makemyownluck

oh, and the period for supervised diet is different for each insurance plan. the standard is around 6 months, but a lot of plans do 3 months and there are many that don't require the supervised diet at all - just a nutritionist consult to advise you how your pre and post-op diets go. make sure your doc noted you discussed surgery in your med recs, too. It will help if you do have a time frame requirement, so that the time starts NOW, not your next follow up visit.

Hi! I'm 32, my name is Andrea. I started my process in July and got a referral to a surgeon approved today. The process really depends on the type of insurance you have (I assume you're not self-financing, since that process is pretty much PAY MONEY - HAVE SURGERY). If you have H. M. O., then you need a referral to a surgeon. If you have PPO, you can choose the surgeon and then they will start the process for you. Either way, the process would be: supervised weight loss (diet), nutritionist consult (to give you guidelines for said diet), and a psych consult to see if you have any mental illness that would preclude you from being able to comply with your post-op care and that don't have any undiagnosed mental issues (I wanted to frame my psych consult - PROOF I'M NOT CRAZY? I should hold on to this! - is what I thought, lol). The biggest requirement is patience. and commitment! Good luck!

I found out this morning that I was approved for a referral to see a surgeon for weight loss surgery. I was able to celebrate this "first submission approval" for approximately 30 minutes. I called the MD, made an appointment, and then the woman who scheduled my appointment called me back to advise that the surgeon does not do VSG surgery, he only does RNY and lap band. So, I called my MD office and talked to the girl who does the referral submissions, and said, "Hey, the surgeon doesn't do the surgery I want to have done. What now?" She had no idea. She said a message had been left for the nurse (why? IDK!) to call me back to discuss it. She asked me what surgery I wanted to have done, and asked me to repeat it THREE TIMES before telling me she had never heard of it and they only do referrals for rny and the lap band. After that unsuccessful call, I called my medical group (I have H.M.O.) and they said that my MD would have to submit a determination of benefits to see if this surgery would even be covered. Now, I know for a fact that BCBS covers VSG - their medical policy is available online AND I used to work for blue cross doing these exact approvals, the only difference being that I worked for PPO, not H.M.O. Absolutely NO ONE I'VE TALKED TO HAS EVEN HEARD OF VSG. They act like RNY and the lap band are the only options for weight loss surgery! Besides VSG, there's also the duodenal switch - I've worked in insurance for years and know about all these options. Why is it that no one else seems to have heard of anything else?! The medical group also advised that once they verify that the surgery is covered, they would have to request out of network benefits to see a surgeon out of network that performs this surgery. What an absolute nightmare this is turning out to be. I tried calling back to talk to the woman who does the referrals at my MD office and she won't take my call. It doesn't look like the nurse is planning to call me back either, since the office closes in about 6 minutes. I've honestly been bawling about this for over an hour, I have a headache now. I feel completely devastated and lost. The only option I can come up with at this point is to change my medical plan at work to PPO in January. I really don't WANT to have a ppo plan, tho. I'm so completely depressed. This is NOT how I wanted my weekend to start. I guess I'll go lay down and cry some more now. :*( I really, really, really, really, really don't want rny. Is my alternative to just get that surgery instead?? Or a lap band (which I've always been totally against!)? Defeated. Crushed. Inconsolable. Lost. That's me.

Well, it looks like there's a chance I could get referred to surgery sooner than I expected!!! I had been planning on having surgery at the beginning of next year, but I saw my doctor today and he said he was going to submit the referral this week and see what they say! My insurance requires a 3 month supervised diet, but my MD doesn't have a scale that can weigh me, so he's gonna see if we can bypass that requirement and get me referred now. If not, I only have another 5 weeks until my 3 months would be up anyway, so it's not that far off if it gets rejected. He said I shouldn't have a problem at the 3 month point, but he'll see what he can do to speed it up. :D :D Oh em gee! I still don't know exactly what happens next. I guess I'll find out, though. This is getting kinda exciting! Ever since I left the Drs office, I've been daydreaming. A friend of mine is going to a Halloween party tonight and I was invited to this party but declined. I don't have the self confidence to meet strangers anymore, much less the confidence to put on a costume and let people look at me! But this time next year could be totally different! EEEEEEEEEKKKKKK!! I'll let ya know if the referral goes through! Wish me luck!

Thank for the advice. I've tried calling EVERYONE. bcbs said I need to talk to my PCP. I called the medical group directly and they also referred me to the PCP. I looked up the BCBS med policy online and my PCP told me that's not the same criteria, that the H.M.O. has their own criteria (which means the medical group determines eligibility, and when I called them, they referred me to my PCP). I trust my MD, I hope he DOES know what he's talking about. I don't want this experience to ruin my relationship with this doc, I've been seeing him for 13 years. If I don't get the answers I want next visit, I'll start making some noise!

