SMMC LB support group chicas

[Wheetsin 714]

Weighed today. Same weight as when I last logged on 7/24.

I try not to set goals, but have the unofficial one of 100lbs at 6 mos. I need to lose 8 lbs this month to make that happen. The scale better start moving!!!!

[Wheetsin 714]

Cynthia, that's such great news! Too bad things didn't work out differently, but I'm still very glad you're getting everything taken care of.

[dpingl 0]

Sorry to hear insurance is being difficult. I just don't know what to think:confused: I have just been approved for the band, I am nervous, excited and have tons of questions;

How long from the time your approved until you actually have surgery?

Whats the hardest part?

I want to change jobs put now I can't per LAP BAND, Ideas? Can I rush the process?

How long until you feel normal? Worse the Gallbladder surgery or the same? Mortality rates per this Dr. H?

Anyway all and any replies would be GREAT! I live in Shawnee KS.

[sea 0]

The Heartland Spine and Surgery Bariartic group meets the second Tuesday of every month at the Hospital. They meet in the lobby and then go upstairs to the staff break room. I plan to give this a try.

[Wheetsin 714]

How long from the time your approved until you actually have surgery? For me it was about 2.5 or 3 months. It was however long I had to wait to get in for the consultation, and however far out the surgeon was booked.

Whats the hardest part? Hmm... nothing's hard, exactly - IMO. But the worst part about it for me is the pain associated with a PB.

I want to change jobs put now I can't per LAP BAND, Ideas? Can I rush the process? Not really. It's a matter of how long your insurance company takes, which you're not going to be able to have much impact on, and when the surgeon & pre-op care people have availability.

How long until you feel normal? I never felt abnormal. But if you mean in terms of pain, I had surgery on a Wednesday and went out & about that Friday night. It was probably 1.5 - 2 weeks before I could move w/o pain. Probably about 3 - 4 weeks before I had no pain at all, but the last week or two was just little twinges at my incision sites when I'd move a certain way.

Worse the Gallbladder surgery or the same? Dunno, never had it.

Mortality rates per this Dr. H? None that I know of, but that's not specific to Dr. H, it's true for like 99.999999% of lap-band surgeons. This surgery doesn't involve the same mortality risks that something like RNY can involve, so if there have been any mortalities I'd guess it's a function of the surgery itself, and not a function of lap-band (in which case I'd also think you would want to look at the statistics for your anesthesiologist more so than for your surgeon). I've followed the progress of lap-band since 2001 and have never come across a case of mortality due to the band. Can't bet my life it hasn't happened though.

[dpingl 0]

Thanks so much for all the great answers! My insurance has approved me already... What time frame are you looking at once your Ins Co has approved you? I have my first visit with the Dr Hoehn on the 14th.... ??

[TheGh0st 9]

How long from the time your approved until you actually have surgery?

As you are already approved and have a date to meet Hoehn it could be just a couple weeks depending on his & your schedule. Also depends on if & how much additional pre-op meetings they ask you to do. They will want you to meet with a nutritionist & the Psych doc but sometimes also require a Heart &/or Pulmanary checkout. I required the Heart but not Pulmanary. Took me approx 2-3 weeks after meeting with Hoehn. They were willing to tentatively set a surgery date that first visit on the assumption I could get the other work finished in time.

Whats the hardest part?

Surgery wise - Nothing Really.

Post Surgery - For me it has been Water. I like to gulp very cold water and have recently gotten to a point I'm restricted enough I can't do that. If I do I get sore in my upper chest and my mouth starts to water like crazy. Others on this board say they are as tight or tighter than me but can still chug away. (BUMS!) Everything else has been surprisingly easy to get use to.

I want to change jobs put now I can't per LAP BAND, Ideas? Can I rush the process?

I'm assuming you mean time between consult & surgery? If so you can probably schedule most if not all the necessary pre-op work the into the same week. Just cry to the scheduling people at each location. Biggest road block would be if Sabobathy (Psych) wanted to see you more than once. He did me but it, I still was able to get in within a couple weeks like I said. He just gave me an approval after the first meeting with a note in the file he wanted to see me one more time before surgery. (The day before in my case)

How long until you feel normal?

