mom007

24 pounds since my initial consultation, 13 since surgery. Not as much as I would like but not too bad!

I got my first fill 4/16 of 2.4 cc and apparently had .2 in there so a total of 2.6 (don't know how much my band holds - isn't that sad). 8 days later I have just lost 2 pounds but last Saturday I was down 3. I had decent restriction for about 3 days, too, but now I'm pretty much back to very minimal. I go back on 5/14 for another fill but I think I'm going to try and get in sooner. I haven't been on in forever so I feel so out of touch and have lost track of all you guys stories. I'll try to get caught up soon!

I'm not doing so good with the Protein either! At least I know it's not just me. I had not been trying to specifically try to get more protein since I've been banded because I've been having a hard time just trying not to be naseous all the time. Just been sipping LifeWater and regular Water since last Wednesday. Yesterday morning I tried a SlimFast Optima and after the first couple of sips I felt like puking so I quit with that. Then at lunch I went a bought some Isopure and it tasted like grape flavored vomit. Ugh! I don't know what to do! Yesterday on driving home from work my body was trying so hard to throw up and I was trying so hard not to let it! As soon as I pulled in the driveway I ran in the house to take one of my anti-nausea pills that I got the day of surgery. Left my kids in the car and everything. I figured it would do more damage for me to throw up than to leave the kids in the car for a few minutes by themselves! I'm going to try a different flavor of the SlimFast today and I just had 6 oz. of chicken broth which I added a couple of drops of soy sauce and that made it a little less bland. Probably not so good sodium wise but so far I don't feel like throwing up yet! If any of you have any ideas for protein that aren't too horrible taste wise please share! I think my problem with the SlimFast is the milk base so I'm kinda leery of it but I'm still going to give it another try!

I am STARVING on my pre-op diet! Thank God there's only two days left on it. Actually just the rest of today and tomorrow, then surgery for me on Wednesday! I've been making progress though. I bought a scale for home (I've never owned one) and as of this morning I've lost 9 pounds from my pre-op appointment last Tuesday. I'm thinking it's going to be +/- a pound or two because it's a different scale and not the one at the Dr.'s office but for the most part I think that's pretty good! Good Luck tomorrow O2B! Make sure we get an update and let us know how it went!

I know I've seen a list on here somewhere that other bandsters have made about what to have on hand at home for after the surgery. I can't find it now (maybe I'm not looking hard enough). But those of you that have already had the surgery this month, what are the things you got or wish you had gotten for post surgery? I know to get: broth (low sodium) liquid Tylenol GasX/Phazyme strips or liquid sugar free Jello sugar free popsicles (if I can keep the kids out of them) protien shakes What else will I wish I had? Thanks for the help!

I just went for my pre-op appointment yesterday and got my date: the 12th! So just one day after you. I started my pre-op diet this morning and only have to do it for one week. Surprisingly, after having "last supper" syndrome for almost a month and a half, I got back on track and since my very first consult on Jan. 8th, as of yesterday, I had lost 2 pounds. Not much but with all the hand over fist eating I had done, I was surprised I wasn't up. Small victories, yes? Good luck! Hope the nerves don't start kicking in! When the nurse told me I could get it done on the 12th, I said, "So soon?!?!". All this waiting and now I get a date and I'm not sure I want it so soon! Is that crazy or what?

Me too! I have a stash of old too small clothes that I can't wait to get back in to. We bought a house this past summer thought so I got rid of a lot of clothes I now wish I had kept. I did keep my absolute favorites and stuff that still had tags on them. But what I wish I had kept was the about 20 pairs of jeans that I gave to Goodwill. Sizes from 16 to 22 (I'm now wearing a "snug" 24 and I refused to buy any bigger). But I can't wait to "closet shop" again! I for sure don't have the $ to go out and buy new stuff every month!

