Crap.

I just got home from my overnight sleep apnea testing. The kid who monitored me all night said I had no episodes. DAMMIT! With my current BMI (38-ish) and no comorbid conditions, there is no way that I can get banded and have my insurance cover it. I have a few options, I suppose, but self-pay is not one of them.

The first option is to have my surgeon's office remeasure my height. Their measurement is a solid inch more than my PCP's. If I had the PCP's measurement, I'd be on my way to bandland.

The next option is to gain weight to reach a BMI of 40. Cripes. Gaining weight to have a weight loss surgery just seems counter intuitive.

Go on yet another f-ing diet only to fail once again is another way to go.

Finally, I guess I could just give up and try to be happy as a heifer. I don't care for this option.

I am supposed to call the surgeon today and let him know that I had my sleep study. I think that he wants to see me again after that....and if so, I will definitely ask for them to take my height again, during which time I will slouch as much as I can without being obvious.

The most annoying parts of this? Firstly, I didn't even get a decent night of sleep. The ninnies kept me up two hours past my normal bedtime, so that messed me up. Then, that freakin' nasty crud that he put in my beautiful hair just vexed me. It was too gross.

A little OT here, but I did learn that my Wen Cleansing Conditioner really does work!!! I had my doubts, but MAN, that stuff is awesome. Who needs shampoo anyway? NOT ME!! It got all of that nasty crud out of my hair just like that!

Anyhoo....whatevah. I'll just sulk for a little while and then figure out my plan...

dnt give up hang in there beside i thought that ur bmi have to be 35 or higher, im getting band on august 27, 2010

I would definitely have them remeasure you. Hopefully that will be enough to change your BMI.

Being on "the border" myself (BMI of 40 - 6'1"/300) I scheduled a physical and was diagnosed as hypertensive (BP was 160/106!), so now I have a co-morbidity. Yeah! (How weird is it that we want to have more things wrong with us?) I am also going for a sleep study next week. Regardless of whether I get banded, high BP and apnea aren't good for me!

Being on "the border" myself (BMI of 40 - 6'1"/300) I scheduled a physical and was diagnosed as hypertensive (BP was 160/106!), so now I have a co-morbidity. Yeah! (How weird is it that we want to have more things wrong with us?) I am also going for a sleep study next week. Regardless of whether I get banded, high BP and apnea aren't good for me!

Ummm...congratulations on your high blood pressure. Just how weird is THAT to say to someone?! :thumbup: It does seem wrong to think, "Holy crap, I hope I have high blood pressure or sleep apnea."

I left a message at the surgeon's office a few minutes ago to get a follow-up appointment, and you can bet your butt that I am going to get remeasured. I also plan to eat heavily and drink lots of Water prior to that appointment.

Oh, someone else mentioned a BMI of 35. My insurance requires me to be at 40 or higher or 35 to under 40 WITH a comorbidity. Since I just cannot pay for this on my own (I'd rather keep my house!), I have to hope for a slight modification in my numbers.

I am definitely NOT giving up. One thing about me is that when I set my mind to something I GET IT eventually. That's how I roll. :thumbup:

Okay....Honestly....I would gain the weight. I think I would. Cause I am like you, I have a really hard time losing weight. And I know I wouldn't want to "make peace" with how I look now...so I would gain it to get to 40 BMI.

Just letting you know what I would do.

Good Luck!!!!

There is a thread about gaining weight if you need to in order to get the band. This is obviously for people who have had weight problem for a long time. Someone there mentioned using weights to qualify. I laughed at first but now that I had the surgery and can feel the difference it is more understandable. At one point my BMI was just barely 40 and my HR rep said "You might not want to go on a diet to lose any more before the surgery." I asked, "Should I gain?" and she replied primly, "Well, of course I can't TELL you that. But a lot of people find they will gain by enjoying things they won't be able to eat post-surgery."

I have an update.

