JT2002TJ

That is weird. I thought the sleeve was always an inpatient thing, as they need to test for leaks. This is new to me.

2 minutes ago, c1ndy said:

You are right, we don't get to see them that often. If you wrote a letter it might get to the business office anyway. The patient portal would be a good idea if it is available. I am not usually a confrontational person but I had it out with the office manager of a chain dental company. It was about insurance. I was fighting insurance (long story) and she made a snide comment about my step-daughter, very unprofessional. She said that insurance was not going to cover it and that my daughter's teeth must not be that important if we weren't able to pay for it. In that case I wrote a letter to the corporate office. Then I received a huge apology. Insurance ended up covering $10,000 worth of work as my step daughter had slipped on a cement culvert at the pond and busted out her front teeth, awful experience. That poor girl. However, with wls doctor's they are not going to have a "corporate" office. It had nothing to do with the dentist, he was awesome, but it was the office manager that ticked me off. In this case her surgeon is probably great but she is dealing with the office also.

I am glad to hear you have had such a great experience. How exciting that you are so close to approval.

My group has been awesome. I have even texted with my coordinator because I am on the go a lot and some days have back to back clients it is difficult for me to find time to talk on the phone and it helped that we could text back and forth. My coordinator makes me feel comfortable and I can ask her anything.

I wish the same success we have had on the OP. Everyone should have a good experience, especially since this is a BIG money maker for the surgical groups.

I am happy, and am potentially about 6 weeks away from surgery (as long as everything goes smooth). Can't wait to do this after 6 months of prerequisites.

Sorry you and your family had such a bad experience, teeth and dentist office. I agree the surgeon probably has no idea. My surgical group is part of Winthrop Hospital (a major NY hospital), so the point you brought up of writing a letter to a corporate office may actually make sense if the OP's group is also part of (or affiliated with) a corporate group or hospital.

I would say letters to local offices are probably filtered through staff, but they may be forced to respond by law to patient complaints at hospitals (New York State Department Of Health NYSDOH requires hospitals to respond).

2 minutes ago, c1ndy said:

Of course, you might let the surgeon himself know why you left. Sometimes the surgeon does not realize that his office is being less than proactive in your surgery.

I was going to suggest the above, but in my experience we don't get to see the surgeon without a paid visit. Even with a paid visit, you have to have a good reason as their schedules are booked up. For me, I saw my surgeon during the initial group seminar and the next time was during the initial office visit (where my insurance requirements, the surgical group requirements were provided, and a conversation to decide which WLS was best for me). I have my final structured (sixth) diet weigh in tomorrow (8/25/2017) and I will not see the surgeon until right before the surgery after my final insurance approval (this will be the second one-on-one meeting with my surgeon).

I have had a stellar experience with my group, including email responses from my nurse coordinator within 24 hours (often within an hour).

If you have a patient portal, sometimes you can reach the surgeon this way, but even this way it is often routed through the office/clinical staff and may not actually reach the surgeon.

13 minutes ago, LacyMay said:

I agree with you. I've been thinking about it and can't think of any excuse I can come up with for why they wouldn't make that phone call. As much as I like the doctor, the office staff is who I will be dealing with most and if I have to tell them how to do their job it should be a huge red flag. Thanks for your input!

Yeah, doesn't make sense. And even if you talk to the surgeon about the office staff (basically go around the staff), it will just create tension.

I would suggest calling and speaking with the office manager, after you found a new surgical group, and explain why you left the group. Hopefully this will help someone else in the future.

The first time the Surgeon's office said they wouldn't make a call to my insurance company, would be the last time they got a cent of my money.

It is normal for Surgeons to have additional requirements to make sure the surgery goes smooth, but weight history is typically not one of them. Most surgeons I know are against the hoops to do with weight the insurance companies require (3 months, 6 months, years...). They would like to make the decision about patient's weights themselves (they as in the medical team, hospital, surgeon, anesthesiologist,...).

Remember, they are a business, this is an elective process, where their business is by patients choosing to visit them. They are about to make $25k+ from you (copayments + insurance payments).

I suggest going somewhere else. I'm not sure where you live, but if it is near a big city, bariatric surgery groups are everywhere.

1 minute ago, nursejackie said:

Everyone looks great ! I feel much better. JT good point ! I tend to get worse scars than other people , and have gotten keloids before too , especially around piercings ( yeah I had a piercing phase lol ). I just found out I got approved guys !!! I am doing it , hope my scars are ok but a hot and healthy body will be worth it !!

Awesome news!!! Good luck!

I assume mine will be worse then these great healing experiences. I get keloid scars that typically start out raised, but over the years end up flush, but you can still see different pigmentation/constancy.

OP, do you have any other scars? How did they heal? I'm sure it will be similar to other cuts you have had (if you had any).

5 minutes ago, AsianBeauty said:

Ok, see I started mine in January I missed my February appointment. I made March- June. Because it wasn't consecutive my 6 months started over from March to August. My insurance (BCBS) was extremely picky.

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Yeah... The hoops they make us go through. My Dr's office tried to reschedule me because my NP was out sick. Because of how important the consecutive months were I couldn't wait, they made the morning NP stay all day to accommodate me (since I had a scheduled appointment). It was my 4th month, so they would have risked me having to start all over.

If the requirement is consecutive, it really means consecutive...

2 minutes ago, Bishbosh said:

Fortunately. As I cannot tolerate fluids it's classed as urgent.

Good, at least that is some good news. Sorry you had to go though all of this.

Just now, Bishbosh said:

I did have an endoscopy but it wasn't spotted?!! I have to have revision to bypass I think. I'm 15 weeks post op so it's all settled and healed now. Everything was ok in the beginning but I've had terrible reflux. The reflux was getting worse, so I came to the hospital and that's when they found all these problems.

I'm so sorry. Good luck, I can't imagine having to have 2 surgeries so close together.

Will this revision be covered under NHS, without a major wait?

Just now, Bishbosh said:

Yes sure. First I have a hernia which they didn't spot and did not fix during my surgery. (My understanding is that this is a standard, simple procedure before a sleeve) secondly, the surgeon has cut the stomach too close and therefore it is too small. The food can't get through. Because he stitched over the staple line which in turn narrowed the sleeve even further. So I can only tolerate liquids.

Man. So sorry. Did they not do an upper endoscopy first?

What is the fix for the too narrow sleeve? Conversion to a bypass? Will it allow for food after it fully heals and swelling goes down?

5 hours ago, AsianBeauty said:

I had to do 6 consecutive months. My first appointment was a consultation as well and that visit went towards my 6 months. So your last appointment should be in September.

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x2. My last structured diet monthly visit is next week (8/25/17). I started (3/31/2017) as month 1. They try to keep as close to 30 days in between as possible, so every appointment has been the last Friday of the given month.

Sorry for the issues you had to get through. Do you mind sharing what your complications were?

13 hours ago, RSM said:

I know the risk of death if you don't use the CPAP, but I simply cannot, repeat cannot use it. For reasons I cannot sleep with a mask on and hope the sleeve surgery will heal my apnea.

Have you tried different style masks?

Do you have a CPAP hose holder? (This was a big help for me, as the hose was not tugging at my head, and I can turn without rolling over the hose)

13 minutes ago, RSM said:

Do you know if there was a Chain of Custody form ? If so, it was for drugs.

Do they have to do a chain of custody form since this is for elective surgery, and not for employment/criminal?

11 minutes ago, sleevedshereen said:

Likewise! But me reading "i'm probably one of the few people on here who's actually athletic" is rude and doesn't sit well with me so I just wanted to address it and make it clear that words like that are uncalled for and not ok in an environment like this.

Anyways! I'm over this post. Have a good day!

I read that to, and my first reaction was "that ain't gonna sit well." I hear you. Have a great day!

1 hour ago, sleevedshereen said:

@JT2002TJ saying "girl stop" when I don't know you, is speaking down to me and rude. She was defensive against anyone who had an opinion on the matter. She posted something, and this is a forum for everyone to share their thoughts and opinions, just because it isn't to someone's liking, and because they didn't like to hear criticism on the matter and wanted a babied answer, they also were rude to every person on here that said that was not a good idea. We are not doctors so we said be honest with your surgeon. Also, this is not just a random surgery...if you are serious about this journey you are about to embark on why risk it? That is all we were saying. So because I shared my opinion, I was told "girl stop" with a rude remark after. Not having it. If you want to defend that, sure. Go ahead. You're completely entitled, as are we who have opposing opinions.

Yeah, I'm just assuming she was coming from the side of being backed into a corner and as a result was unintentionally lashing, but I may be wrong.

I just want people to get along and help each other out.

Thanks!

1 hour ago, nomorefattypatty said:

If you think that prescribed medications cause your body harm and marijuana doesn't you're only fooling yourself, marijuana is far worse on the lungs than cigarettes anyone who is feeling like they are defending their use of drugs is in need of some rehab and meetings.

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I am not defending the use of drugs, I am defending a person who is being attacked. I am not religious, but I think there are good aspects (teachings), for example:

Quote

Mathew 7: 1 Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

Just an fyi, medicinal marijuana does not have to be "smoked". It can be inhaled as a vapor, ingested as a pill or food. These ways do not include the harmful effects of the traditional "smoking" way.

I'm still not sure how the traditional way of smoking marijuana is "far worse on the lungs than cigarettes." I would be happy to read any literature you have to support this.

There are plenty of articles on pubmed.gov with double blind placebo controlled studies (from overseas) citing the medical benefits of medicinal marijuana.

On 8/15/2017 at 0:36 AM, sleevedshereen said:

So knowing this, don't say you're one of few people who is actually athletic on here. You're in the same boat as all of us. Good luck to you. You need all you can get. Bless you on your journey. ️

I honestly do not think the OP was meaning to be insulting, and I can see how it can be taken so. The OP was getting backed into a corner by some pre-judging members here. Rather than being supportive and having a discussion it turned into holier-than-thou bashing. I know you were trying to be helpful (and I'm NOT including you in that group that was attacking the OP).

To others in this thread, the way medical marijuana laws are changing throughout the country are a sign of the medical benefits, with minimal to no side effects. I am not one who uses it, but working in the medical industry I can see where it is FAR better of a solution than many other prescribed medications with side effects which harm organs, and are physically addictive.

This forum is about sharing of information, helping others through their journey and being a wealth of knowledge. If we turn people away, it is more than just mean, it may contribute to the issues that got us all here in the first place. Do you want to be responsible for someone quitting? How do we all feel about people judging us about our weight? Those of you being insulting, have done the same thing to the OP except used weed in place of food...

OP - you have gotten some good advice here, be honest with your surgeon. I hope you do not have an issue.

I haven't had this surgery yet, but I have had surgery before under general anesthesia. The time depends on each surgeon, and your anatomy. But, assume it is like sleeping, you will "fall asleep" and "wake up". How long it takes you to "wake up" may be different lengths of in and out of grogginess.

Just now, Natasha85 said:

I think I'll get what I can remove and just save. I guess that's what that mean. I work for a small private company. Have insurance but they won't cover the surgery. I'll just save and hopefully be ready in the Spring.

How far away are you from being vested?

I personally am not a fan of removing money out of a retirement fund. I'm ok with taking a loan against it (I did that when I bought my first home), but you want to do everything you can to leave the money there. It is one of the few avenues where you will average 8% or more interest.

For me, I know if I removed the money, I wouldn't replace it on top of continuing to add money. This can set you back years.

2 minutes ago, Natasha85 said:

They said that I can only remove what I put in.

Ah. You are not fully vested, right? Once you are vested, the money is yours, before that, your employer has the right to remove if you do not meet the vesting requirements. There isn't much you can do, because technically, that money is not yours yet.

You can take out loans, I've seen people talking about medical WLS financing here.

16 minutes ago, Natasha85 said:

Now I've ran into another issue. I can only remove a certain amount from my 401K and they stated that depending on the reason, it may not be approved. I don't understand why I can't remove what I need to get it done and why they're so many restrictions on it.

Did your company set the restriction? Because you should be able to remove as much as you want, it is just if you will be heavily fined by doing so. Do you have the option to take a loan against your 401K?

They do have a great, very friendly program that seems like a family. I am glad I went with them, and am really looking forward to getting through this!

6 minutes ago, bannsleeve said:

I didn't know about this. How amazing! I'm going to give this a try for sure. . THANK YOU SO much for the info

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I hope your insurance will cover as much as mine, if not at least some to help you with the costs. I learned about it in this forum, so I owe it to everyone else here to yell it from all the rooftops...