Alexandra

Chris, are you saying that even under fluoro they were unable to see increased restriction as they increased the amount of saline? Sounds to me like there's something keeping the saline from getting into the bladder--and I'm amazed the doctor didn't immediately see that. My doctor always fills the band entirely before backing out to the right amount of restriction, and it's clear that the fill is going to the right place that way. Did your doctor try that? Please let us know what the issue turns out to be. I hope another surgery is NOT necessary, but you definitely want your band in good working order. Good luck!!

Hi Annalise, Darcy is right. Medical necessity is determined by your specific medical situation, but broadly painted the standard is that if your BMI is 40 or more that all by itself is enough to make bariatric surgery medically necessary. I know Aetna feels that way. If your BMI is lower than 40 you'll need two "co-morbidities" to make the surgery medically necessary. If you fit either of these descriptions, your surgeon's determination is all your carrier will need to agree that surgical treatment is medically necessary. However, I'd caution you to talk with your doctor about whether he's had success getting Aetna to cover the band. Bariatric surgery may be medically necessary, but laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding is still considered by Aetna to be too new to be a standard surgery. They might be very happy to approve you for RNY but deny your request for banding. So don't count your chickens until your doctor's request for precertification is approved. Good luck! And PLEASE come back and let us know how it turns out!!

I'm with you on the raw fish, Jonathan. It's the best! Just watch out for the seaweed salad...it is NOT band friendly. The single worst episode I ever had was on some seaweed served as a garnish on a sashimi plate. But the fish, oh yes, the fish...YUM!

My younger daughter was just 28 months when I had my surgery, and I was nervous about the same thing. I found that she could sit on my lap--carefully--within a day or two, but I waited until two or three weeks to actually lift her up from the floor. I could carry her if someone handed her to me so I didn't have to bend. All told, it really wasn't a problem except for the first week before my surgical staples were removed. Once they were out I just followed my body's cues.

Oh my god, Darcy, you are HOT!! You look absolutely beautiful and I'm so proud of you. Save a place for me in onederland, ok? I'll be there...well...maybe someday. But you make sure there's room for me!! :banana

Oh you poor thing!! Thank goodness you were on your toes and alert; you really knew exactly what to do. This is a good lesson for all of us! Take good care of yourself and feel better soon, ok?

GRRRRR!!! What burns me is how totally arbitrary this is, and how meaningless 6 lbs are when you're talking about someone who weighs over 300 already. I can lose (or gain) 6 lbs in a DAY!! Maybe you were pre-menstrual, who the hell knows? That fellow is power-mad, and quite possibly out of line. I doubt very much a surgeon would cancel a procedure two days out because the patient was a few pounds heavier than some magic number. What if you had been 330 when you walked in there the first time? What the hell difference does it make? Grrrr..... Call DeLarla, she'll break his knees for ya...

I'm going to close this thread too. No point in building on it.

I think I answered you back on Spotlight, and my answer is the same here. You have the right for your medical care to be covered by insurance, and a lot of what is in the aftercare program is MEDICAL CARE. Office visits and fills should be eligible for insurance coverage, no matter how your doctor chooses to bill you. If your doc is participating with your insurance plan, you might want to call your carrier and see how they want you to handle this. My guess is that if they get more than a few calls about this he'll be told to stop.

I think we're going to let Donali have the last word on this issue.

IMO, if you're on your feet a lot you probably want to give it at least a week before you return, maybe even more. I had surgery on Wednesday and went back to work on Monday, but I have a desk job that's not terrifically demanding. Even so, by the end of the day for the first week I was pretty wiped out. I couldn't have imagined having to spend the day on my feet and running around all over the place.

Patricia, why don't you start a new thread and tell us a little bit about yourself? 20 lbs is 20 lbs, hey, so you have a lot to celebrate. Your opportunity for success with the band is not over. Now you have a fill so you may be learning about life with restriction? How are things going for you now?

Ah, the perennial question. And there doesn't seem to be an answer. It's true, exercise improves every single thing in my life, so why is it still so hard to make it happen??? Actually, it is a lot easier than it used to be. So there is that. And on occasion it might even be said to be fun. But I'm still waiting for that change to occur that I've heard so much about, that exercise will become as necessary to me as breathing. Nope, not yet.

Hey Trish, I don't think there's anything all that unusual about the way your doctor is proceeding. In many cases, insurance won't even consider a request for precertification UNLESS there is a surgery date chosen. Way back when I was where you are, the first thing the doctor did was choose a surgery date and everything proceeded from there. Dates are not carved in stone and can always be changed. No matter how prepared we think we are, though, the first time we get a date is indeed a bit of a surprise. It's just another step on this road, and you're very much on your way!

