KatallacStrong

Wow! 28 days is super long for the liquid diet. I know each surgeon is different, but is that your surgeon's standard? I only have to do 7 days and I am unsure how I will do it, but that seems silly to me in regards to your 28 days. Hang in there Novice!

This is very true, and I have never looked at it this way. I actually met with my director last week and told her; she was excited for me. I don't meet with my immediate manager until tomorrow so I will discuss it with him and get his thoughts on moving it later into the year. Thanks for the tidbit of advice; no company has ever put me first either.

Hi! I think it's great you've finally decided for yourself to go through with the surgery; I too (as many of us I am sure) NEED to have this done. I am new here as well but have lost roughly 80 pounds on my own; similar to you I have about another 100 pounds to lose. I did regain some of that weight that I lost and I refuse to get back to where I was. I have been thinking about this surgery for quite some time now, but have finally decided it's time because I know and have finally come to terms with I need this. I hope you get approved!

Hi Beth! I am new here too; I joined a few weeks back. Last week was my first consult with my surgeon as well however I have been thinking about doing this surgery for quite some time now so I am a bit ahead of schedule in regards to insurance requirements. I had my psych evaluation on 6/18 and have met 4/6 non-surgical weight-loss regimen apts; the fifth one is next Thursday and my endoscopy is next Friday. My anticipated surgery date is late August (preferred) or sometime in September. I too have struggled with my weight for as long as I can remember. I suffer from anxiety and find it hard to comprehend this decision to have surgery, but nonetheless I am SUPER glad that I have finally committed to it.

Hey girl! I'm not as young as you, but I too am coming up on finishing my appointments (last one is 8/10 and endoscopy is next Friday). I an VERY nervous about surgery but I am more excited so I try to focus on that; my anxiety is through the roof with this but I am glad I have decided to go through it. My anticipated surgery date is sometime in late August or September sometime.

Hi Parris! I too am new and while I've not been given a surgery date I have asked that my surgeon try to get my in no later than September; I am aiming for late August but they said if they can't meet that deadline than sometime in September it is. I can't have it done any later than September due to my work so fingers crossed I get a date soon

Lol I love this! I too am new and wish you luck on your surgery girl!!

Hi all! I haven't received a date yet but I was attempting to lose weight with my PCP prior to deciding to have surgery; I had thought about it for quite some time but finally committed to having it done this year. With that being said I have met several of the requirements needed by my insurance. I have 4/6 non-surgical weight loss regimen visits (the 5th is scheduled for next Thursday), my endoscopy is next Friday and my last and final non-surgical weight loss regimen visit is scheduled with my PCP for 8/10. I had my psych eval on 6/18 and met with my surgeon for the first time on 7/3 so everything is quite accelerated lol! I asked if there was any way (since I had met the requirements so quickly) to have this surgery done no later than September; I work in contracting and the fourth quarter of the year is INSANE! I would feel awful if I had to leave my team during that crazy time of year. My surgeons team said it's going to be tight as my surgeon is going on a three week vacation, but very possible. Lol so with all that being said I should (in theory) be scheduled for sometime in late August (preferred) or sometime in September. I would LOVE to meet others that are on the same timeline as me; this is an AWESOME idea!

Yes EXACTLY! That was my entire reasoning behind making this post; I knew I could not be the only one. I have finally started to feel better where my chest doesn't hurt and I can breathe normally. I'd definitely like it if we helped each other

Thank you! I agree that it's definitely a difficult decision and even worse with anxiety on top of everything. I have been thinking about doing this for years now and have finally committed. Thankfully I knew my insurance requirements and am nearly done with meeting them, but that's kind of like a doubled ended sword; it's making the process faster. That's both a good and bad thing; good to get to my surgery date quicker but not so good in regards to processing it mentally.

Thank you SO much Chell! This is exactly how I’m feeling and I suppose since I met with the surgeon last week that’s why made it feel real to me and I just have not coped with that very well at all. Which is so odd because I am excited, I am ready; it’s taken me 2 years to even decide to do this. I too think like you...will I be able to function as a normal sized adult? What will my immediate post-op be like? There are SO many questions I find myself overloading my mind with. Thank you so much for sharing; it gives me a piece of mind💜💜

Thanks Matt, I have tried to let go and leave it in the hands of professionals which has works thus far, but I'm not sure what happened this weekend. It was like one minute I was swimming with family and the next I had to get out cause of chest pains. The last time I felt that was when my husband took me to the ER where they thought I had Pleurisy since the symptoms are virtually the same. Once I got to my PCP he told me I didn't have Pleurisy that I had just experienced an anxiety/panic attack. If my chest would stop hurting I could probably start to move past it; I just don't know how to make it stop hurting or how to reduce my heart rate. My Fitbit told me at lunch today that I hit my 30 minute activity for the day goal and I hadn't done anything relative to exercise or exertion at all today; I am actually going to skip it today since I am struggling to breathe as it is.

