SpecialK

Just within the hour I got the call I've waited so long for....March 17th St. Patrick's Day will be my banding date in Columbus Ohio! :sad::smile2::sad:

I keep looking for 'Girl' Leprechauns graphics or things and couldn't find anything so I thought maybe its something funky that there are only boy leprechauns??

There is a cute thread under General Discussion about what nickname to come up with for us March 2008 bandsters. Check it out. I created a sample graphic to use on my signature once I know for sure I get to be a March surgery date...still waiting. http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/what-march-bandster-s-official-name-year-53071/

This was a cute one too.

I'm not a pro by any means on graphics so if somone else can do something niftier, I'm game. Here's what I created in just a couple minutes using basic clip art from Microsoft's free library. I liked the idea of the sunrise being the beginning of a new day..new beginnings, and the generic marching cartoons being good for men or women in the group. Marvelous Marchers.bmp

I voted for Marvelous Marchers! I think it goes along with the idea of bandsters great. Thanks for thinking these ideas up. I was stumped and had been thinking about it considering I'll have a March date for my surgery.

I think everyone should be adults and understand that there are Moderators of the web site and if they feel something is out of line, they can pull it off the site and/or decline account privileges to those who won't be responsible on their own. Sad to say, but we have to do it where I work too, people abuse privileges.

I had been seeing my PCP care doctor over the past year and discussing that I had been doing Weight Watchers faithfully, had been showing her my weigh in book, and evidently she had been documenting that. Plus I gave the surgeon's office the copy of my weight log book, and a nutritionist appt report from December and January saying that diet and exercise, etc. had been discussed. I ended up not being able to fit in a February nutritionist appt because now I've got approval. So... I'm not exactly certain what Aetna based the approval on for the diet requirement portion. They had 5 year of doctors progress notes showing I kept talking with my PCP about weight every visit, even about 3 years ago discussing RNY surgery with her, so maybe they just decided that there was a long enough history all around. Whatever did the trick, I'm praising God!! :tongue2:

Wow, cutting 17 days of the waiting period is terrific. Congrats!

Wow! Its so positive to see people getting their surgery dates in March! They said Dr. Price will be reviewing my paperwork tomorrow and I should know something maybe by Monday. Second, I had a really great conversation with 2 different people related to Mt. Carmel's Bariatric program. Here's the scoop. I'm encouraged they cared to call me and talk. Melissa is the Bariatric Coordinator for the hospital and I told her that several of us felt Mt. Carmel could step up more on improving having patient advocates that help people get through all the clearances, scheduling and insurance process, not just the person who submits the insurance paperwork. She said she appreciated the feedback and said she'd have the office manager of Mid Ohio Surgical Associates call me to talk since the doctors in that practice are the sole group of bariatric surgeons at Mt. Carmel for now, and that ultimately how many people they have staffed to handle their bariatric patients is their call but that Mt. Carmel certainly has a stake in how successful and how positive the whole process is. The office manager, I think he said his name was David, also called me back and we had a great conversation. He said yes, they realize that there is a need for someone to help patients get through the whole process, that they had proposed adding a position called patient adviser or patient advocate (something like that title) that would be the person who handles helping the patients who are trying to get approved for coverage or who have to complete various clearances to have surgery are getting done. I mentioned the other bariatric programs having a 1 day process of bringing people in and getting their cardiac, psych and nutrition clearance appointments all nailed down in a single day and that it was a tough process scheduling them all individually ourselves. He said he'd definitely consider that. He wants to expedite and improve it as much as they can. He also mentioned that he'll bring this up at the Mt. Carmel bariatric program committee meeting and also with the three doctors who ultimately own the Mid Ohio Surgical Assoc practice. So, it would be wonderful for the newbies coming into the process to have some more help than some of us have had in the past. I mentioned that you have to be tough and determined to get through all the hoops and they really shouldn't make it so hard on folks who really need this help. He agreed and was very very nice about listening to the feedback on improving the Mt. Carmel program. Hope that brings encouragement to others and we'll keep you posted if we hear they've added to the staff to help bariatric patients get through the first six months especially.

I'm APPROVED FOR SURE!!!!! I called Aetna and they said yes, their records show that the surgeon's office provided the missing information on Feb 18 and that Aetna approved my surgery that day!! That I will be getting a letter saying it is approved. I feel so blessed.

Becky (hinger) I can relate to the feeling of being so happy you wanted to cry when you knew you were approved. Congratulations. Looks like there are several of us lining up to be Banded Buddies in March.

