♥Amy♥

It's surgery so there's always a risk of death involved but part of the reason we have to jump through all the testing hoops we have to is to make sure we're healthy enough for surgery. I would be lying if I said it hasn't crossed my mind. My mother died when I was 2 due to too much anesthesia during a c-section so it's always in the back of my mind but I just keep telling myself that medicine has come a long way in 32 years and my mother was very VERY over weight and very unhealthy and didn't have the chance to be tested to make sure her body could handle the surgery. Things are much different nowadays. We'll be fine! :thumbup: Try not to worry too much. A little worry is normal. Listen to your hubby and let him keep you calm :thumbup:

16 more sleeps for me! I start my pre-op diet on Thursday!

Thank you all so much! I'm still in disbelief. I thought for sure I would be one of those unfortunate people who would have to fight with their insurance company and for it to be quite the exact opposite just amazes me! You'll be hearing a lot from me as it gets closer to my surgery date and of course after. YAY! I'm gonna be a March Bandster!!!!!!:smile2: :w00t:

Thanks, Monica! Omg I'm so excited!! And good luck to you!! That's all I can write right now with the available brainpower I have at the moment. I can't THINK!!

I was so afraid I wasn't going to be a March Bandster. I finished my work-ups last week and I was so sure I would have to do the 6-month diet. My surgeon's medical assistant told me yesterday that she was submitting my paperwork first thing this morning and that I should hear something by the end of this week/beginning of next week. She called me an hour ago to tell me I was approved and I'm having surgery March 24th!!!!!!!!!! Holy moly I can't believe how quickly this happened!!! :scared2: I'm so excited!

I cannot believe how quickly this happened! I finished my work-ups last week and I was so sure I would have to do the 6-month diet. My surgeon's medical assistant told me yesterday that she was submitting my paperwork first thing this morning and that I should hear something by the end of this week/beginning of next week. She called me an hour ago to tell me I was approved and I'm having surgery March 24th!!!!!!!!!! Holy moly I can't believe this!!! :scared2:

Phew! Thanks! I hope my shoe size goes down, too. I am so excited to start seeing the changes my body will be going through!

I'm so glad I'm getting responses! I was so afraid you'd all think I was crazy and ignore this thread! I'm lovin' the answers! Keep 'em comin'!!!

I'm just curious. I have HIP Prime Network and I was told by my surgeon's office that HIP changed their surgery guidelines the beginning of this month to include a 6 month physician supervised diet. I've tried calling HIP to get it from the horse's mouth but no one will tell me anything. Why is that? Such a pain!! Anyway, I was hoping someone who also has HIP and is in the same leg of their journey as I am in would have had more luck with info on that than I did. Do we def need a 6 month because the insurance co-ordinator didn't seem 100% sure. She said "You might have to do the 6 month diet." I went through this once already with Aetna and was hoping I wouldn't have to again with HIP but I will if it's necessary. My friend's daughter has HIP and didn't need to do the 6 month but she was approved and done by the beginning of December. I want this so bad and nothing is stopping me this time. I would just like to know what to expect from the insurance when the surgeon submits me for approval in February.

Haha!! That's awesome! Thanks for answering!

Ok this is probably a strange question but it's something I've been wondering... Do you "feel" shorter now that you've lost a lot of weight? I was sitting in a chair at work yesterday that I don't normally sit in. We were all in a training class away from our cubicles. The chair was a typical desk chair with arms and when I bent my arms to rest them on the arm rests the arm rests were too low for my arms! And I thought "Maybe it's the chair." Then I looked around at the "normal" sized ppl and they were resting their arms comfortably on their arm rests. And I checked to see if the arm rest height was adjustable and it wasn't. So I was thinking...does all the extra padding on my butt make me "taller" when I'm sitting down? And I notice that table tops seem lower than they should be when I'm sitting down in front of them and I'm not a tall girl at all. I'm 5'5". Is it just me? Or do I have getting "shorter" to look forward to?

As far as retraining your brain, as long as you eat slow and chew chew chew you'll be good. Even that is easier said than done but you'll get it. Just start practicing now Good luck!

I have HIP and I haven't had any problems yet, either. Getting referrals is a pain in the though. But other than that I haven't had any problems. I may have to do a 6 month phys supervised diet but they're not sure yet. They said HIP changed their guidelines to require one but they said those guidelines were in place in 2008 but they still approved ppl without the 6 months so we'll see. This is so new so I don't have anyone to go on and from reading other ppl's experiences with calling HIP for information on surgery I don't know if I even want to waste my time. I don't get why they're so hush hush about it. As far as dealing with them, my surgeon's office is awesome! They even deal with my primary physician and call and request referrals from her so I don't have to do it. I love them! So, wish me luck that HIP lets me slide in under the radar soon and I can have my surgery in March.

