Violet953

That's really awesome Amanda! I'm so happy for you. If they love you they should support you either way!!

I wasn't taking this as seriously as I should have been in the beginning of this process and while my doctor is very nice, his partner sees me every other appointment as well and she was pretty harsh with me and made me cry....I was upset because nobody told me I needed 6 months of DOCUMENTED appointments for my insurance, I had over a year of appointments but they were all spread out, so I had to start over with only 2 months documented(this was in July) Now I am all ready and it took that serious talk I had with her to make me just DO IT like I have been...I'm pretty sure.

She told me that I had to wait longer and not only that but to loose at least 50 pounds before I get it done, to know that I can handle it. I proved it to them and now they are ready to do the surgery ASAP, I'm just waiting on insurance. I started this at 329 and now I am 308!

Because honestly I had no motivation what so ever before then....so I think I owe her all of the credit. I have lost 21 pounds in about a 3 month period of time mostly by exercising and eating less. I'm very proud of myself and everybody can see that I lost the weight, makes me feel great and determined now to get the lap band and start this process. I can't wait for the liquid diet! I am GOING to be under 300 pounds before I get the lap band put in, that is a FACT. You will see

But anyway I totally understand what you are saying..because the same thing happened to me! You WILL do it just like I did- just remember to keep at it every single day and do NOT quit!

I think you should just tell her. I told everyone I know as well...work, family, best friends.. some people still don't know but I just tell the people that I'm around the most, its just easier that way...if they don't like it, that's their problem! I'm doing it anyway- but everybody is very happy for me- my mother had gastric bypass and lost 100 pounds, was able to keep it off for ten years now. So she is very supportive for me doing this, she wanted me to. Even though she had complications, but this is a totally different surgery and safer. Good luck.

Have you ever heard of Walk Away The Pounds with Leslie Sansone? I think you should do the 1 mile walk for now until you can do more, it's a walking in place DVD! You can find them at Wal Mart or online! I've been doing it pre surgery and have lost 20 pounds so far!

Hey hun,

I'm sort of going through the same thing...while my surgeons people are really nice and seem to be on top of things, something happened that really annoyed me...

I got everything done and was all ready to have the surgery this month, they sent my paperwork to the insurance and I had to wait over a week just to have them send a message saying I needed to see a cardiologist before they would approve me. Now why wouldn't they have had me do that months ago? Why all of a sudden is that something I need to do? I didn't know every single appointment I had to go to, they did. Which is why that frustrated me so much.

All of my plans are shot now too, because now my insurance is in a spend down so I have to wait not only until I get it back but they are saying I won't be having the surgery until the beginning of January now.

While all of this is stressing me out and ruined my plans, I know I will be getting it done at some point, and I've waited over a year, I can wait another month or so. It WILL happen. I would definately call them asap and get everything straightened out, explain everything to them. That's what I did and so far they have been working to help me.

The only thing I'm worried about now though is the fact that they didn't put a CPAP machine on me either when I did my sleep study, but I was found to have severe sleep apnea, and I sleep with my machine now...but I wonder if they are going to say I need a sleep study with one? Why wouldn't they just make that standard for overweight people in the first place? Hang in there hun!

Like you, I'm terrified of loose skin as well. What I'm doing is exercising a LOT right now doing Walk Away The Pounds with Leslie Sansone DVDs. Its walking in place, and I highly recommend it! I do between 2-5 miles everyday and my skin keeps getting tighter and tighter... I'm 24 so I'm hoping I have age by my side. I also hope that I will loose the weight slowly, I do not want it all to come off at once by any means.

As soon as I'm ready after the surgery I will be exercising like crazy, that's my advice! Maybe we could keep in touch

Hello,

I am having kind of the same issue with my insurance, except I have medicaid and it's a spend down. I don't know where you are from but I live in Connecticut and I called the hospital's billing department where the surgery will take place and asked if I could make payments for my share, and they said of course you can, then they looked into it further and told me one of the charity programs they have would actually cover it 100% for me...so you should call the hospital and find out if they have any programs that you qualify for, or make payment arrangements! I mean come on, they are getting 85% up front, you'd think they'd be fine with getting payments for the rest!

I have a question not trying to be rude or anything, because I respect the fact that its your decision in telling whoever you want to but, how come you don't want to tell anyone?

Thanks

So she checked my status today and instead of an approval they sent a message saying that I need to see a cardiologist before they approve me. Now, I have an EKG scheduled tomorrow morning but apparently that won't cut it, I need to be evaluated by a cardiologist before they say yes to the surgery.

WHYYYYYYYYY DIDN'T THEY HAVE ME DO THIS MONTHS AGO? I just don't understand why they would send all the paperwork in, before having everything they needed for approval! It makes no sense. I thought I had everything done because my surgeon said so, and that he was going to go ahead with all of the paperwork.

After I found that out I was like okay this appointment needs to happen before the 11th so I called one in my area who had nothing until NEXT YEAR! So at that point I felt hopeless, but she called the one in Norwich for me which is a little bit of a drive but well worth it, for Friday the 2nd! So at least I will get that out of the way and they know to send the paperwork back right away afterwards.

Hopefully after that I will get my approval and then I can get my date!

I'm not entirely sure but is it possible you weigh too little to get it done? What I'd do to be that weight again! lol! Have you ever tried doing Walk Away The Pounds DVD's with Leslie Sansone?

Hey,

I appreciate any advice anyone gives me. Are you from CT tho? Cuz I'm just thinking the rules are probably different from state to state about that...but I am not worried about the bill, even if the $1,750.00 is not covered by the hospital after all, they told me I could make payments so that won't be a problem, as long as I don't have to pay it all at once, which they told me I won't have to.

The only thing I am worried about is the answer from the insurance for the surgery, if they don't give it to me before the 11th I'm not sure what I will do...because if they don't give me initial approval, and then the doc goes ahead with the surgery, bills my insurance, will they not cover it because they hadn't approved it beforehand? Its soo confusing!

So, we will see what happens, because like you said, I would do anything as well to get this done and I have, I've gone this far, and have been waiting for over a year! I will do whatever else needs to be done!

Hello everyone,

Little about me, my name is Stephanie and I've been in the process of having the lap band for over a year now. I have state insurance/medicaid and live in Connecticut. I'm having the surgery at Backus Hospital in Norwich with Dr. Tousignant, who I really love, he's super nice and so is all of the staff.

I have done everything for the insurance, 6 months+ worth of doctors visits monthly, which was covered through my medicaid but the Dietitian was not, and my surgeon said it was mandatory that I see her so I had to pay out of pocket for those visits, which was really hard but I got it done. Tomorrow is the last time I see her pre op, which will be a cooking demonstration.

I have been exercising every day for the past 3 months doing Walk Away The Pounds DVDs with Leslie Sansone (walking in place videos) which I love and have been doing the required diet, and so far lost 20 pounds. I've been doing anywhere between 2-3-4- and 5 miles every day. I feel great, and I have more energy already. I am so ready for the surgery, in fact I can't even wait to start my pre op diet!

Now, after all of this, my doctor submitted the paperwork to my insurance, and we are waiting on a decision. That was done I believe before Thanksgiving.

Haven't heard anything yet, and I just checked earlier today.

And then I got a letter in the mail. From my insurance basically saying that I no longer have my insurance anymore on the 11th of December. After absolutely freaking out and being terrified that I did all of this for nothing, and making all kinds of phone calls to find out what to do next, I think I've figured it all out.

They are saying that I make too much money now (even though my income hasn't changed in months) so I have to go on a spend down now. I have to give them $1,750.00 worth of medical bills and then my insurance will be reinstated for the next 6 months.

The hospitals billing department told me that I could have the surgery, and the bill would be submitted to the insurance. Then $1,750.00 I will owe, but the rest will be covered by my insurance, and I will have it again. They also told me that the hospital would cover 100% of the bill that I will owe. Which was great to hear because I told them I would pay payments but it would be hard for me.

So I told all of this to my surgeons people and they seemed to think everything was all set too. So that was a BIG relief let me tell you! But now I'm still kind of thinking this is too good to be true. Have any of you had trouble with medicaid giving you an answer, or had a spend down to deal with? I'm just nervous that maybe they won't give me an answer before the 11th, and then what, if I don't have insurance at all after that will I be screwed as far as getting an answer still? This has been so confusing and I just wish they'd give me an answer right away, then all would be fine.

