MacMadame

You need to call your doctor ASAP. That is not normal and it sounds really serious.

Yeah, in some ways they should be giving you a discount for being a guinea pig, not charging more. :tongue2: My surgeon charges $14000-ish for a lap band and I live in one of the most expensive parts of the country. $20k seems entirely too high to me too.

When I was researching the band, I came across the story of someone who lost 100 pounds and never had a fill. She had enough restriction without one.

The NIH guidelines say BMI of 40 or above with no co-morbidities. Most insurance companies follow the NIH guidelines on this. So I think you qualify. (standard "all insurance companies are different" disclaimer goes here.)

Well, those are good choices. You need to do what it takes to be successful. But you probably know that already. :tongue2:

Don't forget to check out the Mens-only forum on here. Lots of guys there. :tongue2:

I noticed no one answered you on this one. You might want to try again in the Post-Op forum. Sometimes the Intro forum doesn't get a lot of traffic from the experienced bandsters.

Starbucks has insurance that covers WLS. I don't know your area so I can't give other companies, but you did say you had retail experience, and that's retail. You're probably over-qualified for them though.

That's great that insurance is paying!

Did you post this on the NJ forum? You might get more of an answer there.

Good luck to you!

My surgeon's office quoted separate fees too. I was adding up like crazy trying to figure out which package to do with. I'm not good at arithmetic in my head so it was a strain. :tongue2: I don't know anything about the single incision version of the surgery. It does sound intriguing.

I noticed you didn't get any answers. I know there are people doing that program on LBT. Maybe if you posted in the General Support forum you'd catch their attention??

That's weird. I was totally stressed and no one said Boo to me about it. What does your surgeon say about the whole thing?

I would tell the ones who determine your work duties that you've had abdominal surgery and you are not allowed to lift anything for a while. You should easily be able to get a doctor's note to that effect.

You should tell them. Let them be excited for you even if they don't quite get it. Plus, I bet your mom understand more than you think. She's lived it.

You need to educate them. Tell them about all the studies that show once you are over 50 lb. overweight, diet and exercise don't work, and that obese people have more ghrelin than normal people. I have tons of links to news articles about how diets don't work and I bore everyone to death who tells me I can do it on my own by quoting from them. Some people will never be convinced. But some can be and the more you have on your side, the better off you will be. Here are some of the links if you want some education: Ghrelin, Appetite & Weight Control Bye-bye BMI? Better way to measure obesity - Fitness - MSNBC.com BBC NEWS | Health | Obesity 'may be largely genetic' Brain Scans Hint at Why We Overeat Weight Loss: Fact and Fiction Let the post-diet era begin - The Boston Globe http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/08/health/08fat.html?_r=2&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=1&adxnnlx=1208731674-OtndlOvb+jZyYLdZ8Yv8jg The Hunger Hormone, Controlling Ghrelin May Be Key To Curing Obesity - CBS News http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_64338.html Thin people might be fat on the inside - Fitness - MSNBC.com Yes, we're fat, but what do we do about it? - National - theage.com.au Study: Fat people cheaper to treat - USATODAY.com CNN.com - Obesity linked to virus, new experiments suggest - July 28, 2000 A Sweet Tooth in Your Intestine? - Diabetes Health Ghrelin Researchers Examine A Possible Link Between Bacteria Found In The Human Digestive System And Obesity Surgery will do more than education to fix the obesity epidemic - Opinion http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080811/ap_on_he_me/med_healthy_obesity 'There is no cure for your obesity' Low Levels of Brain Chemical May Lead to Obesity, NIH Study of Rare Disorder Shows Obesity Surgery Is Called Cost-Effective - WSJ.com How Weight Loss Surgery Can Change Your Life - Weight Loss Surgery: Long-Term Results http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/health/16brod.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1221808518-QvFIgN5kXgwa7pJny+UQAw They are kind of all mixed up in there. Sorry about that. One of these days, I need to organize them.

I hate baseball. It's incredibly boring. Softball too. Naturally Mini-Mac loves softball and is actually quite good at it. I really have trouble convincing myself to go to her games. Me too. I'm trying to get in more water (I'm short today. Well, I'm short every day, but today I'm short on fluids.) and surfing the net.

Sounds like Acid Reflux to me. A PPI will help -- talk to your doctor to see which one he recommends or if he has a different idea of what it is.

Anesthesia makes some people nauseous. Also, WLS can give you temporary acid reflux and that often makes people think they are hungry when they are not.

Did you do bloodwork? If you did blood work and your PTH was high and your Vit D was low, they may be worried about osteoporosis. Otherwise, I've got nothing.

We should have paired up. I only want a little crust. I like the fruit best. Congrats, LuLuC!

Hi Tas31. Welcome to LBT!

I'd be surprised if you couldn't. They were created to help people save up for medical procedures. But I'm no expert on them. Have you see the info on the US Treasury site about them: U.S. Treasury - Health Savings Accounts (HSAs)

Did they tell you to go back to liquids for the rest of the day when you PB? Because that's what lots of people do here and it really helps. That's because once you start PBing, it irritates things and you will do it more often until you get less irritated. If you go back to liquids for a day and then you are still having problems, then you are probably too tight and they need to take a bit out. But first you need to "reset".