Hey! I'm hoping to get my surgery done in March, also but I won't know if I have to do the 6 month diet until my surgeon submits my paperwork and HIP comes back with an answer. I'm hoping to be done with everything by the end of next month, as far as all the tests go. What insurance do you have?

Wow, really? I had no idea! My friend has lap band surgery in April and I'm pretty sure he uses one when we all go out to eat but I could be wrong. I'll have to remember this for when my time comes!

Aside from the part about your children, the rest is all me...but I'm still that fat woman. I see now that that has been my life thus far. I lash out at my poor hubby, I act like a bitch to other people and then blame everything that happens to me on my weight. I never want to go anywhere. I make excuses as to why I can't go places. I feel like everyone is judging me on my weight and when people don't seem to like me I blame it on my weight. I'm sure it is my weight in a way but most likely some people don't always enjoy being around me because of how I act because of my weight. Well, I'm going to do something about it! :thumbup: Congrats on your success thus far and I hope to be where you are soon!

Hey! The consult went well. For me it was just a formality since I've been through this part of it with another surgeon. I've also researched this to death! lol The only bad part was that Laurie informed me that HIP came out with new guidelines and now I may have to do a 6 month physician supervised diet. I was hoping to get everything done within the next few months. To be on the safe side we're starting the supervised diet now and when I get all my workups done they're going to submit everything for approval. If HIP comes back and says I need the 6 month diet then I will have completed at least 2 months by then so it won't be so bad. Ahhh...just my luck! Hey! :sad: I actually don't live in Holtsville anymore. Gotta change my profile My husband and I moved to Yaphank in August. The support group sessions are every second Thursday of the month. I can't remember what time, though. I'll look at my schedule when I get home and let you know

My consult is tomorrow, too! All of you are such an inspiration. I love reading everyone's blogs. Good or bad it all helps me.

I'm so glad to hear it! Thanks for replying :tt2: I will be attending the support groups once I get the ball rolling. My consult with her is tomorrow so after that I'll be there! :thumbup:

Hi everyone! I'm Amy and I'm hoping to get banded by Dr. Paayal Mehta in Riverhead before this coming winter ends. I have Aetna and she doesn't take Aetna unless the policy covers out of network and mine doesn't. Sooo...I'm switching to HIP in December and heading straight to her office to get everything started! :thumbup: I was originally supposed to be banded by Dr. Holover but I wasn't happy with the level of service I was getting from his office. It was pretty much zero. I felt like I was bothering the girls in the office everytime I called, which was only 3 times. A friend of mine was banded by Dr. Mehta and he said he couldn't be happier with how much she and everyone else in her office did for him. They take care of EVERYTHING except the cardiology in their office. And the only thing you have to pay for all the visits is a copay. Including the dietician and Psychiatrist. With Dr. Holover I had to pay around 400 for the Psych and something like 2 or 300 for the nutritionist. Anyway, I can't wait to get going with all of this. The hardest part for me will be waiting to start. I did most of my presurgery testing for Dr. Holover and everything came back fine then so I know I will be good to go this time around. :sad:

Hi Everyone! I know it's been a while since I posted. You guys probably don't even remember me!:wink2: I just wanted to check and let you all know I'm still working on getting approved for surgery. So far I've seen the pulmonologist, cardiologist, endocrinologist, and nutritionist. I still need to have my psych eval, gall bladder sono and endoscopy. All my tests and exams came out fine from the docs I have seen so far so pending anything else I should be getting surgery in Mid to late March *fingerscrossed* I have Aetna so I have to do the 6 month weight loss thing. Only thing is I have been gaining every month. My doctor seems to think that because of that I should have no problem being approved but I don't know. I'm kind of nervous. I just hope I'm doing all of this correctly. I would hate to have to wait another 6 months to have the surgery! :sleep: I have lots of weddings in 2009. One is in New Orleans, another one my husband and I are in and one I am officiating (just for my friends. I'm not a minister or anything :crying:) and another one we just have to attend but I would like to be smaller than I am now, even if it is just 20 or 30 lbs. I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens. My husband bought me a treadmill for Christmas so hopefully that will help me keep the pounds from creeping (read: flying) on. I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and if I don't speak to you, Happy Holidays!

Awesome!! You look amazing! Congrats on all of your success! :tt1:

I'm sorry to hear that :tt1: Which band did you have?

Hey Sal! That sounds like a tough one. I guess you need to decide what is more important. You having the surgery asap and not having your mom or fiancee there or waiting till the summer and being able to have someone with you. Would it be possible for your mom and fiancee to maybe take less time off? If you have the surgery in Nov can one of them spend a week or week and a half with you and then go home and the other one comes in their place? I dunno. How close are you with your fiancee's family? Close enough that maybe they can spend some time helping you out so your mom and fiancee can take even less time off of work? Where in NY are you having surgery and who is your surgeon, BTW? I'm in NY too. Long Island.

On its own. Just curious.