Amyllf2

I posted the recommendations from my surgeon in the pre-op board. His philosophy is expensive does not = better.

I had my 2nd appointment with the nutritionist today. I addition to getting all my scripts for blood work and EKG, I received my information about supplements. I find this whole thing fascinating because based on my reading, people are told such different things. Here is mine info: 2 complete Multivitamins with Iron and minerals to be started as soon as I arrive home. Examples of adequate chewable multivitamins include: Centrum Chewable (do not take the "silver" version), Centrum Kid's Complete (any flavor or character is ok), Equate Children's Multivitamin Complete (found at Walmart) and Flinstones Complete. Do not take gummy bear or gumball Vitamins, they are typically inadequate. Examples of non-chewable multivitamins are Centrum Multivitamin/Mineral Supplement or most store brand multivitamin/mineral supplements equal of Centrum. Your choice should contain exactly 18mg Iron and 400mg Folic acid in each pill. liquid is also an option. 500 mg Vitamin B12 taken once a day as soon as you get home. Pill or sublingual, any brand is ok. Starting 1 month post-op 500-600mg Calcium citrate with D. Take 2 per day but at different times for a total of 1000-1200 mg. Examples of calcium citrate: Citracel or Wal-Mart/Store brand equivalent. You can get calcium citrate that will dissolve in fluids if you don't want to swallow whole. Chewable forms can be found on the internet or in some health food stores. Can I just tell you how excited I am that I don't have to buy expensive name brand stuff!!!

The system is totally screwed up. I had my gall bladder removed 3 weeks ago. 6 hours total at the hospital $17,114. And over the summer I had a heart catherization done- spent 8 hours and it cost $20,663. I have great BCBS so it was covered in full but what in the heck do people without insurance do? Both of those were immediately necessary.

I have a 17 year old daughter who lost 65 pounds over the last 15 months doing weight watchers. I started out with her but I was not successful. After failing at WW again, and Ideal Protein, I gave up. When I first mentioned the WLS her reaction was not great. In her mind, if she can lose weight then I should be able to as well. But once she realized that she exercises and always has despite being very heavy, and I can't exercise at this point, it made more sense to her. And she's realizes how much she will benefit from having less food around too. (I can't begin to express how proud I am of her. She wore a size 16 prom dress last April and is trying on 8/10 this year. She's done a good job of maintaining a teenage social life but makes better choices when she's out with her friends.) My hubby and I have been talking about who I will tell and who I won't. The out-laws (aka my in-laws) will never be told. My family is ok as my mom had hers done 9 years ago. My dad will be worried, but I think my cardiac issues really scared him so this is being done to improve that problem. I just don't know how people don't tell people. I mean, once the weight starts to drop and people ask, what do people say? I just don't want to hide. I will probably only tell a few people pre-op. The people closest to me will be fine because they know my medical issues this past year. And others can judge me if they want. It doesn't really matter. Along with my health, I'm working on my unhealthy need to please people. I did tell a co-worker today that my date is 4/15 and she was very nice but obviously caught off guard by it. I only told her because I may need her to cover a class for me. She doesn't know my medical background and is much larger than me. I think that's what caused the shock.

I'm having the RNY as well. 3 day clear liquid. No weight gain before surgery. I asked my doctor and he said there really are just different views on things and that every individual is different. My liver is not enlarged so I'm good with 3 days. He said if my liver had been enlarged, we would be using a different pre-op plan. Based on what I have read here, there are many factors and philosophies. Size, age, comorbidity factors, pre-op nutrition requirements etc. Just like post-op- none of our experiences will be exactly the same.

Welcome! My date is 4/15. I too am very excited. I only have to do a 3 day liquid diet so you will be starting before me. I'm starting to think and plan for my first week at home. Gotta make sure everything is in order.

Got the call this morning! I'm approved! Surgery date is 4/15!!!

My surgeon's office is booked about 8-9 weeks out. I walked in for the first time on 2/21 and my surgery date is 4/15. Now, I was 95% sure I had already met the 6 month diet requirement for Carefirst BCBS (Maryland) so all I needed was a psychological eval. I was also very lucky that the insurance process didn't take long. My office submitted quickly and my response was only a few days.

I'm still 37 days out but I have a "bucket list" of foods and restaurants I want to hit before I have surgery. It's probably a bad idea but I figured it's saying goodbye to a good friend :-(

I'm on too. Amysodessey

Congrats on the approval!!