There is only one word for my mood lately: crankerpants. It's that "I'm super cranky, so if you talk to me, I'm probably gonna be a snarky b***h" type of feeling that I'm not so sure everyone experiences. I've made a bunch of changes to my diet, and been really terrible at sticking to it. Seems I can go pretty good for about 3 days and then BAM I find myself finishing off a bowl of pasta or rolling through McD's for a breakfast sandwich. But overall, I think I'm doing okay. I mean, for those 3 days I stick to it, that's an achievement, right? I'd really like to limit myself from 2 crappy/cheat meals per week down to one. Trying to do baby steps so post-op isn't so drastic. Been trying to get my follow up with my PCP scheduled F O R E V E R, it feels like. But I need an appointment for a Sat 10/6 and for WHATEVER REASON, they don't have their Saturday schedules posted for October yet. UGHHH. So frustrating. Got a tiny bit crankerpants at the scheduling girl but turned it down a notch before I snapped. I just want to see if my PCP talked to my medical group about getting a referral before the 3 month diet period. I'd love to be referred in October and scheduled for November!! Hope that's not just wishful thinking! Progress: I joined a gym today. There's a Planet Fitness like 5 minutes from my house and they happen to be running a start-up special right now, so I signed up. I feel so grown up and responsible! I went with my BFF and she's a member already, so she showed me around. Lots of the machines I remembered from being in high school gym class. And I loved how you could watch TV or ipod on the treadmills and bikes and stuff. Walk a mile AND watch Judge Judy? YES PLEASE! I'm also happy to report that this friend that took me to the gym is also the first person I told I was considering surgery and I thought she judged me for it. She really had a lot on her plate (her mom passed away ) but a few days ago she asked me how my surgery plan was going and we talked about it for a while. She asked a lot of questions and was really supportive. Makes me wonder if she'd consider surgery if she saw me lose a bunch of weight? IDK. I won't bring it up. It's too big of a decision for me to try talking her into it. My mom already said she's contemplated some type of surgery before... I think it would be interesting if all the heavy people in my life started having surgery! haha. all the more reason for me to BE THE FIRST! I think my mood improved since starting this post. Yay! Have a happy hump day tomorrow, everyone!!

lookin good!! love them bamboo earrings, girl!

I'm a fan of muscle milk, vanilla creme and the chocolate flavor. I put sugar free chai powder in the vanilla for a replacement to my usual "soy chai latte" from starbucks. The chai powder I have also has 2g protein per serviing, so that's just a little boost. The muscle milk has 20g protein per serving and I think that it tastes great. Very satisfying and it does fill me up.

This is why I don't plan to tell anyone except a few key people. If people find out, fine. But I'm really not the kind of person to take other people's BS, so I think I'll just have a lot of hateful coworkers talking about me behind my back, and that really doesn't bother me. But I'm not going to make some grand announcement, which really only makes people think you're looking for feedback. I'm sorry that you had to deal with that awkward conversation. I'd suggest telling the next person that you had surgery and feel so great about it. Then if they make that crack, tell them that surgery is hardly an easy thing to recover from. It makes me sad how absolutely hateful some people can be. I expect having this surgery will change my perspective on a lot of my relationships... I welcome it! Show me who my real friends are!! Good luck on the size 6!!

It bothers me that at some point in my life, before I lost this weight, I was 240 pounds and thought I was repulsive, disgusting, and ugly. ^that broke my heart, because I feel the exact. same. way. I think back to how I looked in high school or my early 20s and think "I WISH I could be that size now" and that girl was just as repulsed by herself as I am now! I think I have a long way to go to get self-esteem back (the little I had is certainly gone) and it's gonna take me years longer than it will to lose the weight. The few compliments I get, I always think are insults first. I assume anyone paying me a compliment is mocking me somehow. Even when it's my closest friends or relatives. Here's to learning to love ourselves.