After Surgery? Personally, I had the surgery on a Tuesday and went back to work the Next Wednesday. Really felt well enough I could have gone back in one or two days. But wasn't sure how I'd feel facing work and its stresses while still on a liquid only diet.

Worse the Gallbladder surgery or the same?

For me this was MUCH Easier. Then again the doc that did my Gallbladder broke a needle off inside me when sewing me up and had to go back in to find it. Making the surgery take nearly an 1-1/2 hrs longer. I ended up with some nasty side effects to the prolonged anethesia as well as the darvacet pain meds afterwards. So I think that surgery isn't the best comparison.

Mortality rates per this Dr. H?

Specifict to Dr. H. -

Mortality - None (That we know of I guess)

Complications - VERY FEW - I have only heard of 4 - 2 port infections, 1 complication due to a pre-existing stomach condition that should have excluded the patient but her family insisted on going ahead with surgery. and 1 mystery complication where the band just isn't restricting the patient no matter how tight it's filled. One of the port infections & the "Mystery" complication both post on this board regularily.

Surgery in General - VERY VERY LOW IF AT ALL - Think I've heard of only the rare instance of serious complication due to a Dr. "nicking" the

Esophagus during surgery. May have even resulted in death but I don't remember reading that. There are two case studies done over a 5+ year time frame on 700+ patients that are GREAT Reads. I can give you links to them or pdf copies if you would like. Just let me know.

- Love "Wheetsin's" suggestion that you also look into complication rates of the anethesist there is probably more risk with that aspect of the surgery than any other.

Anyway all and any replies would be GREAT! I live in Shawnee KS.

[TheGh0st 9]

I want to change jobs put now I can't per LAP BAND, Ideas? Can I rush the process?

When looking at other jobs - You should make sure they still cover the band as well. If they don't you will need to pay $100+ for each fill and will also not be covered for any complications like dear Cynthia on this board. She was covered at time of surgery then her company dropped the coverage and she ended up with the "mystery" problem of the fills not working.

One possibly "silly" suggestion I've heard on another site but will pass on anyways is that even part-time Starbucks employees are covered for this. If you changed jobs that would cover your fills and any potential complications. I was self pay so I wish I'd known about this before surgery last year. Now, I'll just work a little overtime to cover the fills after my year is up next month and "touch wood" no complications arise.

[dpingl 0]

Thanks so much! I can start really looking @ my calender with everyone's help! Are their any particular questions I should as Dr Hohen... ???

Once concern is @ one point in my life I was being tested for Autoimunne disease however it was never conclusive... Does anyone have a band with a auto immune disorder?

[Wheetsin 714]

Searc here for a thread called "Things to ask your surgeon" or something like that. There's LOTS of really great suggestions on questions you might want to ask.

I don't have autoimmune so I can't comment.

Oh, BTW - I had pretty much made up my mind to do this, knew my insurance would cover it, and then got a job offer with another company that I couldn't refuse. I didn't let the operation stop me from taking it, so here's what I did:

ASAP look over the insurance options you have (I had like 13 to choose from, it was a nightmare!) and write them down. Then search here and OH for insurance companies known to be "band friendly". (If the other options don't make it too attractive, in my case I could have just hopped on to DH's policy, which did NOT cover the band, but would have given me everything else and the measly amount I pay for insurance would have been sooo worth it for the band alone). Cross off the others, leaving me with 3 or 4 possibilities. Bring those back in to work and review the SPD for each looking for any exclusions around bariatrics, bariatric surgery, gastric banding, etc. One had an exclusion listed so I crossed it off, leaving me with 2 or 3 choices. Called my HR rep and asked if the company had bariatric exclusions on the policies for either of those carriers, found out they did not. Called a rep from each insurance company and asked them, specifically, if the lap-band was covered for my potential policy. (I had to ask about "adjustable gastric banding" or something, b/c "Lap-Band" isn't in their literature). So in the end I had 2 or 3 choices that I was 95% sure would pay for it, so then I picked my policy based on the overall features I preferred, out of pocket for surgical costs, etc.

