former_vbg

I had my surgery 6/22 and overall it went fine. I have had a fair amount of issues with gas pain, particularly up in my left shoulder area. Sometimes like someone is stabbing me with a knife- but it will come and go. I am walking a fair amount, but what has started bothering me about Sat morning is a pain in my left lower abdomen area. Occasionally, I will have a coughing episode and I have to hold that area in my lower left abdomen. I'm not sure holding it decreases the pain, but it is sharp and painful. Once I'm resting, its just kind of a dull pain. The pain med they sent me home with doesn't really do much for it and so I have stopped taking it so I can drive. I don't have a temperature, and everything else seems to be going well for only being 4 days out from surgery. I'm actually going to go to the store and get some sugar free popsicles today. Anyone know what lower left abdominal pain might be?

Guess either nobody knew what to say or it wasn't much of interest to others here. Made it through the day with no waterworks, and so far feeling ok. Some things could have gone better today, but what the hey.... Tomorrow afternoon I will be going in. Here's hoping I wake up with no complications.

There is no law anywhere that it is illegal to drive yourself home from the hospital from surgery. Now, being on pain meds and driving are a different matter, but that is whether you just had surgery or not. Hospitals often will refuse to let you drive yourself or leave unaccompanied from there after surgery where you were under anesthesia due to liability on their part. Personally, I think its stupid. If I sign a waiver form then what's the big deal. I'm currently several hundred miles away from home, having surgery tomorrow and nobody I know will be around. I'm taking a shuttle from hospital to the hotel. Personally, not excited about that either, but whatever makes them happy I guess. Oh, and to answer your question if they would cancel your surgery if you told them you didn't have appropriate accommodations after the surgery- YES- they will cancel your surgery.

I have Aetna and it was much easier than I expected, especially going for a revision. Something I have learned though since I had to change surgeons after getting the approval once already for the revision is that it appears to me (this is just my opinion of course) that the offices that have routine difficulties with certain ins. companies may not fully understand the policy bulletin. For example, the 2nd surgeon I ended up going with for my surgery TOTALLY does not understand what the policy bulletin says. They couldn't believe I got approved so quickly without having to do this, that and the other. I explained to them that it is not required per the policy bulletin if you meet x, y, z criteria. In some ways, I'm glad I had already gotten the approval through the first surgeon because I think the 2nd surgeon's office would likely have really MUCKED things up for me. So, I think it all comes down to how they approach the process. I'm not saying those offices are good or bad- just that some are better than others when it comes to those things. The one thing i can tell you is provide them all the documentation you possibly can that justifies that this is a medically necessary procedure. I buried them with documentation!!! I was approved in 3 days the 1st time and 4 days again the 2nd time. The 2nd time they just used the first set of documents submitted, but still had to go through the formalities. I wish you luck!

Well, it's 9:43pm 6/20 and I just arrived in Dallas in prep for surgery. I have a pre-op visit in the morning, paperwork at the hospital in the afternoon and then surgery Wednesday. What has surprised me the last few days is the emotional roller coaster I have been going through. This is a revision albeit from 13 years ago- but I am feeling really scared. I have to be honest, I went on blind faith back then from that Dr. about the procedure and believed pretty much what he told me. I was in my early twenties and pretty naive. I guess since I have done a tremendous amount of research this time around both on the procedure and the surgeon that you would think I would feel at ease. Maybe its going several hundred miles where I will not know anybody as I go through this process. Part of me has a fear that something will go wrong. For the first time in my life I finally did a living will and a will which I just finished last week. I guess some people can talk about death pretty easily and matter of fact. I am not married, don't have any kids- but I do have horses, a handicapped dog and 3 cats that depend on me. They have become my "kids" if you will. I guess going through this whole process has been a little difficult. I feel stupid when I get all teared up. This morning when I was getting ready to drop my handicapped dog off with a friend, I had a mini-melt down. So, me and my dog Mattie sat on the couch and cuddled for a bit. I guess she sensed something was up. I guess it just sux to not have any family or loved ones who can little more than offer me a "good luck" bone. Don't get me wrong, I have good friends, but they all have their own families and their own commitments. And, I hate to burden people and so to be fair sometimes people don't know the weight I carry on some of these things and I don't mean the physical kind as much as the emotional. Partly because I know there isn't much they can do anyways... I just hope I don't break down tomorrow at the Dr's office because they are gonna think I'm nuts. They might be in the middle of talking about something totally casual and I can just see it now, the Water works start flowing..... Well, let's hope to getting through tomorrow without any waterworks.

I am in the same boat with the addiction, but I can tell you that nicotine stays in your system up to 10 days depending on the type of test they use. A hair sample can detect up to around 10 days, urine and blood is 3 to 5 days. Your not smoking today isn't going to make a difference whether they detect anything at this point - hate to tell you. I have surgery Wednesday and quit about 2 weeks ago. My surgery is out of state and I have to arrange too much of my life to risk getting to the day "of" and be told no go because of smoking. Let's just hope they don't test you in the morning. I plan to smoke after surgery (not tell him of course), but I like smoking. I started trying to quit a month ago and I have put on over 20 # that I attribute mostly to quitting smoking. I guess we all have our "crutches".

For those of you who have had your gall bladder out, have you had any issues with gas, irregular stools or dare I say chronic diarrhea? I am really against having my gall bladder out because it seems almost everyone I know who has had it out has reported this problem. It sounds like the OP had no choice in getting the gall bladder out, but I would personally only want it out as a last resort. Fortunately, I had an ultra sound done as part of my pre-op and I am clear and I had my original WLS 13 years ago.

The standard seems to be a size 32 or 34, although I have heard of some surgeons using in the 40's. The size of the tool itself is very minimal, but the research I have seen shows that the higher the bougie, the stretching can increase exponentially. It's a moot issue now that you have had your surgery, but you might ask your Dr. how much he set your pouch to be able to hold.

Do you have a group or individual policy?

I'm not promising I can change anything about what Aetna has done already, but I have Aetna and I might be able to offer some insight on this situation. Send me a PM if you want my help. I don't trust insurance companies either, but call it luck or whatever, I have been able to navigate some of the "inner departments" when I had some issues that I needed help with and I got some great results. Like I said, I can't change what they have already done- but I might be able to help get you to the right people to help you.

That's great, thank you for sharing. Do you happen to know what size bouge your Dr. used on you?

That is awesome results! I would be interested to know what your post-op diet has been like so far.

Well, just a quick update. I called the Dr.'s office to make sure everything is in order for next week. After the false start w/the last surgeon, I guess I have kind of been waiting for something else to happen. One week from tonight, I will be in Dallas where I will have my pre-op appt w/the surgeon and then surgery on the 22nd. It's going to be a little nerve wracking I think going by myself. So far the folks I have been working with at the hospital over the phone have been great. They have made arrangements to hold onto my laptop until I get out of surgery. Since I will be by myself, it will help me feel a little connected. I've only told about 3 of my friends and so I won't be calling a laundry list of people while I'm down there.

That is an awful lot of tests, but like others said- most of it depends on your surgeon. Aetna does not require all of those tests. If you go to their policy bulletin, it states what they look for to do the approval. The EKG, stress tests, cardiologist, EGD's, are all for your surgeon to know what medical issues he needs to be aware of before doing your surgery. I only had to do the EGD, Psych Eval, 1 visit w/the PCP and 1 visit w/the Nutritionist to get approval. And, I thought that was a lot until I see your list. I'm really surprised you have a surgery date if you aren't even ready to be submitted for the insurance approval. How does that work?

Congratulations! May I ask why you chose the plication method?