I've been trying to implement change in my life. It hasn't been easy. My sub-conscious isn't going down without a fight! It's been really hard to fight the urge for carbs, but I took a huge step today by eliminating most of them from my cabinets. I did some shopping over the weekend and again, it was really hard to fight the carb monster. Oh, my favorite macaroons are fresh out of the oven? NO! RESIST! Free sample of my favorite pizza? STOP!! GET AWAY FROM ME!! Toaster Strudel on sale!? YOU BASTIDS! And then it was like a light bulb went off (dimly, still working on it), and I realized that Toaster Strudel is probably a great representation of my overall diet choices. Easy, sweet, reminiscent of fruit (but not actual fruit) and comes with an icing packet so I can feel like I contributed to my meal prep. How terribly sad and ridiculous is it to live like that?? So, instead I've been implementing some changes. I've been trying out protein shakes as meal replacements, and so far it's going great. I've been enjoying Muscle Milk, vanilla creme and chocolate are all I've tried, and playing around with flavors. I have some sugar-free chai mix, some extracts and sugar-free syrups that have made it a little more fun. I've been using the ready-to-drink variety of muscle milk and am nervous about buying the big canister. Does it taste the same? Anyone know about this? Also, I've discovered Greek yogurt. Never used to be a yogurt fan, but never tried Greek yogurt since it became "the thing". "If I don't like the regular kind, why would I want the Greek kind?" I'd rationalize to myself like an idiot. It's amazing! I really like Fage the best, but have been settling for Oikos because it's been on sale for the last 2 weeks at my local store. Of all I tried, Fage peach is my hands down favorite. So I've been replacing a meal with yogurt. Well, not the WHOLE meal. I used to buy lunch at the cafeteria at my work, which is usually some double portion carb mess covered in gravy, or a super salty soup with pre-made caesar salad on the side and a big sugary lemonade. Now, I bring a yogurt, some cheese slices and have bottled water instead of the lemonade. I'll get a soup or fresh fruit from the caf if I'm hungry, but I'm usually not. All the extra protein is really making a difference in my appetite! So that brings us to the point in my day once I'm home. I live alone. I have no one to shame me or call me out for making bad choices. That's part of why I'm glad to purge my cabinets. I'll have to use all my willpower not to re-purchase those things, but not having them here is a huge step. When I'm home and ready for dinner, I have a Lean Cuisine. Not the best, but it's portion controlled and easy. Living alone=having all the chores and cooking and cleaning is not how I want to spend my time... half way through cooking the meal, my back will start to ache. Then by the time I'm done and have sat down, ate, food coma sets in, cleaning up is the last thing on my mind. I'm really hoping that losing some weight will give me energy back to DO CHORES. I feel like I'm so gung-ho about changing my diet, that part has been easy, actually, but I have no drive whatsoever to be physically active. I really want that to change. But it's such a short amount of time before my back aches or my feet ache or I'm sweating and feel disgusting... Can't want for all these changes to add up to a better life. I just re-read this and realized my goal for physical fitness is to be able to do chores! HAHHAHHAHA - not climb a mountain, run a 5k - but do some chores. I can't tell if that's very sad or very Marge Simpson of me. lol!!

I haven't been sleeved yet, but I had laparoscopic gall bladder surgery a couple of years ago and the incisions are fairly similar to what you had for a sleeve. While I was feeling much better and returned to work 6 days after that surgery, I had pain in my lower abs for about 3 months after. I would notice it when I walked anything over like 10-15 minutes, it was a sharp, aching pain. I'd even notice it when walking in the grocery store or anything. It took a while to completely go away... but in the first few months, there were times I had to stop what I was doing (for example, if I was in a store) and find somewhere to sit down, or lean all my weight on. I'm not a doc, so I dont know what it is exactly, but it sounds similar to that, and my surgeon then told me it was normal and to be careful not to push myself when I felt that way, or else risk a hernia. Go slow, rest often, and if it's really intense, talk to your surgeon. Good luck!

If you have a ppo, then the bcbs requirements you found online apply. If you have h.m.o. then your medical group actually has to approve the referral and their criteria might be different than what you found online. With an h.m.o., bcbs doesn't actually approve the surgery, your medical group does. It's always more confusing when dealing with an h.m.o.

Do you have bcbsil ppo or h.m.o.?

I've started the process, but I think I have a long way to go before I'm approved and scheduled for surgery. I'll be using my health insurance, so I have way more hoops to jump through to get on that operating table. I'm 32 and single, and have been overweight my whole life. In the past 5 or 6 years, my weight has gone far beyond what I thought would be my max. I have over 200 lbs to lose, and my trigger to choose surgery was being diagnosed with high blood pressure. I've kinda kept blinders on about my weight problem because I was otherwise healthy. All my tests would come back normal, my bp was actually low, but now age (I know, only 32, but there's a difference between a 20 year old fat girl and a 32 year old fat girl!!) and my skyrocketing weight is catching up to my health. I don't want to become diabetic. I don't want to have high cholesterol. Despite the obvious weight issues, I also mentioned I'm single, I'm also childless. I feel like I'm at a crossroads that if I ever want to have a child, I need to do something about my weight. At this weight, I couldn't likely conceive a child or have a healthy pregnancy. Nevermind the fact that I can't catch a decent man these days! Even if I chose adoption, I am in no physical condition to chase after a child. Even if I never have a child, I do want to have a better quality of life. My weight has caused depression, major self esteem issues, has contributed to my lack of relationships or my own family, and now it's impacting my health in a measurable way. I've simply had ENOUGH and honestly, I'm already kicking myself that I didn't get this process started 10 years ago. I wish you luck! I'm glad you joined the board, I learned loads from this site and it's helped me make this choice.

