JRFAN88

Well. I had the surgery on Wednesday. Finally on Sunday I was feeling a little better. But I decided I was finally ready to have my first bowel movement. OMG! I was not ready for that. This may be too much info for most of you but I swear I sat there for 2 hours trying to go. It was so painful. If I had it to do over again I would have been taking metamucil from the beginning. I didn't think about it until I felt the urge to go which was too late. After that passed I felt so much better. And today is much, much better & the scales finally moved a couple more pounds. Bad part is though I finally feel hunger again. Hopefully only good things from here.:biggrin:

I had surgery 2 days ago. I thought I was tough but the pain on my left side is bad. Right after the surgery I was hurting. They gave me pain meds at the surgery center & I couldn't tell it did a thing. The pain medicine I have at home works much better but mainly because it knocks me out. The worst pain comes when I try to get up or sit back down. It feels like I am just going to rip something out. It's around the port area. I also had a hiatel hernia repaired while they were in there so I'm thinking maybe that could be contributing a little to the pain. I feel like a wimp after reading how well some people are doing. I had 2 kids with no epidurals & I didn't hurt near this much. I don't want to scare anybody off but it's also scary if your the one in pain & all your reading are the positive stories. I'm taking the gas-x strips cause I'm not sure if this pain is gas but just in case. My main reason for posting is because I want to know if anyone here knows if it is ok to use a heating pad or an ice pack on the port area. The area is swollen. Also I am following the advice I've read on here about walking. Every time I get up I walk from one end of my house to the other about a dozen times. Thanks in advance for your help.

Do you mind me asking what your copay was with Federal BC/BS? I am scheduled for surgery next Wednesday. I thought I had read on this site where most people on this insurance had about $100 copay. I just received a call from the surgery center to tell me about my copay there - $923.41 which is 15%. Now I'm worried about what the surgeon's bill will be. Don't get me wrong - I'd have probably paid it myself (with payments of course) but this was quite a shock.

COOL! I like that too. Go JR!

Put me down. Glad I won't be alone! This will be cool to keep up with everyone. Betty To be banded in Texarkana, TX by Dr. Rachel Keilin at Precision Surgery:biggrin:

Precision Surgery in Texarkana, TX says they will do lapband for BMI 30 or higher. Of course it would be selfpay because no insurance is going to cover that. Price is about $15,000.

Just wanted to introduce myself. I'm Betty. I live in a small town in SW Arkansas. I'm having my surgery at Precision Surgery in Texarkana, TX. So far I love the doctors & staff there. I've attended a couple of support groups already because my boyfriend had the surgery in February. I never had considered that I could actually have this surgery until he did & then I started checking into it. I went for my first appointment last month, had a sleep study & psyche evaluation & got a call last Thursday to schedule the surgery. May 7th is their first available appointment & barring no conflicts at work I will have it that day & start my 2-week liquid diet next Wednesday. That will be hard. I'm one of those folks that had been eating very heavy to make sure my BMI was at 40 & I'm still eating that way because I don't want too big of a drop before the surgery. So I am going to crash hard after a few hours of liquids only. I want this surgery because I am so tired of losing the same 50 pounds. I have lost at least 1000 pounds in my life only to gain it back + 5 more. I was to the point that I didn't see the sense of another diet. I actually lost 56 pounds just last year, not because I was trying but because I went through a very hard divorce that I didn't want after 17 years of marriage. But as soon as I started dating my boyfriend in the fall the weight started creeping back on. I love this website. I have learned so much already that I feel will help me be prepared. I've already got my grocery list ready of what I'm going to need. I've also already got my first little nasty response that ticked me off. I found out that I had sleep apnea during the sleep study. I went to pick up my c-pap machine on Monday. The respitory therapist said "so, you're having the Lap Band? You don't look like you need it". I said well, my BMI was 40 & I have sleep apnea & high blood pressure. I guess I may as well get used to it. I can't keep it to myself. This is a small town & i have a "high-profile" job. Last year everyone was asking me how I was losing weight. I would just tell them the "divorce diet". Well. This got longer than planned. I look forward to chatting with some of you. BTW - I'm a single mom of 2 kids... a boy 14 & a girl 9. I also have a chocolate Cocker Spaniel who is like a child. And I'm a big NASCAR fan if you don't know what the JRFAN88 stands for - Dale Jr!:crying:

I did find out that I had sleep apnea. But they still scheduled my surgery for their first available appointment which was about 4 weeks out. My question if anyone knows is this: I started using a cpap machine Monday night. If I lose a lot of weight after my lapband should I just stop using the machine or wait & have another sleep study. Those things aren't cheap. Even with good insurance I still owe about $500 & they only cover 1 per year.

We have several things in common - I also live in Arkansas & I'm also 39 years old & I also have federal bc/bs. I went for my first appointment about a month ago with the surgeon. The following week I did the sleep study & psyche eval. I got my call this Thursday to schedule my surgery. I couldn't believe it. My BMI was 40. I also found I had 2 co-morbidities that I didn't even know I had. Well one I sorta knew about. I had some high blood pressure troubles last year when I went through a rough divorce after 17 years of marriage. The doc just assumed that was why & never put me on meds for it. But when I saw the surgeon she told me I needed to go back to my family doc to get on bp meds because it was too high. I also found out during the sleep study that I have sleep apnea & I would've never guessed that. I go Monday to get fitted for my c-pap machine. I'm not sure if that helped me get the insurance to pay for the surgery but it probably didn't hurt. With our insurance I was told that we had to have 5 years of medical records. I was worried about that because I have always been a yo-yoer. One year my weight is only 30-40 pounds overweight & the next year I'd be 80 pounds overweight. I also had to show evidence of trying to lose weight for at least 6 months. I was worried about this because I didn't have any medically-supervised programs. I showed journals of different plans I had done on my own & they made copies of these to send to the insurance companies. She told me our insurance does not say that they have to be medical-supervised. I am still in shock about all this but really can't wait to get started with my new life. My 40th bday is in October & I want to have my weight issues under control for the last time by then. Good luck with everything!

I had to wish you good luck. We're in about the same position including I will be 40 in October. I went for my consult about 2 weeks ago then had my sleep study & psyche eval. Now waiting for them to gather all the reports & get it submitted to insurance. I am so hoping that when I turn 40 that my weight is where I want it to be & that I start my 40s feeling better than I did at 20. I was also a little short of where I needed to be to be at 40 BMI but I had read enough of these posts on here that I knew some hints of how to instantly gain weight. Best of luck. I hope you get to post tomorrow to let us know how it went.