Jim1967

I have Cigna and they've been great. I had to do 6 month monitored diet but it has changed since then to a 3 month. I had to go to the weight loss center every month and weigh in and I had to provide food journals and exercise logs. My Surgeons staff took care of compiling the data and faxed it over to Cigna. I was denied on day 3 after submittable because they had my birthday wrong and they were not provided food journals. Very important to journal. Cigna will want a sample of the journal. I am not sure exactly how much was sent to them but I provided the center 3 months of logs. After my birthdate was corrected and food journals were sent in I was approved on day 4 after the original submittable. Cigna also covers my fill adjustments 100%. I don't even make a co-pay. Like others have said the insurance company is not trying to punish you. They want to make sure you are committed to a life change.

Season finale was last week. I am just now watching on demand.

Watching the episode with Jarvez 548 pounds working with Chris Powell. This guys attitude is amazing and so inspiring.

From educational seminar to last bit of testing was 3 months total time but actual approval took 6 months due to insurance requirements. I took all the time to educate on everything possible so I would be prepared. I can remember the wait in the beginning seemed so long but as time went on and I was fully involved with support classes and all the preop appointments the time seemed like it flew by when I got the call in March to schedule the surgery. It can be frustrating waiting but learn all you can, prepare all you can. Start working on a preop diet now and you'll be ahead of the curve. It is well worth the "weight". Just to add to what Jean said, You don't want anyone rushing you through this process. You want to make sure you are getting everyone's full attention and that they have your best interest at hand. Good Luck!!

That's exactly where my mindset is at. I made some changes and adjustments but I cannot cut everything out. I am doing the lower carb, lower fat.

I continue to use splenda in my decaf coffee and I put one in my protein shake to give it a little bit of sweetness.

Mine is smack dead center of my stomach between the belly button and the largest incision. I didn't ask about this before surgery and didn't have a preference.

I had a waiting period because of Insurance. If wasn't for that I think month 3 would have been the surgery. I had my consult Oct 12 along with Nutritionist and then all the other tests and clearance by PCP in November day after Thanksgiving. So I suspect given my Surgeon's schedule the surgery would have been early to mid December. A lot of it depends on how booked your Surgeon might be.

HAM Operators use phonetic alphabet as well. Maybe he's a ham. Cheers, Juliet India Mike 1967

we all tend to be hard on ourselves..it's just a fact of life. For me nothing will ever be good enough until I hit my goal. I dropped a 170 pounds in 19 months just to turn around and pack it all back on in 5 years time plus an additional 90 pounds. I went from 393 to 220 and 5 years or so later I was in the 480s. Am I punishing myself? You bet I am.

agreed...

I apologize as well for my participation in taking this thread to a bad place. I won't go into explanations now cause I don't want to cause a flare up. I hope you find all the answers you are looking for. Do know that any WLS regardless of which one takes some nerves and patience.

Where did I say you couldn't be here and post? You can do whatever the hell you want. It's up to the Site Admins to moderate not I. I just said I didn't understand why a person who waste time and energy on a forum for a product they absolutely hate. Answer is simple. You obviously have nothing better to do with your time and you are in fact a troll who likes to cause trouble and attempt to scare people. You have never been banded so you say so your basing your opinions on something you have no experience with. You said in another posting that maybe someday you will share more information. So your hiding something... Anyway, I am done I got better things to do.

See now this is a response I find reasonable....

Then you basically are a troll and have nothing good to offer anyone here. Do you enjoy spending your time on forums for things you have no interest in with the attempt of spreading fear to new people? There is no doubt there are people who have had various issues whether self inflicted failure or legit issues with the band but there is also a lot of success stories. I think with research you would find that true for all forms of WLS... I highly doubt you blocked anyone because that is why you here. To argue and start trouble. You certainly have no interest in the band so you say so the first part must be fact.....

Honestly I did not see your original post but based on the quote Mis73 took from your post you provided basically a very negative opinion with no facts to back it up and automatically planted a seed of doubt. I can only assume you either failed with the band or the band failed you but either way its left you with a sour taste and you only have one motive being on this site and that is to spread fear and fallacy about the band.... Quote: "In this case fear is a great precaution for you, consider other procedures, the band is the worst and you will regret it over time due to it's failures, do your own research and don't believe the hype from this or any other banding forum."

Hi Bravo,, Just curious what your story is. I see you have not filled out anything in your profile with exception to your biography which states "THIS FORUM IS SUBPAR". Can you share your experiences with us or are you here to troll like your posts and profile suggest? Trying to give you the benefit of the doubt here but right now you sound like a person with sour grapes looking to spread fear.

I missed the posts....Must have deleted them. I have no regrets with the band. Only thing I wish I was better prepared for was bandster hell but I got through it and so does everyone else who experiences it. Some lucky few never have that. I've lost 70 pounds in 4 months with minimal exercise. I wouldn't change a thing except increase the exercise. My weight loss would probably move along even quicker if I did.

I didn't meet with my Surgeon until I was two months in. My first appointment was with a Nurse Practitioner Oct 12, 2011 who set up all my testing. Upper GI, stomach ultrasounds, x-rays, EKG, cardiac echo and blood work. Also that day I met with the Nutritionist who set me up with a preop diet plan. They required me to lose 5% of my weight before they would even think about agreeing on a surgery date. I didn't meet with the Surgeon until Dec 13.

Exactly!! I worry about failing myself but now I also have that added feeling that everyone knows I had the surgery. I don't want to be known as the fat guy who couldn't even lose weight with WLS... Edit: Maybe I do care to some degree a little bit about what others think. What worries me the most is failing....myself

I had my old boss ask me what I was going to do about all the excess skin I was going to have when I lose all the weight....people just don't get it and especially the ones who have never had a weight problem. "You wouldn't be fat if you just stopped eating" mentality.

I agree any loss is a good loss. I am really hard on myself and sometimes have to stop and think about it. I have lost 70 pounds in 4 months and that is an average of 17.5lbs a month. That's not too shabby but I think too much about it sometimes and I get down on myself for it. My wife had to hide the scale on me because I was weighing every morning and I was starting to get obsessive over it. I guess its because I am so heavy and have so much to lose. Instant gratification is what we yearn for but it just isn't realistic....

Funny you mention that. One of my co-workers who is also a friend outside of work he returned to work from a two week vacation and said to me "what you haven't lost all the weight yet?" He was totally joking but I can relate to what your saying.

Just know that it will take time for the weight loss to start. I wish I had a better understanding of "bandster hell" when I got started. It is that time in between being banded and getting fills. I was able to eat the same even after surgery. It took me about a 10 weeks for the scale to really start moving. Frustration with that was an issue for me but other than that everything was great. I was like "ok, I had weight loss surgery so when does the weight start to come off". It comes off but it takes time and adjustments. Good Luck!!

Walking really does help a lot with the gas pain in the shoulder.