Nevergoback

I had my band covered by United Health care, then our company got bought out and now we have Aetna. I had to go self pay on my fills, but when I had to have my band removed due to staph infection in my gut, Aetna covered everything to do with the removal without question. I was in the hospital 13 days had multiple tests and was only a couple of hundred dollars out of pocket. My doctor told me Aetna (and most insurance companies) will pay for any treatment which is medically necessary. Now I am self pay planning to have VSG and I pray all goes well during procedure. I'm hoping that if I have any problems, they surface after I get out of the hospital and we can go through Aetna to pay (i.e. infection or leaks). With band surgery, if you have any problems like infections, go back to your surgeon, if he will help you get well. Most likely your insurance will cover it. If it is a problem with the band, then your surgeon will most likely fix it at a reasonable rate, or as a part of your original payment. I heard that my original doctor actually replaced a band for someone without charge. Good Luck and try not to worry. I have found that if something is going to happen, it's going to happen whether you worry or not. At this point in my journey, I am still not mad that I had the band, many of my coworkers who had it done at the same time are still doing great.

Keep taking in your liquids slow. When you transition to 'full' , liquids (creamy soups, thinned mashed potatos) take it slow, you do not want to heave while you are healing. Walk around alot, drink your water. I did well with Frozen drinks and popsicles the first couple of days, the cold helps the swelling. Also hot drinks in the morning are easier to go down. You most likely will swell during the night, don't gulp anything. A bag of frozen peas or corn held on the outside of your stomach can help with swelling too. Good Luck with your weight loss journey.

The only reason you would need to have the band removed would be if it was medically necessary. When I had to have mine removed due to infection my insurance covered it 100%. If the doctor reports it as medically necessary, it is covered even if your plan does not cover bariatric surgery, like mine does not. When I got sick I was scared to death that the removal surgery would not be covered, but my new doctor reassured me it would be covered. As far as your choice, if I were young and planning to have children in the future, I would factor that into the equation and discuss it with my doctor. I too chose the band, because the only other alternate at the time was bypass. I had my band done with 8 of my coworkers and none of the others have had any problems. I am the only one who picked up a staph infection and we all saw the same doctor for the surgery and the fills (except for one). Of course, at this point because of my problems, I can only recommend the sleeve.

Thank you CloudPainter, my biggest concern was the nausea the doctor keeps warning me about. The procedure with my md is only one night in the hospital here in Houston. I was not too worried about the drainage tube, I had one with my (staph infection) abcess and this doctor took it out without any pain at all. That sucker was in for 5 or 6 days. I will check out those other sites. PS: Wheetabix(sp) is a cracker, you can find them here, but I have never had one.

When I had my band, it was in conjunction with about 8 of my co-workers. My weight loss was slow and steady, for others it was faster and they had greater loss in the first couple of weeks. When I would hit a plateau, then I would have a fill. I reached my goal weight 2-1/2 years later. You already have the band, let it work for you.

Yes, I assumed it would have been 60 minutes like the band, for the mere fact that it probably can't fit until then. With the band the main concern is that it softens up the food and makes the food go through faster. But with the sleeve I would imagine it might be because it won't fit. Once with the band, i had eaten scrambled eggs then without thinking I noticed I had a little juice left and just did a quick gulp -- Mamma mia! that hurt and I had to go purge, well it made me purge, or pb as it is called.

Thank you, I guess there aren't that many VSG folks here. I viewed ThinJourney's video's on youtube and he never mentioned any nausea. My doctor's office is warning us of that and the nutritionist said it again yesterday, some get it some don't. I won't be getting any food while I am there, so that won't be a worry this time. I know I won't be feeling any hunger until a day or two after I go home, most likely.

Went to my nutritionist appointment and she gave us no pre op diet. Everything was post op and pretty much the same as post op from the band. Clear liquids couple of days, then full liquids ( Protein drinks, Jello, yogurt) for next one to two weeks, then adding pureed foods by the second, third or fourth week depending on how you are tolerating. Soft foods for the next one to two weeks then start experimenting with regular foods and chew, chew, chew. And she did go over the fact that you should be sipping your Water all day long and wait 30 minutes after eating before you start drinking again. My previous band doctor told us to wait an hour before drinking, so that's different. I have a tentative date for my surgery of Feb. 11th.

I am planning on a VSG due to losing my band in May because of a staph infection. Was wondering if someone could describe their post op recovery, how much pain, any problems like nausea? That sort of thing. thanks. I am expecting the post op diet to be similar to that of the band. Post op with the band was little more painful than most as he fixed a hernia I did not know I had. I had the pain from that repair as well as the gas escaping around my shoulder area. I stayed home for a week and one half. Actually, now that I think about it, I had less pain after the new guy took it out, than when the old guy put it in. I like my new surgeon better, he's much more personable.

I am planning to meet with my doctor's nutritionist tomorrow. Let you know what she says. History: I had my band removed last May 08 due to staph infection. At that time, the md who did the removal told me to come see him in 6 months to discuss the sleeve. Had to go through the same procedures again: Attend his seminar (done), see his psychologist(done), make initial appointment with him (done) meet with his nutritionist (tomorrow), see a general physician to have my pre op testing done, so we can try to get those paid by my insurance as it will not cover this procedure (appointment for that is Jan 29). This is taking much longer to get done than the band, getting a little frustrating, as a self pay, I thought we could get through it sooner. I've gained back 41 pounds already, sigh. I can get through a liquid two weeks if I can include creamy Soups and watery mashed potatoes, this is how I survived my post lap band weeks. The potatoes really help.