kewlshort1

I'm so excited to see so many approvals! We'll be submitting for approval after my appointment on 11/11. I'm crossing my fingers for a quick approval too!

Yes, yes I did marry a jackass It was COMPLETELY out of the blue (to me anyway- he had been texting/talking to her for 6 months behind my back). My Christmas present was "surprise! I'm moving out!" ::sigh:: But that's the past. I've spent the past almost 2 years as a broken mess, and I've finally put myself back on track. There is no looking back, and I've finally put ME on the front burner! I've spent all my life doing for others, and at my own expense. Not saying that I don't still do for others, but I am not going to let my own health slide anymore. I'm so unbelievably excited for this, I can't stand it! I go for my last appointment on the 11th, and then submit for insurance approval. He said I could have surgery if December, provided the insurance does what is expected. I will count this as the best Christmas present EVER. Much better than the last present I got!

I'm normal! Woot! My family thinks I should get a second opinion on that I was really nervous about seeing him, because it was the last thing I needed to do before completing my 6 mos supervised nutrition counseling. I have a history of depression, and had a real bad time with it over the past 2 years. It was justified depression (in my mind) seeing as my hubby walked out on us to be with his (now) pregnant mistress. My kids have not seen him since, and we have been in financial and emotional ruins as a result. Anyway, I was afraid that my lack of adjustment might stop my surgery. At this time, I am wonderfully medicated and doing much better. My "eval" was really a 20 minutes chat about my family history and who my support people are, as well as why I want lap-band surgery. He listened and took notes, then said "you're normal!" and that I seem to be a good candidate for surgery. That was that! Phew! He touched very very slightly on my depression history, and I took the depression scale quiz (which I rocked for the first time ever!) I put the psych eval off for the past almost-6 months out of fear it would stop me. I was pleasantly surprised at how painless it went!

Brilliant! Thanks for sharing that!

I go for my last appointement of the 6 mos nutrition counseling that my insurance requires on Nov 11. We will be setting the date for surgery then, although he told me that it will be in December sometime. I'm sooo excited for it! I love that I'm ending the year with the surgery, and I can start the new year with a whole new me and a new start. I'm glad that there seems to be a pretty good amount of us going in December. I'm sure that having others in the same boat will help get through the rough days!

I had my next-to-last nutrition appointment with the nutritionist at my surgeon's office. Super excited that after my next visit on Nov 15th we are picking a date and putting in for approval from my insurance (Humana). He said that they take about 7 - 10 days for approval, and that I can have surgery in the beginning of December. Yay! We talked a small bit about the pre-op and post-op diet, and will go over all those details on my next visit. Apparently they are NOT that extreme with their diets, which will help me immensely. It appears it's just low-carb, low-cal diet for the week or two pre-op, and a week of liquid after surgery then to mushies. I think that's what he said anway, I just remember being relieved when he told me about it It occured to me yesterday that by the time summer rolls around, I could actually be at a non-embarassing weight! I don't expect it to just all fall off overnight, but realistically I could have lost quite a bit of weight by June. Oh my goodness... that just really helped the excitement set in! When I initially found out I had to do 6 months of nutrition counseling, I thought it would take forever. But honestly, it has FLOWN by. I can't believe I'm almost there!!

I've gone to 3 of my 6 insurance mandated nutrition counseling appointments so far. (I have Humana insurance). I'm a little concerned though, because I haven't lost any weight. In fact, both of my appointments after the initial one, I had gained a pound! What exactly is the insurance looking for? I've seen some people comment that they needed to show a percentage weight loss during that time, and others say it wasn't necessary. What's your experience?

I've got RA, Lupus and Fibromyalgia. My surgeon has said that it shouldn't be a problem, but that he'd want me to stop taking the NSAIDS. I'm okay with that, because of all the pills I take, I think those work the least. He also said that because of the autoimmune disorders, there is the potential for my body to react to the band itself, in which case they would have to remove it. Being that I have had 2 cesarean sections and never had a reaction to those surgeries, I'm not concerned. Losing the extra weight will immensely help my health conditions, so I was very happy to hear him say that it wasn't going to prevent me from surgery.

I have a history of Vit D deficiency. I typically take 50,000 iu pills three times a week. My rheumatologist had me stop taking them a while ago, and low and behold I am low again. So I'm back to taking them. I have a history of Rheumatoid arthritis and Lupus, which may contribute to the deficiency.

I just had an esophagram, and all that required was for me to lay on my side on the xray table and drink a bunch of the scrumptious barium while they xrayed. It took all of maaybe 10 minutes, tops.

I'm from Rockford, Illinois. I've started the process, and had my initial consultation with Dr. Nuttleman on 6/1/11 at OSF St. Anthony (the hospital I work at). I have had my sleep study, esophagram, lab work and two of my 6 required monthly nutrition consults. I still have to go or my psych appt. I'm moderately nervous about that one, because I don't know what to expect. I do have a current history of depression, and hope that does not preclude me from being eligible. I'm crossing my fingers, toes and everything else that my insurance will see fit to approve this!