Tentative date is 4/15!!!! It looks like I met the 6 month diet requirement and now the insurance is just waiting for the results of my psych eval which was yesterday! I begging the psychologist I saw to send in the paperwork and not wait for the insurance to pay her. I offered to self-pay and be reimbursed. I hope she takes pity on me! Now I'm moving my nutrition appoints to 3/13 and 3/27; Cardiac clearance on 3/20 and PCP on 4/4. 3 day liquid diet starts 4/12. Fingers crossed

I'm in Frederick MD. My surgeon is in NoVa but I'm only 2 weeks into the process. I walked into the office sure I was going to have a sleeve, but now I'm set on the bypass. My surgeon talked about the pros/cons to bypass and sleeve and let me pick. He was leaning toward BP and I ended up there with him.

I want to be an April like all of you!!!!! I'm hoping for April 14 or 15 but preparing myself for May 19/20. I'm a college professor so if I can't incorporate spring break into the mix I will have to wait. If I'm lucky enough to join you all in April, I've got 2 weeks covered until I need to be back in the classroom. yes, that's probably pressing it but I had my gallbladder out on a Friday and taught on Monday. Not happy but that's what chairs are for and it's only a few hours a day. I have my psychological on 3/4 and my packet will get submitted by weeks end. I'm also at the mercy of the surgeon's schedule and fear April is already filling up.

congrats on the surgery date!! I think these boards are great. I'm pretty new in my process but I've been reading them for quite some time. I had a huge list of questions for my surgeon when we met the first time based on conversations here. Love it!

I found and watched this video. It's by a psychologist in GA. From what I can tell she asks her patients to watch it prior to there eval session. I thought some of the information was worth the watch. I took 5 pages of notes. http://www.mindbodyhealthservices.com/weightloss/bariatric.html

Thanks for the info!

Thanks to many on the board I knew life with insurance companies is not easy. I have CareFirst BCBS in Maryland but apparently my mental health stuff is farmed out to Magellan. I got a referral for my psych eval from the surgeon last week. Had it all set up only to find out they don't participate with Magellan and the self pay amount was $865. No thanks. So like a good girl I get online and look up the list of providers. I start calling around: "Hi, I need to have a psychological evaluation done to determine my readiness and fitness for weight loss surgery. Can you do that?" The standard response: "Sure, but what exactly do you need?" I called CareFirst and of course the customer service rep cannot tell me anything. She just kept reading the policy that I already had printed in front of me. Wow, how helpful. Can't I speak to the person in the department that approves the surgery? That doesn't seem unreasonable. Or can't you put me on hold and call that department and ask? Of course not. So here I sit baffled that the right hand doesn't talk to the left hand. I meet with the nutritionist for the first time today and I'm hoping to catch my patient coordinator while I'm there to see if she can help me since she is the one that submits to the insurance companies and knows what works and doesn't work. I've read such a wide range of things on here. Some people take standard tests, some people just have a session. I have no clue!!!!!

What does it hurt to go? The process takes time. I had my gallbladder out on 2/21 and saw the surgeon for the fist time on 2/28. I know I have to wait at least 6 weeks before I could have surgery again. So I wanted to use the time to get qualified and get all my appointments completed. My surgeon says a very motivated patient who is already insurance qualified is looking at a 5 week first visit to surgery. Most take much longer.

I'm curious how long it takes to get back to stomach sleeping. I had my gallbladder out 11 days ago via just one belly button incision and I'm almost back to sleeping on my stomach. I'm worried about that aspect of the bypass since it's 5 or 6 incisions.

Cupcake I have a sweet tooth as well! I figure the bypass will really reinforce the need to end that bad habit. The sleeve may have given me too much freedom. I know myself and I can already hear the "but it's my birthday and I've had peach pie for the last 40 years". And I mean a peach pie, all by my lonesome!!!! I had heartburn again last night so I'm 100% bypass!

Binge eating disorder therapy. I for one had no idea something like that existed. I find that fascinating because I am certainly in love with food. Looking for the books!!

Bypass it is. I woke up in the middle of the night with a case of heartburn and took it as my "sign" that bypass was the way to go. I don't think I have it often, but my dear hubby kindly reminded me there are times I eat tums like candy. And since heartburn is an issue with the sleeve- it's been taken off the list. bypass here I come!!!

Mine will be just 3 days of clear liquids- nothing else. There are lots of people on these boards that report a 14 day pre-op. You might want to jump on the Sleeve boards and see what they say. I don't know if it's different or not.