Rainy Days

Dr. Chock did my surgery! I was super happy with their team. My dietician is Christine but I've also seen the other dietician once too. Now that I'm one month out, my appointments are with their Physician's Assistant Kim who is super nice. I live down in Oregon, so they have been very accommodating with arranging multiple appointments in a single day whenever possible. And now my appointments are via videoconference or phone call! I am super happy with NWWLS!

I'm July 11th! Getting pretty excited... it's only one month from today!

LOL... I have to pay $3300 because that is my out-of-pocket max for my insurance.

Annie, my sleep was horrible on my test too. I was surprised it was enough for them to decide I had sleep apnea. Now I'm forced to use the machine until surgery at minimum. I don't love my cpap, but can tolerate it now. I just had my follow up appointment now that I've had the machine for 6 weeks. They showed me how much better my apneas are (none compared to 12+ an hour before) and suggested that my problems are based on me having the wrong mask. So, i'll be getting a new mask soon. Jen, the cpap machine is silent until I take off the mask and then you hear blowing air. I just turn off the machine prior to taking off the mask and it doesn't disturb my husband at all.

I'm July 11th. Looking forward to my pre-op appointment on June 28th. I start the pre-op diet on July 1.

I told my surgeon's office that I couldn't do it until June or July due to my work scheduling, and they worked with me to get a date that was better for me. Otherwise, I would have had surgery yesterday because that was their first choice for me. I had my doctor submit my FMLA paperwork about 3 weeks ago and it was approved within 2 days. Hope this works out for you!

My surgery date is July 11th and I'll be starting my pre-op diet on July 1st! eeek! I'm excited and wishing it was here already

My testing did not give me anything to help me sleep. They want you to try to achieve a typical night's sleep. You shouldn't stay awake the night before, however I'd recommend you not take a nap that day and try to be tired for the sleep test. Maybe do some extra walking/exercise that day. I had a hard time sleeping for my test and worried it wouldn't be enough sleep, but in the end I slept for 4-5 hours (broken up) and it was enough for them to work with.

My update is that I've been approved for surgery by my insurance and it's set for July 11th. Would love to hear how others are doing!

woohoo! Another July 11th person!

I'm July 11th! There is a FB group for June/July sleevers- check this thread for info. Alwest is adding people to the FB group. http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/364386-june-july-sleevers/page-32

oh yay! Lots of Summer Sleevers! I'm excited we are all starting our journey in the next couple of months!

When I first started thinking about surgery I found out that my insurance has similar requirements. I was at 39.5 BMI... so I gained a little weight. I was always bouncing between 39-42 BMI anyway, but I was deliberate in my eating to make sure I weighed enough for the first weigh in. You probably only have 6-7 pounds to reach the 40 BMI anyway. Have you already seen the surgeon? Maybe you can tip the scales in your favor

I don't have that insurance, but my insurance requires both weigh in numbers to approve the surgery. Initial visit weigh in and after 3 months weigh in. You should call your insurance have them direct you to their specific policy on weight loss surgery. It should be spelled out in their policy.

I've been reading this book on my Kindle and it addresses the concerns you have. I've found it to be pretty helpful. It's the Emotional First Aid Kit: Life after Bariatric Surgery. https://www.amazon.com/Emotional-First-Aid-Kit-Practical-ebook/dp/B0054RXXS0?ie=UTF8&keywords=emotional%20bariatric&qid=1462760486&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1 I have anxiety issues and still got through my eval. She asked if I was on meds, and I told her I had been but didn't find them helpful. It was much easier than I anticipated! But I still recommend the book.

It would be great if there was a thread about this. I'm very confused by my insurer's requirements too. Probably the best thing to do would be to call your insurance company and ask them to direct you to their complete policy about weight loss surgery. My insurance company mailed it out to me and it completely spells out the requirements and the weight amount (and in my case, the required amount to lose prior to surgery).

Where is she located? Sent from my LG-D851 using the BariatricPal App Alana Chock is in Everett at Northwest Weight Loss SurgeryThanks, I'm in Vancouver. I'm looking for someone a bit closer. Sent from my LG-D851 using the BariatricPal App Vancouver, WA? I'm in Portland, but my insurance only has in-network surgeons in Seattle/Everett so I have to travel. I've heard many Portlanders see Dr. Emma Patterson. My insurance doesn't pay to her though.

Where is she located? Sent from my LG-D851 using the BariatricPal App Alana Chock is in Everett at Northwest Weight Loss Surgery

every insurance is certainly different. My insurance required my first weight from the first doctor visit to be submitted (and it had to be over 40 BMI). And then they require I lose 5% of my body weight in 90 days, which puts me under 40 BMI and is okay. That weight will also be submitted to my insurance. If I don't lose the weight, I do not get approved for surgery and there is no second chance.

what great questions and answers!

My surgeon said either the sleeve or bypass was fine for me, but ended up recommending the sleeve because if you have the bypass then you can't have NSAIDS like aspirin and ibuprofen anymore. I didn't want to remove that entire class of medication away because I use NSAIDS often for knee pain. A bypass can alter the ability to take other medications due to the digestive system being altered. The bypass has a slightly higher weight loss, but once the doc looked at the numbers for me, it was only like a 8-10 pound average weight loss difference between the sleeve and bypass. So I chose sleeve. Now, if my upper endoscopy indicates that a bypass would be a better choice, I'd be fine with that too. It would just be hard to give up ibuprofen.

My surgeon was on tv and talked a little about the robot and showed it working. Here is the link for anyone interested- http://legacy.king5.com/story/entertainment/television/programs/new-day-northwest/2014/08/26/providence-medical-center-robotic-weight-loss-surgery-davinci/14621133/

after I feel I don't need it, I'm hoping my husband will wear it. I'm pretty sure he has sleep apnea but he has rotten insurance, so he isn't getting tested for it. And my machine is an automatic adjusting machine. I found that Amazon has cpap masks for much less than elsewhere, so we'd just get him a mask from there. or if he won't wear it, then sell it! great idea!

Did the DME company put you on a rental program? Most of the time you rent the machine per insurance for 13 months and then you own the Cpap. But if in that time you loose a significant amount of weight and feel like the Cpap is not necessary, you can have another sleep study. If you had mild apnea it shouldn't be a problem once you drop some weight to get off of the cpap. It does completely suck that even with mild apnea that your surgeon is requiring a cpap for you. At this point, I am willing to do just anything to get this WLS over and done. Just when you think you have jumped through the last hoop, another is tossed in front of you!! No, mine is not a rental. It's not even an option. They said that I have to use it for 3 months and after that they will bill my insurance, of which about $300 is my portion. If I am not compliant with the machine, then I will be responsible for the entire amount. My machine has it's own modem and is connected to the cloud so the respiratory therapy dept knows if I am compliant or not. Compliant means using it at least 21 days a month for at least 4 hours a night.

I've had my gallbladder out already. The pain comes from the upper right abdomen area. For me, it was right under my lowest right rib and radiated out. I don't think a lot of insurances would pay for an unnecessary surgery, so it's probably not common practice to remove the gallbladder "just in case" it could cause problems later. However, if you surgeon notices that the gallbladder is full of stones, then that could be justification for removal during the sleeve. When I had my gallbladder out, I also signed a consent to remove my appendix. Since the surgeon was looking around in there, he did look at the appendix and it looked fine, so it wasn't removed because insurance wouldn't have covered that.