beachgurl84

So hopefully today is the day. Everyone stay tuned and post with updates please! My first surgeon appointment is Thursday and I'd love to go in there with news that I'm ready to go (after other required testing of course).

Most grocery stores (I know not all) have a second entrance, like Wal-mart has one to the groceries and another to the household stuff. Maybe you could ease the trigger by using an entrance away from the groceries. That way, you avoid seeing the cupcake parade on your way in and you happen to throw in a few extra steps of exercise. I haven't had my surgery yet but I know once I do, my weakness is going to be coffee creamer. I like my coffee strong and I like my french vanilla creamer (the liquid fattening kind). I probably consume 1.5 cups of creamer alone in a day. If anyone knows of a good substitution I'm all ears. I'm also lactose intolerant so it has to be non-dairy.

I know everyone has different body types and nothing about this is going to be the same for two people. I'm curious to know how weight loss has effected shape and size of breasts for those women that have lost 100+ pounds (under 100+ you're welcome to chime in too but I've got about 150 to lose). I wear a 40G and large breasts run in my family. Even as a young teenager going through puberty and just slightly overweight they have been larger than average. I'm just wondering what I might be in for. So here are some of my questions.... 1. In all your weight loss, when were your breast affected the most? Beginning, end, the whole time? 2. How proportional was the weight loss in your breast compared to the rest of your body? 3. Did any type of exercise particularly help the shape and firmness of your breast? Thank you ladies

Just curious, are they putting you on the liquid diet and then taking you off until surgery? If not then maybe it's a good sign it's only a two week diet. Or do they expect you to stay on the diet for months until surgery?

I might try to call the hospital at lunch and ask. My first appt with surgeon is July 17 so I'd really like to understand the requirements before then. But, I'm in PA with BCBSNC insurance so they may not know about it.

I have BCBS NC. Check out this other topic we've been following because they apparently just changed the 6 month diet requirement (got rid of it). http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/311979-bcbs-nc-6-month-supervised-diet-maybe-changing-as-of-july-1-2014/

I can't speak for during or after surgery yet but it really sounds like you need to talk to your respiratory therapist about options. If your mask is leaking in weird places your not getting good suction which is why you might be waking up in the middle of the night. Also, if your mask is 6 years old, it's possible you might just need a new one. Usually insurance will cover replacements. Is the hospital doing a sleep study on you before your surgery? Maybe you should ask about a nasal pillow instead of a mask. They are a little less intrusive.

Sooo since the 15th is taking forever to get here, has anyone heard anything else? I'm not very patient lol

I would hit the like button a million times if I could!!!!!

I've been watching the BCBS website all day for policy changes. While they have listed some, they haven't listed anything about this surgery. BUT....they also haven't updated the corporate medical policy to show a 2014 review so maybe they just haven't gotten around to it yet. Stay hopeful.

So hopefully today is the day BCBS makes our lives easier. Looking for updates regularly. Stay in touch.

As somebody who has about 4 months to go before surgery, I can tell you I am drinking in and absorbing every single bit of knowledge the vets provide. It's like a connection to the future. I know I will get there. It will be stressful and hard and I may make stupid mistakes, But I can read these forums and know I'm working towards a wonderful goal that will change my life. So when I make mistakes, I get on this site and start reading questions, stories, even stats. Thank you to all the vets that have stuck around to provide this information and motivation for us. Being 4 months away, it's not like I can call my surgeon and ask a million questions yet. I haven't seen any vets respond negatively to any of my posts yet, but if they do, I'll take it for what it's worth. It's someone that has been there, done that, and got through it themselves. I know they are taking the time to respond because at one point, they probably asked a stupid question themselves and they know how important it is to get honest answers whether I want to hear them or not. So whether you're ranting or raving, please keep doing what you're doing. We may not like your response, but we need it. We didn't get to this point because we're perfect, and sometimes a virtual slap upside the head is exactly what we need to stay on track.

I'm planning to do the sleeve because the rerouting of my intestines freaks me out and the sleeve is supposed to have a lot fewer complications than the bypass. I was told I wouldn't be able to take NSAIDS with the sleeve either. Because your stomach is so much smaller, there is less space to absorb and digest the NSAIDS and the smaller stomach kind of gets a concentrated dose. I already have acid reflux so I'm probably at higher risk for ulcers. Maybe it depends on the person. I know the surgeons are supposed to give us all these warnings and make us take every precaution, but I like hearing this stuff from people that have already had the surgery. I highly doubt my surgeon had this surgery themselves so they can't actually give any first hand experience on some things. Thanks Michiganchic for letting me know there is hope. BTW, they did tell me I would be able to take Tylenol. That's the only one.

@ Have you ever seen a machine reset everything when you change pressure? I changed mine the other day after the post I made above and all my stats reset. I don't think I hit any other button to reset.

He just responded to my email and said he had not heard anything about it yet but he will keep me posted if he gets news. Also, I found this website https://www.bcbsnc.com/content/services/medical-policy/updates/index.htm that list the policy changes for BCBS NC. I bet it will be posted there as soon as the decision is made. However, if you notice on that page that when a change is posted, it usually isn't effective for a few more months. So we may still have to wait till the september/october time frame.

