circa

thanks for the info! Yeah - have been fighting with insurance companies for 3 years - not fighting anymore. This insurance company doesn't cover anything. Period. I have the funds to pay cash in Mexico, so I'm going to do it. Let me know how your experience is! Good luck and I'll be praying you have a speedy recovery!

My BMI is plenty high enough. They don't cover bariatric surgery. Period. End of story. I've applied, appealed, appealed again. Its a NO.

so did this get resolved??? That's a scary thing right there! Obviously, they weren't too worried about it getting fixed if they waited for your 3 week followup to even mention it to you - just hope everything got taken care of!

So I've thought long and hard about this - I've decided to go to Mexico and have the surgery done. I've been through flaming hoops with insurance companies 5 times now and I just don't want to do it again. I have the funds to go to Mexico and just get it done and not deal with red tape. I'm pretty sure I'm going to see Dr. Almanza, however Dr. Aceves is also appealing to me. I think they're both exceptional surgeons, I'm just waiting to hear back from their coordinators with the answers to some questions I have asked. I have to get a new passport since mine is long expired. Anyone have any idea how long it takes to get a passport these days? I want to schedule my surgery for as soon as possible. Also, since I'll be using ground transportation between the US and Mexico, can I use a passport card instead of a passport? Has anyone done that?

Thanks everyone! I appreciate the supportive words and the quick replies! I have had nothing but hurdles - you'd think that with all the jumping I've been doing, I'd have lost a pound or two!

Okay, I've been in and out of here for a few years now. This will be my 5th and final attempt at the surgery. Over the past 4 years, I have had 4 surgery dates, only to lose them at the last minute because I lose my insurance. This last time it was because the company I was working for just decided they didn't need to pay the insurance premiums - so now, not only do I not have insurance to cover surgery, I'm stuck with he bill for all the pre-op appointments, etc. Cash pay is NOT an option. My husband and I are in the process of moving out of this hell-hole of an area where employers just screw people repeatedly. His new company has Kaiser Permanente Insurance in Colorado. Anyone familiar with KP and whether they cover the sleeve and what the requirements are? Thanks

I don't ever feel full either. Its my understanding that you'll still feel hungry when you are, you'll just lose a lot of the excess hunger crap. You'll learn to know what feeling full feels like, and what actually being hungry feels like would be my guess.

take a deep breath and remember, these guys have been doing this for a very long time. Fear is caused by the unknown. I used to be kinda freaked out about the prospect of an IV - till I had nearly 300 of them in a 2.5 year period. Now I could probably do one better than a nurse haha :biggrin0: The catheter thing kinda freaks me out - I'm not sure the purpose of one - I've never had one for any other surgery I've had. Don't they want you up and about after surgery? What better way to get you up than to have to pee??? I'm not sure if everyone does a catheter or not. The drain I'm not overly worried about either. I don't WANT one, but I'll take it if I have to I guess. I don't WANT a sleeve either - I want to be naturally healthy and fit But I'll take one if i hafta!

The sleeve has long been a procedure in other countries as well. Its always a concern I think when you have a major surgery that affects an organ that doesn't regenerate itself. I'd rather have something partially removed and left in good working order than something added or rerouted. There's a whole design thing going on here and that actually works, so I don't want to disrupt the *ahem* flow of things :biggrin0:

My sister and brother in law just quit with those. They loved it! My sister got the nasty ole tasting ones and she quit faster than her husband who got all the tutti frutti stuff haha

I have to say that this is the *ONLY* surgery for me now :biggrin0: I was content with the band and then a band to sleeve conversion when my husband gets to his duty station, however, I do know that this surgery wouldn't have worked for my mother in law - she NEEDS the dumping syndrome to tell her what not to eat. She would live on ice cream if she could. She's already losing her teeth because of malnurishment - she doesn't take the vitamins she is supposed to with her RNY and she smokes again too. I know I have a huge overproduction of ghrelin - the doctor told me that. I've never felt "FULL" in my life. I just know when to stop eating - well that was until the steroids lol. A mal-absorption procedure would scare the crap outta me. There are certain things a body needs that you just have to be conscious of, especially when you have non-related medical issues like I do. Now that the steroids are done, and the surgeon that's doing my sleeve is involved in my other issues, he's going to remove the steroid secreting tumors while he's lopping of a chunk of my stomach too 2 birds. one stone. good deal.

ok so. My husband's in the military now and I understand tricare doesn't cover the sleeve - and I'm not near an MTF so I thought I was going to have to go the route of band to sleeve later. THEN! The company I work as a contractor for just hired me in as a full time employee and I now have healthcare coverage through priority :biggrin0: Good luck is shining down on me I cannot wait to get this done. I'll be travelling a couple of hours away to have it done as I like the technique of the place further away AND I will have the surgery sooner. YAY me!

I've been gone for quite a long time. I was well on the road to having my surgery and BLAM we lose our insurance. Well, its coming up on almost a year later and I'm about to have insurance again. I'm getting this done as quickly as possible. Having the surgery done locally will take forever, so it looks like I'm heading a few hours away, which is fine by me!. I really would rather have the surgery done there anyway. The difference in the procedures makes me feel more comfortable. So. I'm just so ready to get this done and over with and get on with my life. I know I have to go through their whole program again. Hopefully it won't be *too* long of a process.

It will be my only WLS as well. A friend of mine's sister had the sleeve done about 18 months ago. She loves it. I'm so excited for her!

I'll be going for the TT first, a breast lift/reduction (yeah, it'll be necessary haha) and then brachioplasty after that. First 2 I should be able to have covered by insurance. :cool0:

Right - I think that I was the only one that doesn't have to go back to see the nutritionist for approval before having surgery again.

I think it would really amaze people if they actually read the labels of foods they ate and googled the ingredients. Collagen may not sound so gross to them then Processed, reprocessed, canned, preserved, vacuum packed, bagged, sealed for your protection - its all got nasty stuff in it. Collagen doesn't gross me out - its not a top knotch protein but the content certainly doesn't gross me out. I eat plenty of Jello - so do most others. Its really not that different.

I was amazed - in the "group nutritional meeting" that they did at my surgeon's office, there were people in there that were all "what about Pasta? when can I start eating that again?" The nutritionist was like "you really shouldn't eat that - it doesn't contain Protein or really any nutrients" Next person: "Well I like to have bagels with butter - how soon can I eat those after surgery?" The nutritionist again says "well that's not really a wise choice after surgery due to the lack of protein and nutrients again" Next person says: "So when I'm on soft foods, I can have ice cream and shakes from McDonalds, right?" Nutritionist: *blink*blinK* Me: *thunk**head hits table*

I really love how my surgeon presented the expected weight loss to us - he said "this is the expected for the GB, this is the expected for the band, then here in the middle is the expected for the sleeve." He continued with "these are based on averages of people involved in a study - just like each of you has chosen a different surgery (there were 3 of us in the room, all different surgeries), you choose your weight loss goal as well. Any of you can lose as little or as much as you want- it just takes work."