RebecaSparkles

Danni- So you had 6 months of the "weight control" classes + the weight loss surgery classes 1&2 & Nut visits Got approved and now there's a 6 month wait time for a surgical date? Is it bc your surgeon is booked up or is it ok Kaisers end? I thought they used non kaiser surgeons for bariatric services?

Phone ap died mid post!!! Anyways, anyone out there with a just over the 40 or at 40 bmi have Kaiser permanente md/va/dc? The difference between the right bmi of 41.6 & not that is about 4 # for me!!!! That's crazy!!! I got sick & lost 8# in one week. So because I've not yet been weighed for the kaiser weight loss surgery class I've been trying to keep up my " fighting" weight. Any idea if Kaiser va/md/dc still makes you lose 10% of your body weight or any % really bc if I have to I'm worried I'll be denied.

Hello

Sent too soon! Anyways i then pointed out that I have been nothing but sympathetic & bend over backwards nice to him & that I was not asking too much of him. That all I wanted was for him to check his baggage at the door and DO something about his problems instead of just bit&@@&& about them to me. Well. It worked! That was three weeks ago & so far so good.

I had a similar situation. My hubby got fired, went on umemployment lost all confidence in himself. It was like The man I married was gone & swaped for a slob who couldn't be botheted to make a frozen pizza for dinner on nights I worked late. He now has a job that pays nice but he loathes. I pretty much put a boot up his ass. I sat him down told him I loved him and that I wanted to stay together but I would not put up with him being unemployed again. His options were to find another job and then give notice & leave or pray to be laid off. That I had had enough of his childish ranting & being miserable around the house & not doing his share. That he needed to man up because He is not who I married and while some change is normal this was breach of contract.

I have not yet had a child. I lost an ovary in 2009 & diagnosed with pcos in 2010. My dr told me that I was running out of time & that I needed to lose weight if I wanted a shot to do it without IVF. Hubby has come around to the possibility/probability of having to adopt. Good news is that because of my work I've had many social workers try to get me to adopt my patients. Special needs kids aren't easy to adopt out especially the older ones. They usually are 90% normal but are missing a leg or arm. For someone like me not a big deal. For regular person 15-20k per leg per year. Kids grow & need new ones every year. I think that getting an older child would solve a lot of my problems with having a child.

I also don't / did not want children. However, I fell in love with a man that wanted. It came to a point of contention and we negotiated for 1 child & 1 additional large dog ( hubby wants & I said no bc we have 2) . I would get pregnant and have a child once. If he wants two he better pray for twins. They will be his responsibility. He will stay home with them and be the primary caregiver. I will of course love them & whatnot but I will not sacrifice my career that I worked so hard on to the point of being 100# overweight for something I don't really want. I am not cold, I am realistic. We have 2 dogs 3 years old. He cannot take care of them if I leave for a week. How can I expect for him to take care of a child? Furthermore I work in a childrens hospital. I play with other peoples children all day & then they go home with someone else. I make prosthetic legs so I get those special moments that make you cry & full of joy at work. I feel that is enough for me when coupled with the dogs & hubby. So. Long to short. Be realistic about what you want and don't hesitate to get it in writing.

I found his phone number but ask if he takes out of towners as his website doesnt say so. And is he taking on new patients? Does he charge any program fees? How much are the fills? Thanks!

I didnt even know uva had a program. Looks like google failed me Did your insurance cover the plication as well or did you pay out of pocket?

The local guys won't give me a solid answer if they'll do my follow up/fills. They said it had to do with their insurance not wanting them to take liability for someone elses work & if I end up in the er they won't know how to help me. Which I think is BS. Its no different than doing fills on a regular lapband patient. And no different than a sleeve patient having leaks if that were to happen. Plus they want $180 for fills on a regular lapband without fluro which others have said was high.

I also use the cheapo ring trick but I just bought a pretty fake & leave the real thing at home until it's goal time. I work at a hospital & wear gloves a lot so I usually wear a fake ring so if I lose it no big deal. I will wear my real ring at special occasions.

I am in northern virginia I live in ashburn near dulles airport. I am lucky to have coverage through Kaiser but not an approval as of yet they want you to go through their program inhouse before a referral to a surgeon. ( insurance bs & them stalling us. They only allow so many seats & only have class every other month to make a waiting list that is unnecessary imho)

Yes. Both say its " investigational" they arent doing it without internal review board approval in a clinical trial setting. Which is paperwork for them so they aren't doing any as of now.

So... I want banded plication but I live in Virginia and there are no Doctors doing it within a reasonable distance. So far it seems Dr.Geiss in Ny/Nj is doing it and theres the iband people in austin texas. Anyone know of any other doctors doing banded plication? I have spoken to Dr. Mehta in NJ but he only does plication. I do have insurance & they will pay for the band part and I will pay out of pocket for the plication. ----------------------------- Just in case you don't know. - plication: folding & stitching of the stomach longitudinally to create weight loss similar to the sleeve without removing the extra parts of the stomach. -banded plication- placing a lapband or realize band over the plication to create adjustable results & have less hunger due to stomach below being smaller. The patient receives usually experiences less fills & risks of slippage & prolapse.

I really liked going to the meetings. I shopped around leaders until I found someone I liked. It took me 3 ppl b4 I found one that I felt really got me. I liked the support group aspect of it. I was going to stay the same as I bought my wedding dress & had it altered 6 months b4 my wedding as I was away for school & didn't want to worry about gaining or losing & it not fitting. I got discounted prices through my insurance. But WW seems expensive at full price. You may want to consider overeaters anonymous. It's usually free. They also weigh you at the meetings and it can help you with accountability and gives you a local " sponor". My previous boyfriends mom had it & she used to call every meal into her sponsor before she ate it. She brought scales & measuring cups to the restaurant & it really worked for her. She had someone to call & be there for her when she had the late night munchies at 11pm. Not sure if you are looking for accountability, fellowship or mentor or perhaps just meal ideas. They have a ww magazine , cookbook & various other publications that you can buy without joining. There's also the older ww cookbooks on ebay and such that have good ideas and all the nut info for less $$. Or you can try some of the online recipe builders.

Lanacane!!! It comes in a yellow box at cvs/walmart etc. it works great on thighs, feet etc. a small pea sized dab goes far & you wont sweat through it. I put that & then for those extra humid days I put the magnolia scented johnson & johnson baby powder but only the non talc kind. There is also a monostat anti chafing cream available that works the same but smaller bottle & more girly smell. Lanacane has no smell, it doesnt leave a discoloration if you get on clothes. I am a prosthetist by trade and we use it on people who have problems on their residual limbs ( stumps). Also, anti-persperant which is different than deodorant applied to thighs the night before with a nice thick coat. And then in the next am you shower it off will help with the sweaty thighs. They also make anti-persperant sprays for amputees that work wonders but can be pricy. Regular walmart/cvs/ grocery store anti persperant normally works for most everyone but you can ask the pharmicist to sell you the " good stuff" over the counter without rx if you need more power! Hope this helps! Rebeca

I had my mirena just under a year. It hurt so bad I was sobbing on the table. My doctor did not give me anything more than motrin for the pain. I have never had a child vaginally or been pregnant so my cervix was super tight & she had to dilate me to put it in without warning. Then I kept having pain in my lower abdomen. Found out that bc I stopped traditional bcp & swapped to mirena I developed in under a month 2 ovarian cysts the size of an iphone. No joke. Had to have an ovary taken out bc they sandwhiched it & cut off the blood supply to it. Still kept the damn mirena through all that. Fast forward 10 months I still had pain in lower abdomen on ovary side so went to different dr and she pretty much had to do all but an abortion to me to pull the damn thing out as it had lodged into the side of my uterus & the arm had grown scar tissue over it she had forcefully remove it.

So I attended the seminar for Blue Point Weight loss Group in Northern Virginia. It was as expected: ie the Dr. poo-poo'ed the lap band and made it sound as un-appealing as possible. I grilled him good. However, I'm bumed that they don't offer any plication. I did a lot of PubMed research on it and really wanted band over plication as my treatment plan. I'm leaning towards that being a deal breaker for me. The good news is that Dr.Mehta in New Brunswick NJ does offer it and is within driving distance of my in laws. So, as my insurance does cover bariatric surgery I'm going to see if he'll take it even though I live out of state. I also found out that most insurances don't cover fills. I haven't seen anyone on here comment about that so feedback would be nice. They charge $180 per fill/ unfill. Wish me luck.

