waitingpatiently

I agree with you about the medicaid....I'm all for helping out my fellow american...but not for the rest of their lives!! So i guess it becomes a discussion as to how long a person should be allowed to stay on medicaid? And should it not just be the basics? Should it be a better plan than most of american have? I don't think so. I actually changed jobs one time simply because I needed better health benefits. If a person is handedeverything they need, a home, food, insurance....what is the incentive to do better.
Now medicare is different. We pay into medicare through our payroll taxes. Because peoples insurance is usually linked to their employer when a person retires or becomes disabled they need to have something to take over. They have earned it. Then discussion turn to is lapband a elective surgery? Or is it a neccessary treatment? I say it is a treatment. If a person is successful on lapband, it will actually save the tax payers money. One avoided triple bi-pass heart surgery will more than pay for a lapband surgery and all the follow up care. Think of all those that have had LB and avoided becoming diabetic and all the money that is paid to treat a diabetic patient....same with heart disease.
I think all commerical insurance company should be made to cover it. It has been proven to be a successful treatment.

80 pounds is awesome!! I know you want it gone now, but it looks like you are doing a great job! Congrats! I know lovethenewme said to keep your calories at 1200, but I actually will gain at 1200 calories.....of course I was just banded so I haven't worked up to 60 mins of cardio yet. If I could, I would probably need those extra calories.--hahah Until then, I have been sticking to a very strict 800 calories/60 protein/ 30carbs....and I have been having great sucess. about 26 pounds in 4 weeks

80 pounds is awesome!! I know you want it gone now, but it looks like you are doing a great job! Congrats! I know lovethenewme said to keep your calories at 1200, but I actually will gain at 1200 calories.....of course I was just banded so I haven't worked up to 60 mins of cardio yet. If I could, I would probably need those extra calories.--hahah Until then, I have been sticking to a very strict 800 calories/60 protein/ 30carbs....and I have been having great sucess. about 26 pounds in 4 weeks

Great success story!! I'm just now starting down this road. I will get my surgery date on Tuesday. I hope 10 months from now I will have my own success story to share. Keep up the great job.

I can only comment on may own experience, but it was stressed to me by my doctor to maintain a lean high protein/low carb diet.....This will send your body into ketosis and it will start burning fat stored around the liver. So I was put on a diet of 60 protein/less than 30 carbs a day/ less than 700 cals a day.
He recommended 2 protein shakes and a lean cusine to keep it simple. It took 4 days before my body hit ketosis then I started losing a pond a day for the next 10 days!! It was amazing to see the scale change like that!!
So it may be worth considering.

hang in there. Im not banded yet i still have a whole 60 hours left--haha But I thought I could offer a little help with the coffee breastfast issue.
I absolutely love my keurig coffee maker...my favorite flavor is the butter toffee. I absolutely HATE the protein powers!!! But...I found that if I mix them....I'm good to go.
about 4oz coffee
1/2 oz sf vanilla syrup
1/2 oz sf caramel syrup
2oz skim milk
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
6-8 cubes of ice
Bleand in bleander. absolutely amazing!! taste very much like starbucks iced caramel latte.
125cal/15 protein/5 carbs

I understand your flustration. I felt very much the same. I have been told very little about what to eat, drink etc. for pre-op and after surgery. It has been very much a learning process.
Make a pest out of yourself!. I have learned from working in health care that the squeaky wheel gets the attention. That doesn't mean rude.....but it is very hard to ignor a patient if they are trying to understand what they need to do to be compliant.

Hi there,
Just wanted to encourage you to not give up. My best friend and I decided to get this done together that way we would have each other to rely on. She had tried before in the past and was turned down twice. But this time she has a different insurance. We started the process together in december and on February 29 i got the call that Iwas approved and 15 mins later she got the call that she was turned down. She had done the 3 month supervised diet with her doctor like the insurance requested, now they want her to continue for another 3 months. The nurse told her not to give up. Thats what the insurance company wants. You see she had a bmi of 44 but no comorbidities. in other words she wasn't costing the insurance company any money. I on the other hand was only 35 bmi BUT have sleep apnea and high blood pressure. My machine alone is $6,000+ (and I'm due a new one). They know its in their best interest to help me get the weight off. I jokingly told them when I called that they might as well pay for they surgery because if I was turned down, my next call would be to buy another sleep apnea machine......24 hours later I had my approval. The nurse also told by friend, that since she meets the bmi requirements and has passed all her other requirements....psych exam, dietian and supervised diet that there isn't anythiong else they can require from her and they will eventually be required (by law) to give her the sugery. So just hang in there and play the game.....and whatever you do don't miss one of your supervised diet check ins....the insurance company can make you start all over if you simply miss one visit by one day.
Good luck...it won't be much longer now.