Today I spoke with the nurse at the surgeon's office (very nice lady) and told her that I likely don't have apnea. She sounded disappointed. I mentioned the height discrepancy between the surgeon and my PCP and she said that she would mention it to the surgeon this week to see if he would be willing to go by the PCP's measurement. If so, then that puts me solidly at a BMI of 40 and I should be in!! :blushing:

At one point I mentioned that I have been eating like a beast to try to gain weight and she said, "Oh no! Don't do that. He won't like it!" Oh good grief...So unless my height is revised to the lower height of 5'3" or the sleep doc says I actually do have apnea (very doubtful based on the tech's assessment), then I am screwed.

I am to call the surgeon's office back on Friday (unless I hear from them first) because the nurse said she'd talk to the surgeon about the height issue to see how he wants to proceed. I am crossing my fingers that this works out because I don't want to have to start all over with another surgeon.

Slouch when they measure your height. Good luck, hope you lose an inch :blushing:

Oh, Ardelia. I'm so sorry you're going through this.

If the doctor asks you about your eating habits since your initial turndown, just say you had a bout of emotional eating for a day but wised up (even if you didn't and are still putting on pounds to qualify with a higher BMI). It sucks to lie, but it's more important that you have EVERY tool available to you (and that means the lap-band).

I don't wish you to be up in my BMI range (50 with 1 co-morbidity), though.

And if you're a heifer, what does that make me? A hippo? :-)

Take care and keep us in the loop.

Oh, Ardelia. I'm so sorry you're going through this.

If the doctor asks you about your eating habits since your initial turndown, just say you had a bout of emotional eating for a day but wised up (even if you didn't and are still putting on pounds to qualify with a higher BMI). It sucks to lie, but it's more important that you have EVERY tool available to you (and that means the lap-band®).

I don't wish you to be up in my BMI range (50 with 1 co-morbidity), though.

And if you're a heifer, what does that make me? A hippo? :-)

Take care and keep us in the loop.

I am not the kind of gal to be satisfied if I don't get what I want. I will get banded. It is just a question of how long it will take, but I am a very stubborn creature and I will NOT give up on this. No way, baby!

A hippo? Tee hee. Frankly, I love hippos! They are lovely and majestic - and not to be f-ed with! Hippos are quite graceful. Have you ever seen one swimming? They're fantastic!!! Don't you forget it, PhillyGirl!!! :tongue2:

I don't know how much weight you need to push you up to the right BMI, but my suggestion is to eat lot's of salty food for a couple of days and then on the morning of a weigh in bring water and drink it on the way. Water is very heavy compared to food, it would be better not to eat and consume as much water as you can without using the bathroom. I would even sit in the parking lot chugging water beforehand. I know someone that was 10lbs underweight to join the army and this boosted him to the weight needed!

People on here have talked about wearing ankle weights for the weigh in.

Get creative!

So I actually did gain weight. I knew I would still be a little under, so I got ankel weights. I then took out the actual weights from them and stuffed them in my bra. I think that is the safest place. I'm so glad I did it because with those extra 2 pounds I was thrown over into a qualifying BMI. I also drank a ton of water before the weigh in.

I have an update since I last posted this.

Long story short, I was remeasured at the surgeon's office and apparently I am 5'3", so the surgeon is moving me forward in the process! He is using my weight when I came to see him the first time. (I have since lost 5 pounds even though I literally ate a whole ice cream cake after the last appointment...go figure...) He seemed pleased that I lost some weight and he said that I should NOT gain any weight from here on out.

Today I finalized appointments with the nutritionist, psychologist, and my PCP (to get an EKG and the letter saying that I should have this surgery). Only the nutritionist visit is not covered by my insurance, but all others are. Specialist visits with my insurance are $15, in case anyone is wondering.

My surgeon appointment is at the end of September, after all of the other appointments. Depending on how all these evaluations go and my insurance, who knows? I might leave the surgeon in September with a surgery date for October!