ScentsyLady

Hi! I'm Sonia from Kalamazoo, MI! I am in the last 2 months of qualifying for insurance coverage. It went slow at first, but now things are moving right along. I am hoping to get a date for the end of July , first part of August.

I am having Dr. Verseman do it at Borgess Hospital. It has been a long road. I like wanted it yesterday, but BCBS is tough on the requirements.

I love this board for just about any information or inspiration you might need. It is awesome to come here and share everyone's experiences, good or bad.

Thanks everyone for all your stories!

Sonia

I hope so! I am so ready to do this. I am on this forum all the time, gathering every scrap of info I can read about a lot of things that I wanted to know ahead of time. And, the people here are awesome!

Trust me the 6 months will fly by. It did for me and before I knew it I was sleeved. Now I'm ready to go back to work. You will find some very excellent answers here to almost all of your questions. The people here are very nice.

Deb

Thanks! I am so happy for you! I have been lurking on this site and gathering courage from the posts of people who have actually done this instead of listening to the skinny naysayers who don't have a clue what it involves. This site seems to give you the good, bad, and ugly of it all. That is very helpful to us pre sleevers as a lot of accurate information is better than a lot of naysayers just spouting "what they have heard" to you. I would rather hear it all so I know what I can expect from someone who has "been there and done that"! Best of luck on Tuesday!

I'll likely get my surgery date on Tuesday. The time does go by fairly quickly, and you'll be amazed at how much you'll learn from this forum! Good luck to you!

Hi! This is a very daunting journey after making the decision to do it. So many hoops to jump through with the insurance requirements and surgeon requirements,etc! But I am determined to make it all the way through. Progress so far: Called the insurance company and found out that I must call the Bariatric Resource Service center and participate with them while meeting all the other requirements during the rest of my PCP visits. Check. Had that phone conversation this week with their nurse. Check. On March 17th, had my 2nd PCP visit, 4 more to go!!! Check. Have my first group appointment with my surgeon on March 24th! Check. OMG, what else? Oh, have to call the insurance company back to ask them questions the Bariatric Resource Center nurse asked that I had no answer for. Can I scream yet? Thank heavens for this forum! It is nice to know what experiences others have with pre op diets and post op progress. I am addicted to this site now while I wait and jump through more hoops during the coming months. thanks for letting me vent a little! You guys are the best!

Hi! I am currently 248 at 5' 1/2" tall. I have started the 6 month qualification with my PCP, and will be getting my first consultation with the surgeon. I can hardly wait the 6 months! I am ready to do it in 2 weeks! I love this forum and have learned a LOT more than I ever wanted to know. But that is good because every scrap of knowledge I get from you ladies first hand will get me prepared and ready to do it to the max. I will be armed with knowledge that will help me post op and I can always come here and ask you guys. You're the best! I love you all!

Thanks to you all for answering my question. I guess I will take it one step at a time and see what happens. It does seem silly to require a certain percentage of weight loss cause if that is all I had to do was get serious about it (I have been serious and it didn't work!) I would have been a toothpick. I am glad for all your input. Every tidbit of experiences I read here is just going to help me more to navigate this insurance/surgeon thing. I love this forum!

If it is the insurance company requiring the weight loss, it is to be sure you are really serious about working toward you final goal. If it is the doctor's requirement, it is to shrink your liver so it will not be in the way during the surgery.

Thanks for your reply! I guess I am just scared that I will go through it all and then have them tell me that oh well, if you can lose weight the regular way then you don't need the sleeve. I am so ready to do this and the thought that losing some weight could end my dreams of seeing this journey all the way through would come to a crashing halt. I will do what is asked of me and keep my fingers crossed that I won't get denied. Has anyone out there been denied after losing the weight for the insurance company or the doctor? Just wondering.

Can someone tell me why I would have to lose weight before I can have surgery? Will it keep me from being approved for sleeve procedure? 6 months seems such a long time to wait! I love this forum and spend a lot of time reading some amazing stories! Thanks!

Hi! Just starting my journey and am confused. You have to lose weight before you can be approved? If you lose weight before surgery using a diet, won't they deny you because you lost weight the regular way? It seems contradictory! How much will you be required to lose on average. It would seem they would figure that you couldn't lose weight using a convention diet and that is why you want bariatric surgery. Thanks for any clarification you guys can give me. I will be getting my first appointment with the surgeon soon, and I had my first PCP supervised weight loss visit, so I have at least started.

Hi! Could you please send me a booklet? My email address is WarmingCandles4You@gmail.com Thanks very much! You are awesome!

Back at the beginning of December I received a spiral bound booklet from my doctors office that explains everything I would need to know about getting a Gastric Sleeve/Bypass. From pre-op to post-op and it has helped me sooo much!!!

This morning, I happened to have a few minutes to myself and decided to unbound the spiral and scan the whole booklet.

If anyone would like to have a copy of it, please let me know. I emailed it from my work to my yahoo account with no problems on the size.

Let me know if your interested - Tiffany