klus263

I am glad you have not given up. My surgeon was not in the network but the hospital was. Most insurances if you have no network providers within a certain mile radius, will pay the provider as in network. My doctor filled out a form and agreed to a negotiated rate so I ended up with a 10% copay instead of 30%. I did have to have them reprocess the claim as they did pay it out of network first time. I am so grateful that my company is pushing their employees to be proactive in our healthcare and covers weight loss surgery. I never would have been able to do this without insurance coverage.

I have been able to discontinue my pills with the presurgery diet-mine was very low carb liquid. They did give me one insulin shot while in the hospital due to IV fluids. My sugar levels are nearly always 90-100 and before I would spike 250 during the day. I am waiting until 3 months before I see my PCP for them to do the A1C.

My doctor was aware of my fatty liver disease before surgery. I followed my presurgery diet completely as I knew this was my only hope for successfully losing weight. He did do a liver biospy because he did not like the look of my liver but I did get my sleeve. Yea me. But he did say with losing weight this will reverse for me also and I was doing the right thing. Good Luck and just take one day at a time with the diet. It will all be worth it in the end.

A lot will depend on your insurance and doctor. For me I was approved for a one day stay. I had surgery on a Wednesday morning and released at 10 am on Thursday morning. I had no complications. I was walking within 5 hours of surgery and walked every hour-they wanted a minimum 2-4 hours. I had no severe gas pain. Good Luck. I have no regrets with this surgery. I had orginally planned for the band but my doctor suggested the sleeve once insurance started approving them.

I stalled after 3 weeks also. But after a week I started losing again very slowly. I think every few weeks as I am changing my eating habits is when I am slowing down so it is most likely our body adjusted to change. Luckily for me, I had a hysterectomy 15 yrs ago so I don't get those monthly visits to slow me down but I heard others usually have a gain during that time. I may be losing slow at times but I am still losing. Hang in there.

As it was explained to me, we are losing body fat that use to keep us warm. Which in the summer time, it was so hard on us. We will tend be colder. I had to have 2 weeks of blood thinners so it has definately affected me, I sleep in flannel jammies, socks and an extra blanket on my side of the bed and I live in Alabama. This has nothing to do with malnutrion. I dont know if after a while it you may acclimate yourself but to me it may make my summers a little more bearable. I even have a small space heater under my desk duing the day and I when I walk outside even in the 50's, I still wear gloves.

I was in the hospital for about 24 hours. I walked a lot after surgery. I have sit down job - answering phones all day long at home. I had surgery on Wednesday morning and returned to work the following Wednesday. It was a little rough but I felt better walking around. I actually got up every hour and paced the apartment. I took a 20 minute walk at lunch every day. As long as you do not lift anything, I would dose up on children's tylenol and definately use your friend. The main thing is make sure you keep hydrated. I understand the need of having to work. I did not have the luxury of taking more than one week off. Just listen to your body and don't lift.

I was sleeved Dec 1st and I also stalled at 3 weeks. I am heading into 6 weeks and I think I am hitting another one. I weighed 212 when I went into the hospital and weighed 224 when I got home. I am now down to 193 lbs. I haven't been this since 1988. I have accepted I will not loose as quickly as I hope but I am still losing weight and it will never come back on. So take it easy on yourself and enjoy the ride. From another who weighs herself several times a day.

Every company is different but definately take to the HR and they can tell you exactly how it would work and for the paperwork to complete prior to surgery. I had to have my doctor complete their portion prior to leaving for surgery. My company had 5 days which I had to use PTO and then short term disability-which only paid at 75%. I work as customer service phone rep at home so I didn't have to commute to work so I was able to return to work after 5 days. It was a little rough but I got up and paced for a few minutes every hour.

I think my hysterectomy was more painful then the sleeve surgery. I was up within an hour after getting to my room and then walked every hour. That helped me so much. I did not have any severe gas pains at all. I did take their pain med injections every 4 hours but it was more to just keep the edge off. Good Luck. I had Aenta and our office took 24 hours to approve.

I was sleeved Dec 1st and had to do 2 weeks of blood thinners. I have been cold all the time also. I have been sleeping in flannel pajamas, socks and and extra blanket and I live in AL. I think with the continue loss of body fat this is going to be a fact of life for me. Good news is Summer will probably be more bearable.

I had belong to Curves for one year and for myself I had no success. I went 3 times a week and did not lose any weight even while trying to diet. I am getting ready to join planet fitness here, they have $1 sign up and $10 a month which includes unlimited time with a trainer. Hours are better for me to get to them. Good Luck, it may work for you.

I am not sure how many sleeves he has done but he is doing more of these I think then bypass and bands now. I was only in the hospital for one day-insurance approved one day. I was at the hospital 5:30 am for surgery and left the next morning by around 10 am. I was off work for one week-I have a sit down customer service job working from home. They have a website http://www.alabamawls.com/ you can check out. If you want to send me a private message you can email me at kelly.stricker@att.net.

It has 26 carbs when made with skim millk with 150 calories and 13 grams of Protein. When I add the 1/3 cup of dry milk, the carbs go to 38 with 230 calories and 21 grams of protein. I was sleeved Dec 1st and have lost since surgery 30 lbs. When I was on liquids I was drinking 2 a day. I am now only drinking one and get most of my protein from real food.

