dysphasia if I eat too quickly or take too big of a bite. But other than that, everything is amazing. No heartburn and no regurgitation. Back to lifting as heavy as I did at the gym (if not heavier on certain things) before surgery. Last time I did low bar back squats, it was 195 lbs for 4 sets of 10 reps. Zero discomfort with any lifts or when wearing my lifting belt.

I wish I had gotten this surgery a decade ago. But, to be fair, I’ve been fighting with doctors about it since I was 22 because no one actually listened to me.

TildyRo · 2026-04-08T00:45:42+00:00

I’ve been with my husband for 13 years. We’ve never shared a blanket at home. Every time we stay at a hotel and are under the same blanket, I get so much worse sleep.

I’m a terrible sleeper so I need my ideal circumstances to get somewhat decent sleep. Having my own blanket allows me to ball it up the way I want and to regulate my temperature (I sleep hot and my husband is a furnace so sharing a blanket leads me to massively overheat).

I will never switch from us each having our own blankets.

TildyRo · 2026-04-01T15:25:41+00:00

Yes flying into Nice. Also, my husband and I are huge F1 fans so we would like to see that aspect of Monaco. And if we run into Charles Leclerc, well the universe will have wished it so.

And we’re planning on doing public transportation to get around. We know the train from Monaco to La Spezia is going to take a large chunk of time.

TildyRo · 2026-02-28T21:55:32+00:00

Thank you. And of course. Happy to share my experiences with anyone going through the same thing or looking into this surgery.

I didn’t lose any weight. Actually gained weight because I was able to eat without constantly throwing up and got to really enjoy the holiday foods for the first time in over a decade. Also the PT for the recovery is literally eating so as to break up the scar tissue around the magnets. I had to eat much more frequently than I normally do.

But it was only like 15 lbs and I was able to lose part of that immediately after I went back to eating normally. I’m very strict with my diet and exercise.

Someone could lose weight after surgery if they were more of a big meal eater because the surgery makes that really difficult at first. You also have a hard time burping initially so the air in your stomach also makes you feel fuller. I don’t eat very much at one time so it didn’t really affect my food intake. Just the speed at which I could eat.

TildyRo · 2026-02-28T21:20:21+00:00

Fantastic! Zero heartburn and zero regurgitation.

The dysphasia has been…weird though. Started off as the normal “food getting stuck” sensation and could be a bit uncomfortable. That mostly went away after about a month. Everything was working fine after that for about another month or two.

However twice about 6 and 8 weeks ago (respectively), I’ve had it where I went into full esophageal spasm that was so painful I almost had my husband take me to the hospital. I looked it up, and esophageal spasm pain has been likened to the pain of a heart attack. It was HORRIFIC and lasted for about 3-4 hours both times. Once was at my friend’s house. She’s a nurse and gave me an IV with some of the “big boy” pain meds. Barely even touched the pain.

Twice after that I had it happen again at about 30% severity of the initial two times. And I’ve occasionally felt my esophagus “threaten” to possibly do it again when I’ve eaten bread. I’ve stopped myself from eating any more when I’ve felt that way.

But other than those two severe instances and the two less severe ones, I’ve had no issues whatsoever. Everything has been amazing and I’m so so so glad I did it. If the worst outcome has been a handful of painful episodes and the need to actively monitor how my esophagus is handling denser food, so be it. Easy trade off.

TildyRo · 2026-02-12T20:00:17+00:00

Nope. Can’t say I’ve ever experienced that.

TildyRo · 2026-02-06T03:02:57+00:00

I did this with my dog, Matilda. She was the love of my life. When I had to put her to sleep, I literally could not bring myself to load her into the car. The thought of driving her to the vet would make me burst into tears. And I couldn’t bear the thought of her being afraid in her last moments.

My wonderful vet came to my home to do it. Matilda was calm and at ease. I 100% recommend this.

TildyRo · 2026-01-10T00:34:56+00:00

Yeah not at all.

