ssflbelle

HI MicheleK

I know what you mean about scared, this will be my first too. Yes it would be a great B'day gift and I sure do hope they approve you. Good luck with your Dr. visit on the 25th.

Amanda

I have to admit I'm pretty scared about surgery because of my weight, (I've also, never had surgery - and I'm scared of needles, lol). My current BMI is 53.7. :ohmy:

I have my final appointment with my surgeon on June 25th (after enduring a 3 month supervised diet plan - insurance required), after that my info will be faxed over to Aetna. I hope they move this along quickly, I'm turning 35 on the 27th and an insurance approval would be a wonderful B'Day gift.

HI Phyllser

I don't know how I missed this post from you the first time but thanks for the welcome. I do need all the support I can get. I do have a date for the first consultation over a month away. July 22nd and I have to travel 45 miles South of where I live. I guess my trip isn't as bad as you had.

I am sorry to hear that the knee replacement has slipped and that you need that one replaced as well as on the other knee. My Dr stated no one would touch me for a hip replacement unless I lost 200 pounds which would put me at 155. You stated yours wanted a BMI of 40. Just curious how tall are you and what weight would a BMI of 40 be? I was surprised to hear my Dr say I had to lose 200 pounds as I have know others who had surgery when their weight was over 200 pounds.

Would love to put you down as a friend but I am still learning how to do things in my profile. No doubt you see it is pretty blank, but if you care to privately emailme here I have figured out how that works. :ohmy:

Amanda

Hi,

Glad to have you with us. I started with BMI almost 64. Like you, on disability.. since 2000, and on Medicare since 2002. So I had the challenge of finding a Center of Excellence and doctor approved by Medicare.

so not only need a total knee on the left, but the right has to be converted to a total, also, but ortho surgeon wants me to get my BMI down to about 40 first.

Anyway, glad to have you and we're here to offer our support and encouragement in any way we can.

HI Tied2befit

Thanks for the welcome! Dr. Bass is one of the 2 Doctors on my plan. Both of them have done more lapbands than the other Doctors (not on my Medicare advantage plan) who were listed on the paper got sent from lapband.com. So I am confident he is a good Doctor otherwise Medicare would not have approved him and the hospital that he practices out of. I have to have the surgery at the Center of Excellence otherwise Medicare will not pay for it. I can't afford to have the surgery if Medicare doesn't pay, so I have to listen to what they tell me to do. When I was working my previous employer had an exclusion in the insurance plan otherwise I would have had this done years ago.

Hi Alice and everyone else

I am just North of you Alice in Palm Beach County. What a shame for me that you are leaving the area. I am looking for local buddies or at least people in the general area of South East Florida. I wish you lots of luck with your new job. Do you think at some point you will be coming back to this area as you stated it was for a year?

I don't have a date yet for my surgery as I am just now starting the process. I am scheduled to see Dr. Bass on July 22nd and will go forward from there. Congratulation on your weight loss and if not else let 's be on line buddies if you want.

Congratulations to the others who posted about the exercise. I was doing exercise at Butterfly Life but they closed down in Dec of 2007 and I haven't yet found a place I like. Staying Alive isn't really my style but I am going to try Curves next. I can only doing sitting down exercise but I want more of a challenge than what Staying Alive offered. Besides there were to many people in the class and of both sexes. I am use to a small group (3 to 4 people and all females) and working out on the machines. I love swimming but due to physical problems I am not able to get out of the pool so I can't get any exercise that way. Oh well hope soon that will all change once I get the weight off and get the hip replaced.

Thanks Susan for the reply, I was beginning to wonder as I had seen so many people had viewed it but no replies until yours. As I stated I do need to find on line buddies as I don't have a support system. I notice there are many different forums here I would like to get involved with. Do other people post a newbie message in each of the forums they are interested in or just in this intro forum?

Thanks

Hi All

I am a newbie to this forum and just wanted to stop in and say hello. I am 52 years old and from Florida. I have my first Dr appt on July 22nd. I have very few local friends and as far as family goes, I have an older Brother living in Maryland with his family. I am looking for on line buddies to help me through this journey once I begin it.

Oh Ok I got it now Thanks.

I have a BMI of 57.3 The over 50 years old was just additional information I thought I would share with you all. I am aware that there is a 50 year old forum too and probably will check out that forum as and see if I would be welcomed there too

Hi all

MY first posting was on the Florida Forum on May 8th but after looking around the site I see other Forum I am interested in being a part of if you will have me. My BMI is 57.3 so I should fit into this forum. I am over 50 years old too.

I have been researching the lapband surgery since the beginning of the year. I have been on disability since May 2006 and last month I finally got Medicare. MY PCP and my spine/hip Dr and I feel that the lapband is the best way for me to lose 200 pounds so I can have a total hip replacement. I am scheduled for my Dr consultation on July 22. That was the first available date he had opened.

Being so busy I truly hope he is a great Dr. He was listed on the Lapband literature as having performed at least 75 lapband surgeries last year. There were only 2 Dr who had performed that many surgeries on the list that lapband.com sent me. The other Dr was on my Medicare plan but the hospital was not a Center of Excellence. So I will have to travel 1 to 1-1/2 hours South of where I live to have this done. I don't really care about the trip if it will allow me to lose weight and get the hip replaced.

Sorry this intro was so long but I am all alone on this journey and hoping to find support in this forum.

Badger Mom and There for her I am in awe of the two of you and how you are both so willing to help your Significant Other in this Lapband Process. I am no longer married because my Significant Other (who loves fat women) couldn't handle my losing weight and I wasn't even doing it the lapband way at the time. I have asked one long time male friend and his soon to be Bride (who is a Nurse) for recovery help and support if I get Medicare approval to get the lapband. By the way I have my first consultation Dr visit on July 22nd. I will be talking with my friends soon and will ask them if they would be interested in being a part of this Family and Friends Forum. I think it is an excellent idea and I hope it will become a part of this lap band community. :smile:

Hi All

I wrote my first post in the Florida forum on May 8th but over the last few weeks I have been discovering different forums. Since this is the Introduction section I guess I should have started posting here first.

I am in my 50's have been overweight all my life and have tried many diets (who hasn't) and lost a little on each but gained back the weight lost plus more. From Jan 2006 until Oct 2007 I did manage to lose over 190 pounds with Nutrisystem but that was getting very expensive and I was getting bored with eating their foods. Since going off of their foods I have gained back almost 50 pounds so I guess I really didn't learn any new eating habits, Did I? Anyhow I really can't afford to gain any more weight as I still need to lose over 200 pounds so I can have my right hip replaced. I have been on Disability since 2006 and just this May got approved for Medicare. So my PCP and my Hip Dr and I feel that the Lapband is the way to go. My first consultation with the Medicare approved Dr will be July 22nd. :crying:

It has been very interesting reading all the posts on the different forums here and finding out all about the WLS. I have very few local friends and as for family I have a Brother who lives in Maryland. I am looking forward to making new on line friends as I need all the support I can get. So let's be buddies! OK! :smile:

Yes I am also wrestling with this question and I really don't think I will be telling anyone at work about this surgery. I have a lot of other physical problems (they all know about) that need to be corrected through surgery so when the time comes for surgery I'll just let them think the surgery time off is for one of my other physical problems.

Dr Thomas Bass at Regional Memorial in Hollywood Fl.

Finally the ball is rolling and it is not with Dr. Larsen as he does not do the surgery at a Center of Excellence. My Dr. will be Thomas Bass and he will do the surgery at Memorial Regional in Hollywood, an hour South of me. They called me Tuesday and I will be attending the informational seminar tonight. :confused:

I refused to give up and finally found a Dr on my Medicare advantage plan and a Center of Excellence. So what if I have to drive 1 hour to get there. In fact the Dr called me on Tuesday and asked me to come to the information seminar tonight so I may finally be on my way to a healthier life. Wish me luck everyone. :confused:

Never mind!

After a whole day of searching I can't find a Dr and a hospital that are both covered on my plan so I guess I am back to WW.

I have been waiting over 2 weeks for AARP Medicare Complete Plan 1 by Secure Horizons to approve lap band surgery. The surgeon (who I was referred to by Lapband.com) now tells me the insurance company will not approve the surgery as the hospital where it would be performed is not a Center of Excellence and will not be until the Fall. I really didn't want to wait until the Fall. Does anyone know what hospital in the Palm Beach County or in South Eastern Florida is a Center of Excellence?

I so badly want to get this surgery so that I can be thinner. I am over 350 and have a comorbidies and want so badly to once again walk as I am wheelchair bound now and can't continue to live my life this way.

Thank you

Nope, sorry! East coast here and still waiting for insurance approval before I even get to see the Dr. However there is a yahoo group composed of a lot of SouthWest Floridians who had WLS they call themselves Floridabandsters. If you do a yahoo group search I am sure you will find them. Even though I am on the East coast I joined. Maybe I will see posting over there too.

Any one is Southwest Florida?

OOPS sorry about that Amy. Anyhow I was finally able today to reach Dr Larson's Office and information was taken over the phone to see if the insurance will pay for the surgery. They said they will know in about 2 to 3 days and will call me. Wish me luck!

Steve I just meet with my PCP and he will be giving me a referral to Dr Larsen maybe we will be seeing each other in local support groups if he will do mine.

HI all

I was just at my PCP today discussing the possibility of getting a Lap Band referral. The PCP stated he would give me one but told me to not be surprised if the Dr refused to do the surgery because of my spinal stenosis, hip and shoulder problems. The PCP has ordered MRI of my spine, hip and shoulder and feels that I should wait until those problems are taken care of first. Has any with spinal stenosis, hip, shoulder or even knee problems had a Dr who refused to do the surgery?