Lorien

For me it is supposed to be 12 months for insurance purposes, but I'm at month 8 and my paperwork is being processed, and I'm meeting with the surgeon, nutritionist, and psychologist in two weeks! Due to the complications with my back, I've been told that with physician referral and my well documented process, they may approve me a little early. ... Keeping my fingers crossed - although it's harder to type that way!! ...

I remember my Mother telling me that, too. And like the rest of us, she's been all sizes and on every diet, so I believe it! When I lost weight on Atkins I didn't get rid of my "fat clothes". I told myself that I wanted a pair of big-pants to hold up in front of my skinny body for a photo, but I ended up keeping a lot of things. Then when I started having problems with my liver and my Doctor took me off of Atkins (after 2 years and an 88 pound drop), I put weight on so fast that I'd cry every night.... but at least I had something to wear. The good news is that I also kept some of the "thin clothes" that I'm looking forward to getting back into ... and this time I'm only going to keep ONE pair of big-pants!! I'm looking forward to not only shopping in a normal size clothing store, but to picking out clothes because I like them - not just buying them because they are the only thing that fits!

:yo: Hello Fellow Michiganders!! I'm from the Flint area and I'm looking forward to being banded by UofM ... sometime in the future! I have MESSA and I'm on my 8th month, of the 12 required months of supervised Doctor's appointments! The good news is that tomorrow, I have a phone-date with the UofM folks to set-up my appointments with them!! It's the first glimmer of light I've had, at the end of a very long tunnel! I'm afraid that due to back-pain (and frustration of having to wait so long for the banding), I've put on even more weight. After reading your posts, I wonder if they'll require me to be on liquids before my surgery. :cocktail: I was even thinking of trying NutriSystem just to get a head-start. Has anyone had any luck with that?? ... Whatever it takes - Right!! Since reading your posts, I have a renewed sense of optimism and enthusiasm. I find it really funny how we all seem to be going to different cities for the surgery. It seems like the folks from TC are going to Port Huron for surgery, while the Port Huron folks are heading to Flint. I'm in Flint, but I'll be heading over to UofM, etc ... ... oops I forgot Henry Ford ... which was on purpose because I originally started the banding process with them, but they lost my paperwork, which sent me back 2 months!! I hadn't heard anything from them, so on my 3rd phone call to see why nothing was moving ahead (after doing the preliminary registration), they admitted they couldn't find my paperwork - with no apologies. :rant:I wasn't feeling very confident at that point, so I followed my Doctor's recommendation to try UofM. Anyway - I'm REALLY glad to find this thread. Thank you all for getting me fired-up again about this surgery and I appreciate your input!! P.S. I like these smiley guys ... could you tell?!:eek:

I was really nervious about telling my Mom. She's had a weight problem her entire life too. I sat down and to tell her, and after I hymmed-and-hawwed and finally got it out, and said, "I think it's great, and if I was your age I'd have it too!" LOL Yea - go Mom. Can't beat that for a support-group. As far as everyone else - I'm not saying a word!! I know someone at work who had bypass and whenever I see her eat, that's what I think about. Then I feel bad, because I know what she goes through with her weight, but I can't help it - that's what I remember. I don't want that reaction from people when they see me, so I'm going to keep it private. My Step-Mom and Mother on the other-hand have each told all their friends about it, so they all know! Oh well - I'll only have to deal with it when I'm visiting.

I hope you have better luck than I did with this. I'm being treated for back pain in addition to having a serious weight problem. My insurance company said that they consider the Lap-Band an "elective" surgery, so I'm having to be treated for obesity by my Doctor for one year before I'll qualify to have the surgery!! Even with a letter from my doctor, they will not consider the surgery anything other than elective. (Then I'll have to pay for part of it on top of that). I'll also have to have the standard documentation from my surgeon, a nutritionist, and a phsycologist evaluation, too. They did allow my doctor to amend some of my visits for pain management, because we did also talk about my weight problem. That allowed me to move my wait up about 4 months in the process. It's frustrating because I can't walk more than a few steps unassisted, and still they wont grant me the surgery. After tomorrow, I'll have 8 visits completed so I hope to get it before the end of the year! Good Luck!

I just wanted to say hello. My insurance requires 12 months of Doctor's care, prior to surgery. I've completed my 8th month of visits, and was notified that I may begin testing for my surgery! :clap2: YES!! YEA!! Woohoo!!! :clap2: I'm having health issues with my back, and not only am I wanting the surgery to better my overall health - but I hope it will improve my back pain and mobility!! I know this will be a difficult life-changing process, and I'm looking forward to using this board for support and information sharing! :help: ... Speaking of needing help (LOL) ... How do I show my ticker without showing the address??!! Thanks!