outside*looking*in

Just thought I would post one of my favorite personal recipes to share. I start pre-op diet tomorrow so will low-carb after surgery, when appropriate. I make these turkey patties for dinner, lunch and breakfast. They can be pre-made and put in freezer to use individually or cook a batch to last a few days. 1-2 lbs ground turkey 1 egg 1/2 can water chestnuts (chopped) 1/2 cup of shredded cheese 2 tbls fresh chopped garlic Sprinkle of Sea Salt and fresh ground pepper. Pan fry in touch of olive oil or cooking spray over medium to medium high heat. Don't flip to soon or they will break apart. YUM!

I start my pre-op tomorrow. I just received the instructions and it is limited but not as much as I thought it would be. I will have to do it for two weeks. Just got my surgery date of Feb 3rd.:biggrin: This is what they sent me! Breakfast · 8 oz skim or 1% milk · ½ Protein drink · 4 oz fruit Mid Morning · Protein Drink lunch · 6-8 oz low fat, light yogurt · 4 oz vegetable or fruit Afternoon · 1 oz nuts or 2 tbsp Peanut Butter or ½ cup Beans or hummus · 4 oz vegetable or fruit dinner · 4 oz protein · 4 oz vegetable with 1 tbsp olive oil · ½ cup whole grain starch or 1 slice whole grain bread or ½ potato Evening · 8 oz skim or 1% milk · ½ protein drink · 4 oz fruit I have seen on here that many people are allowed shakes and only shakes. THat would be hard.:ohmy:

Thanks Gloria - I will be looking for a new PCP when this is over. He has proven himself to not be a very compasionate doc during this process. Right now I am trying to eat healthier until it is time for my pre-op all liquids phase. Not looking forward to that but I know it has to be done.

atgoalgirl - I have not had surgery yet. I have another appointment with my PCP this week to get his "approaval". He is not exactly thrilled about this. All of my other pre-op testing is done and back in to the surgeon. My PCP is my only hold up right now. If he gives his clearance I think I will get my surgery date and it will probably be Feb 3rd.

Thank you both for the kind words. Btrieger, I have seen your post on here and as I read it, I think you have posted this or somthing similar to someone else. I should have listened then! I saw that you have had great success with your pre-op "dieting". I admit, I have been more strict on myself than my docs instructions. Thanks again to both of you......and whoever else chimes in.:w00t:

So - I am on a "pre"-pre-op diet and I am trying to do a South Beach version. I have completely went off the deep end this weekend (starting Friday night) and gave the good 'ol, "I'll restart on Monday" excuse. THis really has me worried that I am not ready for the commitment it takes to get the band. Is this "normal" for banders to go through? I have been able to be on diets for months at a time without "cheating". I worry that I am not ready but I hope that this is normal and all will be fine. :w00t: I can only IMAGINE what I will be like during the true pre-op liquid only stage. Maybe at that point it will really click.

So - my Dr's office offers 1 year complication ins for their self-pay patients. Great right! So I move forward with all of my appointments and had my consultation with my surgeon and really like him. Today I was setting up some of my final appointments and the girl from the office says, "I see you are scheduled to have your surgery with Dr.K but I have to tell you that he can not provide the complication insurance. Id you want that, you have to have your surgery with Dr. M." SO NOW YOU TELL ME!!! They are both great docs but I would have loved to have my consult with the doc who is actually DOING my surgery. Geesh! So, if your office offers this, make sure you are paired up with the doc that can provide it.

So - get this! I had my appointment and 587 questions, 1 hour discussing myself and family later I leave and go to pay my co-pay. The lady hands me a bill of $340!!! I said - I thought I only had to pay my co-pay which is now $50? She fumbled around a bit and said that the ins pays for the doc visit but not for the testing! She said wait for the EOB and they will refund me if it is covered. I will not expect to see that money but WILL be calling my insurance company!:thumbup:

Update for anyone interested in this practice. So far my experience with U.S Bariatrics has been great. They really help you with each stage. Jenn, the surgery scheduler has been wonderful in taking me through each step. The only thing that I just found out was that I have to have my surgery with Dr. Marema instead of Dr. Koppman. Not that that is bad but I did my consult with Koppman and have planned on him being the surgeon since the seminar. The problem: I am self pay and Dr. Koppman can not provide the 1 year complication insurance. So I have to go with Marema. I really wish they would have mentioned this sooner so I could have had my consult with Marema. I will still have my pre-op appoinment with him. I am so far into at this point there is no turning back. Good thing I know that Dr. Marema is a fine surgeon. PCP appointment next week and then all of the final stuff from bariatrics. WhoooHoo:thumbup:

