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Wanting Lap Band Surgery..help!



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I am hoping that after I attend this seminar tomorrow, things start running smoothly. Today I hit a BMI of 40 and while I know that Tricare doesn't go off of BMI, I am hoping and praying that I get approved for this. I REALLY need this.

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Ok, I know I said I was going to keep this up to date, so I went to my Bariatric surgery seminar tonight and got the information to go to my psych eval (which tricare WILL cover) and I also talked to the surgeon afterward which is actually the surgeon at the surgical center that I would be going to about whether or not it would be difficult in getting approval and he said his experience with tricare prime is that anyone with a BMI of 40 or over gets approved automatically. The patients with a BMI of 35-39.9 are the ones that have to have a co-morbidity. I do have reflux which is considered a co-morbidity, but not really to Tricare. So basically he says since my BMI is 40.4, I will get approved no problem..lets see if he is right! He said if I get my psych eval done and meet with him and the dietician, I can have my surgery by mid september, yay!!

Keep everyone informed!

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Do you have irregular periods? I know you have a baby soooo it's probably not difficult for you to get pregnant, but irregular periods is a co-morbidity. Goof luck on your approval journey!

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Do you have irregular periods? I know you have a baby soooo it's probably not difficult for you to get pregnant, but irregular periods is a co-morbidity. Goof luck on your approval journey!

I do/did have very irregular and HEAVY periods. 6 weeks after I had my son, I got the Mirena and I don't have a period at all now, but I didn't tell the Dr that. He knows im on Mirena but doesn't know I don't have a period anymore. I just said "yes" when he asked if my periods were irregular..lol Thanks!!

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I sent you a message.

Shirley.

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I had my first appointment with my surgeon.. I have a stress test scheduled on the 21st to make sure everything is ok since I have some chest pain and I had my psych eval, which I'm sure i breezed by it.... the only thing I have left to do is have my seminar type thing with the nutritionist and I should be good to go! I am just waiting approval from Tricare and that should be pretty quick! Yay!

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I am glad you have been keeping us posted :) I am new here and have not yet met with my Brand New PCP. I will on Tuesday and will talk with her then after a complete physical. Have you found your surgeon yet? Good thoughts to you!

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Yep, my surgeon is the same surgeon who gave the seminar that I went to. A really nice guy, and every question was answered the way it should have been. He didn't rush through anything or blow anyone off, I really liked him!

The appointment that I had with them last week just went over everything, and I got these really thick books about the lap band, which I will have to carry around everytime I see him or when I see the nutritionist because there are questions in there that I have to answer and turn in, as well as pages that I need to sign once things have been done. They are supposed to go ahead and send everything to my insurance for approval. The soonest I could see the nutritionist was Oct 6, but once insurance approves they can go ahead and give me a surgery date for after the nutritionist appointment. He said that it could even be the day after, as long as I go to that appointment. I am hoping that is what happens because I really wanted to have my surgery sometime this month so that I could have lost a tremendous amount of weight for my husbands military ball coming up..sigh..at least I'll be on the road to losing the weight and even if I have it next month I can still be better than I am now!

Be careful with your PCP, as mine was brand new also and I got stuck with the guy who was completely against weight loss surgery, but after I pressed on and on about it, he finally sent my referral. Remember that even though he/she is a doctor, they work for YOU, not the other way around!! Good luck and I hope everything works out for the best!!

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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
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      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
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      1. summerseeker

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        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

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