Birmingham AL, Dr Lee Scmitt.....I was sleeved Dec 1st. They have a monthly seminar you have to attend first before making an appointment. They have monthly support groups. The office staff was awesome and the surgery coordinator was very patient with all my questions. They work closely with the nutritionist staff at the hospital. They are a Bariatric Center of Excellance with both the doctor office and hospital. If you are close to this area or willing to travel, (I know someone who came from Huntsville to have surgery done here) and have more questions about his office. Let me know. Kelly

I only had a drain after surgery and it was removed before I left the hospital. It wasn't too bad when they removed it but I do have a higher tolerance of pain. I just breathed in and out slowly while she did it. (lamaze if you ever had kids) I know others said they go home with one so you may want to ask your doctor what is their standard of practice regarding a drain.

My doctor required $205 upfront for his first visit. But this is being applid to coinsurance after insurance pays. I first freaked about it as I had to wait until I had the cash but once I started there was not turning back. I really wanted this surgery adn I do not regret this at all. I have monthly support groups. The insurance scheduler was great in making sure I had all my paperwork and also responded to my numerous emails. Today I sent email to the bariatric nurse and she responded within 30 minutes. My support staff is great with my doctor and I have no regrets whatsoever. I was very confident with this office as I had an old supervisor who had her bypass done with him.

I had severe pain under my ribs and I had overdid it. I was cleaning up-picking up dirty clothes, unloading and loading the dishwasher. It was from bending over and my poor tummy was not quite ready for that...gee I guess that is why the doctor said no housework for 6 weeks. I took children's tylenol to help with the pain. Hopefully when you see the doctor it will not be anything major. Keep us posted.

I used the sugar free carnation instant breakfast. mixed with skim milk it is 13 gr of protein. I also add 1/3 cup of dry milk mix and that takes up to 21 grams. I find these at Walmart by the oatmeal section. I am still only getting about 32 fluid oz a day but I do get the 60 protein in.

I use to have a closet full of clothes "for when I lost weight". Unfortnately, Hurricane Katrina decided that these clothes are outdated and I didn't need them anymore. So I have to go to the thrift store to find my next sizes. I was able to find 2 pair of jeans 16 and 14 that fit and will work for a while. Since it is winter the sweators I currently have I layer so having them a little big is okay. Once I get to goal then it will be a shopping spree. So now I will just try to save as much money for when I get to goal.

Hi Kassie, The same old story just a different patient name. My employer is actually moving to be more proactive and having us get healthier with covering weight loss surgery. They just added under 100% coverage for obesity counseling and nutritional therapy. Which is good as my husband still has 3 months to go before he can get his approval. I was sleeved Dec 1st and already see so a change in my health and attitude about myself. I use to hate seeing my reflection in glass/mirror and now it like....WOW look at me. I did not tell my parents until after surgery....they are elderly and I didn't want them to be concerned on surgery day. I did not expect any complications. I did tell them a week later and surprisingly they understood why I did it. I did not go into details but they have not had any other experiences with it. The sleeve is so different from having gastric bypass or lap band that I think it will be a new standard soon for many doctors. I think my doctor is recommending it over the other surgeries as more and more people in the support group are being sleeved instead of having bypass. You will not regret your decision. Good luck. This forum is a wealth of information and a wonderful support group.

I was just sleeved on Dec 1st.....to be honest, I never had a single regret. Once I made the decision, it was plugging away while jumping through the insurance red tape (hoops) until I was approved. About a month before I finished, my husband realized that he could not do it the old fashion way of diet and exercising also and has started his approval process. I am already down a total of 35 lbs since I started with my first visit to the the seminar. I was one of the lucky ones and had no side effects or complications after surgery-it has been smooth sailing for me. I would shout it from the mountain top of what I did. Good luck.

I also have Aetna and when first submitted they contacted my doctor's office that they need any medical records from 2008 showing my weight. I had an urgent care visit where I fractured my ankle and it showed my weight. Then they called and needed an one on one with a nutritionist. I got that in. Everything was turned in on Tuesday afternoon. I called insurance on Wednesday morning to confirm they had all the paperwork and it was being forward for surgical review. I got a call from my surgeons office at 2 pm to schedule a date. Holy crap...24 hours and really less when it got to the surgical review. I was sleeved on Dec 1st and loving every minute of it. I do step on the scale every day sometimes more than once. When I started my journey back in February with my seminar I was 232. This morning I was 193.8. We are now doing the 6 months PCP visit for my husband so he can get sleeved hopefully in March or April. Just following your doctor's guideline and you will be the "incredible shrinking woman" just like me.

My husband called me a cheap date this morning. He is a breakfast freak (he loves his bacon and eggs or french toast) and we have several favorite resturants that we use to frequent several times a months in the past before I was sleeved. Today we went to Cracker Barrell for the first time since pre-surgery diet and being sleeved and I made smart choices from their menu. I got the one egg with bacon-I requested EggBeaters and asked for no toast or biscuit. I barely was able to eat the entire egg and only had one piece of bacon-I gave him my second. Our bill was $5 lower than when we usually go out. He laughs now but wait, once he has his surgery it will go down even lower. I did realize I still need to learn to eat slower out in public. We are so use to ordering, eating and leaving-in and out quickly that this will be a new habit to learn.

I knew from my seminar that I had to give up soda. I had been drinking diet coke for ever. I just gradually cut back per day and before the start of presurgery diet, I stopped altogether. For me, I want this surgery to be a success and I will do everything that my doctor is asking me to do. I want to be 100% and lose all the weight and not just an average. I have not had a soda since Mid November. I do miss the bubbles (carbonation) but I am not willing to take the risk. I am 5 weeks out now and most of the time I sip but I have had no issues taking a regular swallow of water. I don't think I have tried it with anything else. Good Luck and look to see what the prize is at the end. A successful surgery and weight loss.