I have my pysch(sp?) consult today. I am scheduled to go in at 12pm and they said to expect to be there until about 4pm!!!! WHY????? What could take sooooooo long. Should I pack a stinkin' lunch?:smile2:

I have been researching this and even twice talked myself out of it. 1 - because I am self pay and this is a lot of money and 2- because of possible complications during surgery and in the future. I lurked a little to long on the problems post. Then I found my courage and decided to move forward. I go in two days to get all of my pre-op testing done. It includes the blood work which is only good for thirty days. SO I am 31 days and counting and I find that I am going back looking at all of the possible problems and complications. Do nerves take over the excitment? I remind myself that I had to have an appendectomy last year and I came out of that just fine. Still worried. ANy advice?

MeNext - It sounds as though everyone had a fairly good response from their PCP's. I had the oppisite. I, like you, was new to my PCP as I had just recently moved. It was on my second visit that I mentioned to him that I wanted to do Gastric Band (first visit I got the your too fat and need to join WW lecture - so I did WW). I really just wanted his opinion on the surgery and perhaps a reference for good bariatric surgeon. It was at that appoinment I got the, "if you would just get up every morning at 5am and go jogging you would lose weight" lecture. He also said that since I am self-pay for the procedure, what he thinks really does not matter since he will not be a part of it. (RED FLAG) So, I made an appoinment with the surgeon and found out what all pre-op appoinments I needed. One of those pre-op things is a simple note/script from my PCP saying that I am clear to have surgery. So, I made an appoinment with my PCP (for a different issue) and while I was their mentioned to him that I would need an approval script from him. HE FLEW OFF THE CHAIN!!!!! He said that he would have to do test and can't just right me off for suregery- I explained that as part of the $$ I have to pay for the surgery I will be getting and EKG, X-Ray and Blood Work and I can bring all of those results with me. He then said, that is nice for them and their little package deal but what does he get out of it (RED FLAG 2) He has to sign off on me but is not included in thier deal. So I explained that I am willing to come in and do whatever test he wants but I don't want to pay for it out of pocket again. SO he said, " Don't worry about that I can be creative if I need to be" (DING-DING-DING RED FLAG #3) So he is my hold up. I don't want to go back to him. SO I have to figure out how to get the letter of approval. I did talk to the surgeons office and they are willing to help me the process. I imagine if you have any troubles, your surgeons office will be able to help you out as well. Good Luck:thumbup:

I agree with JoJo - I have had the Russell Stovers and they are really GOOD! THey are fatty but made with splenda.

That is a great deal. Do you mind sharing your cost? My deal is about $18,000 total for surgery and that includes 1 year of fills and if any repair/surgery is needed in the first year it is covered.

selswick - Was any of that 50lbs in a pre-op diet? Or is it all starting from 10/23? 50lbs in that short of time is AMAZING!!

Update - I have finally started the ball rolling and will have a pysc appointment and all of my pre-op testing next week. US Bariatric and the staff have been wonderful. At this point it is my PCP that is the P.I.T.A~! He is not very willing to give me clearance since he does not get a cut of the $$ that I will be paying out of pocket to US Bariatric. He at first said that he was not happy with the surgeons for not calling him and just expecting him to hand out a script saying he feels I will be fine with it. But, then he mentioned how he does not get any of "their great little package deal, yet he has to be a part of it" . He will NOT be my doctor when I am done with this. I will as Dr. Koppman for a good PCP. Perhaps one that is compasionate enough to not tell a patient that "if they would just get up at 5am and go jogging every morning they would lose the weight"! What an A~~! :smile2:

Hi all -I just started a pre-pre-op diet and I am doing a version of south beach and atkins. I say that because I am allowing myself some of the cheese and creams of atkins but still cutting down on the higher fat meats & such. I will also have a bit of fruit when I crave it (no more than 3-4 times a week). I will not be testing for ketones and will not limit myself to 20grams of protien for an induction phase. We will see how that goes. I find a lot of great recipes on Linda's Low carb website. I tweak them if needed. :smile2:

With the Holidays I am having a hard time with my husband and food. I will be getting a band in Jan/Feb. I am not on a pre-op diet yet. Here is my problem. My husband wants to have a blow out Christmas dinner with all of the fix'ns. The problem, it is just he and I and an 11 & 2 y/o. He wants to make enough food for an army. His excuse is that he wants to have a "Special" Christmas with just us as a family. I explained to him that while I don't mind that we fix a special dinner, I don't want our 11y/o thinking that this is what makes Christmas special, the food and shoving in as much as possible through out the day. I fix special foods, such as breakfast rolls, only on certain Holidays. The idea of fixing as many dished as possible is one that he grew up with. I grew up with similar but I came from a larger family and always had extra family over. Each year his family makes dinner, the first thing they say when they are done eating is, "well - we made too much againg this year and next year we will have to cut down a bit". They never do. Here is what he wants us to have for the four of us. Turkey, bread dressing, mashed potatoes, gravey, broccoli casserole, sweet potatoe casserole, mac-n-cheese, cranberry sauce, peacan pie, apple caramel crumble. Here is what I managed to talk him OUT OF, green marshmellow fruit thing, cranberry-orange nut thing, and ham. Maybe I should post this on rants and raves! How do you live with a food addict, before and after the band?

I have the MBT's that I paid over $300 for. My orthopedic doc recommended them when I told him how my feet hurt in reg shoes after short distance walking (and I am talking less than 2 blocks!). I do not wear them much during the summer but mostly in winter. I did not buy them to make my butt look better but my feet do not hurt like they used to while walking. I do feel a little unbalanced when standing still. I wish they had the cheaper version a few years ago!

Well - I may get pushed back to Feb 2010. My psyc appointment is 1/12 and then all of my ekg, x-ray, blood work to follow. Then I have to take all of that to my PCP for him to clear it. He is not to excited about it. I don't know if it can all get done before January.

So I started setting the appointment for the pysc eval and the surgeons office thought it might be around $400 to $500! OUCH! So - I decided to call my ins and ask if it was covered. I explained that it was for clearance for bariatric surgery (which is not covered) and she said it IS COVERED!!!! So now I only have to pay a $40 copay. So I called and set up the appoinment, gave her my ins info and before ending the call ask her "just out of curiosity, How much would this cost for self-pay?" $600!!!!:biggrin: Holy COW! I hope the person I was speaking to from my insurance was giving me the right info....

I was really shocked by his response. He originally said it was a liability that he would have to to all sorts of test to clear me, totally get that, but then he mentioned how "those doctors have their little package deal yet include his services for free" so is it because he is not getting a take in the cash? He said "if they are going to be that way, see if I ever refer them!" I was just trying to be understanding and keep it nice (thank goodness I was not PMS/emotional). The last time I was in his office and told him my choice to have lap-band he gave me a 20 minute speach on "if you would just get up a 5am and go jogging":mad2: I will be changing PCP's when this is all over. I have only been going to him since May of this year (like 3 visits) since we just moved. I will not let him stop me....neither will my surgeon!

Well - I am on my way with all of the appointments needed to get to surgery. One thing I needed was a script/note from my PCP for clearence to have surgery. I thought this was a strange request but I went to my primary doc today and asked him about it. HE WAS MAD!!!!!! Not at me but at the surgeons. He said that they are "not playing nice in the sand box" He is of course worried about his liability and I can totally understand that. I explained to him about the ekg, chest x-ray and blood work that I have to have done with the surgeons office before surgery and he did not care. I totally get it, he has to cover his butt. But I am not going to go through all of it twice! I have to pay for it for surgery anyway. Did anyone else have to get a note from their PCP? Was it a problem? I am just getting frustrated now.

I am in Fl but just to throw it out so you can see an average, I was told that my doc visits will be $75 and if I need a fill it will be another $75 on top of the OV. So basically $150, but the first year of fills are included in my self-pay price of $17,500:crying::thumbup::thumbup:

4) For the record that unrelated to my band (or my diet- they believe it's hormone/vitamin supplement related), last Feb I was diagnosed with a deep vein thrombosis in my right leg and pulmonary emboli in both lungs...(blood clots!) I was placed on Coumadin to thin my blood and ever since then it's just about impossible to lose. I also can't eat hardly ANY green vegetables. I am allowed to have a salad 3 times a week, and that is it. Green veggies counteract the meds (as crazy as it sounds) and for someone who previously LOVED her salads as a filling way to control her weight, this has been very frustrating. :smile2:Hi - First of all, keeping off weight for 6 years......AWESOME! Second, great job finding your way back to some support and motivation. As for your blod clots (very serious - I have been there) if you are having your PT/INR and you are not OVER doing your dark vegetables your doc should be able to keep your levels straight by adjusting your coumadin. Find a doc and go get checked out. He/She will be able to help you with your nutrition plan as fas as your coumadin goes. We are always looking for long timers on this board. Hope you stick around.:thumbup: