nallygirl

Yay Congratulations on your surgery!!! Hoping for a speedy recovery process for you!!

Congrats on jumping through that last hoop!!! I can't wait til I can say the same thing!! Still waiting on my PCP to write my medical clearance letter. Good luck and I hope you get a speedy insurance approval!!!

Good Luck with your surgery!!!

Took my first Kickboxing class today!! I'm not sure if I kicked fat's ass or if it kicked mine...either way I'm going to be feeling THAT tomorrow!!

Hi Everyone!! I'm kinda out of the loop, it's been a crazy week but wanted to say Welcome to all the new future bandsters, CONGRATS to everyone who has their approvals and Good Luck to all of us still fighting through the insurance process!!

I had my final round of testing on Wednesday which included gallbladder ultrasound, chest and abdominal xrays and my UGI scan. Now it all needs to be sent to my PCP so she can write my medical clearance letter. Then that all needs to go to my surgeons office so they can submit everything to insurance. Little by little things are getting done. Hoping I'll get an approval in early Feb and a surgery date in late Feb!!

Hope you all are doing well!!

~Natalie

@aDORAblesista - I don't have a surgery date yet but my surgeon said I will have to do a 2 week pre-op liquid diet. He makes all his patients do it to help shrink their liver prior to surgery. It seems like each surgeon requires something different though.

@cheechtrish - Congrats on your surgery date! Good luck with everything!! :thumbup:

Okay cool! And also on Amazon.. if you sign up for their subscription service.. you get an extra 15% off of that.. and you can pick to have it delievered from 1 to every 6 months so it's even cheaper.

There's another site like that has the 4 per each case thing... and you get 6 of those.. so like 24 for like $17 but it's expired in like Aug of 2009 but they guarantee it's fresh.. or your money back..what do you think?? you know anyone who's ever bought closeouts like that?

I have no idea! I've never bought anything like that online...only powdered Protein. Do you have to use a specific type of drink or is that just what you perfer? I think the powder is cheaper than the ready to drink shakes...at least from what I remember but I haven't bought the ready to drink ones in a long time.

Seriously!! Without this board and the obesityhelp one.. I would have never known that it was even possible that I could get lap banded.. I used to talk about it all the time wanting to get it..but never thought it would have been possible! This board has been a huge help!

Hey, do you know the cheapest place to get the Aktins RTD shakes? I saw a thingie of 8 on Amazon for like $9.63 or something like that.. that's the cheapest I have found..do you think it's cheaper anywhere else? Walmart and Target don't give prices via the internet.. but I don't feel like driving from store to store wasting gas to find out the cheapest prices

Oh wow that's really cheap! I just looked online and couldn't find it cheaper than that for an 8 pack. Sounds like a good deal!

So I just got word that now I have to do a 6 months Physician-Supervised Weight Loss Program.. Which my WLSC doesnt even provide I have to go to my regular family practice to do. I just feel like all my hope and hard work to get this approved has gone down the drain.. I'm scared if I do lose weight during the 6 months I wont be approve because Insurance will think I can do it by myself.. Has anyone else had to do the 6 month supervised diet? I feel like 6 months is such a long time to wait to have surgery. Why can't it be 3 months?

Hi Mewizza...I'm sorry you are having to deal with this. I have Cigna and was so upset when I found out they required a 6 month supervised diet program. I just finished my last appt on Jan 4th and am still jumping through insurance hoops to get approved. The good news is the 6 months flew by and it gave me a lot of time to mentally prepare for the surgery. I've learned so much in these past few months that I'm almost grateful for the time. Don't get me wrong, if they had said you can get surgery tomorrow I would have done it! Good luck with everything. Just stick with it and hopefully things will work out!

Oh that doesn't sound bad.. I'm going to assume that since everything went so quickly from first appt to surgery that the psych things will go pretty quick too. I've only told like 3 of my friends.. I'm not telling anyone else.. and my family is really just my p's...and they'll never know...they are just not that nice..lol but we've never been a close family(plus every time I see them they ask me when I'm gonna lose weight and say that I look like a fat scrub woman.. so F**K them! LOL).. I've never been one to tell them anything.. so I hope that's okay with the psychiatrist..I consider this board support so hopefully he will too..

Yep not bad at all! I haven't really told anyone either, just my mom and my 2 close friends. I figure once I'm approved, have the surgery and the pounds start dropping then I'll tell people if they ask. I couldn't agree with you more about this board! I'ts been such a huge help and the people on here are great!!

Thanks!! and you are very welcome hon! I wonder what they are gonna ask as the psyche eval? Hopefully they don't think I'm crazy or anything.. or hopefully they can't tell I am..:der: :smilielol5:

My psych eval was super easy. Just lots of questions about my weight history, family history, do I know the risks of surgery, how long have I thought about getting surgery, what else have I tried, does my family/friends know (basically do I have a support system). Although I've heard others who have had to do 300 question written evals where they ask you the same questions a million different ways to see if you change your answer kinda thing. Hopefully yours is just a simple sit down with the psychologist like mine was!!

WE SCHEDULED MY SURGERY!!!!!!!!!!! It's scheduled for the last Friday in Jan...the 28th.. :fruitsex: :cheers2: :party: I'm so excited!! I'm still gonna stay in this group..it's close to February.. Like I'm so excited... Seriously, I went to the info session on Dec. 13th.. I had my first appointment on Jan. 3rd which was the first day they had appts from our info session...I was like the 3rd appt of the day.. and my surgery will be 25 days after.. too cool! I'm supposed to start the liquid diet on the 14th..but I'm going out that night..so I'll start it the next day.. well, at least the most part of everything I have that day will be liquid! :cheers2: LOL So Thursday is my group session... it's a 3-in-1 deal A nutrition class, an exercise class and some other class..I don't remember. The 19th is my psyche eval and then my meeting with the surgeon before the Sx is the 24th.. I'm so excited!!! Yah me!:dita:

YAY!!! I'm so excited for you!!! Congrats on your surgery date and thank you for all the great information!!

@justplaintired – I would love to tell you that I'm used to it and that I wear it without fail every night but in reality I am horrible about wearing it. I have a tiny nose (so they say) and am a mouth breather so I have to use the full face mask. Let me tell you it's a good thing I'm single because that thing is so not sexy to wear to bed LoL!! I look like a fat fighter pilot!! LoL I have been better about it since I started this process but I still don't wear it every night.

@chimboree26 – Yay!! That's great you're going to Dr Halmi too!! I don't have a surgery date yet since I don't have everything submitted for approval yet but I will most likely be around the end of February as well from what I'm told. Good luck with your surgery!!

@kloee - My surgeon offers both the Realize and the Lap-Band. My surgeon prefers the Lap-Band though so that is what I went with.

That does sound kinda weird..lol but that should help you! That was one of the things they said that would help if your BMI wasn't above 40. I was supposed to get a sleep study done more than a year ago and stupid me never went..but I'm sure I have it from what other people say who have slept in the same room with me...lol

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you!

Thank you!! LoL that's why I originally went and did the sleep study...people complained about my snoring haha. Good luck with your Medical Clearance appt tomorrow. I have mine on the 13th with my PCP. They are making me do all my pre-op testing before they will write my clearance letter...I seem to be the only one who has had to do this though and my surgeon's office didn't get it either. I'll be interested to see what yours is like!

mokey,

Yes, I had the sleep study done last month and I have severe apnea. I have the cpap now and I hate it!

P

I hate the cpap too. Hopefully losing weight means no more cpap!!

Nally

I have submitted to my insurance. I am waiting for a response. I have a BMI of 35.9 and I dont have co morbitities. I have asthma,high cholesterol , MVP, a family history of heart disease. I dont have diabetes hypertension and such. I am 70lbs overwight and would love to see myself approved before I have those comorbitites. I findd it interesting that insurance co. want co morbitities ...why not pre co morbitites. Isnt it easier and cheeper to care for someone with just weight loss and not the co morbitities. Anyway...we shall see...I am not sure what I will do if they refuse.

Good luck to all ...Healthy 2011

Hi Kim...yes it makes no sense that you have to already have all these medical conditions before insurance would cover a life changing operation. I agree you would think they would want to prevent those conditions before they start!! Good luck with your approval...I'll keep my fingers crossed

Did you have to have a sleep study done to see if you have sleep apnea?

Yes but since I had already done one in April before I started this whole process they were able to just use that one. I do have severe sleep apnea so that should help me...that sounds weird...in the approval process.

Hi Everyone! I was originally supposed to be a January bandster but apparently I'm not done jumping through insurance hoops yet! I've finished my 6 month nutrition classes needed for insurance, my psych eval and my sleep study. Now I just need my PCP to write my medical clearance...which they are dragging their feet on...then everything can be submitted to insurance. Fingers crossed I'll be getting banded in February!!

Good Luck to everyone!!

Does that fee cover anything? I had to pay around $500 through my surgeon's office but it covered my 6 months of nutrition classes (required by my insurance) and my pre-op one-on-one with the nutritionist. Other than that I haven't had any "program" fees...that I know of.

Ugh! So annoyed right now!! My surgeon's office just called me to say they need me to come in for a one on one with their nutritionist before they can submit my paperwork for insurance approval. They don't have any appointments until Jan 17th!!! Seeing as how I've been coming in every month for 6 months to do these nutrition classes I'm just so frustrated they waited until NOW to tell me this. They also need a medical clearance from my PCP however my PCP wants me to get all my pre-op testing done first before they will write my clearance. So it looks like with all this crap I won't be a January bandster after all. There is no way I can get all this done, get the insurance approval and do a 2 week pre-op diet before the end of the month. I know this isn't a big deal, I'm just so frustrated by this whole process with insurance and I guess I just needed to vent.

So good luck to all of you January bandsters!! See you in February...hopefully!!

Thanks for your replies! What did your psych evaulations entail? Was it just talking with someone or was it a bunch of questions you had to answer on paper and/or computer?

Mine was super easy; just a one on one conversation with a psychologist. She was very familiar with WLS and just asked me questions like what was the procedure I was having done, how long had I thought about it, do my friends or family know (making sure I had a support system in place), do I have a family history of obesity, what else have I tried to lose weight, do I know the risks of the surgery and then some questions about depression. I've heard/read though other people had to fill out crazy forms with hundreds of questions. I guess it depends who you go to. My psychologist was recommended to me by someone else who uses my surgeon. I'm sure the surgeons office will give you a list of providers to go to though too. Good luck with your process!!

I have Cigna and they did not require any testing before submitting for approval other than my 6 months of nutrition classes and a psych eval. My surgeon however is requiring me to have blood work, a set of chest x-rays and an EKG prior to surgery. I was not required to do the endoscopy but it seems like everyone has a little something different though even within the surgeon's office I go through.

After 6 months I finally had my last nutrition class today so it looks like now the waiting game begins and I'm just hoping and praying for an insurance approval!! They said it could take as long as 4 weeks which kinda bums me out but I know a lot of people who have been approved much quicker. Hopefully I'll get an approval soon and can be well on my way to becoming a January bandster with you all!!

Welcome to all the new people and good luck with your surgery!!

so get this...................ugghhhhh!!!!!! so frustrated!

I only have a 3 month wait so I hurried and got all my appointments on the calendar within the first week after meeting the surgeon. The Pulmonologist was the one that told me that I had sleep apnea (18 apneas per hour) and would recommend the cpap - i said "let's wait till after the surgery to see if I've lost weight and if not then we'll get it.

My surgeon's office got the pulmonologists letter of clearance but it really wasn't clearing me - it was more or less protecting him because I had refused cpap - i get why he wrote it that way - i just wish he would have told me that he was going to

Soooo.................in November I went back to the sleep lab and did another study WITH the cpap and agreed to get it - they brought it to me on 12/14 and i've been using it MOST nights - i think i fell asleep about 4 nights without it. My boyfriend is at the COPD lab right this second getting the smart chip print out from the cpap so i could run it over to the pulmonologist so that they can get me ANOTHER appt this week but the doc is booked till jan 17th and my surgery is jan 18th!!! can you believe this?!?!?

Insurance doesn't really need this but the anastegiology dept does and they won't do the surgery unless they have clearance ---- the other kink i run into is - i might not have been on the cpap long enough ---

I did everything right and early and here we are in the final days running around and by the way - INSURANCE STILL HASN'T APPROVED IT because they cant submit the package to my ins co until after my last nutritionist class which is tomorrow night. (oh! and to top it off! I gained weight!)

Words of encouragement anyone?!?!? ! !

Renee!! I'm so sorry you're having to go through all this right now!! This whole process of jumping through insurance hoops is so stressful!! Is there anyway you can get on a waiting list with your pulmonoligist office so if someone cancels an earlier appt you can get in before the 17th? I have a cpap that I never wear...I hope they don't say anything to me about it!!! This is such a hard time of year to have our final appts (mine's tomorrow too) with all the food from the holidays. My surgeons office though wasn't too concerned about any weight gain so hopefully yours wont be either! I know its hard but try to stay positive...it will all work out!! Let me know if you need to chat/vent!!

Happy New Year and good luck to everyone getting banded this coming week!!! :thumbup: