karibensea

Hello all Well yesterday was the last of my 6 mo weight management Dr visits and the excitement builds. The paper work for approval will be submitted I am going to guess this next week as soon as the Lap Band doctor gets all the paper work from the other doc. So here I am all excited and when I get back to work I am told that they are terminating my position! WTH now what am I going to do, well it would seem I can do Cobra and it is not so crazy to pay for since the new act of law has been inforced. What I want to know is this has anyone ever had this happen and doing Cobra will this effect my coverage and OH MY GOD please tell me I am not going to have to go through all the hoops again to get re-qualified. This has already been a 9 mo process and I am just about there. Does anyone have insite here? PLease help as there has to be a light at the end of this horid day I had yesterday after losing my job. Thanks

Thank you all for your input. I have one more Dr visit and that will finish up the 6mo worth of dietary Dr and then my lap band doc will submit all paperwork to the insurance company. I was never referred to the doctor I did all my research on my own and the Dr I have who will do the surgery is one of the top ranked doctors in this proceedure so I feel really blessed to have him. I just hope that between the two doctors that I have right now somehow the insurance approves it all. I should know by mid June. Thanks again every one you are all awesome!

You needed to do something to help keep you alive? I found my doctor, and decided to do this surgery. No doctor recommeded that I do it. What about you?

Hello everyone, I really had not give this much thought but it was brought up yesterday amist some friends while we were talking support once I get my banding. It seems to be all about the Protein after the surgery. How much of what we are going to be ingesting in the weeks to follow will have Carbohydrates in it? It will be enough to substain us right? There has never been any mention of this topic that I could see on the form. I just never thought about how much Carbs are in so many of the other things we eat. For the most part it has been about breads, pastas, etc. Can someone give me a bit of info on this topic? Thanks

I have not been banded as of yet but I would HIGHLY recommed Dr. Darin Minkin. He is a leader in this surgery and has an awesome staff as well. His bedside manor is awesome too. He is here at Des Peres hospital right off of 270 and Daughtery Ferry Rd (spell ck on that). Do your research and you will find the right doc for you. I am hoping for my banding sometime in July, I have one more weight management visit and then we submit to the insurance all the paperwork. Heres hoping it all goes well. Good luck Michele

Thank you all so much for your input. I wanted to ask this as by BFF is kind of freaking out for me. She just wanted some answers to her questions that she had about the proceedure. She actually went with me for my 1st free meeting when we were introduced to the doctor who will do the proceedure. I have done my research believe me this has been almost a yr process for me and I am in NO way shape or form taking it lightly. I am very excited and I have done everthing that my insurance company has ask me to do so now I have one more visit to my weight managment doc and then the paperwork will be turned in. I hope the insurance company don't give me a hard time about anything. I know this proceedure is the right one for me and I can not wait to let the new me out. Gotta love friends who are concerned about things that are such life changing. Thanks again! :-)

So has anyone had the band on over 5 yrs? How long is to long? How long before you HAVE to have it removed? Do they last forever? Just wondering and appreciate all honest answers. Thanks

So pre banders have any of you prepaired your eating habits for this huge transition that is going to take place for you soon? Meaning have any of you before the surgery started eating the way you will be eating after the fact? I really would like some input on this please. I love food and this is something I have thought about doing it just to get my mind and body ready for the huge change in eating habits. Get back to me when you all can and please be honest it will be a big help. Miichele

Hey everyone I hope your all doing well. I am getting so nervous as I have one more of my 6month diet doctor visits left an then the paperwork will be submitted for approval. Here are some things I am nervous about. 1) I am healthy other than being obease I have taken all the test and they were all good. 2) this is the big one I have 10 yrs of documented obease weight (they only ask for ) so these are who gave me the info 1) my GP doctor and 2) from my cardioligist. There are heart issues in my family so I have the heart doc right at my fingertips just in case. Now one thing all of the documentation is there except there is nothing from 2007 not one doctor visit for anything at least if I went to either one of them there is no weight documentation. My gosh could they deny over 1 flippin year not being there when they have 9 other yrs in a row that show the weight? Does anyone have any insite on this matter, I just dont want to have gone through all the hoops with all the money I have to pay out for things my insurance did NOT cover and then be rejected. I dont do rejection well. Thanks Michele

Hello again Do any of you have any input on Dr Minkin? Thanks

Hello All I am working on getting ready to have my surgery and I need to get things ready, like paperwork from my general doctor. BCBS needs to have a 5 yr medical history from my doctor however how detailed does this have to be? I have not ever gone to this doctor for weight issues just if I have been sick and of course my weight and such have been documented. Does anyone know how this should play out with the 5 yr medical history? Please advise. I mean I have already gone through all my pre sugery testing and everything we are just waiting on getting this info back from the doctor so it can all be submitted to BCBS. Thanks Michele

I just want to say Thank YOU for all of you who added some input about the BC/BS issue. I am now on a Quest to find a PCF is not returning my calls. I am going to move forward with this one way or the other. Michele

Yep I have BC/BS of IL and I just found all this out today, talk about getting kicked in the pants! So needless to say I am pretty discouraged. If you do this diet thing and you lose weight then you also lose BMI which is a huge requirement to have if you are a healthy obease person, know what I mean? I am so discouraged right now I could just cry! I can not even afford to buy food to feed my children much less pay for a weight loss program. Michele

I totally understand where you are coming from. I have been heavy all my life and more recently after the birth of my twins 17 yrs ago. I will tell my parents what I am thinking about and my boys are scared to death. I happen to be a pretty healthy heavy women so far but I am getting older with birthday 49 just around the bend!. I found out today with my BC/BS insurance that they have all kinds of requirments, the 5 yr medical history well my doctor never followed my weight other than to weigh me in when i use to drag myself to see him. Then I hear they may require a 6mo diet plan monitored by a professional, OMG I can not believe it, I have been on every diet in the world and non of them worked because here I still heavy and still depressed. I was so excited and now I am scratching my head. I just dont know what to do at this point, I am currently awaiting the paperwork from the insurance company to see what they require to "maybe" get approved. GEZZZZZZZZZ:cry_smile:

I have to have a 5yr medical history! Well that is not a problem however my doctor never did monitor my dieting. I have never gone to anyone other than say Jenny Craig, Weight Watcher, or diet pills I may have purchased from the drug store. Seems that they also want to know if I have any health risk, dibetic, heart problems, hypertension or sleep apthia. Help me out here please, if anyone has BC/BS I would like to know really how hard this is going to be to get approved for this banding surgery! Thanks Michele:cry_smile:

Thanks so much for getting back to me. You know I have heard a lot of good things about the location where you had your operation. Would you happen to have a link to the program that they offer there so I can see about the meetings to learn more about the program. I am in the begiinning stages of this process so options are always good. Keep up the good work with your progress it looks as if you are well on your way. Michele

Jamie Thank you so much for getting back to me. I see your doing awesome with your loss congrats on that. Would it be ok if I picked your brain with another question, were you required to lose weight before you had the operation? So many times I read where a person was required to do this. This doctor has been spoken about on many sites so I think I will be taking in one of the gatherings to see just what is going to take place. Thanks

Hello all, Is there anyone out there that is from St Louis? I am seriously thinking about this surgery however I need some advice on picking the correct doctor. Can anyone help? Thanks