julester

So on the 18 th of September I will be 18 months out. I have lost about 120 lbs. I love the new me!! I had been pretty much eating what I wanted for the last year and just lately about 5 lbs crept back up on me. I realized I still didn't love my body! I made the decision that I had to complete the process and finally start looking into plastics. It's so hard to lose all this weight but see the skin hang that constantly reminds you of how fat you once were. I scheduled a TT and breast lift/augment for Oct 3rd. I have taken off the weight that was creeping back up and found that having this date planned has inspired me to lose even more than my goal. I want to be as little as I can before my surgery for better contouring and results. This is the best decision I've ever made and I'm so happy that 18months ago I had the guts to say enough is enough and I loved myself enough to make a choice to live and feel beautiful and strong and healthy! I love my sleeve!

Dr. Aceves has now done over 900 surgeries with no leaks!! I paid $8750 for my sleeve and it was worth every dollar! He is such a great surgeon and a great guy as well. He told me that when he is not in surgery and away from the practice he feels "lost" This is definetly his calling and he says over and over I stand on my own two feet and that his reputation may be great but if you want to hear his faults just ask his wife. lol I cracked up when he said that because no one person is perfect but he is an amazing surgeon. I had my surgery on March 18th, I had great care, the facility was beautiful and I came home with energy and no need for pain meds. I love Dr. Aceves!

wow....look at all the responses! I love it! I am an estetician and I do a lot of body waxing but I can tell you first hand that it is worth it to do the laser. I am blonde down there but I had it lasered and it did remove the majority of my hair. All but the very fine blonde downy hair. This hair is easily trimmed to where you cant even tell I have any..lol can't believe I'm saying this on this forum but what the heck. If you go to a reputable plastic surgeon they can numb the area that is about to be lasered and that helps a lot! Hope this helps!

I just talked to a lady from aetna that said they were starting to see sleeves get approved! Of course... Now that I decided to pay cash They could possibly approve it! Just my luck! Thanks for all the well wishes and I'll keep you all posted! Thanks for saving me a seat on the bench Tiff!

:001_wub:Okay so here's my story...I'm a mother of 2 girls ages 12 and 2. Both are very active!! I have been an athlete for most of my life but after my second child my body can't keep up with my weight! The day I found out that I was preggers with my first child I weighed in at 199. That was the last day I ever saw the 100's. 10 years later I got pregnant with my second child and weight 242. I gained 40 lbs during that pregnancy and my heaviest post pregnancy weight was 272. With all that said, I started my weight loss surgery journey in June of 2009. I called my insurance and they covered WLS! I was so excited! I chose a dr. at Stanford medical hospital since there were no centers of excellence in Oregon and had my first consultation with him on Sept 9. I wanted the lap band because every single one of my clients that have had RNY have had major complications! One actually died and was brought back to life!!! They all told me to do the band instead so I listened! I started vigilantly doing all of my pre op testing and on my upper GI it showed that I had a hiatal hernia and acid reflux! NO BUENO!! Stanford then made me do a upper endoscopy to see the severity of both and apparently it was bad enough for them to tell me that it was a no go on the band! There was no way they were talking me into the bypass though! I cried!!! Then one of the doctors called me to tell me about VSG. He told me that my insurance didn't cover it but he would write a very convincing letter and then see what happens. After completing all of my pre op testing and my 6 month diet/excersice with my PCP I found out that Stanford and Dr. Morton were no longer covered by my Aetna:cursing: SO..... I then called around to other places like lapSF and the hospital is covered but the doctors are out of network so they are not! I called my bariatric nurse at Aetna and she said that Aetna is not changing there policy about covering VSG and that even if I appealed it they would deny me!! I'm ready to fight for my life and not waste anymore time fighting my insurance! I'm worth more than that! So...I decided to follow suit of all of the successful VSG patients that I see on the site and also on OH.com and go with Dr. Aceves. The wait is over and I am over the weight!!:tongue_smilie: My surgery is scheduled for 3/18/2010 and I am elated!!!! I will be arriving on my 3rd wedding anniverary, the 17th with my husband in tow. Just one month away to start shedding my fat suit and becoming the authentic me. The woman I am supposed to be! Good luck to all and come be my friend on this journey...we could all use 1 or 100:wink1: Jules

Anyone having surgery with Dr. Aceves on or around March 18th? I am bringing my husband and I'm hoping that there will be other husbands for him to roam around Mexicali with so he's not stuck in the room with me the whole time. I'm hoping to take this time of healing and enjoy some silence and sleep since at home I am a crazy busy mom and salon owner!! Anyway, let me know!:tongue_smilie:

I'm arriving on the 17th, surgery on the 18th!! Good luck ladies!

I went to the obesity bulletin as well and it still hasn't updated but a member on obesityhelp.com told me that Aetna is approving the sleeve now. She better not be lying because I got goosebumps and all! I'm going through the same thing as you...We will try to put our positive thoughts out to the universe together and hopefully it will return to us with a positive outcome!!! Keep me informed if you hear anything!