TXAmy07

Nice!! I added mine as well.

Day 5 of the pre-op and I'm still alive, yay!

Happy birthday, Bethany!! I think you did great with your paperwork - way better to have more than enough and organized. I'd start calling them on Monday or Tuesday...

And also, congrats Kristi! That rocks! May 1, huh. 5 days before me, you can give me your tips and tricks.

Thanks John! I made it through day 3 so I'm a tenth of the way there...

I may have to try chocolate. I heard (after I bought vanilla) that they taste better bc they test them more for taste, to make them taste more chocolaty?

Right now I'm doing vanilla and making them like a smoothy with skim milk and a little bit of frozen fruit (like peaches).

I'm with you on that Kristi - but I bet once we get there we will still be as fired up, especially since we can lean on each other.

You two hurry and get your May dates already!

Well, it turned out that the problem was the idiot that answered the phone at my insurance company (Cigna) and not at all the coordinator. :smile:

I am going through Lap Band Dallas, and they got me a pretty speedy approval.

Good luck on your process!

I am curious as to what kind of pre-op diet you guys are required to do... they seem to differ so much yet they all are in place to do the same thing, right?

So here is mine:

Meal 1: Protein shake

Meal 2: 1 servings of TWO of these: oatmeal, fruit, yogurt, bagel, waffle, toast (1/2 cup each)

Meal 3: Protein Shake

Meal 4: 4-6 ozs of lean meat, 1 cup of GREEN vegetables

And... I have to do it for 1 month. I think it would be ok (hard, but not that bad) for 2 weeks but the 1 month seems completely like I can't even see the light at the end of the tunnel!

But I guess since I have survived 2 days through this then I will probably live. :smile: With heavy stress on the word "probably".

Amy

Ann,

I am terrified about the no-drinking thing. That is going to be pretty hard for me, I think!

I am also scheduled for May 6. :smile:

Hi fellow mayo BANDitos!!! (LOVE this btw)

I am scheduled for 5/6 and I started my four-freakin'-week pre-op diet yesterday.

I'm excited, this will be a great journey! It will be fun for us to go through this together. :thumbdown:

Good luck Kristie! Keep us informed. Hopefully we can all 3 be May-dates together!! :thumbdown:

Amy

Bethany,

If your doctor put that in your charts, and that will be part of your 2-year history I bet you will be fine! That's all mine had as well.

Good luck!!

I was wondering the same thing about pre-op dieting in reading about people doing liquid-only diets, some not even having one, etc....

I am on day 1 and my stomach is growling, LOL.

Mine consists of 4 meals:

1 serving of 2 of these: fruit, yogurt, Cereal, toast, bagel, oatmeal, waffle, etc...

Protein shake

4-6 ozs of lean meat, and 1 cup of green vegetables (lettuce, peas, green Beans, broccoli)

Protein Shake

But I have to do it for FOUR weeks.

I am curious as to what other people's diets consist of and why... Interesting stuff!

I just started my FOUR WEEK pre-op diet today... I was trying to figure out some positive reasons to keep it up and not cheat (other than the glaringly obvious one of the surgery being the light at the end of the tunnel) and so I just sat down and figured up how much I spent last month eating out.

WOW. All those times I just "grabbed something quick" on the way home, or said yes to lunch with co-workers add up to a stupid amount. No wonder I am at the point where I need LB... :smile2:

So, I'm going to use that as a positive thing and let all the useful things I could have spent that money on motivate me.

Kapamaro - that's pretty sweet that you are going through this with your boss. I wish I had someone that I was going through the process with like that.

Back to the Cigna thing, I don't think the letter or note from the PCP was even on the list that I got from Cigna when I first looked into LB. When I got almost to the end of my 6-month diet I called the coodinator and went over what all I needed, and she said that Cigna had just started denying some because they were not recommended for LB by a doctor. She said if my charts from my PCP showed that she had recommended it in my 2-year history that would work, but if not I needed to make an extra appointment with the doctor I did my 6-month diet through. Luckily my PCP did mention it in her notes since she was the one who recommended it, so I was ok there.

I do love all the different stories - it just seems like it depends on who reviews your stuff as to if they allow it or whatever. But I'd rather have more than enough info to convince them than the opposite! Keep up the good fight! You can do it!!!! :smile2:

I just got approval from Cigna this past week and for approval with them I needed: psych eval, nutrition eval, 6 months supervised diet, 2 year weight history from my primary doctor WITH a note in my charts stating that she had recommended me for LB surgery. (I was told by my coordinator that you can actually get that from your 6 month diet doctor if need-be but it has to be a separate visit with a note stating you should have LB - she said that's a new one that Cigna has suddenly started denying folks for not having)

It was 32 pages of info, and it was approved 8 days after Cigna got the packet.

I would FOR SURE ask the person at your doctor's office again. If she keeps insisting that you don't need all of that, I'd call Cigna and ask them. Maybe even call twice just to ask two different people. I am sure she does it every day too, but maybe she's mistaken on this one, or who knows. I don't know if they differ per policy but I'm just giving you my recent experience.

Also, another hint that I found is to call Cigna and ask if your paperwork is in the "nurse's queue" - some of their phone people can actually access the approval department's queue to see if your stuff is in there to be looked at yet. (When they first get your paperwork it basically sits in an inbox until someone goes in and actually puts your stuff in line to be looked at) I think that helped speed mine up a lot.

I hope this helps, and good luck to you! :welldoneclap:

Do you have Cigna as well? I am not sure about the website, I never checked on theirs. I just knew when my doctor submitted my stuff and so I started calling a few days after that.

I would call your doctor's office first and ask if they have submitted it (and when) and then start following up with insurance.

Good luck! :confused:

Coke Zero was my addiction... and I also miss the fizz part, but I gave up soda for lent this year just to see how it would go. I cheated and had one a week ago, and it tasted terrible! I poured it out and had tea instead. I never thought I'd be THAT person, that "doesn't like the taste of sodas" but hmm... I guess that's what's happening here.

Ahb08 - Mine is with Lap Band Dallas, Dr. Anderson. My coordinator didn't submit anything until I was completely done with all of my stuff but I have also heard of people having that done and then getting a quick date, etc. I think it really just depends on your insurance.

Hairnv - good luck to you too! :wink:

Danimal - You're so close, just look at it that way. I think the time is going to start passing by quickly the closer we get.

Maclynn - I'm excited to have someone on the same day as me! Yay!!!

I just got a call from my coordinator - I was approved by insurance this morning, my pre-op appt is 4/23 and my surgery date is May 6!!!!!!!!! :smile2:

I am a little bummed that it's so far out but I guess it's not really THAT far. I start the pre-op diet on Monday!

Well, I went ahead and at the risk of being annoying, called them back today. I guess I had good timing because they let me know when I called that I was APPROVED!!!!! They gave me the approval number and said they hadn't even gotten the letters sent out yet!

Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :smile2:

The subject says it all I guess... I am just looking for opinions and experience on calling insurance and how many times per week/month/etc you called them.

My surgeon turned in the paperwork on 3/13, they show they it as being received on 3/20 - I called on 3/23 to ask about it and actually got a higher up phone person that had access to the "queue" and so she dropped it into the queue for the approval department to review. I called again yesterday and they said to wait a couple of more weeks to call back because it takes "up to 30 days".

Should I call back and start annoying them? Do they record that stuff, I wonder? And if so, will it delay them just because I'm being irritating?

Thanks for any input or opinions! :thumbdown:

Jodi, thank you so much for the advice.

I took that advice and called Cigna again and got a super helpful lady that explained to me that the first person I spoke with this morning was actually completely wrong. She said exactly what the insurance coordinator said - pre-authorization and approval is the same thing for them, and my paperwork was in the system to be pulled for Nurse's review. She was able to access the system and "pull" the paperwork for review which I guess puts it into the nurse's queue, and they will review it to approve it and give it a "pre-authorization code" and send a letter to both the surgeon and me stating I am approved. (or that I am lacking whatever)

She also looked at the paperwork and said that it looks good and thorough.

So I might owe the insurance coordinator an apology, especially if she thought I was trying to say she didn't do her job correctly but whatever. There's no reason to be rude about it! I did pick them because their coordinator (at the time) was so helpful and she'd been through the surgery and let everyone feel of her port at the seminar and she just overall rocked... Now, not so much!

Anyways, thanks for the input. I needed that!

-Amy

CelticAngel, who is your surgeon? I ask because I am also in Dallas.

I called my insurance this morning and they received the paperwork last Friday but said that it may have gone to the wrong department because of how my surgeon's coordinator sent it to them? I don't know what that means... The coordinator says she sends it to the same place "every time" and has "never had a problem before". I posted more details in the insurance forum though, so hopefully someone sees it and has had the same issue or can advise. I am crossing my fingers that the coordinator is correct though!!!

So my surgeon's coordinator submitted my paperwork to Cigna for approval last Monday, and I called them this morning just to see if they had received the paperwork.

I told the girl that I was calling to see if they had received the paperwork for approval, and she said that they had received it NOT for approval but for pre-authorization. She went on to explain that pre-authorization was just to find out if it was a benefit that was offered and paid for by insurance, and that authorization is when the doctor calls in for an authorization number and then sends in the Cigna-required documentation (6 month supervised diet, psych eval, etc etc). She said these are two different departments that handle this, and the way the paperwork was sent in was for pre-authorization and NOT APPROVAL and the approval department would not see this paperwork.

She said that it would take 15 days to get a pre-authorization since that's what was sent in for (not that I need one, we already know it's covered and the requirements), and they would have to re-submit paperwork to the authorization department for the approval and that takes 15 days.

I called my surgeon's insurance coordinator (who is not the most friendly person ever...) and she said "pre-authorization, approval, it's all the same thing" and I explained to her that I just spoke with Cigna and what they told me about it being two different departments. She said (totally rudely) "well, I work with Cigna every day and I ALWAYS send this paperwork into the same department and it is always just fine, so you just need to wait a week or so and then try them again". Then she practically hung up. :frown:

So. I'm not sure who to believe - her or Cigna? On one hand I want to believe that she knows her job, but she is not the same coordinator I began this process with, that one got promoted and this one is sort of new I guess and when I first called and spoke with her she said that I needed 5 years of medical records and I told her I only needed 2... She went and checked and said "oh yeah you're right, it's just 2"... I guess that is making me doubt her somewhat.

Has anyone else had this issue, or does anyone know anything at all about it? I hate being this close and having things start to mess up!

Thanks in advance for any help at all!

I just finished everything last Friday and my surgeon's coordinator sent everything into my insurance for approval.. So now the wait is on! She said to wait about 2 weeks to call CIGNA to start bugging them, and I am anxiously waiting for it to have been 2 weeks.

I am ready to get this show on the road!!!!!!!