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Yes, center for weight loss surgery in fed way, surgery would be at st. Francis.

How far out are you?6 weeks out. But I also have irritable bowel syndrome, I think that's why it's as bad as it is. Bc one week I'll have really bad diarrhea then the next I'll be so constipated I'll be in tears. It's been that way for at least a year.

Thank you! I know my surgeon is going to run some tests, but I really feel like my insurance is going to deny me, bc I am new to the state I live in and have only had a physician for 3 months and they want documentation my BMI has been 40+ for over two years...so I am prepared mentally I may have to appeal

Thank you! I know my surgeon is going to run some tests, but I really feel like my insurance is going to deny me, bc I am new to the state I live in and have only had a physician for 3 months and they want documentation my BMI has been 40+ for over two years...so I am prepared mentally I may have to appeal

I really don't know anyone who has been through gastric bypass rny and I have so many questions about my pre-approval process. I have a patient advocate but I'm so nervous and fearful of not being approved. I really don't know what to do. I have a BMI of 40.5 and my 90 day diet will be up on January 23, I have Cigna health ins and they do cover bariatric with a 40 BMI and a 90 day med supervised diet. My physician does not normally do these things he refers patients to a nutrionist however I could not see a nutrionist bc they kept cancelling due to the holiday season. During my 90 days there has been no blood work no tests to see if I am diabetic or anything...just talks about my weight my excercise and mindful eating with notes each time. I have not lost any weight at all so far...and my physician is set to refer me to a surgeon. Once the surgeon sees me then they will file with my insurance ...I guess my question is has anyone had a similar experience? Did you get approved without having to run all those tests with your physician in the 90 day period? My surgeon will run tests of course, and I meet the minimum for BMI without any co-morbiditites... But I am afraid that I will not be approved bc I have not seen a nutrionist yet, just going to the Dr and talking about my weight loss attempts, with no actual weight loss. I wish I knew someone who had the surgery so I could ask things...but I don't. This support group is really my only outlet for this..

I was just denied by bcbs fed even though over bmi of 35 but was below in 2013. Any tips?

I had my surgery on October 28th. But was originally scheduled for Sept 18th. I already had FMLA papers on file, for my severe depression. I was planning on covering my surgery with my fmla papers, saying I needed a week or two. But then i went to the podiatrist, I was having issues with my feet and got fed up with it. I had a feeling I would need surgery on my feet, for the plantar fasciitis and heel spurs. When I went to the podiatrist I found out I had extreme cases of both and messed up genetics in my feet. So I ended up getting scheduled for foot surgery on September 2. Which then pushed my RNY surgery to October. Last Tuesday I went to work to drop off my doctor release form. Everyone asked me what I was doing and how much weight I had lost. I had lost some weight before foot surgery. So i told then I had only lost another 15 pounds since being off. I then reminded them that they only see me in my uniform. I also told them I haven't bought any new clothes (true hate clothes shopping). I also told them my doctor changed one of my medication (which is true, I was taken off medication), told them my doctor had gotten my hormones under controlled. (I have polycystic ovarian syndrome) which is also true, surgery helped with that as well. I guess tell them what you think is best. My job is full of gossip and negatively. I work as a Correctional Officer in a Juvenile prison. Adolescent kids are hateful. I've been there almost 7 years I've gotten used to them being disrespectful about my weight. I've become numb to their hate fullness. Plus I had my surgery for myself, and do not need hate interfering with my progress or feelings about it. So I guess what I'm saying is think about your environment you work in, assess what you can live with and what you can't. You did the surgery for yourself no one else. I agree, lying is not a great idea, (make sure you don't put negatively in the universe) but ask yourself what can I live with? Do I want this to be an experience everyone can see and experience with me? Or are you a private person? But really try and tell as much truth as you can. Just my thoughts. Hope all works out for you.

@@PinkGirl I had a band put in 2002 it eroded in 2004. They took the fluid out hoping it would pull away from my stomach and my stomach heal on its own. Unfortunately that did not happen. I finally had surgery to remove the band in 2008. When they went in to operate the band had completely eroded and was not visible. They removed the band and repaired the damage. Two days later they did the leak test and my stomach would not open to release anything. That night I went in for surgery #2 which was a complete open surgery. I came out with a feeding tube and three drains. I was in the hospital for 14 days. I was off work for an additional 8 weeks. I wouldn't suggest a lap band to my worst enemy. I feel the Dr who did my fills is the one who missed mine up. I think he over filled me each time. I lost 110 lbs with the band. I have gained 50 lbs back since I had it removed in 2008. I see failed lap bands almost on a daily basis where I work. I work at a Endoscopy Center where we do EGD's on patients. It really sad to see all the people that have gone through the lap band procedures only to have it fail. I chose the lap band bc they said it was reversible. But after a 14 day stay in the hospital, 2 surgeries and $300,000 Later it was removed.

