losing_the_band

I know what you mean! I have held my tongue so many times with my coordinator, I should get an award! It's not entirely her fault, because the surgeon had her seriously overloaded, to the point where she actually quit (her last day was the day after I finally got my date). The surgeon was trying to open an office in a new area, but it was only open one day a week (it was a shared office between several practices), so she was trying to do everything that day and carting everything back and forth between offices. I had to send her so much stuff multiple times because she'd misplace things. She'd also tell me to do one thing and then later think that she'd told me to do something else, forget to tell me to come in for weigh-ins, etc. I barely kept myself from yelling at her by telling myself, "You can't scream at the coordinator! It will not help the process!" She finally gave up and got a job at another surgeon's office because she couldn't handle to workload and stress.

Ditto!

I'm pre-op for band-to-bypass. Surgery is on 8/24! It's been a whirlwind week, since I just found out my date last week. I've got just about everything done, but I found out today that my pulmonologist is making me do a pulmonology fitness test and a home sleep study before clearing me, so I do those tomorrow. My pre-op education class is on Thursday, so after that, I will be in the clear!

I'm having a revision from lap-band to another form of bariatric surgery in two weeks, and I chose RNY instead of the sleeve. My reasons were: The sleeve can cause major acid reflux. I'd already suffered from severe, uncontrollable acid reflux with the band, and didn't want to even risk it again. It's truly miserable, and can cause a lot of lasting damage to your esophagus, vocal cords, and teeth. The sleeve is a purely restrictive procedure, whereas RNY combines restriction with malabsorbtion. Having PCOS, and having had one purely restrictive procedure already, I know that I need more than just restriction. I may have been able to work the sleeve if I'd been able to have it as my original procedure, but the lap-band completely ruined my already slow metabolism. I know in my heart that I would not be successful with the sleeve, and having had the band and a replacement band when the original slipped, I simply don't want to have to do this again. After my experience with the lap-band, I simply am not going to again trust a procedure that is as new as the sleeve, with no long-term results available. It's had great results when performed as part of the DS, but as a stand-alone procedure, it simply doesn't have many long-term statistics available. After trusting the hype once with the lap-band, I'm not willing to do it again. When I got my band, it was being touted as the next big thing in WLS, with projected long-term stats that matched or exceeded those of the RNY. Then, after a few years, the real stats started coming in, and they aren't good. I truly believe that the majority of morbidly obese people don't just have a problem with overeating. I think many, if not most, have underlying metabolic issues. Unfortunately, the sleeve does nothing to address those.

What I don't understand is that you're saying "moderation is bad and will only make you fat again," yet what you're advocating is the definition of moderation. Moderation doesn't mean constantly eating whatever you want, just in smaller proportions, it just means that you can still have pizza, hamburger, ice cream, etc., as long as that isn't all or the majority of what you're eating.

My sympathies! Back when I worked retail, I used my employee discount to buy my parents a few really good anodized aluminum non-stick pans, since all of their pans were old and not in the best shape. Of course, even though I told them how to care for them, the first time my dad used one, he cleaned it with a steel wool scrubbie. I was not happy because I've always felt that if someone gives you something nice or expensive, you take care of it properly (at least when they're watching).

Some good news: I got a surgery date! I'm having my band-to-bypass revision on August 24th! They only gave me about 3 weeks notice, so I've been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, trying to get all my clearances done. I got my labwork, chest xray, and cardiology clearance done this past Thursday, I have my pulmonology clearance scheduled for Tuesday, and my education class on Wednesday! I'm so excited! I've been trying to get everything in order for surgery, since my mom is flying down to stay with me. I've ordered all of my pre-op Vitamins (even though I don't have to start them for 6 weeks), a zip-front soft bra for leaving the hospital, and I'm going to go buy some more Premier Protein shakes at costco this week (they're on sale!), and I'm trying to get my apartment as clean and organized as possible.

I agree with everyone that says that, right now, you need to be focusing on you and making yourself happy. I'm a firm believer in learning to like and appreciate being single. The bottom line for me is this: If you aren't happy being by yourself, you can't expect someone else to be happy to be with you. You need to learn to love yourself and appreciate yourself, not focus your entire world around being with another person. That becomes overwhelming for both you and the other person. I'm 32, and I enjoy taking vacations by myself, going to the movies, shopping, going to restaurants, etc. If another person happens to enjoy the same things and wants to join me, that's wonderful, but I'm not going to stop living my life because I don't happen to have a love interest. The only other option is to wake up one day and realize that life has passed you by, and that you didn't even have a chance to enjoy it.