I'm APPROVED FOR SURE!!!!! I called Aetna and they said yes, their records show that the surgeon's office provided the missing information on Feb 18 and that Aetna approved my surgery that day!! That I will be getting a letter saying it is approved. I feel so blessed.

Randy - Welcome! Be sure to check under this web site under the USA Local Group Support for Ohio and you'll see several different postings for Columbus and the different lap band surgery centers in our area. I'm interested to hear if you'll have your surgery done at Children's Hospital or are you working through one of the other hospitals - Mt. Carmel, Riverside, OSU, Barix, other?

I need some good thoughts going our way to Aetna on what I think is just a paperwork lag thing. I had a first letter dated Feb 6 saying they wanted the 5 year weight history. It took my surgeon's office until Feb 18 (this past Monday) to get that to them and the surgeon's office called me that same day, Monday Feb 18th and said I'm approved and I was so elated. But in the meantime Aetna sent a letter dated Feb 13 saying my request for surgery was denied due to needing 6 months of weight loss history. So I have to wait overnight until the surgeon's office opens in the morning to make sure they have it right that Aetna approved the surgery on February 18 and then hope I get a third letter from Aetna saying in writing I'm approved now. Cross your fingers and say a prayer this is just a paperwork lag thing but at least I thought I'd share in case others are going through something similar.

I just got home and there is a denial from Aetna in my mail for my lapband surgery but the letter is dated February 13 and Charlene from Dr. Price's office (surgeon) called me on Monday February 18 and said I'd been approved. Now I don't know what to think until I can talk with Charlene in the a.m. I'm hoping that Aetna reversed their position once they had the 5 year weight history notes and that Aetna just needs to send me a 3rd and hopefully final letter saying I'm approved effective February 18th. Say a prayer for me on this. I'm trying to stay positive that its all okay.

Oh my gosh!!!! I just got the call from my surgeon's office that she gave them the info needed on 5 year weight history and Aetna turned around and immediately approved my surgery this morning! I have to now wait to get a surgery date. She says she gives the approved patients list to the surgeons' to schedule and then I should here something soon! :tt2::wub:

Oh my gosh!!!! I just got the call from Charlene at my surgeon's office that she gave them the info needed and Aetna turned around and immediately approved my surgery this morning! I have to now wait to get a surgery date. She says she gives the approved patients list to the surgeons' to schedule and then I should here something soon! :tt2::wub:

Oh my gosh!!!! I just got the call from Charlene at my surgeon's office that she gave them the info needed and Aetna turned around and immediately approved my surgery this morning! I have to now wait to get a surgery date. She says she gives the approved patients list to the surgeons' to schedule and then I should here something soon! :tt2::wub:

Lady QT --thanks for that Monday morning pick me up to get in the right attitude--- offering to help her rather than criticize. I'm just going to pray that today is the day she gets to my paperwork and be content with God's will on how long this takes.

Call Me Joy -- Aetna just reduced theirs on February 8th from 5 years down to 2 years of weight history if there is any chance you have that one. If not, I was told I could get records from my OB/GYN's office with my weight on it if you're a person who goes for annual exam and Pap every year. Just an idea. Oh, and I paid $50 to have my old records pulled from storage but they had them and sent them to the surgeon's office.

Changed my avatar to a siamese cat logo because I have one named Pearl - not purebred but she's a sweetie - and she has a big sister named Patches too.

I was able to attach a picture but it came in HUGE. How do I make it smaller.

LOL!! My nephew was the Expert at Pokemon - addicted to collecting the cards, he organized them into a binder, could tell you which one had which magical power, which enemies, etc. I would just listen to him and say, "that's nice" and just feel so stupid! Anyway, I'm reaching the stage now where I'm a Great Aunt -- two of my nieces have now had babies of their own and its so fun seeing the baby stages again for things. The rest of them are either in high school, the military or college at this point so all Aunt Kathy can do is buy them gift cards! because I'm clueless what they really want or like at this stage. I used to be the one out there trying to snag the hottest toy for them at Christmas..Cabbage patch dolls, Power Rangers, etc. LOL!!!! Nurse Niki- don't worry about the balloon - I was just trying to figure out a way to give it away so we went with what we knew that day on who was going to be the next bandster! I'm hoping I'll line right up with you and Hippiegirl for early March to get banded too.

Suecasb-- that's wonderful news. I'm hoping I get my approval next week. Who is doing your lapband surgery? Do you have a surgery date yet?