Jenwill630

OMG. Nope. No way could i do that. Did you tell your Dr how bad it sucks? Ask if you can switch to a different brand/flavor and if the fish oil is needed you can take a pill instead.

LOL I could definitely see that happening. BTW, where in Ohio are you? My daughter goes to school there. She goes to Kent and is hoping to go to Med School in Cleveland.

Good morning gang. So this morning I went to get my labwork out of the way. I had lab orders from my PCP and then also from the surgeon.......10 freaking vials of blood. 3 of them had to be frozen and then another one of them was not allowed to see the light so had to be covered immediately. So weird. Anyway, what a cluster!@#$ it was with the woman at the desk trying to sort 2 different orders. LOL I should have just gone to a lab, but went to the hospital to get it all done instead because I had to go to work and the lab at the hospital opens at 6:30. Perfect for me. And since it was fasting, boy did that coffee that I had waiting in the car taste extremely good afterward! LOL

The good thing is, with the holidays and all that running around, January will be here before we all know it!!

Good morning Elcee! Most insurance here is partially paid by the employer if you work. But for insurance to cover the WLS, the employer has to have a special rider on the policy. The insurance I am currently on through my husbands employer does NOT have it. So I have to switch to my employers policy that does have it. And you can only switch policies once a year, so i am pretty lucky that this all came up right as enrollment was about to happen. I know my deductible is $2500 and then after that I pay 20% of all charges until I hit my max out of pocket of $5000 for the year. I would be so frustrated having to pay all of that money and then have to do it again several years later. That is just horrible. How did the dietitian appointment go? Are you using the same Dr that you had the last time?

At my first appointment with my surgeon last week, he said his group no longer does lapbands because there are too many problems and for me, my best bet is RNY because of my GERD. Which, I am glad he said that. I would rather have one surgery and be done.

Hi there! I should be in January too. I am switching from my husbands insurance to my employers insurance for January 1st. His employers policy does not have a bariatric rider on it, mine does. So I am jumping through the hoops too.........just think, Thursday is November! Only 2 months after that!!! How I am staying on track is just making sure I journal everything and sticking with my exercise. The exercise is not a problem. I love to workout, but because of my weight, I can't do the things I enjoy most. Anyway, my surgeons rule is no food diary, no surgery. So I am being very diligent with it. This Friday I have a weight check with my PCP and then next Wednesday I have appointments with the dietitian and the psych eval. I will be SO happy to have those two things out of the way.

Thank you. What is the process like to get approved in Australia? As I am sure you have read on here, for those of us in the US it is all depending on the insurance you have and if your employer has the rider in the contract to allow bariatric services. I am currently on my husbands insurance and they do not allow bariatric surgery. My employers plan does allow it though. So open enrollment is in a couple of weeks and I am moving from his insurance to my insurance. That will take effect the first of the year. In the meantime, I made sure to choose a doctor and hospital that both insurances allow so i can at least get started in the process and not have to pay that much out of pocket. Where I live, my house is in a fairly rural area. The hospital closest to me does not have bariatric surgeons. So my choices were to go about 50 miles south to Pittsburgh or go to another town about 30 miles west. I am going with the Dr and hospital just to my west. I like the Dr. and the office staff very much and it will be much easier for my family to get to and from that hospital than one of the ones in Pittsburgh.

It looks like I am January too! I need for my new insurance to take effect January 1st. The coordinator said they will submit for approval the next business day. LOL So not sure of a date, but I am RNY. I am hoping that my husband will still be home and not on the road. He travels for work and is gone 7 months out of the year.

Thanks Ed! Aren't we lucky? I keep reading all different requirements by Doctors and I am in awe. I mean, if I had to do it, I would do it. But SO glad that i don't! LOL

After about 5 minutes at Dr. Gagne's office the other day, I decided I am really glad I chose him as my surgeon. For starters, having the surgery at Butler instead of going down to Pittsburgh is a big plus. Especially since I have no idea how I am getting to and from the hospital, so if I have to get the male child or my uncle to do it, I am way better off doing through Butler. Talking with Dr. Gagne...he is very matter of fact, straight forward, yet seems to be very understanding. I had printed off my diary pages from MFP, put them in a binder for him and he said to just continue to eat as I have been doing because it was very good along with the exercise I have been doing.....proof positive that i need the surgery when he sees the work I am putting in and yet not so much as 1 ounce has been lost since my appointment the beginning of the month at Dr. Reyer. With regard to the holidays coming up....he said not to deprive myself, but by the same token please realize I am not going to the electric chair so please do not go overboard. LMAO Kelli told us that since Highmark has a change in medical policy, there is no more 6 month wait. So I asked for an approximate of when I could possibly have my surgery if that is the case...they will be submitting it the day after New Years when it takes effect. LOL This is going to fly!!!!