If you haven't yet, have your doctor to a peer-to-peer appeal on your behalf. In many cases, especially revisions, insurance companies will try to deny revisions unless you fight for them. My band-to-bypass was denied a couple of times, even though I jumped through all of their hoops, because they said that I hadn't proved that the band had a technical malfunction (I had severe acid reflux and couldn't tolerate any Fluid in the band at all, but apparently that didn't count, lol) and couldn't prove that I had been compliant with diet and exercise (I had been, but had to switch surgeons three times when I moved to new states, so I didn't have records). I finally asked my surgeon to do a peer-to-peer appeal, and was approved the same day.

Ditto! Plus, you never know who is looking at your pictures. I've run across a lot of really unstable people on various message boards (this one included, back when it was still Lap-band Talk), and I'm not taking the risk. I've seen people get tracked down in real life based on information that they've posted on message boards in the past (and the people called their place of employment), so it makes me really leery of posting personally identifiable information on the board, even if it's a before/after photo.

I'm here to get and give support to people who are seriously interested in WLS and who have already had it, period. I don't consider that mentoring, just being supportive. If someone asks a specific question, I'll answer, but I'm not here to guide them in "the right way." To put it bluntly, I'm at the stage in my WLS journey and have been in this long enough that I have absolutely no interest in trying to convert people to WLS. Even here, I'm not going to tell someone what they should or shouldn't do that's outside of their comfort zone, or try to shame them into "spreading the joys of WLS" by telling them that they owe it to the other fat people (and I've seen people here and on OH that were basically doing that). I don't owe anything to anyone. My personal feelings are that people will research when they are ready to research. I'm not going to preach to them or be a WLS evangelist, and I have no interest in trying to justify my decision to have WLS to people. When people are tired of being fat, they'll look into alternatives. Before that, it's like trying to convert an Atheist to Christianity, or a nonsmoker preaching to a smoker. Plus, I tend to think people are generally just Nosy Nellies, sticking their noses where they don't belong. I have no interest in being the topic of break-room conversation at work. Maybe I was just raised to be super-respectful of privacy (which is ironic, considering that my parents think nothing of discussing MY private medical information with anyone and everyone, lol), but I would never in a million years pry into a coworker or friend's personal life with questions like, "So, how are you losing the weight?," "You aren't sick, are you?," etc., so I find it offensive when other people do it.

Ditto all of this. Maybe I have a skewed perception because I've succeeded with my lap-band and then regained weight (due to complications and issues with the band). Back when I first had surgery, I was all gung-ho about educating people about WLS and spreading the gospel, so to speak. The problem is, most people consider WLS surgery to be a magical cure-all for obesity, and if you start gaining weight back, you become the "friend of a friend of a friend" that everyone warns you about when you first tell them you're looking into surgery. They think that because you're sharing something private with them, that it's public knowledge and can then be gossiped about, or that you want their advice on how to lose weight. Bottom line is that it is not your responsibility to educate the masses about the joys of WLS. If you aren't 100% comfortable telling people about having surgery, dealing with all of the extra input that people will think you want (because God forbid we don't want to know about the friend of a friend of a friend that died, or regained weight, or had major complications), or with their suggestions on "better" ways to lose weight, then don't tell anyone. For me, I don't plan on telling any more people than absolutely necessary about my revision from lap-band to RNY (more people know about it now than I'm comfortable with, due to my parent's inability to respect my personal privacy). I'm no one's WLS mentor or the poster-child for WLS, and I don't wish to become one.

Unfortunately, this is part of losing a large amount of weight. At first, it's really nice to know that people are noticing the change, but then it's like, "Geeze, people lose and gain weight every day, let it go!" Some people are genuinely happy for you, and others are just Nosy Nellies looking for a good tidbit of gossip to spread around. And to be honest, it's even worse if you're upfront about having surgery. Then, people think that because you shared that information, that you want to know about an aunt of a friend of a friend of their cousin who died/regained weight/had complications, or that you want to know all the "better" alternatives to surgery and the people that have had success with them, or that you want to share every grisly detail about how much you weighed, how much you lost, all the complications you may have had, etc. When I first had lap-band surgery and initially lost 90 pounds, I eventually got to the point where I REALLY wanted to tell people, "Yes, I've lost weight. No, I don't want to tell you how, or hear stories about how person XYZ lost weight, or give you recipes, or hear your recipes, or give you tips, or hear about someone you know who had surgery and failed, etc.!" And here I go again, getting a revision to RNY. I WISH I could keep it to myself, but unfortunately, my parents are incredibly insensitive to the fact that they're sharing my private medical information, and have already blabbed to every single person they know, lol. I should have kept it to myself, but I just moved to a new state last year and needed someone to stay with me after surgery, and didn't want to share the info with coworkers.

I finally got approved today for my band-to-RNY revision, with a peer-to-peer appeal after a few denials. Now I get to wait to see what my surgery date is! The coordinator didn't want to give me a set date yet (waiting on medical clearances and such), but I'm going to see if I can talk them into giving me one, since I've got to buy a ticket for my mom to come and stay with me and I have to request leave from work.

A peer to peer is when your surgeon calls the medical director of the insurance company directly and speaks with them to make the appeal.

Eep, I can't believe how quickly this is going! I spent yesterday trying to get a bunch of my clearances done. My surgeon's office likes to have them done about 30 days before surgery, but since my surgery date is so close, they told me to get it done as quickly as possible. So, I spent yesterday getting a ton of blood drawn for labs and got a chest x-ray, EKG, and saw a cargiologist for clearance. I have to turn in my hemoccult sample cards tomorrow, see the pulmonologist for clearance next Tuesday, and get my final medical clearance next Wednesday (my PCP wanted to see all of my medical clearances before giving me clearance). Next Thursday is my final education class, and then the following Tuesday is my surgery day! And somewhere in there, I have to go to the hospital to do my pre-registration stuff. My head is spinning! It seems like this took forever to get to this point, and now it's going by so quickly!

Seriously, before even contemplating self pay, contact a lawyer. The ones I mentioned in my last post have a really good approval rate, and their fee is very cheap compared to paying for surgery. They quoted me $600-650 for a basic appeal, or $900-950 for the works ($50 reduction if you pay in one payment). Add on $300 if you want it expedited. Compared to $15k-$25k, that's a really good deal. At the very least, have your surgeon do a peer-to-peer appeal before giving up.

I'm having surgery on Aug 24th!

I'm August 24th!

We're submitting to insurance either today or tomorrow! The coordinator thought we'd have a better chance of approval if it was submitted as an original surgery (different insurance company than my first band and rebanding) than as a revision, so I had to jump through a few hoops (slightly fast-tracked). Hopefully, will hear back relatively quickly!

Same thing happened to me when I was jumping through hoops for my lap-band. The "ladies" at the support group meeting that I was required to attend decided to tell me that they didn't think I needed surgery, since I was "so small." Yeah, no. I had a BMI of 39-40 at the time.

My BMI was around 36.5-37.

Looking at the plan brochure, it looks like you should be covered by doing the following: I would visit your PCP first, and have them note in your file your weight and that you're trying to lose weight and seeing a nutritionist, then see the PCP monthly for weigh-ins along with the nutritionist. That way, all of your bases are covered. It's medically supervised, because you're getting a recommendation from your PCP and monthly weight monitoring, and it includes nutritional counseling, which is one of the requirements. Make sure that you've got 30 days between appointments, but don't skip a calendar month. You'll need 4 appointments with the PCP and nutritionist: one to start, and then at 30 day intervals until you've covered 90 days.

I actually just got approved for revision from band to bypass, and I had a band replacement in 2011 after my first band slipped severely. I had two denials for the band-to-bypass revision, and my surgeon finally did a peer-to-peer appeal and got it reversed. I think it's fairly standard practice for insurance companies to deny the first attempt at revision appeal, because they're hoping you just give up. Mine was denying it because they kept saying that I couldn't prove any technical malfunction of the band, even though I was having severe reflux and was unable to tolerate any Fluid in the band anymore. I would recommend contacting the Lindstrom bariatric law group, since they will handle the appeal for you. I got a quote from them, since I was going to use them if the peer-to-peer appeal was denied. I would first recommend trying to find a surgeon that specializes in revisions, though. We're special cases, and we and our surgeons can't treat our stomachs like ones that have never been touched. With a doctor that does a lot of revisions, their staff will be more experienced in how to finesse the insurance approval/appeals. If I'd had a revision surgeon when I had to have my band replaced in 2011, I probably would have gone with a different surgery instead of a replacement. I believed my insurance coordinator, though, when she said I didn't have a chance at getting it approved, so we didn't even attempt to get a conversion to another surgery approved. I know now that I would have actually had a really good chance of it getting approved, since I'd had a major complication.

My first time around, with the band, I got down to 135 and felt great. I'd be happy with anything below 155, though, because I still felt great about myself at that weight. I always used to say that I was big-boned, but once I was actually at a healthy weight, I realized that I wasn't big-boned at all. Even the spots that you don't think carry fat, like wrists, get thinner. I found that I was actually fairly petite, other than having relatively wide shoulders.