I'm in month 2 of the 6 month program and i've been stressing about being able to get the surgery in by the end of the year to maximize insurance benefits. I don't/wouldn't mind doing the 6 month program but if I can get it in sooner I will definitely pursue that!! You said it was during your bariatric appointment you heard about this. Was that from your surgeon, insurance specialist, nurse? I'm wondering if I call my insurance agent today will he have any info you think?

I just want to throw some caution out there for anyone adjusting their own cpap.........(not that I disagree with doing that)....... If you're insurance is paying for it, find out if they bought it all at once or if they are making monthly payments. My insurance made monthly payments but didn't require reading the chip every month. I lost that insurance and had to pay the last two months on my own to make it officially mine. Some insurances require the chip to be read to make sure you are actually using it. Not just to make sure it's working. They aren't going to pay for it if they can't see you're using it. So.........please be careful about what you do with your cpap. You don't want to find yourself in the position of having tampered with something you shouldn't and end up responsible for paying for a $1500 machine. Other than that, good luck my fellow cpappers! I will also be looking into adjusting my machine now that you've taught me it's possible. If I remember correctly I'm at a 10 (had 60 recorded events per hour). I'm going to look into bumping it up a notch.

Always have faith. Everything will work itself out. Is anyone else trying to get their surgery in by the end of the year for insurance reasons? I wish i had started a month sooner (actually a decade sooner). My last 6 month will be in November so I'm hoping (fingers crossed) all the insurance stuff goes smoothly and I can get my surgery scheduled before 12/31/14. I have a $500 deductible and a $1500 OOP max so I'd like to get everything covered in one year. My first appoitnment with the surgeon is July 17. What do they usually do in these appointments? I'm so terrified I'm going to say or do something to make the surgeon turn me down. I can't think of anything that would disqualify me but I'm going to worry about that until I meet him. Hope everyone is having a great day.

Please keep us posted if they do!!! Do you know what they might be changing to?

@@pacheka I've cut out sodas too. I keep some crystal light on hand just in case I need something besides Water. Have you tried the Isopure zero carb protien drinks? They have 40 g of protien in each bottle and only like 160 calories. I'm on myfitnesspal if any of you want to link up. I could use someone to help with accountability beachgurl84@gmail.com

I'm 4 months pre-suregery so I can't offer advice on your situation but I can vouch for myfitnesspal. It will sync with your fitbit as well so you can import and keep track of your workouts with your calorie intake. You have to manually adjust the settings to the amount of calories you want to take in everyday or it will aim too high.

I think you gals are gonna make this 6 months a breeze!!!! Ok, so what kind of small changes is everyone making so far? I did get myself into the gym. I plan on going today after work as a matter of fact. Just cardio for now, but it's something. I've also been walking a lot at work. I normally do anyway but instead of walking point A to B, I keep going and lap around C & D as well. I'm using myfitnesspal.com to keep track of a 1400 calorie diet. No, I am not sticking to it completely. I'm not being harsh on myself and starving myself. I'm using it as a tool to make sure I eat a balance throughout the day. And if it means I go over cals a little to have a healthy Breakfast, lunch, and dinner AND not starve throughout the day, that's ok. I know the more I do it, the less hungry I'll be and especially after the surgery. So I'm not gonna torture myself in the meantime. I'm not focusing on losing weight pre-op. Just on not gaining weight, and learning how to eat healthy. So what changes have you gals made so far? Oh, I also bought a pedometer that syncs with mapmywalk which also syncs with myfitnesspal so I can keep track of everything.

For anyone else that has BCBS NC, I'm including a link to the Corporate Medical Policy. If your plan covers bariatric surgery, these are the requirements you have to meet. http://www.bcbsnc.com/assets/services/public/pdfs/medicalpolicy/surgery_for_morbid_obesity.pdf

They certainly don't taste like Kool-aid. But, they are drinkable. They leave a papery feeling in your mouth for a few seconds so they take some getting used to. The flavors aren't bad, I like the alpine punch and orange. The grape taste like smelly feet. Those are the only flavors I've been able to find so far. I'd like to try the passion fruit. I stocked up today at GNC because they were $4.89 with member price and buy 3 get 1 free on top of that. So I spent like $30 on 8. It would cost me a lot more in food to make up for that much protien.

I'm on my 6 month preop diet and trying to learn to pay attention to calories, protien, carbs, etc. I bought some Isopure protien drinks (clear, ready to drink kind) with 40 g of protien and zero carbs. I had a great day with the diet today and I was going to have a 6" flatbread from subway for dinner. I'm using myfitnesspal.com to keep track of my food intake. My food log today (including planned dinner) shows that I'm under in calories, carbs, fat, sodium, and sugar but I'm at 100+ g of protien. Is it possible to have too much protien? I got the Isopure drinks because before that I was not reaching my protien goals but I was way over in all other categories trying to get enough protien. How do you balance this? I'm definitely going to ask the nutritionist next time but I'd like to hear input from patients here as well.