Maybe me! I had my pre-op appointment scheduled for today but I had to cancel it. Took my 2 1/2 year old son to the doctor yesterday and he has pneumonia and strep throat. When I set my pre-op appt., I told the nurse that I had already put myself on their 2 week pre-op diet and wanted to have it done on the 7th. Well, since my son is sick and I had to push back my pre-op I think I'm going to have it done on the 21st. I don't get any vacation until the 20th and if I was able to get it done before then, i was going to do it on a Friday and go back to work the following Monday. But now since I'm already pushing it back one week, two weeks won't kill me plus I'll have vacation and can "afford" to take more than just one day off. Not push myself too hard. Know what I mean? Doing the surgery and having to take care of 4 kids pretty much by myself will be hard enough (DH works A LOT) not to mention having to rush right back to work. I'll know for sure next Tuesday, that's when I rescheduled my pre-op.

Just wanted to wish you "Good Luck" on your upcoming surgery! It's all good! Congrats on the 10 year & 3 year anniversaries this week too! Just think, in a year, this week it will all be 11 + 4 + 1 year anniveraries, respectively. You're just adding another super momentus event to Celebrate in your life! You'll look back and laugh at how worried you were! Keep us updated!

Great picture! Keep up the great work! I know what it feels like to get this done show you can show your kids that a healthy lifestyle isn't toxic. Yes, a Happy Meal may be good for the moment, but eating healthy is good for a lifetime. What spurred me on to do this was my 4 year old telling me that when she grew up she wanted to be "fat like you, Mommy". I wouldn't wish this on her for anything! Hope we can start making changes together as a family!

I just set up my appointment for my pre-op visit on Wednesday. They told me I'd get my diet and surgery date then. I actually started SlimFast, cut out sodas, and went low fat-high Protein almost 2 weeks ago. This weekend I cheated a little. Had IHop and 3 Dr. Peppers yesterday, but this morning I'm back on track. I can already tell that it's working, my pants are fitting a little looser already! So I'm hoping to get my surgery date soon, since I can tell them I already put myself on the pre-op diet. My ideal date is March 7th. Less than 2 weeks! But we'll see, they may have other ideas.

Actually, I just went through this. The direct number for their Care Coordination Department is 866-365-3701. (not sure if you have that number) And I had been calling every day finally, I got someone who actually helped me. She told me that after the "review" had been in their system for 10 days she could "accelerate" the process so I would have an answer in 24-48 hours. That was done for me Tuesday afternoon and first thing yesterday morning (thursday) I found out I was approved! Hope this helps! Good Luck!

Secret Agent Mom, right on! I do have 3 kids of my own plus 3 step children, 1 that lives with us, so 4 total at home. My son, who is turning 14 next week *faint* (I'm not that old) hates that 007 thing! :tongue2:

Here's my update: I finally got my approval from the insurance this morning, have been drinking SlimFast and having small meals since last Wednesday, am down to just 1 Dr. Pepper a day. Still haven't plugged in that treadmill in the garage yet, but it's on my "To Do - Eventually" list. So after talking to the insurance company this morning, I put a call in to the coordinator at the Dr.'s office to see what's next and am still waiting for a call back. The way my luck's been going, she's probably on vacation for the rest of the month! But if I haven't heard from her by the time I come back from lunch (just running errands with SlimFast in hand, no eating!), I'm going to give the main office a call and see what I can find out. Soon to be a Bandster! WooHoo!

Woo!hHoo! I am finally aproved for my surgery! Took damn long enough! And I know there weren't as many hoops for me to jump through as a lot of you guys out there but I am SO relieved! Next step set a date! I'm getting banded! OMG I'm literally bouncing up and down at my desk! Better stop before my boss starts giving me the evil eye!

I am STILL waiting for approval from UHC. My paperwork was originally submitted Jan 29th, denied, then resubmitted Feb 8th. I'm still waiting. When it was resubmitted, they put my surgery date as Feb 22nd and so I've been calling everyday. In the past few days, I've even began calling in the morning and again at night. All because I had read about the 2-3 day approvals, so surely mine won't take that long, right? No, I'm still waiting. And to top it off, this morning when I called, the guy on their end was looking at my case and said, "you've been calling EVERY day?" With a shi++y tone in his voice. Um, yeah, I have been calling every day because last week 2 different people in your department told me to do just that because it looked to them like it was just a matter of days before my approval would come through. I'm just frustrated. Congrats to the rest of you tho! I'll get there one day just apparently not soon!

