tmarie07

My post op diet was mushy foods starting week 2, with introduction of some solids. Full solids by week 3. Tina

Hi everyone! I was banded on 12/17 - liquids for the first week, mushy foods for week 2 with slow intro to solids, full solids at week 3. I'm down 22 lbs from the start of my pre-op diet 1 week before surgery. I lost 12 on the pre-op and 10 since the surgery, although that was mostly in the liquid diet week! I seem to have been holding steady since then. I have my post-op visit tomorrow - couldnt get in any sooner! Looking forward to scheduling that first fill, because I dont know how much longer I can go on being "good" mentally knowing that I have no restriction right now! I'm in the DFW area and my doc is Dr Marsden. I do "data analysis" type stuff for a living, and I work from home, which is great in terms of not having to deal with going out to eat for lunch with coworkers anymore - less temptation! Look forward to getting to know all of you! Tina

Lonestar - suppossedly AIGB sends over the insurance approval to Dr Marsdens office, and then they'll call you. However, it didnt go that way with me. I got a "we need more info" letter from Aetna, so I called AIGB to make sure they had the stuff (they did, had already sent it) but they had me check with their insurance submitter, who said "oh, you were approved last week, no one called you?". So I had to call Dr Marsdens office myself. Now that was over the Thanksgiving holiday, so I wrote that off to busy with the holiday. My point - don't wait for them to call you, call and check on it yourself just in case so you can keep things moving! I had my appt with the Doc on 12/6, and they scheduled surgery for 12/19. On 12/10 Jodie called me to say "can you do it on the 17th?". Of course I could! Make sure you take your approval letter with you to Dr Marsden's, as the one they had for me didnt have the approved surgery center on it, so they didnt know where Aetna required mine to be done at - so they had to take a copy of it. It was the Lewisville/Baylor surgery (nice place, great people, cept for the little front desk check in gal, she was rather humorless at 7am). FYI - if you want to go to his Hurst office for appts, they told me he's there on Thursdays, and in his other office (can't recall where all of a sudden) on Tuesdays for office visits. Best of luck on a swift approval! Tina

My understanding is they are just looking to make sure you understand the banding process, and that you understand and are ready for the changes you will be making. The questions asked of me by the psych I went to were basically family history, medical history, he asked me to tell him a little about the procedure, and asked my reasons for wanting it. All very simple. Now, I have read about some doing "testing", etc, but that wasnt my experience. Plus, I went to someone recommended by my lap band doc, and so he completely understood what he needed to do in terms of eval, and believe me, he didnt do any extra (and I dont mean that in a bad way!) My doctor even read the eval comments to me and also said "everyone passes", so I imagine you'd have to be fairly delusional about the procedure and expectations and not ready to tackle the changes to not pass. Now, that was just specific to my experience, I wouldnt be surprised if there are some bad experiences out there with the eval, and not passing, but I'd bet a lot of those would be down to the insurance company having "crazy" requirements etc. I say don't stress, be honest, and knowledgeable and you should be fine! Best of luck! Tina

I was banded on Monday - hang in there! And do ask for some anti-nausea meds - I was lucky enough to not need them, but have them just in case! Tina