So I attended the seminar for Blue Point Weight loss Group in Northern Virginia. It was as expected: ie the Dr. poo-poo'ed the lap band and made it sound as un-appealing as possible. I grilled him good. However, I'm bumed that they don't offer any plication. I did a lot of PubMed research on it and really wanted band over plication as my treatment plan. I'm leaning towards that being a deal breaker for me. The good news is that Dr.Mehta in New Brunswick NJ does offer it and is within driving distance of my in laws. So, as my insurance does cover bariatric surgery I'm going to see if he'll take it even though I live out of state. I also found out that most insurances don't cover fills. I haven't seen anyone on here comment about that so feedback would be nice. They charge $180 per fill/ unfill. Wish me luck.

Having a roebecks polar pinapple smoothie & my dad is making some kind of chicken thing with jerk sauce.

Hooray!!! If I could throw you a parade I would! Congrats on doing something that is not only constructive but that will also help you in the long run! My dad bought a big screen tv & man cave stuff- my mom got a designer kitchen out of the divorce I think both of them would of been better off with a lap band in the long run. Divorce sucks but stand fast! You are gonna shine!

Hey guys Pre-op here but In doing some reading I'm seeing some people comment that their doctors/pa/rn will only give a certain amount of fill at each visit no negotiations. And will only allow a fill every six weeks. Is that normal? I know that fill volume is subjective to each individual. But I also don't see how saying there is no fill standard & then turning around and saying this is our fill standards makes sense. I also observe that 3-4cc is a good place to start if your band had no liquid in it at surgery. I'd appreciate your wisdom on this. Thanks! Rebeca

Woo hoo!!! Awesome lady!! Keep it going!

Baggy pants are pants that have a loose fit. Such as bell bottoms also known as flares. Or boot cut pants. They have excess fabric and are not form fitting below the knee. My hubby also recommended kegel weights for just a few pounds At my appointments they have me remove my jacket and purse but leave my shoes and other clothes on. I fully believe I could wear ankle weights & manipulate the scale quite easily. I'd only be cheating myself but in the long run, for me gaining 10 lbs & being denied would be worse than cheating & finding myself 10# underweight bc "oops I lost too much. " I rarely read of people underweight on the band that are complaining about being under goal. Usually you see yay under goal not boo undergoal & too thin. That's the beauty of the band. Still too big, work the band. Too thin? Work the band the other way in concert with your nut. Tl dr ( too long didnt read) : Ankle weights yes! Can hide w/ good wardrobe choices & perhaps some duck tape. They aren't gonna look under my roles!

If you look for full coverage plans with maternity coverage you'll be more likely to have sucess. I have kaiser permanente va/md/dc and they do cover but I'm not sure if they'll exclude you as a pre-existing condition. You may have some sucess going with aplace like true results that offers a flat fee for self pay. I work in the DME medical field and do have experience with patients negotiating with vendors to give you the insurance adjusted prices. We use a fee schedule that is based off medicare fees. Our " list prices" are 125% of medicare fee. Example: Item costs me 20$ to buy from supplier, medicare pays me $100 based on my regions fee schedule. ( i made 80$) So, if you walk in off the street with medicare you pay me only what your plan stipulates: co-pay, deductable or co-insurance.medicare pays the rest. But, if you have no insurance I'm to charge you my fee from my fee schedule $125. ( i made $105) Lets say you have united or aetna the two worst insurances for my field ( they may pay your doctor nice but not me) they pay out at about 60% of whatever medicare pays me - so same item I bill out at $125- which is my fee schedule amount- and get paid $75. ( I made $55.) So here's where your case comes into play. You ask to pay what the negotiated insurance rate is for the insurance company that your doctor does the most. ( you ask to pay the amount listed in the last example) they may say no , but at least you asked. Also, go down to the hospital or clinic and ask to speak to that billing person face to face. She'll give you some bs about oh we dont know exactly what the charges are til its over. Bulls$&!t, they can pull an average and base your quote off that. They may give you a 10% margin of error so if supplies are needed or an extra scrub nurse you'll still end up within your means. Furthermore, if you do have to self pay negotiate, ask for something extra. Always. A room by yourself, a window view anything, make it so even if you have to pay all 18k you get something you didnt have before. Also, you may have some luck with the state run insurances for the uninsurable -pcip? May of spelled that wrong. But it's based off the fact that you need something and no insurance company will insure you at that level for a resonable amount of money per month. Please please dont give up! If you ever want insurance advice like this or in more detail I'd love to skype with you! Message me on here & we'll set up. Good luck! Rebeca