So changing jobs didn't impact me in the slightest. This was all in June of last year, and I went to my seminar in November.

The one caveat I'll add is that the company I'm at is huge, so I felt confident that I'd have my choice of carriers. If I had been going to a small place, I may have done things differently, so that I didn't end up going some place only to find out they only offered 1 policy and it didn't cover WLS.

And we had the means to pay out of pocket, too, as a back-up plan so it didn't "matter" if insurance covered it or not, but heck - that little bit of work & research was SOOO worth $16k.

Hope this helps.

[dpingl 0]

:nervous Thanks everyone. All this is so helpful when your making beg decsion that impact your life so much!

[Banded in KS 0]

Hi all!

I went in yesterday for my fill and the waiting room was packed!!! They were running out of seats/chairs. Anyway, I got 4 1/2 of the 5 cc's back. I am thinking that I may need a little more, but I am going to give it a couple of weeks.

Hey, Robyn... where are you, babe????

[Rockin' Robyn 15]

:bandit :bandit :bandit Lurking in the midst :confused: .....having a rough week leading up to my bandiversary. Really thought I could do better than I am this week. Weird thing is I'm PMSing....so I'm totally craving carbs and chocolate...but I'm a weird one in that usually when I am PMSing I actually LOSE weight during that week because I am so tight and can't eat much, albeit the bad stuff.

Weird, but not the case this month. This morning they had DOZENS of assorted yummy Cookies laying out all over the breakroom table. I won't even tell you how many I ate (normally I wouldn't have been able to handle the soft cookies, but I did just fine) For dinner, just ate 2 whole fish tacos (Hello!!! tortillas which I can't usually handle) and about a 1/2 cup of cheesy rice...yumyum:hungry: . Not to mention drinking tea with my meal which would normally push me over the edge. I hope nothing's up, because something is definitely weird. I haven't lost enough weight to have lost my previous restriction due to loss of fat around the band or something, like Billie has mentioned before. But I have definitely had a noticeable difference in my restriction over the past couple of weeks. Definitely need a fill, but didn't want to call for an "extra" appointment set aside from my bandiversary appt. Although, now, I"m not sure I'm going to be able to make it in tomorrow. I HAVE to work tomorrow, only way I can make my appt tomorrow is if they (the hospital) cancel me. We'll wait and see!!

Anything else happen at your appt??? Huh Huh????:heh:

[Wheetsin 714]

Robyn, what level of fill are you at now? I noticed a big change in restriction today, too. I was WIDE open. Normally I can feel - not pressure - but definitely the food, and today, not a thing. I'm guessing that maybe it has to do woth the weather change, the storms lastnight, and the relatively loooow humidity we had today, after sooooo long of high temperatures & high humidity. Just a guess tho...

DH is calling me but will check back in tomorrow. Hugs & hopes that all is well - I'm sure it is!

[Rockin' Robyn 15]

Thanks Angela-

I never really thought of that before....I guess I had heard of that somewhere, but never really associated it with the humidity/pressure levels in the atmosphere. Makes sense to me though. I am at 9 cc in my VG band. I only want a .25 cc fill....gets scary to me when I get "up there" at my fill levels, because of the time I was too tight. Don't want to ever experience the acid reflux ever again:mad: ...

I have about a 3/4 cc window between where I am too loose and too tight. On the lower end of the 3/4 cc I have practically nothing....on the upper end I am miserably tight.

Anybody ever been to someplace in Parkville named Pieroppos (sp?)???? My hubby wants to take me there tomorrow for my bandiversary. He said "We can Celebrate with a bottle of wine". He is such a goober....so sweet, but I have no desire to consume liquid calories at this point. We'll see....Anybody else doing anything fun this weekend (besides spending time with me of course:p )!!!