I am having problems getting approved through UHC but not because of UHC, because the Dr.'s office submitted it with an out-of-network Dr. and facility. It was originally submitted Jan 29th, found out on Feb 8th it was denied because of the out-of-network thing. That same day I called the Dr.'s office and had them resubmit it with their in network Dr. and as of this morning "it's still in review". I had read about the quick approvals with UHC so I'm disappointed that it was submitted it wrong to begin with and that just drug it out another 10 days. Otherwise, I think I would be getting banded tomorrow if it had been done right in the first place. BTW-I'm now using Dr. Marsden but originally went through TrueResults in Dallas. Good Luck!

I've calmed down a little now. I guess it was just frustrating and I needed to vent. I'm not mad at UHC, they told me that the procedure was covered, just not with the out of network Dr. and facility that they submitted it with. So as long as the Dr.'s office gets the right Dr. and facility submitted today it shouldn't be very long at all. I'm just in a rush because if I can't get this done by the 20th, I'll have to wait until the end of March or first of April, because of my work situation. All better now.........

OK, my paperwork was submitted on Jan. 29th and I've been not-so-patiently waiting for approval. I've been calling every day. Well, I called this morning and was told my claim was denied because the Dr.'s office submitted it with an out of network Dr. and facility. WTF?!?! They knew what my insurance was on my first visit. They made me choose which of their surgeons I wanted to use on my first visit. I figured they would know which of their Dr.'s were in my network and let me choose one of them and be smart enough to submit it with an in network Dr. Apparently not. So I called the Dr.'s office and they're going to resubmit it today with an in network surgeon, Dr. Marsden, and different in network facility. Otherwise my insurance said it was covered, just as long and it's all in network. So I'm going to call them back late this afternoon and see if they got the resubmit and if I can weasel an approval out of them today. Good luck with that! UGH! Just had to vent. But was wondering if this had happened to anyone else? :tongue2::cursing::drool::cursing::cursing::wub::cursing::tt2::cursing::cheers2::cursing::iagree::cursing::lurk5::cursing:

I think I will do that! Thanks for the advice. Geez, and I though I was being a little too agressive just by calling every day! Will let ya'll know when I find out something!

I'm waiting too and it's driving me crazy! Since I joined this board all I've read about is how others with my insurance (UHC) have been approved in 3-4 days. My paperwork was submitted on the 29th of January and I didn't find that out until the 4th of Feb. so I have been calling every day asking if it was "still in review status". And all they tell me is "we have 30 days to review it". B.S. Ugh! At least we're not alone!

P.S. my daughter's name is Chloe! I just love that name!

I'm actually not sure. I have UHC too and my deductible is $250 with a max out of pocket of $2500. When I met with the insurance coordinator she told me my portion of the surgery would be "about $2800". WTF? If my max out of pocket is $2500 how can I have to pay $2800? I used to do payroll only so my limited understanding of insurance was you meet your deductible ($1000) then pay the 20% in addition to that up to your max out of pocket. So by my math a $15000 surgery would be: $15000 - surgery less $1000 - deductible = $14000 x 20% = $2800 but if your max out of pocket is $2000 you should only have to pay your deductible plus $1000 of the $2800 (20%) balance. Leaving $1800 paid by the insurance company? If I'm wrong someone let me know. But that's how my logic works!

I just got an email from the insurance coordinator at the surgeon's office and she got all my paperwork and submitted it to UHC on the 29th of January. So it's been 4 days (including today but not the 29th). But since I just found this out, I didn't know I've been waiting since the 29th. Make sense? I will let ya'll know as soon as I hear something!

OK, I was apparently being paranoid for no reason. I just got an email from the insurance coordinator and she got all my paperwork and submitted it for approval on Jan. 29th. So now I just have to wait and see! WooHoo!