HEHHEHEHE..... ROFL I LOVE IT.... "what are they gonna do, put your tummy back in?!?!?!" That's great!!! And, yeah write that bad boy check and then when they figure out it bounced, go on a payment plan of $20 /month... Hospitals can't turn you over to collections if you are paying SOMETHING a month even if its not what they want you to pay. Good luck with your surgery!!

I couldn't have said it ANY better Melissa! The only reason I am able to stay away from the cigarettes is because I don't know if he will test me the day before surgery for nicotine. I think if I knew whether he did or not, I would be smoking if he didn't test. I just have too much at stake with re-arranging my entire life to be having surgery out of state to get denied because of nicotine in my system. That is my only motivator. Once the surgery is over and I'm out of the hospital, all bets are off.

Fortunately I didn't have to do a pre-op diet either to get approved. I have Aetna, but I'm also a revision patient and I was able to demonstrate complications and why the previous WLS failed. A week from Monday, I leave for my surgery.

Thank you Amy. I leave for TX a week from Monday- it can't be any too soon for me. You might think this is weird, but I am getting my will and a living will done before I leave. I'm single, no kids, but I have 4 horses, 3 cats and a handicapped dog that I want to be sure things are in order for their care if something were to happen to me. I guess I'm a little freaked out about being by myself out of state for surgery. I had knee surgery in KC last Fall and I was asked like 3 or 4x if I had a living will and I had to say no. It was quite unnerving and so I don't want that to happen again. Plus, I want to be sure that my animals are set up properly with appropriate homes and funds to do so. Call me weird I guess, but my animals are my fur children with 4 legs.

It might just be a typo- but just wanted to be sure you knew that the Gastric Bypass is a different procedure than the Sleeve. The Dr.'s will often refer to the sleeve as the Vertical Gastric Sleeve and so maybe that's what you meant?

I just wanted to share my experience with going through the insurance requirements for Aetna that I did NOT have to do the supervised diet. The first surgeon I was supposed to go with- their office just had me submit supporting documentation of the issues I was having from my original surgery 13 years ago. None of the "issues" are life threatening- but rather I was able to demonstrate that the original surgery was a failure. I was diagnosed with Grade C Esophogitus, submitted the weight history, and also had a history of exercise for the 6 months prior which actually was a report from a pedometer I wear and it showed that I regular walk an average of 8,000 to 10,000 steps everyday. I have a small farm by myself and so I get lots of walking in just because it comes with the territory of taking care of everything. Anyhow, when I had to switch surgeons at the last minute- the new surgeon and even the supposedly experienced person he hires to submit the insurance pre-certs didn't seem to know this was possible. Now, Aetna would not "guide" me on this- but only told me i would have to refer to their policy bulletin online- which I did. Even when I told the new Dr. about this, he seemed to doubt me and I referred him to the fact that I had already received an approval using that approach. I just think sometimes these people get used to doing things a certain way because it makes their life easier. In some regards I understand that, but if I wouldn't have stood up for myself, they would be having me do a supervised diet for no reason. I doubt anyone having a WLS for the first time could get away with not doing a supervised diet, but for anyone doing a revision- please know it IS possible to not have to do the stupid diet thing. We all know that if we could diet successfully, we wouldn't need the surgery.... Anyone who needs any help for their situation- feel free to PM me and I'll help however I can. I'm not too experienced with appeals- just my disclaimer on that one. I fortunately was approved in about 4 days- no hassle- no fuss. My surgery date is 6/22

So, did they postpone your surgery then?

Thank you for sharing. That was brave to post that. I can definitely sympathize and I'm sure others here can too.

So sorry to hear this. Are you on a pre-op liquid diet?

Well probably unfortunately for me, I have worked for one of the largest medical laboratory testing facilities in the U.S. and I am aware of how long various things are "testable". Nicotine tested by blood is typically only going to show up in the last 5 days from testing. If they take a hair sample it can be up to 10 to 12 days. Now, it's our own health we are messing with and will have to suffer the consequences if there are problems for not following Dr. orders. Even reading this thread makes me crave one, but I'm holding out.