Thank you! I knew I wasn’t the only one but it’s nice to hear it from other going through the same thing as me you know? Congrats on surgery! I would be panicking too if I didn’t know I had to hold my vitamins, hang in there💜 I do have meds that I take daily for my anxiety along with some others that I’m to only take while in an attack. I took them yesterday but it was only a bandaid sadly.

I went to my apt and my doc is going to consider April as an apt since a directive was given and a weight was recorded. If your doc cancelled tour apt did y’all discuss anything that may have been recorded? I am counting my blessings they are counting April as an apt, but if yours doesn’t I would challenge it since they’re the ones who cancelled.

I haven’t even seen my surgeon for the first consult yet and I feel awful too girl. Hang in there 💜

I do! My email is Katallac04@gmail.com

I’m in St. Louis too, but I’m going down to Festus (Mercy-Jefferson) because my insurance covers it at 90% (opposed to its standard 80%) because that facility is considered a BCBS “Center if Excellence”. I am curious what my OOP will be at that coverage; my consult is in early July but I already have 4 of the 6 consecutive appointments and the psych apt done so fingers crossed that helps lol!

OMG I am in the exact same situation; every other month I went ugh. My doc is going to contact my insurance (Anthem BCBS and I’m in MO) see what he can do because he believes I have done more than the required 6 months non-surgical weight-loss regimen. Lol I posted this same question in the pre-op Q&A section. I am new to this so I didn’t even see a insurance section until just now. Once I hear from my doc I will follow-up with you:)

I feel the same way but I haven’t even gotten to my consult yet lol! I’ve gone back and forth with the idea for years now but I’ve ALWAYS gone back to yes; I will do this. The rationale that I have come to is simple; I may have serious complications from this surgery...but I also may have serious complications of being morbidly obese. I think that rationale has really helped guide me to make this decision. Best of luck to you 💜

Hey y’all! This is my first post as I’m still in the consult stages of trying to get the VSG surgery. I meet with the surgeon for the first time on 7/3/18 however I have a few concerns with the requirements of my insurance; Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield. A friend (and coworker) of mine had this procedure done in December 2017 so I have a bit of info on how things will go with our insurance, but I have concern with what is considered as this “continuous 6-month non-surgical weight-loss regimen” requirement. I have called BCBS several times all of which I have been told the same thing; the 6 months have to be consecutive/continuous in the past 2 years. This means no breaks in visits and there are no exceptions; they must be month to month. I understand there are requirements to be met but I’ve been having an internal battle with whether or not to have the surgery for the better part of the last 3 years. I have lost nearly 80 pounds on my own through diet and exercise but since I quit smoking in late 2016 I have regained nearly half of that weight back regardless my efforts; or at least that’s how it feels. That sure was a long way around my question, lol sorry y’all! My question is, has anyone been approved for their surgery with BCBS (in Missouri) without having the consecutive/continuous appointments? In early 2017 when I realized I was gaining I started seeing my primary doctor every other month to try and get ahold of things; he felt one months time just wasn’t enough to see if what we were doing was working or not so he wanted every other month. This has been unsuccessful but I feel like with all my visits to him and the documented attempts at the various methods I’ve tried should suffice. Now, I have found out that these “6 months” can be with my doctor and not necessarily a nutritionist; that’s not my concern. My concern is I have documented appointments in January 2017, May 2017, July 2017, November 2017, January 2018, March 2018, May 2018 and today I have one to mark June 2018; I made today’s appointment since apparently there’s no way I can get approved without my appointments being consecutive. In the beginning of 2017 it wasn’t every other month until we saw I was still gaining; we had chatted via email several times between appointments. It’s not that I want to rush into this surgery that has me so concerned. What concerns me is that I’ve tried so many different attempts with both my primary physician and a dietician (March 2018) and nothing; my doc said when people have a lot of weight to lose it is common for there to be struggles like this. What else is there for Me to try aside from shots and such; I definitely don’t want that. Another issue I have is if I do have to do these appointments consecutively that means my sixth apt will be October 2018. I work in legal (contracting) and I cannot take off more than 1-2 days at a time through January; it’s our busiest time of year. What that means is it will have to wait until early next year which is a new year of deductibles; ugh my brain hurts. I know my surgery center can help but any thoughts or insight to this are greatly appreciated. Thanks y’all, sorry for the ramble

Thanks ash_allen. I know these weigh-ins have to be consecutive, I was just wondering if anyone has met with their doc similarly to I have and have been approved. I read somewhere where a patient got a recommendation letter and was approved based on the regimen they had with their doc even though it wasn’t consecutive.

Oh wow that’s crazy! I’m sorry to hear of the awful coverage but I appreciate the insight from someone else in Missouri. Thanks Snapple!

Wow that’s crazy! When I called the various times I was told it was covered. Did they tell you why you weren’t covered? I wonder if your company opted out of it? That’s super interesting. The friend of mine who is a coworker said it covered hers. I wanted to get a gauge of OOP cost so I called and that’s when they told me it was covered at 80% in-network OR 90% at a”Center of Excellence” (COE). I had no idea what that was so I googled it and it’s specific facilities that hold a standard that Anthem approves. The surgeon I am going to see is at a COE so my surgery will be covered at 90%