Hello all. I am new to all this so please bear with me. I am a 51 (well, almost 52 year old woman) living in Southern CA. My insurance company recently denied me the Gastric ByPass because of a recent history of Cancer (1 year in remission from Cervical Cancer ... woohoo); they felt since I could not be guaranteed a 5-year remission (duh?) I was not a good candidate. My doctors though (Dr. Laporte and Associates in Fountain Valley, CA), feel that a Lap-Band might be the best surgery for me ... since it is reversible (if I have a re-occurance of the cancer, they can remove the band so I will be able to eat the Protein needed to keep myself healthy for chemo-therapy).

What I need to know is how successful is it for people like me who are morbidly obese with a BMI that is off the charts?

The last 20 months taught me that I want to take control of my health (well, actually, I was looking into this far earlier than my cancer diagnosis of July 2004); in fact my weight actually hindered the treatment of my cancer, because it was difficult to stage without a CT scan, as well as find a Radiation Table that would hold the ol' body.

Anyway ... lol ... before I write an entire book here; if anyone can give me advice about how the Lap-Band has helped them; especially if they have a real high BMI, please let me know.

This whole thread inspired me:

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=16050

This is a great thread too - it's for larger bandsters. Congratulations on your remission!!

http://www.lapbandtalk.com/showthread.php?t=16168

Welcome and grats Pat on your remission.

My mother has it also (along with breast cancer)

What a great thing for you to do for yourself to look into the band. I will never understand about insurance decisions for things that will ultimately help patients.

Good luck on your journey