I have tried gas x and they seem to help with the gas and bloating. I am going to try some milk of magnesia tonight bc I have yet to go to the bathroom. (TMI ???? sorry)

I had to pause my sleeve surgery to have a total hysterectomy for uterine cancer. I actually lost about 10 pounds after bc I was just not hungry. Plateaued for a little, then started heading slowly down again (I'm still pre sleeve). Best of luck to you. Have you checked out hystersisters? Great forum!

I also have BCBS Fed and they approved my band to sleeve revision. It was all done at once. I danced around the weight requirement as I don't think I technically met it. I had band complications after 14 years banded and regained a lot of weight during the last two years prior to my revision due to having a complete unfill, which did not resolve my issues. I wrote a letter explaining my history and stated I had been successful with the band until my complications (gastritis, esophagitis, hiatal hernia, left shoulder pain). I wrote how the restriction from the band had helped me lose the weight and maintain it, and how I had regained without restriction. I also wrote about how my quality of life had changed when I had lost the weight etc. If you log on to your fepblue account they will have on there a list of everything you have ever been assessed and diagnosed with. I used all those things on my letter. I was approved very quickly. It might not hurt to just put together your letter with your history and any supporting records (I attached imaging studies from my upper GI showing the gastritis etc, PCP records with a weight history, and records from a band surgeon I was seeing a couple of years prior in which he noted my complications). Let me know if you have any questions. Tag me so I get a notification.

@@Pinkgirl1234 we do probably 20-30 EGD's a week on bariatric patients. And I can tell you patients that have had the bypass 5 or more yrs ago are as obese as the were before or bigger. I almost died from a lap band erosion and ended up having two major surgeries and a 16 day stay in the hospital. I am thinking about the sleeve only bc I have seen the best results with less problems with the sleeve. The GI Dr's I work with will tell you the same thing. We have seen some bad stuff from bariatric surgeries. A sleeve is the only thing I myself would ever do to my body again. I know a family of 5 that 2 of the women had the by pass and 3 of the others sleeves. The two with bypass have gained their weight back. They have acute gastritis, hair loss and are deficient in so many vitamins. The sleeve has the least complications of any of the bariatric procedures.

I take one at a time as needed. My doctor's office time me I could take up to four a day. I agree the 4 oz is a lot bc as soon as my stomach feels a little better in filling it up and getting bloated again. I'm sure it will pass once the swelling in our stomach goes down.

On full liquid. Looks like I took in 1000 cal today. The hospital fed me breakfast and lunch. B. Cream of wheat, skim milk. L. Cream of chicken Soup, skim milk, sugar free ice cream then later spread out....snacks. I ate every 3 hours I guess sugar free pudding cup. Instant mashed potatoes. D. Cream of pea soup, skim milk. Protein shake with PB powder I feel like I'm full of liquid. Drank sugar free ice tea

I hope so!! My dr appt is moved to Tuesday! I'm taking it one day At a time for sure. I'm wanting mashed potatoes or Mac n cheese first bc they are so soft. But really I would eat anything at this point!

Hello just wanted to tell you not to lose hope, just like ur self I was trying to conceive for 5 years with no luck ???? doctors kept telling me it was due to my pcos and weight problems..anyway so a friend who had the same condition had the wls and boom! She got pregnat a year after she had the wls. she now has 3 kids???? ok long story short I had the gastric sleeve june this year sw:299 and got pregnat september at 235, Im currently 220 at 3 months pregnat and everything is going well .WLS was the best thing ever just like ur self I thought I was never going to be a mother stay positive and pray , pray , pray???? remember after wls we have to wait at least 9 months before trying to conceive I didint believe I could get pregnat this quick so I really didint care for bc???? best of luck dont worry you will be preggo when you less expect it????

To Amy n Cocoa...a little advice from a sleever who'll revise to gbp Friday, Lord willing. Don't think of anything as"one last", bc if you do, you'll only want it more. It's not like you'll never eat it again, itll just be "one last" time that it'll be that much of it in one sitting. The mind can be an ugly thing with the tricks it can play but we are in control of those thoughts and too can play tricks back. So keep telling yourselves, it's a life style change starting with smaller amounts, not zero amounts. I hope that made sense, im on my 10 day liq preop and my mind says give it a rest:)). But gl and know that IT'S THE LAST BIG PIECE of whatever, not the last piece; ). Gl

Military hospital they are more cautious bc we aren't paying patients so they can be more cautious besides a lot of the patients travel to this hospital so the dr just wants to make sure there are no leaks and stuff :/ it's common protocol at this hospital... I'm also afraid to postpone bc I'm a dependent which means not priority so if I postpone there's a possibility I would have to wait months :/

Sleeved nov 9 iam on pures foods and tomorrow i can inteoduce all foods even tho i wont be able to i lost 20 lbs first week like clock work Then i stoped i figured pureed foods mor calories would stop my stall it just make me go between 343 and 344 ive measured also and not lost any inch anywhere from week1 This is weird bc i didnt even do the pre op diet well i gained and now iam doing eveyrhing right Iam bigger i should have atleast lost 1 or 2 more pounds yes 20 is wonderful but it was just in the first week i think i would have felt better losing the 20 over the 3 week period not just a lump sum and absloltly anything I know theres stalls but one week and two week almoat 3 week stall? Ive seen where people have been sleeved one year and only 50lbs loss i didnt know this was possible makes zero since Any advice

After being force fed insane amounts of protein shakes for three weeks, being medicated with opiates post op and being on bed rest for the last week I am not constipated. I'm impacted. There is no way I can pass this malabsorbed protein plug concrete lying like a door mat over my rectal exit! It's very painful and I don't know whether I need medical intervention, colonic irrigation or a strong laxative. Been taking dulcalax and milk of magnesia so far to no avail. I'm a week post op and scared. I never had anything like this before. Normal? Serious? What works? Help!

I wasnt craving untill I seen it. It was my guilty pleasure one or twice a week in the evening bc I no diet pop is bad all around.

Happy Sunday all! ! Im reporting today bc I have preop appointments tomorrow, Lord willing, and i don't want to forget. Have a blessed rest of your day . Cw: 157.6 weighed by doc

It's getting mighty brrrrrrr here in BC Canada!!! -20 right now. I turn on my heated mattress pad hours before bed! We just bought a new vehicle yesterday (2016 Sante Fe ????) and the BEST feature it has is a HEATED STEERING WHEEL!!!!!! (And of course heated seats too!)

Here's my two cents. You may think the classes sound dumb or stupid and a waste of time, but even if you look stuff up online, a lot of it contradicts itself and is often in the vein of rumor or "I had a friend who did _____" you need to take the classes to heart and commit them to memory for long term success. Most of my classes weren't about how to eat healthy at that moment, but about how to survive the changes I was about to undergo. Let me tell ya, those classes really made a difference immediately post op when I would feel like I had morning sickness or couldn't tolerate my protein shakes or when the desire to just lick food to taste something showed up. I didn't walk out after surgery confused about what was going on, the various stages of regret, funky tastes/smells, desire to chew to name a few, that I would experience because I learned all about those things in my classes. I learned what to do at each stage post op and how to go about it the right way and how I didn't need food funerals because after I reached my goal, many of those things I was "giving up" would be able to have a new place in my life again. There are those who choose not to follow those rules and honestly those people don't succeed. Going in with the mind frame that the classes are stupid and you don't want to have to lose any percentage of weight beforehand is the wrong idea at looking at it and is why you are getting such a negative response. Let me tell you a short story. There was a guy in one of my NUT's classes who had surgery and on his first day out of the hospital tried to blend and eat a taco! He nearly died! The hard shell fragments he "blended" got stuck in his suture line and he ended up in the hospital for emergency surgery to save his life. He also didn't believe our NUT about dumping syndrome and called it BS and tried to eat a king size snickers bar a few months later. It's that kind of behavior everyone fears when someone comes on saying 'hey how can I avoid the stupid classes and not have to lose weight to have surgery.' It sounds like you have no idea what you are doing and aren't at all prepared for what you really need to do to be prepared to be successful. If you think the classes and information are BS, save yourself the money and just don't go down this path, because you need to be able to trust and follow your NUT and surgeon's instructions to the letter especially in those first days, but for the whole long term process. No surgery will do the work for you. You have to show up every day and work hard. The surgery is just a tool to help. It won't do the work for you and you will only get out of it what you put into it and since it sounds like you aren't willing to put the effort in to change and do your best going in, it really sounds like it will be a waste of time until you do reach that point.

Ditto. It was 8 degrees when I fed the horses this morning. Gonna be a high of 26 today :/ And the fleece leggings work great! I have two pairs plus one pair wool long underwear and 2 pairs of heavyweight silk long underwear. Insulated coveralls, down jacket, gloves, wool hat and sorels sitting by the back door to pull on when I go outside to feed or shovel or plow.