I thought I should start journaling this whole experience in a safe place, so here we go. On October 1st, I had my appt with my PCP Dr. Reyer and as usual, gained weight yet again. Dr. Reyer suggested that we try yet another diet. I left there just bawling because i have had enough. I am at my highest weight EVER, feel like crap, look like crap and I truly can not stand it anymore. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. It was on that ride home that I decided that I needed to look into weight loss surgery. When I got home, I immediately went online to see if my insurance covers WLS. That is a big fat no. My husbands employer does not have the rider. So that night was spent looking into Mexico as an option. The next morning on my way to work, I realized that open enrollment is coming up. Let's see if my insurance covers it. In to HR I went and sure enough, my employer does have this on the insurance!!!! I started looking into Doctors that are covered on both my current insurance and my future insurance. Narrowed it down and scheduled to go to both of their seminars. On 10-11, I went to Dr. Gagne's seminar at Butler Memorial Hospital. Luckily, I got there very early since i went straight from work. I was the first one there as the Dr and Kelli his coordinator were setting up. That gave me a 30 minute opportunity to sit and talk to them one on one. At that point, I realized I didn't need to go to the other seminar, this was who I wanted to be my Dr. and coordinator. On 10-24, I had my first appointment with Dr. Gagne. Kelli let me know that with my changing insurance, there would be no problem and also that my future insurance had just changed it's medical policy last month and there is no longer a 6 month weigh in period. Now the only wait I have is for Highmark to kick in!!! So on that note, on November 7, I have appointments with both the dietitian and my pysch evaluation and then go back to Dr. Gagne on 12-12.

So I thought I would put the resolution to this on here in case others are on the same boat. My surgeon's coordinator looked into this for me. Because of where I live (Western Pennsylvania) and the constant battle with health insurance (Highmark and UPMC) people jump back and forth all the time. My surgeon is on both the aetna plan I am currently on and the Highmark plan I am moving to. So I am good to go. The coordinator also told me that Highmark made a recent change to their medical policy regarding wait time until surgery. They got rid of the requirement on the plan that i am moving to. So I have my pysch consult and dietitian appointments in a few weeks, labs to go do, a couple of more weigh ins with my PCP, and then another appt set up with my surgeon in Mid-December. On January 2nd, they will submit to my new insurance to get approval and if all goes well, I will have my surgery before the end of January!

I will try very hard to be optimistic. LOL At any rate, I am going to continue to put the work in and am very happy that the Dr. is happy with what I am doing so far.

I had my first appointment with the surgeon last night and I see light at the end of the tunnel. Now, normally I am not an optimistic person. If something can go wrong or plans get messed up, it will happen to me. It's just the way things seem to work out for me. For starters, I am really glad I chose this Dr. I like his personality, he is very straight-forward. I had started journaling on MFP right after the seminar, so I printed off those days and put them in a binder for Dr. Gagne to take a look at. He told me not to change anything. To keep eating exactly the way I am currently eating that my protein is perfect, my calories are good, my fat is good, etc. So that was nice to hear especially since the scale has not moved in 3 weeks. Some other good news that I was told is that the insurance I am switching to at open enrollment (Highmark BCBS DE) no longer has the 6 month supervised diet. Because this sounded too good to be true, I verified this online and with HR this morning. Sure enough, that policy changed as of last month!!!! So it looks like as soon as I have the insurance at the first of the year, the coordinator will be calling to get a date set for me!!!!! Other good news from talking to the Dr. I asked what the pre-op diet would be. He said well exactly what you are doing now. So I told him no, I had read about people having to do a liver shrinking diet. He said for him, it depends on the patient, but I would only have to do the day before clear liquids! How great it was to hear that. So all these good things that I found out last night......a banana peel is sure to show up somewhere. LMAO

I am about to switch to Highmark BCBS DE in order to have my surgery. Last night, my Dr. told me that Highmark changed their medical policy and there is no longer a 6 month supervised diet period. So I went onto the Highmark website, scrolled down toward the bottom to Medical Policy, then hit search for Obesity. Sure enough the policy changed on 9-17-18. What I am saying is double check to see if your policy has changed at all part way through the year.

I was hoping to get the sleeve too, but my Dr. feels bypass would be better for me due to my GERD. That is great that your mom had it done so you have someones experience to go off of.

Hi Andrea, my name is Jen and I am a planner too!!!!!!!!! OMG it was just killing me between the seminar and the first visit to the Dr. LOL

Carly, That is great that you only have 3 months of waiting. That will just fly for you! Are you having sleeve or RNY? I'm RNY.

Hi Carly! I am new too and if you have the 6 month requirement, we will have our surgeries right about the same time. I live in Western Pennsylvania, went to the seminar on 10-10 and see the surgeon today. Luckily, I had an appt with my PCP on the 3rd and the weigh in there counts as my first. Hope you have a great day!!!

Today is my first appointment with my surgeon! I'm excited for this too. Good luck to us both!!

Lucky! I am at the very beginning of my journey and have MONTHS to go. Best of luck to you!

For the weight watchers part of this, make a copy of your weigh in book. It will have the date, your weight, any loss or gain. That seems like what they are looking for on that. For your Doctor, I know on the paperwork I always receive after a visit, it states anything discussed, weight, meds I am on, etc. Hopefully your Dr is putting detailed notes on your file too. I am looking at March for my surgery too. Good luck!!!!

I will say this.....I think I found one of the things that is going to be very hard to get used to. Not drinking while I eat. I decided let me start paying attention to this. OMG I am so used to drinking, even if just a few sips, while I eat and right after.

I think one of the big things I am going to have to get used to will be not drinking while I eat. I'm already using MFP and started getting my carbs down, having a hard time with protein up but getting there.