The real biggie, which only one person I've encountered has done, is to dismiss my achievement as being somehow less real because I was banded. Even 18 months later she still seems to think I could (should?) have lost 100 lbs "on my own." She didn't know me for long prior to banding, so I excuse her by remembering that she just has no idea what I was up against. Otherwise, the thing that really gets me when anyone does it is expect some sort of explanation about how I am losing the weight. Yestereday I went to a kids' birthday party and saw other moms there I hadn't seen in over a year. One of them told me she did a triple-take when she saw me get out of the car, and then she just stood there as if she was waiting for me to explain myself. Another woman asked me if I was going to Weight Watchers. HA! Annoying, yes.

Misty, normally I wouldn't have eaten the bread for lunch; I almost never take more than a bite of it. But when it's possible to sit for an hour and nibble, sure, bread can go down. :rolleyes The bread in question was a very dark multi-grain baguette type of bread, so it took a lot of chewing in the first place. And with all this empty time to fill it was too tempting! Hell, it isn't that I have nothing to do; there's ALWAYS something to do. But it's too darned quiet. I'm a multi-tasker and cleaning out my desk is NOT an option!

My job has its ups and downs. Right before the 1st and the 15th of every month, our office is a madhouse of activity and it's all I can do to keep afloat. But in the intervening periods there are always a few days of absolute, deadly BOREDOM. So what do I do? Nibble. I just nibbled my way through the entire middle of my ham-and-brie sandwich, PLUS half of the french-bread roll!! It's easy to eat if you nibble. COME ON, PHONE, RING!!! Save me from myself!! What do you do when there's nothing to do and you're trapped?

Happy birthday, you youngster!! Oh man, I remember being 28, how great that was. You're such a lucky girl! HAVE A GREAT BIRTHDAY!! B)

AMEN, Darcy, sister!! You have said what I remind myself every single day when I get on that scale and the number starts with a 2 instead of a 3. I was trapped in three-ville for over ten years so every day is a blessing when I get to move that big weight to the 2!!! Thanks for saying it, it bears repeating for all of us.

I think we're saying the same thing. Your disease, if you will, is that compulsion. People without the compulsion are not MO; people with all sorts of compulsions get an assist in managing them before the compulsions destroy their lives. MO is no different in that respect. Obviously not everyone who becomes morbidly obese does so for the same reasons. People who gain weight for the first time after having kids, for example, and then keep gaining are probably not in the same medical category as people whose BMIs broke 35 while in their teens. People treating inner anxieties or voids are in a different boat than men who drank too much beer and now want to lose the huge spare tire. But whatever the medical causes, treatment should NOT be withheld until some arbitrary benchmark has been reached. That's what Donali was talking about. For me, treatment is management because I am not aware of any compulsion or other underlying cause for my being morbidly obese. A combination of nature and nurture dealt me a very unhappy hand, one I am finally learning to live with without being destroyed by it.

I'm a mom of 2 with a full-time job, so I can relate to your concerns. My surgery was done outpatient, not even one night in the hospital. It was on a Wednesday and I was back at work on Monday, no problem. As for being out of commission at home, I was a little foggy and tired really just until Saturday night, when I suddenly felt a whole lot better. I think that was the anaesthesia wearing off.

Jonathan, I'm so glad to hear you're doing better!! Isn't it great, the healing process? When one day is so much better than the last we have a whole new lease on life. To answer your question, I still haven't had Jello. I hate the stuff almost as much as you hate shakes. (Horrible story, by the way. Heartbreaking. ) But it's very soft and shouldn't cause a problem as soon as you feel able to move on to slightly more substantial liquids. Good luck!

Donali's post about MO being a disease has been revolving in my head the last few days. It occurs to me that extending that analogy is very helpful when it comes to understanding the band and its role in my future. What I am doing, with the help of my band, is MANAGING my chronic disease of morbid obesity. That's why I don't have a "goal" and why my "journey" will never be over. This is not a disease for which I will find cure, but one which must be managed for the rest of my life. Like many people with MO, I've been totally unable to even minimally manage my disease in the past. Short-term searches for cures have been pointless, of course; the only surprise about that is that anyone ever expected they'd be anything else. Chronic diseases require PERMANENT management, and it is not shameful or weak to pursue help in this regard. Help is available to the various degrees that people need it--up to and including the implantation of an assistive device. The good news is that it's working. My MO has receded to a degree I've never thought possible, and I'm counting on my band to help me keep it in check. I refuse to feel like I'm any less of a person because I have a medical device implanted to help me manage a disease I did nothing to deserve.

I remember being very curious about the exact same thing. And the answer, like everyone says, is NO, you are not aware of the presence of your band the vast majority of the time. My band only makes itself known by its effects, and if I'm not eating, I don't know it's there.

Jonathan, it sounds like you're getting there! The gurgling is indeed the sound of liquid passing through the stoma. Yay, you! You might try some chicken broth when you get tired of the taste of tea and coffee. It will taste like manna from heaven. And Jack, I just want to say you're doing a GREAT job of being a bandbrother! I want to hug you for being so helpful and supportive. Consider yourself hugged.