sockmonkey

I came across this thread through a Google search for Sharon Osbourne's band removal. I am curious about what you mean when you say most have it removed by then anyway. This is the first I'm hearing that the band is not to be considered permanent! My surgeon told me that unless something goes wrong, it is to stay in. Thanks for the clarification in advance!

Whoo hoo, another August 6 buddy!!!

Oh, and 1 more thing. Tricare is very firm about what constitutes a comorbidity. Like I said before, they would not just trust that I have sleep apnea, or even review my claims for all of my sleep studies and sleep supplies that they've been paying for for several years, they wanted actual documented proof. You might have to jump through a few hoops to get a comorbidity, or it might be worth it to just eat a big lunch and wear heavy shoes to your appt.

I am in Triwest region and they are really prompt. For your ideal weight based on your height used by Tricare, go to the MetLife BMI chart located here: Height & Weight Tables Then use the weight indicated as the lower end of medium build. This is the number Tricare used when calculating my eligibility. Tricare requires 100 lbs. overweight with 1 comorbidity OR 200% of ideal body weight. To share my experience with the approval process, I was just at 100 lbs. over with 1 comorbidity (sleep apnea). I was denied. They said that they would review my case if I could provide a copy of my sleep study. My weight loss surgeon handled this for me. I received a call about 2 weeks later saying that I was approved! Hope this helps!

On second thought, I might keep one or two peices. It would be good to have loose fitting clothes after surgery. I've been living in sweats for 4 months now because I refuse to buy new clothes that actually fit! So I may be a tad biased, lol.

Hey, Spoiltmom, I just realized we have the same surgery date!!! Stay in touch, and I'd send the clothes back if I were you. We'll be losing sizes before we know it. :biggrin:

Check the part of the board dedicated to insurance questions. I had problems getting approved and there was so much info regarding my insurance plan on this board!

I love my blender cup from GNC. It won't blend fruit of course, but it has a little whisk ball in it that blends beautifully! And it's easy to clean, I just put some soap and water in it and shake it again, then rinse. I plan to take mine back and forth with me to work with my powder already in it and just buy a milk at the cafeteria. :thumbup:

My NP told me that MOST of their pts return to work within 5 days of sugery. Try to think if it as an extended summer vacay! Sorry for your frustration! Thin days are ahead!!!! :thumbup:

Hey, Cat, my advice is to take your surgery date with a grain of salt. I scheduled before insurance approval and ended up being denied 3 days before my surgery. I won my appeal and got another surgery date, but I was so devastated when I was denied. Might be a bit easier on the psyche to not get your hopes up before that approval!

You never can tell. I have NO pre-op liquid diet, and for post-op I have 1 day of clear liquids and 2 weeks of full liquids. Thats it.

Awww, sorry Quilterlu!

Thanks so much for the well-wishes, Cocoabean!

After a painful insurance experience, I finally have an approval and a new surgery date! I was supposed to be banded on July 7, got to 3 days before surgery, only to be denied by insurance. But I got the call this morning and I am approved and will be banded on Aug. 6!!!:biggrin: WHOO HOOO!!!!!!!

Are you being banded ON base or OFF base? If you are on base, there might not be any information on the doctors.

Update: Since the info I was given regarding my denied appeal was relayed through the replacement staff (my person was on vacay), I called her back the following week. She had heard NOTHING of the appeal or denial. After doing an hour of research she discovered that Tricare DID NOT deny my appeal, but one of the doctors there gave the weight loss center's staff attitude about my sleep apnea severity and said not to expect it to be approved. I waited one more week and on Friday, I got a call from a woman at Tricare telling me that I was approved. :biggrin: I know 2 other women locally who have been denied initially by Tricare but then won their appeals. Makes you wonder what the thought process is over at Tricare. Perhaps they are denying everyone initially. In any event, I'm getting a Lap-Band!!!!!

I am really surprised to find so many people having port pain. It's something that was never mentioned to me in the seminar or consultation that I would have never thought to ask had I not seen it on this forum. I had a friend have a port slip/flip (not exactly sure, but the port moved) and our surgeon told her it was from too strenuous of exercise which freaks me out. One of the things that I can't wait to be able to do again is MOVE freely. I guess I can just stack this one in the files of the "this is not a magic fix" folder. Darn.

Thanks for your reply, Sophie! My scrubs come back on Aug. 31 (I'm an RN student) and I'm a little nervous for that first clinical. :smile: I hate cutting it so close but if I see other nurses can go back to work and be productive, then it gives me hope!

As I'm reading through the boards, I'm hearing a lot about port pain, and to my surprise, it's not always just after surgery! Would you please share with me how long you had port pain after your procedure and how it has affected your workouts, sleep positions, etc. Thanks!

I already worked my tooshie off to gain 10 lbs so that I would qualify with 1 cormorbidity!!!! 10 more lbs now seems completely disgusting. I'm so frustrated!!!

I was denied, appealed the denial, and my appeal was denied. All because of so very little. I met the criteria for 100 lb. overweight, but my comorbidity was "not severe enough". (sleep study showed sleep apnea requiring CPAP therapy but too low of a severity index for bariatric treatment. And I was 6 lb. under for 200% over ideal weight. My weight loss center was shocked. They said they've never seen such stringent policies. And I'm left fat. My surgery (which was supposed to be Friday) was cancelled. I'm trying so hard not to cry right now. :confused:

I recently had my first nutrition class (pre-op) and the conversation was steered to artificial sweeteners. According to my nutritionist, all artifical sweeteners lead to weight gain except for one derivitive of Stevia which you can get at Whole Foods. At first this seemed perfectly do-able, however the more I think about it, the more outlandish that sounds. Does anyone have any experience with this or have any other advice?

Does anyone know where we get one of those nifty tags for our signature line that says when we are banded? Like, the "July 2010 Bandster" type things? Just because I'm silly like that. :smile:

I am scheduled for July 9!!! I too, however, am waiting on the final ok from insurance. Luckily I have no weight to lose or pre-op diet. Guess I'm one of the lucky ones! I just don't want to get too excited before that approval goes through. :bored:

I too have had a hysterectomy, and although I still have my ovaries, I have had menopausal symptoms. My dr. referred to them as post-surgical ovarian failure. My weight increased by 20 lbs. almost immediately after the hyster and has since been impossible to remove anything gained, resulting in even more weight gain. I am too young to safely take oral HRT until age 50 and HRT patches burned my skin. I really hope that a lack of hormones will not hinder my weight loss after lap-band!!! :bored: