Moxi

Good question!

Wow, that's a great loss so far! Good luck tomorrow!

Congrats!!!! It will be a big deal for me also!

I do plan on being very private about my surgery. So no jammies or pillows and such. I could certainly get away with wearing something comfortable. It is an ornament exchange party at someone's home. There will be enough people there that if I don't eat anything or spend a lot of time in the bathroom, no one will notice. I think I will RSVP that I will go and then if I am unable to I can cancel and just send my ornament. I think after 3 days of sitting home I will be ready to get out for a couple hours....or at least I hope I will! Thanks everyone.

I'm invited to a party 3 days after my surgery. It's not an "active" event really and there will be plenty of opportunity for me to sit and relax. Of course I won't actually eat anything while I am there. Were you up to this kind of activity 3 days post op (if you stayed home and rested all day)?

I'm sure you're done by now. Hope everything went well!!

Good Luck!!! :cursing:

My insurance has a 5 year BMI over 40 clause. Althoug I am at 40 now, like you over the past 5 yrs I was only in the high 30's. I was super worried about them denying me for this. I got got medical necessity/support letters from a couple Dr's and even considered (but didn't) sending a letter myself. They are covering my surgery. So don't give up hope. When your time comes around again, get some letters from your doctors. I looked into the self pay at the hospital I am getting my surgery at and it's $20K!! The hospital expenses alone (without the surgeon or cost of band itself) is 13 or 14K.

You need to find out what the problem is. You need to call your insurance company and find out *exactly* what their requirements are for approval for the surgery and then see if you meet the requirements and have submitted all the right stuff. I know there is often a lot more that goes into it than simply looking at your BMI and they are usually pretty picky about having every little thing *just so*.

Junebug, I bet you need to go to your family Dr. and have him write you a letter that the surgery is a medical neccesity or at least that it is medically necessary that you lose weight because of x,y, & z health problems. I spoke to someone at BCBS when I was getting my info together and he told me that they put a lot of emphasis on the physician letter. So I got a letter of support from both my PCP and OBGYN!

Good luck Jamie! Good job so far with the pre-op diet!!

My Dr. said to do the Atkins Diet 2 weeks before surgery. It seems most people who have to follow a pre-op diet it is usually low carb....a lot of protein shakes too.

Hi, I just got my insurance approval the other day. My surgery date is November 11th!

I saw that too. It looked like it would work well.

I'm pretty sure that at least the letter from the physician is a *requirement* to be approved by BCBS for surgery, so I am not surprised that they denied you without that and the dietician info. (why did your physician's office even submit your info without these important things?) I'd be willing to bet that as long as you have all the necessary stuff and have dotted all your i's and crossed your t's they will approve it no problem.

Thanks Claire. :thumbdown: Good to see you Schmoopy! Gald everything went well for you. Hopefully you are feeling like yourself soon.

That's awesome!

What made you choose the Lap Band as opposed to gastric bypass?

Hope all is going well for you today Schmoopy and that you'll come back and update us once you feel up to it!

Good luck Shmoopy! (love the name LOL)

Thants great! Enjoy!

Are they able to just replace a port without replacing the entire band setup?

If your insurance covered your surgery, do they also cover all the fills? If not, roughly how much does a fill cost?

Anyone get their band by Dr. Boorse at Lehigh Valley. Did you have a good experience?

Maybe I will try that!