CMTurner

Angelnurse, Do you have a closeup pic of the eyebrow tattooing? I am super curious as I have such light colored brows. That's what I get for being a fair skinned redhead. Oh well. LOL Thanks in advance for possible pics or any advice and pricing of having this done.

I am in Memphis and I have not been banded yet either. I have my 2nd nutrition visit on the 22nd and my initial surgeon consult on the 23rd with Dr. Virginia McGrath-Weaver. She is with the St. Francis Center for Surgical Weightloss. I am not sure who you talked to and got the packet from but between here and ObesityHelp.com you should be able to do some research on them. EVERYONE I have talked to loves Dr. Weaver and everyone who talks about Dr. Woodman says he is an asshole but a good surgeon. I chose to go with a nice doc that is a good surgeon. LOL Once I complete my initial consult with surgeon they will submit to insurance. I have Cigna. They do cover it but I have heard both good and horrible stories of the pre-approval process. So I don't have any "experience" with actually having the lapband but I am always willing to help when I can and I am a great listener. Almost all the people on here on super positive and great sources of info. Hopefully we can support each other on the steps through this process. Continued good luck on your research and path to a healthier, happier you.:cool2:

Hi Becky. Sorry I don't have any answers but I am very curious to see what responses you get. I live in Memphis and have Cigna through my DH's county government employer. I complete my 2nd Nut class on the 22nd and my initial surgeon's consult on the 23rd of this month and then they will be sending in the paperwork for pre-approval. Hopefully it goes fast for both of us. Now that I have made up my mind to have the surgery and I know that insurance covers it (after jumping through lots of hoops) I am very anxious to get everything underway and start my new and hopefully much healthier and thinner life. :cool2:

Hi all. My initial appointment with Dr. Weaver is July 23. At that time I should (fingers crossed) have all my paperwork ready to send in to insurance. Once you were approved, how soon were you able to schedule surgery? Thanks for any help you all can offer.

I have Cigna and am still awaiting approval but, my doctors office includes 4 fills in the surgery price and my insurance covers fills so I guess I am pretty lucky. Now only if my pre-approval happens fast I will really feel lucky.

We were told at the first nutrition class we HAD to quit smoking at least 2 months prior to surgery. Not a problem since I don't smoke. They also said we would be tested for nicotine in our pre-op testing and surgery would be cancelled if it is determined we were smoking. Like I said not a problem for me but alot of others in the class seemed upset by this news.

I too have that one friend. She says things like "I am just sooo worried about you" and "I am worried about you because you are always sick and having problems". I wanna say "yeah because I am so over weight" and "hopefully this will help with all those problems that make me feel bad all the time". Part of me feels she is saying these things out of real concern but another part of me thinks she is saying them because she will be losing "the fat girlfriend". My friend is very "looks consious" (sp?) and LOVES to be the center of attention when we all go out. I don't hold this against her (especially as she went through some bad abuse when she was younger) and I love her as my friend no matter what. I met my friend when I came to TN to meet my now DH and they used to be friends but now my DH can hardly stand to be around her (for lots of reasons....she is fairly loud, and it seems everything is about her, and she seems to go through a lot of men). I still value her friendship for what it is and have just decided to take her concern for what it hopefully is...real concern for my health and welfare and if it turns out to be any other way, I guess I will deal with that when/if it happens. I hope 1 or 2 peoples attitudes and concerns don't stop you from researching and deciding for yourself what you need to do for you. I know I haven't let it stop me. I go tonight for my sleep study and do my upper GI first thing in the morning. Hope I didn't ramble too much.

Hi. Could you post some pics of your brows? I am very curious as I have a terrible time with my brows being so light/fair. Thanks.

That sucks. Sorry. That is sooo what I am afraid of happening when I have my sleep study done next weekend. I hope they got what they needed so you don't have to try and redo the test. Recently I have been having to take something to help me sleep anyway.

Michelle...WOW. Your progress is an amazing inspiration but what inspires me most is "the look" on your face. I want to feel like that again. My paperwork will be sent to ins for pre-auth after my appt with my surgeon on July 23 and I am hoping to have surgery scheduled sometime in Aug. Seeing your pics and hearing how you utilize your tool and strive for improvement seems to help in keeping me sane (ok that was a stretch) during this frustrating waiting game. Thank you. And thanks to everyone who is sooo positive and caring on this site.

Congrats on the NSV. I was thinking the same thing about aimlagana being REALLY close to her doctor. LOL

That is wonderful. The friendship and the rollercoasters! I met my DH online on a non-dating website. You gotta love the internet. Congrats on both of your weightloss too. Can't wait to be a bandster and to get under 200.

Thank God I am not the only one. Whew. Thought my fairly new computer was messed up. Have ran multiple spyware and antivirus programs thinking it was just me. Hope they fix whatever the problem is as is bugging the crap outta me too. Thanks all. Cindy :thumbup:

LMAO that would have been hilarious! Glad it didn't happen to me either.

BBK you are amazing. So beautiful. And of course I love the red hair and my DH loves it too (since he is kinda partial to redheads anyways :thumbup:) LOL I am definately listing this as one of my "rewards" for getting to goal. You are truly an inspiration and I don't just mean with the photos. Yours is one of the names I recognize with helpful comments and encouragement on this site. Thanks for all you do. Cindy:thumbup:

I see the surgeon on July 23 and hoping to have a surgery date sometime in August too. I think an August support group is a great idea. Those of you going on cruises have a blast. Cindy

Well I guess count me in on the whore count. My DH and I were just discussing this the other day and he said to ask on here. LMAO I made him come in here and read some of this thread. I told him "whew" we're safe. We both enjoy giving and receiving so much we were hoping nothing would change in that respect (except of course me feeling totally better about my body and having soooo much more stamina and the ability to get into positions I haven't seen in years...LOL). I am hoping to be banded in August but I soo enjoy reading everyone's posts. Thanks to you all for talking about real life stuff. I can't wait to be on the loser's bench with you all. Cindy

Congratulations!!! I am so happy for you and am hoping I have as much luck once my surgeon submits the paperwork. I see her July 23 and am hoping to have my surgery sometime in Aug. Cindy

It could be excess skin getting "pulled" in (and out). I saw a surgery on tv where the woman had to have excess skin removed down there too after weight loss. Just a thought. Hope you figure it out and get back to enjoying life. Congrats on shrinkin 100#'s. Cindy:smile:

Congrats!!! I too have Cigna but my paperwork won't be turned in for pre-auth until after my first visit with the surgeon which is scheduled for July 23, 2008. Seems soooo far away. Hopefully I will be aproved soon after that. How long did it take to hear back from Cigna once your paperwork was turned in? I know you will do great with your surgery and I will be thinking of you on July 1st. Cindy :tt2:

Congrats!!! You will do great. Keep us informed and we will be thinking of you on the 17th.

I would go by your doctor's or nutritionist's advise but, I have a friend who had gastric bypass and ended up fighting for her life after having a perforated ulcer. They determined it was from the caffeine in a mocha whatever Protein drink she was drinking everyday. The place she used to get those drinks from even removed them from his shelves and refuses to order them for any of his customers. Not saying you should or shouldn't drink caffeine but it is something to think about and I have noticed I do seem to have more problems with acid reflux after drinking caffinated diet drinks or iced tea even. And I admit to still having to have one or the other every once in a while but since learning of my friends "hairy" experience with caffeine I have been cutting back as much as possible because I do not want that complication to possibly be a reason for being unsuccessful or delaying my surgery. Just my $0.02 worth. Good luck to all on their weightloss journey. Cindy

I am sooo happy for you both and can't wait to post the same thing. I have done my psych eval and am scheduled for the dietician on June 30th. That is where they take pics and measurements, schedule any pre-op tests needed (they already said upper gi and sleep apnea), and evaluate how close to be able to submit the request to insurance. After that have to do 2 nutrition classes prior to surgery. God I hope the approval process doesn't take long. Don't really wanna wait til winter/holidays to have surgery. I am reading all these posts and getting so educated and excited. My DH laughs at me sometimes cause it seems I bring up WLS and new eating/drinking habits all the time wherever we are. LOL Thank goodness he is behind me in whatever I do. Thanks to everyone for their insight and inspiration. Cindy

Thanks. I am excited for you too. We have some friends in Millington and sometimes go to a little bar up there with them. Small world. I also have Cigna and used to work in insurance so I was prepared to dig for the insurance details. LOL. I haven't even gotten an appt with Dr. Weaver yet. Just filled out the app and advised I met the guidelines. I have had my psych eval but as of today they haven't recieved it yet and see my pcp on Friday (follow up on current comorbidities and see how much of previous visits would be construed as weight loss since we have discussed that since my first visit with her. I am soo hoping to not have to wait til the end of year around the holidays to actually have the surgery. Well continued good luck and keep me posted too.

Hi all. I used to work in insurance. They base payments and agreed upon discounts on the average costs for specific procedure codes in each zip code or area at the percentage your insurance has agreed upon. So they take say the average cost for the actual surgery code in your area and then your insurance "agrees" to pay say 70%, 80% or if you are lucky 90% of that average ( they update this average usually a couple times a year by "polling" physicians, med ctrs, etc as to what they actually charge per procedure code). If the physicians, etc. continually increase what they charge for insurance covered patients they can increase what they actually get paid over time. They also get incentives obtaining or retaining patients from "in network" patients. The contracts for in network services are incredibly detail and complex. LOL. We used to have multiple books (along the lines of small set of encyclopedias) with the breakdowns per zip code and %'s to match up for "allowables" when we had to override the system to pay correct amounts to allow for multiple procedures or verify automated payments were processed correctly. I would definately contact your insurance if you feel they have processed your claims incorrectly. A lot of procedures are set to "automatically adjudicate" (big word for pay). Sometimes the programming doesn't take all the facts into consideration or they don't "pick up on" and authorization. Always watch that they don't exceed your maximum out of pocket amounts and that they pay auxillary services (eg. labs, radiology, anesthesiology) done in conjunction with in network services at the in network level because sometimes you cannot help that the lab, etc is done by out of network providers because you have no say so. Anesthesiology is a big one where this gets overlooked because you don't get to pick them. Hope this helps someone. And good luck to everyone on their weight loss.