depends on the size - mine got to the point where my gall bladder duct was blocked by a stone completely and I couldn't digest anything (not even water). Everyone is different, obviously, for instance - the attack could subside, but it's likely to return. If you're still recovering, best to get it over with now... ultimately, it's an elective surgery so there are non-surgical treatments, mostly symptom management, and it's a crap shoot whether you'll have symptoms again in a day, a month, or years from now. I haven't had VSG yet, had my gb removed about 6 years ago and the recovery wasn't bad at all. I was back to work in 1 week. I'd go through it again to spare another gall stone attack, that's for sure! Good luck!

I got my psych eval today. A nice little letter to say I have no mental disorders... kinda want to have that framed. For reference. To remind myself I'm sane. To prove such to others who know me and doubt that. Went to my PCP yesterday for a routine visit and my bp is finally under control. Halleloo for that! Had a pap that wasn't as embarrassing or as torturous as I thought it might be. My PCP said my insurance will want 3 months of supervised diet. But because he doesn't have a scale that will weigh me, he's gonna see if we can get around that. Otherwise, I'm looking at end of November for referral to surgeon. Supposedly things move quickly from that point. My PCP didn't know anything about VSG. The NUT I went to sort of looked at me like I didn't know what I was talking about when I said "vertical sleeve" as the answer to the surgery I wanted. The psychologist had no idea what VSG is. So, I'm kinda at the point where I don't know what's going to happen. I'm hoping for the best but sorta getting the sneaking suspicion that I'm going about this wrong, that I'm being misled and that I have no one who can tell me to do otherwise. *sigh* and I don't know anyone IRL who has had VSG or any wls on my type of insurance. I'm lost! I hope all these copays aren't all in vain! That said, I'm really trying to stay optimistic. I can't wait to get on the loser's bench already!

I'm pre-surgery so I don't know exactly what you're describing as far as sticture - however I had the same symptoms when I had a large gall stone that blocked the duct - couldn't keep down anything, not even water. Do you still have your gall bladder? Do you have abdominal pain?

Welcome to the board! I'm pre-surgery as well, I see my doctor in October to see if he can put my referral in sooner than expected, otherwise I'm currently in the "3 month required diet" phase, which will put me at end of November to be referred to a surgeon. Unfortunately, I don't even know what happens after that - so I'm sort of in the dark about when I can actually have surgery. I know the feeling about being sad about what I've become... I hope to rid myself of this feeling as I rid myself of the extra weight! Good luck to you in your journey, I hope to hear more of your progress.

There is a BB&B nearby, but I just don't want a scale in my house. I'm willing to wait, I'm sure the surgeon will have one that's high enough.

Thank you everyone, for the kind words! My birthday was fine - took the day off work and saw people I love. Sadly, my friends mother passed away last Friday. She held on for a long time - the woman loved her life. Now, I'm just trying to be strong and supportive for my friend. This year has brought a lot of changes already, and I'm looking forward to my big change. Hopefully soon!!

That is fantastic!! Great job on getting your goals accomplished - 90lbs in 110 days is amazing! Share some pics of your journey!

That is incredible!! I can't believe you've dropped 100lbs in less than a year, that's so fantastic!! You look great, good luck on continued success.

Oh! And I went to the PCP today and not being able to weigh me could be a blessing! He said the insurance requires a 3 mo weight loss diet, but since he can't weigh me, he's going to ask the medical group if an exception can be made since I'm obviously in need of the surgery, have comorbids, and have been his patient for 10 years and tried diets in the past the failed. Wish me luck on that! I know insurance companies aren't very likely to bend the rules, but MAYBE I can be that exception!

I'm not sure how well that works either - I know sometimes they can "weigh" me on their scale if I stand just right, somehow I can balance the scale so that I trick it into thinking I weigh like 315. Not sure how that works, but I know it's not right!! I've at least gotten to the point where the nurse doesn't ask to weight me now. It's pretty embarrassing to have to remind her "That scale doesn't go high enough..." I know she's just doing her job when she asks, so the fact that she actually remembers me and doesn't ask anymore is nice.