izzy13

Day 2 post op the PA advanced my diet to full liquid so since Friday afternoon I've been able to have a little more then just clears, like pudding and I tried some very watery cream of wheat but mostly I've been drinking flavored water, decaf tea and Popsicles

@@jmarie67 yes!! I am 4 days P/O and having a similar situation, I am able to wander but when it does come time to "go" it's of the unpleasant consistency lol. The nurse told me before I was discharged that the leak test I had the day after surgery had barium that acts as a laxative so that could be it if you had that test done. But also being on a full liquid diet I just think in combo with the barium my body is just having a hard time getting it together [emoji16]

I was in the same boat, had surgery Wednesday, they put my on a fentynl pump and I was having lots of pain so they increased my dose overnight. Went for a walk at 6am yesterday morning and started dry heaving. That was the worst pain ever!! I then had to have a barium swallow test to check for leaks before I could sip any Water which made me dry heave some more by the time I got back to my room I was beat and it was only 11am yesterday. They switched my pain meds to torridol every 6 hrs and morphine as needed which I only needed a couple of times and viola...2 hours later I was walking and feeling great. Complete 180, oh I also had a scope patch to the back of my ear and zofran for the nausea. Have them try different pain meds sometimes it's trial and error. The only thing I'm dealing with is a cramping feeling in my chest when i sip water might be from the hernia repair they did. Hopefully you feel better soon!!! Oh and k started farting about 24 hrs after surgery that made me feel better too

No joke about the gas pains holy crap, had my surgery this am and have been walking every hour, it's been rough but hopefully by tomorrow the gas hits the road!!!

Good luck!!! I'm on for 10:20 am tomorrow....yikes [emoji16] it's getting real all of a sudden!!

Thank you all for posting you're experiences so far! It's nice to see how things may go, although we are all a little different in our journeys. I've waited over a year for this to happen and have had doubts along the way but reading experiences and hearing good stories about how things have changed has made me stick with it. Today's my surgery eve, I was lucky- only one day clear liquid diet which is today, tomorrow I head out to the hospital. I'm nervous and hopeful I'm making the right decision but it has helped to read what you early October-ers have faced so far

@@Arica my date is the 12th too, it's so close yet so far away lol, good luck!!!!

Had my pre admission testing today, almost there - sleeve surgery on 10/12 [emoji38] I'm nervous but I had emergency gallbladder surgery and ended up almost a week in the hospital this past weekend, I kind of thought of it as a warm up practice run lol. I'm hoping the dr can use the same incisions since I'll still have the steri-strips on!!

So....I have a dilemma, I have a date set to have my sleeve done October 12th. Tonight I went out to dinner with my boyfriend and ended up in the ER with a gallbladder attack. They are currently working on admitting me and I will speak with the surgical PA in the morning. Has anyone ever had their gallbladder removed a couple weeks before their WLS?? My surgeon was going to take a look at it and if he was able to get at it the plan was to take it out then. It took me soooo long to get insurance approval and I am so excited to finally work towards a healthier me and now I'm stuck with a "hot" gallbladder as the doctor called it (he had quite the sense of humor...or maybe it's the pain killers lol) Just looking to see if anyone had a similar situation and how it worked out. Thanks

I talked to my surgeons office, they are going to leave me on the schedule. So my surgery isn't cancelled thank god! The issue is - I ended up at a different hospital and my situation is somewhat emergent. I didn't realize it but I'm actually jaundiced and my lab values were not good. I have gallstones between my liver and stomach so it's not an easy gallbladder removal. And now I'm stuck in the hospital until possibly Tuesday...ill think of this as a trial run lol. We are going to play it by ear and see how my recovery progresses from the gallbladder removal but so far I'm still on track for October 12th.

Thanks [emoji4] I'm hoping maybe I can coordinate something that would be best case scenario, my biggest fear is they have to push off my sleeve so I can recover from the gallbladder!

My date is October 12th in upstate NY [emoji4] been waiting a while due to insurance but I'm getting excited/nervous. They called yesterday to schedule my pre-admission testing which made my nerves flutter again lol

Oct 12!! I fought with my insurance since April so having a date is almost like a dream.

Sorry to jump on your post but i had a question about this too...what's the big deal on quitting caffeine before surgery? If I miss a cup of coffee I get a little headache, after surgery I probably won't notice. Is there another reason dr's want you to give up caffeine beforehand?? Maybe my caffeine addiction isn't as bad as others (I only have one cup a day, maybe green tea after lunch and I have up any soda a while ago) Thanks

The lindstrom group works in all states I think, they are actually based out of California. If the peer to peer doesn't work (I didn't have one of those done, my insurance required me to appeal on my own and NY has this thing called an external appeal where you appeal to the state and the state makes the decision based on common practice not the insurance), you should definitely look into either lindstrom or at least look online for sample appeal letters that may boost your case against the insurance. It took 4 months (my stuff was submitted in April and denied) but if you stick with it you should get it approved. Someone told me, the insurance always denies bc they want people to give up so they don't have to pay....so don't give up!!! [emoji4]