I have been working out more and more to ease this stress. I still have my insurance until the 11th so I am having my pre op physical and obgyn exam before that date. The doc even told me that he was aiming towards giving me the surgery in the middle of December. What do you guys think???

Aria,

It sounds like you just want to loose the weight as quickly as you possibly can. For your birthday? Feel lucky that you actually got the surgery, as some of us do not even have that pleasure. Why would you want the weight to come off so fast anyway? You've been this big for years I assume, like all of us, so whats another year or possibly longer?

I just don't get why people think this is a quick fix, and would even want to loose the weight that fast to begin with, aren't you scared of loose skin? If looking and feeling your best is your goal, you should be more worried about that, because if you loose too quickly, your skin is going to to be sagging all over, is that what you want? Be glad its coming off slowly, and do I really have to point out that you JUST had the surgery? It hasn't even been a month yet.

Hi guys.

I just suggested Leslies Walk Away The Pounds DVDs in another topic yesterday with someone who doesn't like to exercise. I am somebody who hated it and I have been doing her DVDs for about 3 months now and have lost 20 pounds...my body is so much more toned and tightened, I can feel it, I love it.

I actually look forward to doing her DVD's because they are fun and easy and not like that Zumba which I've tried and had a horrible time trying to keep up with all of the crazy moves. This is simple, easy to follow, and most of all, very effective.

The best part about it is that you start slow...and she starts you off slow in each work out, brings it up to a calorie and then fat burning stage, then gradually brings you back down to the cool down... Start with the 1 mile, and do that either a few times a week or every day depending on what you can stand, I personally did the 1 mile every day for about 2 weeks until it became not enough for me anymore, so I went on to the 2 mile every day.

Now I have been doing the 3, 4 and 5 mile and I switch them up too! I feel great every time.

I am terrified of loose skin so I am so glad that this is tightening and toning my skin more and more before the lap band, so it will only tighten it more afterwards. I am so ready now, and because of Leslie. I can't thank her enough for motivating me as she has.

I have recommended her DVDs to all of my family and friends and they are now all doing her DVDs too! They asked me what I did to loose the weight and I am living proof that it works so they wanted in on it too.

I plan to do her dvds every day after the lap band is put in! I am very excited about it!! Let me know how it works for you!!!!!

Oh and the best part about this for you mothers with your own businesses and work, who don't have time to go to the gym, you can just pop this in at home and in half an hour get a great work out in! I'm telling you please try it!!!! You'll love it!!!

Another thing that I forgot to mention is that she starts you off slow, which I think is the key to sticking with it, and is why I've had success. I started off doing the one mile every day for about two weeks until that wasn't enough for me anymore. And you will too if you start off the right way.

In every workout she starts you off slow and then leads you up to higher pace, and eventually goes back down to the cool down period. I think its genius. I hope at least some of you take my advice and try it, because I don't know about you but I'm terrified of loose skin so I'm going to try my damn hardest to work my ass off after I get the lap band put in.

I think when you start off doing wayy too much, it turns you off from ever doing it again. Just my two cents!

Hi All,

My name is Stephanie and I am hopefully going to be banded this December. I Have finished everything just waiting on the insurance.

So far I have lost over 15 pounds doing WALK AWAY THE POUNDS with Leslie Sansone. You can find her videos at Wal Mart. I am somebody who hated exercise so much....was never ever motivated to do it...but I actually look forward to doing this one. Its a walking in place DVD where you do arm and leg movements. I feel my muscles tightening and my body has toned up so much already. I do the 2 mile everyday, and some days I even do the 4 and 5 mile vids. The 2 mile is done in 30 minutes, and the 4 is almost an hour. I really do love it and suggest you try it..I tried Zumba with a family member and I had the worst time trying to keep up with the moves....There is just no way I'd be able to do that....esp. for someone who weighs 315 pounds...its wayyy too fast pace and the moves are way too complicated for me. Which is why I love Walk Away The Pounds...its simple, you don't have to learn and try to keep up with all kinds of different moves, and most of all, its very effective.

In her older vids she would have you use Weighted balls with some of the work out, which work really great but in the newer ones she has you use a stretchy band..I suggest getting the weighted balls because they work awesomely and make the work out more intense.

Good Luck though, Debora, I hope you try it, because its the perfect work out for me, and actually made me motivated to do it every day because its fun and I love it!