luvmy2dogs

Harley, you've been banded for some time now. Weren't you Dr. T's first patient. I remember that. How is it going for you?? Do you love it? I'm still really worried about several years from now, and what the band does then. As far as corroding, etc... They really don't have any long term results as far as stuff like that goes. Have you heard anything about that. It would really suck to have this and 10-15 years later, have to get it removed for problems, etc... I would love to know anyone's thoughts on this subject. Thx. BWHD

Hi, I talked with you several months back. I think when I was fighting the insurance battle. My surgery is 9/11. I can't wait, but scared to death!

Don't give up. Be persistent. Keep nagging them, and they will come around. I went through the same thing. Been trying since Feb. I have BCBS of Georgia. I just got my approval last week. They deny hoping you'll just give up. Do you have clinical info proving your sleep apnea, etc...

Your sister definitely has the problem. Sounds to me like she's jealous of your life, and doesn't really want you to get thin. You might be conpetition for her. :wink2:

This sounds very similar to what happeend to me. I started in February. The first pre cert denied for nutritional eval. This was sent, but was sent to the appeals dept. and not the medical director that was reviewing the pre cert. So, the appeals dept. had the nutritional eval, but nothing else. The pre cert. dept. had everything but the nutritional eval. It was a matter of admin mess up, that took me 4 months to get straight. The other day I got a Dr. to answer the peer to peer line, and he said all that was missing was the nutritional eval. It was sent directly to him and given to the Medical Director doing the review. Within an hour of her receiving it, I had an approval. It was amazing. I was preparing my huge package to do my final appeal, and never needed to continue with it. What a nightmare it was though. Be persistent. Don't stop calling. Do whatever it takes. ML glad to hear you were approved! :-) Good luck on your continued journey. I'm being banded 9/11

Oh, I have family in DC, and a best friend in Stafford. I go up that way a lot. :-)

I mean Jodi. Sorry! I can't read or type. It's too early in the a.m. for that. hee heee

WELCOME!!! I too am new, and just starting my journey. I just got my insurance approval Tuesday, and yesterday my surgery date. It's September 11th. I'm scared to death, now that it's come to reality that I am definitely having the surgery. I think I have all the same fears, 1. That I wont wake up and die, 2. That I will fail and gain it all back after all this. 3. That I'll lose all my hair and get malnutritioned. I have so many questions, and it's all freaking me out now. I think I read too many forums. LOL! Also, I'm in VA. Joy, what part of VA are you from? I'm petrafied about all of it. I guess this is normal??:thumbdown:

Hi, I live in Chesapeake, VA and just got my surgery date today. I'm being banded on September 11th. EEEEK! That's a scary date. Maybe I should change it.

Thank you. I'm very happy, scared to death, but excited at the same time. I'm going to be a bandster. :wink2:

After all the months of fighting, I got my insurance APPROVAL today. HOOORRAAAYYY! I'm so excited. I'm on my way to being a bandster!!

I go to the WLSC of Hampton Roads as well. My Dr. is Dr. T. too. I've been fighting my insurance co. for months, and today, I GOT MY APPROVAL!!!!!!!!!! HOORAAAAAAAAAAAAY!! I'm so excited I can't stand it.

Libra. Thank you for your response. I too believe there are many means of support. I have a wonderful husband in my corner backing me all the way with this. I didn't tell a lot of people, but my Mom seems pretty supportive. My brother not so much. I thought a lot about this, and just want to be a happy healthy person. You've lost a ton of weight. CONGRATULATIONS! 120 lbs is amazing. It's a new life for you! That is so awesome. I'm excited to get started. I too have 100 lbs to lose. A lot of people say you don't get to goal with lapband compared to gastric, and that you only lose about 25-40% of your excess weight. People like you and Harleynana, and others show that is not the case. I'm willing to work as hard as necessary to get there. I hope I too can succeed the way you guys have. :-)

Carla, you're right, don't think I want to drive to Gloucester for PCP. heeee heee, Harley: I know you feel it's the best thing. You've done amazing. I've been reading your posts. :-) Thanks for responding girls!

Hi Molly: Thank you so much for responsing. It was quite awkward. I was really surprised at how much religion was involved in this test. Not sure what it has to do with it, but the Dr. said it was because they want you to have support, and feel like if you have a strong faith you have support. Anyway, I did ask... She said she doesn't see any reason why I couldn't do it. Weird answer. She said her only concern was maybe the fact that I am a social eater. Well.... who isn't?? She said I would have to find other things to do with my friends. DUH!! I have researched to death, and am completely aware of what I am giving up. I did not make this decision lightly. I'm banking on it improving my health a great deal. I would love to know your thoughts on the surgery so far! I know you were just banded in November, but how are you coping so far? I have posted on so many threads, and no one ever responds. I think I had one response. THANK YOU AGAIN!

Hi Girls! I too live in Virginia and have Dr. T. I am at the very beginning stages. I did my test and my psych eval last week, which I'm quite nervous about the results. I'm not crazy, I just thought some of the questions were very dumb. Tons of relisious questions. It was weird. I'm not an athiest, I certainly believe in God, but don't feel like it's a part of my every day decisions. I had to answer NO to a lot of those deep religious beliefs questions. I asked the shrink at the eval what that had to do with the surgery. Anyway, I'm afraid that may affect their decision. I'm waiting for that approval to come back before proceeding. Harleynana: I've been reading quite a few of your posts. I'm amazed at your success! It's wonderful. Carla: Who is your PCP. Mine is pretty stupid. I had a great one, and he moved to NC. The guy that took his place is such a big dork. I asked him about lapband, and he said I wasn't big enough and didn't need it. I'm really on the hunt for a new Dr. I asthma, high cholesterol, plantar fasciatis, and weigh almost 250. How does he think I'm not big enough. Anyway, I don't need a referral from him for my insurance, but I'm sure an approval would not hurt. I'm not sure if he'll give it. I'm just going to submit my paperwork without it and hope for the best. I have BCBS. GR8: You look amazing! I'm so excited to get started. But very scared too. :tongue2: It would be great if I could join your VA group. There are tons of questions that I have. BTW: I live in Chesapeake!

I'm worried about mine. I had mine last week. She asked me a lot of questions, if I'm depressed, coping after surgery, emotional support (which is mostly my husband) etc... On the computer test I took before the eval with the shrink, they asked me a lot of religious questions. They were very vague. Most of them were things like "Do you have deep religious beliefs, Do you feel God with give you support for this surgery, etc... Like 15 of them. But all of them seemed really questioning deep religious beliefs. I do believe in God, but don't feel like it surrounds my every day life. So, most of the questions I answered NO. When I got to the eval, she showed me thest. It showed that I had no religious background, and that I should look for other means of emotional support. That's bogus. I do have a religious background, and do believe in God, It's just not an active thing every day that runs my life. UGH! They probably think I'm an athiest. I did question the Dr. about what this had to do with the surgery. She couldn't answer. They mostly want to make sure you're not crazy, and you know what the surgery entails, and that you have support after. She said some people get divorced, start drinking, doing drugs, etc... It changes your life, and some people don't know how to cope. I also told her I don't feel like I would do the drinking, and drugs thing, as it's a problem in my family. My brother is a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. He's been sober for 1 1/2 years. She did write all this down. Now I feel like I shouldn't have told her all that. I feel like I was honest, and now it may hurt me. Am I being too paranoid? I'm not crazy, and have a wonderful support system (my husb and who I've been married to for 18 years) He's totally supportive of this surgery, as he knows how miserable I am with all this weight, and unhealthy. Have you ever heard of anyone getting denied because of the eval. I'm a little nervous. Oh... and she tried to get me to come back for another appt. saying she does hypnosis, and stuff. I don't really believe in hypnosis. Sounds like maybe she was just trying to make more money off of it. What do you guys think??

Hi Susie, I did talk with my dad, and he said they took him off his blood thinners 4-5 days before the surgery. He said most Dr. do take you off. Hope everything works out for you. Good Luck!

Hi Susie, I don't have a lot of these issues, but my Dad had the surgery 1 1/2 years ago. He's about your age. (a little older at 62) He is also on blood thinners. I will ask him. He lost over 140 lbs, and looks and feels amazing. I'll get you some info on this tonight.

Hi, I too am a newbie. I have been reading this site for days, and have learned a great deal. I'm in the beginning stages as well. I did my seminar, took my computer psych test, seeing the shrink tomorrow, got approval from Dr. and insurance. Just waiting to see the shrink before I can proceed with the surgery. It's been the greatest finding this site. Good Luck with your surgery. Susan, I saw your postings a few times, I would love to PM you. I'm so new, and have soooo many questions.

Hi, I'm struggling with this same decision. I told my closest friend that I'm having it, (she had gastric bypass several years ago) and my mother, who after asking not to, told my brother. My brother totally freaked out and started yelling and screaming at me. He said I was stupid, that it was unhealthy, and that I was going to die. GOOD GRIEF! He's so dramatic! My father knows, as he had lap band 1 1 /2 years ago, and has lost 140 lbs. These are the ONLY people I will tell. OH, of course my husband knows who is extremely the most supportive, important person in my life. These are the ONLY few people that I will tell. I feel like it's not of anyone's business. I too worry about people noticing if I'm out to eat with them, etc... or seeing me eat pretty much nothing. I feel like they will think I took the easy way out. None of them know how hard I struggle to just drop a couple lbs dieting. It was great to read how others feel about this. I don't want the rest of my family knowing, as most are thin and healthy, and I feel they will be too judgemental.

SGT. Bob. Thanks for the reassurance. I definitely know there are risks with any surgery. I guess I felt pretty safe knowing that there weren't any deaths caused from it. I guess they don't include those from sepsis, etc.. since it's not actually from the band. That's kind of what I thought. I am definitely NOT changing my mind. I've been fighting pretty major health issues for some time, (high cholesterol, asthma, sleep apnea, etc...) I made this decision based on the hope that it will greatly improve my health. I know that it will just deteriorate if I continue with this weight and these medical issues. I researched the surgery quite a bit before making this decision, and still read. (Maybe I should stop reading so much) My father had lap surgery almost two years ago, and has lost 140 lbs. He not only looks, but most importantly feels amazing. If I can get off just some of the pills I take a day for asthma, etc.. I will all be worth it. I guess just reading about these two deaths freaked me out a little, as it's the first I had heard. I'm definitely not taking any of this lightly. I"m petrafied to have the surgery, but think it will greatly improve my health. I think I will not live a very long life if I don't have it. I'm only 41. Neveragain: I too would love to see that link! :-)

Hi Kbug, I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. I was very suprised and scared to read this. Because..... I have read that there have been NO deaths caused by the lapband surgery in the entire US. I confirmed this with my surgeon. I read on your profile that there was another (a family friend) Can I ask where you live? I'm so suprised to hear this after the statistics that I was told. 0 deaths in the US. I know there were some in Mexico, etc... Please advise. This freaked me out a little. I'm pre surgery! THX. Again, I'm so sorry to hear about your mom. I wonder if the statistics show this because it was a cause of the surgery and not the band. Don't know. Makes me wonder what the real statistics are?