I haven't posted too much on here especially since I was down in the dumps bc I was denied by my insurance and thought surgery would never be reality for me. Through posts on here though, I heard of lindstrom advocacy group so I contacted them and they recommended I do an external appeal of the denial with my state (NY). I just heard from Kelley Lindstrom about an hour ago that my external appeal overturned my insurance denial and they HAVE to cover my surgery! I'm so excited, anxious and just happy to have surgery as an option in my weight loss journey. I cannot recommend Lindstrom enough for anyone going through a denial, my insurance had ridiculous requirements, ones that if I had the ailments they required no surgeon would touch me and I was so defeated but Kelley gave me hope and its now a reality! First phone call tomorrow morning: doctors office to get my surgery on the books :) :)

@@eye1der I'm telling my office I'm having surgery but for either my gallbladder or hiatal hernia, that way I'm not lying and don't have to make up crazy stories about a vacation that didn't really happen but also keep the real reason to myself. I have 1 coworker I told, I trust her to keep it quiet and we are good friends but I'm going to have her help me keep it under wraps. Like back up my "I'm on a diet" story for the next couple of weeks leading up to the procedure so then when I come back a few pounds down its not so shocking. I'm glad to have found some other October sleevers!!

Found out yesterday I'm scheduled for the 12th! I'm the same, excited and nervous but my sister had it done a year and a half ago and she loves it so I'm lucky that I have her to keep me sane lol!! Good luck!!! -liz

It's called capital district physicians health plan or cdphp, it's big but specific to the Albany,ny area - it's not attached to any of the big insurers like UHC or BCBS etc.

I called my dr's office, the scheduler was absolutely amazed the denial got overturned! She said she has done tons of appeals for patients and it doesn't ever usually work out this way, I can't speak highly enough of Kelley and the Lindstrom group. Scheduler said she's penciling me in for a tentative October date....fingers crossed

I am working with the lindstrom advocacy group for my appeal, their website is wlsappeals.com and they have been incredibly helpful. It cost a little but it's a lot cheaper then trying to get to Mexico for myself. I'm in my 2nd denial now and I've been so anxious and depressed but I'm keeping my fingers crossed!!!!

Check your policy regarding co morbitities really carefully! My bmi is 35.2 so I just make the 35 cutoff and I have high blood pressure and mild sleep apnea. My insurance denied me bc the policy says blood pressure only qualifies if I were to take 3 meds or more and sleep apnea only qualifies if it's severe. They are making it more and more difficult, my bp always sucks but I only take one med bc that's all I can afford and side effects suck!!!!

I'm somewhat new here but have been reading about everyone's experiences for the last month and it seems like a great place to ask advice. So I thought I met the requirements of my insurance, bmi is 35.2 and I have had high blood pressure my whole life. I do take a bp med that seems to keep it under control. My insurance requires a bmi btwn 35-40 with one co-morbidity. They list medically refractory hypertension as one. I unfortunately got my first denial today saying my hypertension is controlled by one med and although I have sleep apnea it's only mild (they require severe). Has anyone been in a similar situation and gotten approved?? Of course I'm going to call my surgeons office Monday and they seem the type that will fight for me but I'm just worried that I'm going to get denied all together just because I finally found a high blood pressure med that kinda works and only has a few side effects. It really also sucks getting a denial letter on Friday...I guess I'm a little anxious lol! Thanks!!!

So I spoke to the doctors office today, the insurance changed their criteria and the office wasn't aware. A bmi less then 40 requires my blood pressure to be so uncontrolled I'd have to take at least 3 medications. I've have hbp my entire life and have never heard of anyone being on that many meds at once. I think it's a way they can exclude the lower bmi's from surgery. I have to initiate an appeal, I'm having my primary dr write a letter, hopefully they will see that even the dr treating my bp thinks surgery is in my best interest. But the surgeons office told me to put on my big girl pants as this appeal process is going to take a long time and won't be easy so fingers crossed but I'm not going to get my hopes up - disappointment hurts too much!!

So no luck yet, I called the office and the manager that deals with insurance is out today and I'm sooo tempted to call the insurance company myself but I don't want to sabotage anything and I'm sure the doctors office has experience with this stuff. @@lolarose13 I have CDPHP which is a local insurance to upstate NY it's actually a really good plan but apparently my high blood pressure is not medically refractory hypertension bc I only take one medication. Pcos isn't a qualifying co morbidity for my plan which is unfortunate bc I blame that and my endometriosis on having a metabolic disease which I think contributes to my weight and my inability to lose and keep it off (well that and all the Desserts I eat, I'm definitely not one to blame all my weight issues on other things, my poor eating habits contribute I'm sure!! Lol)! Sounds like you have a fighting chance though depending on your insurance requirements, I wish you luck!!