Hiraeth

Not yet. They haven't gotten a surgery date scheduled yet. That will be the hardest part, I think, since my stomach will still be empty since I still have a lot of room. I'm mostly worried about migraines. But... no pain, no gain.

That's weird that they do that to you. Protein shakes always go right through me!

I just got the call today that my insurance approved me! I would like to thank Dr. Les Miles and his patient advocate, Bridgette, for all the hard work they did to make this happen. I am so excited!

Did you tell the cardiologist that you weren't told to see one? So sorry you feel this way. Please don't give up. Keep us updated.

I got the call today from my patient advocate that my insurance approved my surgery! I don't have a surgery date yet. But I am SO EXCITED!!! Apparently, my surgeon has had many conferences with BCBS, and they have all denied approval to do the surgery without the requirements. So I am the first case to be approved right away!

I'm so sorry they're being this way with you. Is there any way you can self pay?

Did they make you see a doctor for 4 months on a diet and make you do all the other stuff? How long did it take you to get the surgery approved after your consultation? I do not have HPB. It's either low or perfect most of the time. I used to be Pre-Diabetic, but it went away somehow. I do, however, have PCOS.

I don't have much advice from myself, since I've never had heart issues. But my aunt is over 300 lbs and has congestive heart failure because of her weight. She told me that she takes a diuretic and is able to pee out 15 lbs in a day. Her doctor is trying to get her to have the surgery, but she is stubborn. This surgery will definitely help your heart. Let's just focus on getting your heart at a decent rhythm so they can perform the surgery. Then you're set! Try to stay away from anything salty. I know it's hard, but this is important. I just said a prayer for you. Prayer in numbers is a great thing! <3

Ok first of all, HOLY CRAP! I just viewed your profile (yes I'm a creeper sometimes >.>) and OH MY WORD. You don't even look like the same person... I had to look several times. I would have guessed your previous self was maybe 40 years old. Now, you look 25. That is crazy!!! O_O The skin looks uncomfortable more than anything. I actually doesn't look that bad... I love your positivity on how you're proud of it. You should be! So proud of you! I think it's so amazing that people look younger when they lose weight. I'm 24 and people always think I'm under the legal age. I can't imagine how young I'll look when I lose my weight. I hate always having to carry my I.D. But, I won't complain!

I'm so sorry to hear this. What insurance company do you use, if I may ask? If I were you, I would take out a loan. I have several health issues and my weight is the only thing making me unhappy. Money is definitely an issue with me, but there is no price on happiness and good health. I'm only telling you what I would do; not what you should do. I don't know what your full story is.

So my doctor has set up a conference with my insurance (BCBS Federal) to see if they will approve the Gastric Sleeve without the usual requirements. The reason is because I have Pseudotumor cerebri and my vision is getting worse each month. He's worried I will go blind, and it has been proven that losing weight will most likely send my Pseudotumor into remission. So my question is... Has anyone here been approved right away by insurance because of health reasons?

You do NOT look the same. You look at least 15 years younger than the first photo. When I saw how much you said you weigh now (170), I thought to myself "There's no way she weighs that", because to me, you look like you weigh no more than 140. You look amazing and so beautiful. I'm not just saying this to be nice. You truly look like a thin, pretty woman. Congrats! <3

Now that I think of it, Dr. Miles requested my Neuro-Opthamologist to fax him my records showing that I had a BMI over 40 from 2013 till now. He requested them himself because he's extremely anxious to do my surgery since I'm at a high risk of losing my vision because of the Pseudotumor cerebri. Bless his heart. So that's why they called to set up an appointment; because I had the records faxed pretty quickly. How are you doing on that, by the way?

Thank you so much for your kind, uplifting words! It's nice to see, especially when I'm a bit stressed about it all. I'm about to start college for the first time, plus I just had to sell my Jeep to Driver's Way because it blew a head gasket. So I have all of these things to stress over. But your post has really helped me. <3

I agree! Have they called you to set up your Cardiac Eval yet? They called me last week and I have mine on July 11th. I'm so anxious to get this all completed, lol.

This is too cool! You're going to love Grandview. Their rooms are very nice and almost have a hotel feel to them. The hospital isn't depressing like a lot are.

I didn't hear that about the PCOS. Wow, that makes me nervous, too. Though, I'm sure we will be fine. I know of someone who had it done, who also had PCOS, and she lost 80 pounds in 4 months. Hopefully, we have her luck, lol! I live in Helena, but I frequent Birmingham. They're both over an hour away from you. It'd be nice if we could be each others support system. I'm still ecstatic that we both are starting at the same time, while using the same doctor, lol!

Haha! Me too! He's so sweet. He's setting up a conference with BCBS to see if they'll go ahead and approve my surgery since I have pseudotumor cerebri. He seems very worried. I hope we get through this! I'm so anxious to get this done!

That is too cool! Did you have your appointment sometime in the afternoon? I walked into the office on the 28th to get a work excuse during the meeting with other patients. I was the short brunette in the red Alabama shirt, lol. I'm so excited to see that someone is starting their process at the same time as me! What do you think of Dr. Miles? I think he's so funny!

My doctor said these things are not required, except the sleep apnea test and the cardiac eval. He actually called me an hour after typing this and told me he was thinking about me since I left his office. He told me he is going to set up a direct conference with BCBS to see if they will cover my surgery without these requirements, since my vision is getting worse from the Pseudotumor cerebri. I really hope they approve it.

Welcome! I am so glad to hear your mom is on board. Having her support will be very helpful. As to point 7 about the nutritionist. You may want to think carefully about whether or not to stay with your current NUT if they are not supportive. You definitely need someone with Bariatric/WLS experience. It may seem like there are too many post-op requirements, but they really designed to help you succeed and to have the safest experience possible. The time goes fast and you can make the most of it to help you succeed long-term. Keep us posted on how you are doing. Thank you so much! Yeah, I'm thinking about seeing another Nutritionist. They told me they knew a woman who had the sleeve done and it didn't work. Well, she's probably the 10%, if it's true. They barely ever have customers when I come in. I'm pretty sure they aren't doing good business. They gave me natural Vitamins to help with hunger, and they did not work. I was always starving on their diet. I would get horrible migraines and feel completely drained. I really do hope the time goes by fast.

So I had my first appointment with my doctor yesterday. I absolutely love him! He's very blunt and to the point, which I found hilarious. I brought my mom with me because she was not supportive of this surgery at all. She thinks I can just diet and lose it on my own, but I have tried dieting for 3 years now, and I always fall back into gaining weight. I am 24 (25 in a few weeks) and I'm sick of wasting my young life being overweight. My surgeon got straight to the point and said, "This surgery has a 90% success rate of keeping the weight off for the next 10 years. Without this surgery, you will most likely gain the weight back." My mom asked him questions about my Pseudotumor cerebri and he said, "This surgery will absolutely help." He also said it will probably cure my PCOS. That conversation convinced my mom that this surgery is probably my last hope. I am so pleased because now she is no longer rolling her eyes at me every time I bring it up. She's actually saying that my sister probably needs it, too. Now about the requirements that BCBS has given me... They are pretty stupid. Even my surgeon agrees. He said that BCBS gives us these requirements because they think we will give up trying to get everything together, because they don't want to pay. That is believable. 1. I have to get records together proving that I have had a BMI over 40 for the last 3 years. (This one isn't so bad. Since I have been overweight for the last 7-8 years, this should be fairly easy to obtain.) 2. I have to be put on a diet by a DOCTOR for 4 months. (That means, the 4 months that I have been put on a diet by a Nutritionist are worthless in this situation.) 3. I have to have a Cardiac Evaluation. (This is understandable. They have to make sure my heart is strong enough to handle the operation.) 4. I have to have a sleep Disorder Test. (Also understandable. I'm having one July 29th. They said there's a possibility that I may have Narcolepsy. Let's hope it's just sleep apnea.) 5. I have to have a clearance letter written by a doctor. (This one is kinda stupid. I'm pretty sure my surgeon is more than able to know I need the surgery. I'm worried my doctor may charge me to write this letter.) 6. Psychological Evaluation (This is bogus, too. But I guess it's also understandable. They must want to make sure I'm not an emotional eater. I can already tell that's not the case. I'm just hungry, dang it! Lol. The oral steroids they put me on years ago started this.) 7. I have to see a Nutritionist. (I hope the one I'm seeing is good enough. They are so against me getting this surgery, though. I know it's because they're worried about losing me as a customer. Those scumbags...) 8. I have to schedule a 4 hour nutrition class. (I guess this won't be so bad.) I have 7 months to do all of this. I really wanted to have the surgery before next year, but I guess it's worth the wait.

I highly doubt it. I heard that you have a higher chance of gaining the weight back after you diet, than you do if you have surgery. The reason is because, when we eat a lot, our stomach stretches. The stomach (organ) does not shrink back to the size it was once it stretches out. So when you lose weight by dieting, you will still be hungry because you aren't filling your stomach completely (getting full). The only thing you can do while dieting, is learn how to manage cravings. The point of the gastric sleeve is to cut away a large amount of the stomach so that when you eat less, you feel full quickly. This happened to me as well. I lost 30 pounds in 3 months. I gained it all back. It's not easy to keep the weight off by dieting alone.

It is a similar surgery with using gas to expand abdomen during surgery. Walk as soon as you can to get rid of the gas.Darn it! When I had my gallbladder removal surgery, the gas in my arm was the only thing that hurt when I woke up. It hurt SO MUCH (on a scale of 1-10, the pain was a 9). I'm usually able to tolerate pain, but that was awful. It felt like my arm was slowly breaking away from my body. I walked as much as I could. Then when 2 AM rolled around, I tried laying down to sleep, but I couldn't. I couldn't even recline because the pain was triggered by any kind of laying down. I had to literally sit up at a 90° angle while I slept. I was dozing in and out of sleep for about 2 days. By the 3rd day, I was finally able to recline, but still not able to lay down flat. I usually do well after surgeries, but that was something else. Though, to get this weight off, I'm willing to go through that again. I want to lose weight more than anything. I haven't had WLS yet but I'm told not as painful as Gallbladder surgery. You'll get through it! Stay strong! Thank goodness!

Does that mean your Pseudotumor has improved since you lost weight? I started Diamox when I was 21 (about 3 years ago). They found uric acid in my urine (caused by the Diamox), which is what causes the stones. I noticed your BMI is 22.7 and you're 5'11''. That means you're about 162 lbs right? That's awesome! I'd still be overweight at 162 because I'm a shorty, lol.