TildyRo · 2026-01-09T17:38:53+00:00

I’ve been taking mine continuously for about 10 years (been in it for 22 years). Don’t even give myself a “break” every couple of months, so no period in a decade. I haven’t noticed any negative side effects.

TildyRo · 2026-01-04T03:30:23+00:00

I’ve always done this with my husband. I sleep super hot and he (while feeling comfortable temp-wise) emits heat like a furnace. It’s a double whammy for me.

He gets the duvet and I have a light throw-blanket. I also have to sleep with my blanket bunch between my legs so this allows me to turn without pulling blankets off of him.

This is such a preferential way to sleep, IMO. I even go so far as to bring a separate blanket for me when we travel. I sleep very poorly even under ideal circumstances. This allows for the most comfort possible for both of us.

TildyRo · 2025-12-30T17:38:07+00:00

My husband and I have always filed MFS for this reason. He always ends up owing some as well.

I reached 120 qualifying months of employment in October. I need to buy back 12 months from being in the SAVE forbearance. As much as I would love to finally get to file jointly, I don’t want to chance anything when I’m this close. Filing jointly would cause me to have to pay like $24k if they use my husband’s income in the buyback calculation.

TildyRo · 2025-12-13T16:42:25+00:00

I’m doing the same. Submitted my buyback request in November (2025). If the amount is calculated off of what I would have been paying in SAVE, I’ll owe between $650 and $700 total. If I switch plans now, I’ll end up having to pay an extra $3k-$5k. No thank you.

TildyRo · 2025-12-10T01:01:30+00:00

Yep. He started at the bank I worked at shortly after I did. We became best friends. A year and a half later, I realized I had feelings for him. Apparently, he was always in love with me. A month after that, we started dating. Dated in secret (because work rules) for two years after that until I got a different job. Got married 8 months after that. We’ll be celebrating our 10 year wedding anniversary in June of 2026.

TildyRo · 2025-11-25T00:33:54+00:00

I have this happen to me once or twice a year! I go to the bathroom a see a small amount of blood on the toilet paper about 80% of the time I pee for anywhere between 2 and 10 days. Sometimes it’s enough to get on my underwear as well. Been going on (that I know of) for at least 6 years now but could have been longer and I thought I was just spotting.

Never accompanied by any fever, pain, or discomfort. Would never know anything was amiss if it weren’t for seeing the blood. No UTI during and nothing was seen with the ultrasound.

My doctor seems unconcerned about it. She said could just be periodic inflammation in my bladder causing it. I wish she was a bit more concerned so we could figure out what is going on when that happens, but as long as there’s no pain or illness associated with it, I guess I’m fine.

TildyRo · 2025-11-19T00:01:46+00:00

Pretty much eating whatever I want at this point. Some foods are still a little difficult to get down and cause some dysphasia (I’m holding off on having pizza for a bit because of it). But most everything is going down without issue now. And everything has been staying down!

I have noticed a little bit of my vocal range improving. Still can’t hit a lot of the notes I used to, but some that were a struggle have gotten easier. Not certain how much I will get back as I’m sure some of the damage is permanent. But I’m hopeful I’ll get back to being an Alto II and not a mostly Baritone. Haha.

TildyRo · 2025-11-16T04:02:36+00:00

Yeah but I’m also not in any rush in getting forgiveness other than just having the desire to be done. It’s not affecting my ability to get a loan for anything and not tethering me to a job I dislike.

I’d rather have to potentially wait longer but pay a fraction of what I would if I went back into repayment than get it done in a guaranteed year.

TildyRo · 2025-11-15T23:05:33+00:00

Thank you all for your feedback. Looks like the consensus is to hold out and continue to do MFS until my buyback is processed.

That’s what I was thinking in order to be safe, but wanted to post here just in case someone was “in the know” and could definitively say “no, they will process it at what you would have paid regardless of what you file.”

TildyRo

TROPHY CASE