Ok Banded pro's this is my first time posting , I would like to know if n e 1 has been banded in columbus, ohio at the Mt. Carmel hospital and if so how was your experience? I have just sent in my first set of paper work to be approve by their Dr. Also they are charging $300.00 for administrator fee (paper pushing to the Ins.), not to mention I will have to spend another $200.00 for their nutritionist and this $500.00 is not covered by my insurance:faint: . Are fee's normal? I was just wondering because I feel as much as the surgery cost, these things should be included! N E help would be nice

KTBugg....congrats!!! You must be so proud to be on the bandwaggon!!! Can't wait to join you...wishing you a fast recovery!!!

No news on my insurance approval yet :-(

Jury duty is over and boy am I glad. I can now let you know I was on a civil murder trial and for 4 straight days I heard more ugly stuff than I ever wanted to hear. We deliberated for 7 hours and I was exhausted when I got home. I was the jury foreman to keep them all working to a conclusion and to communicate with the judge. It is an interesting experience and my boss very kindly let me work from home a half day on Friday as I really didn't feel good because I couldn't sleep Thursday night with all that stuff in my head. To be honest, I think it takes awhile for this stuff to settle out of your head. Anyway, I believe the jury system works and if you get a chance to serve, I hope you will.

Called Charlene at the surgeon's office this a.m. and Aetna has asked for my 5 year weight history and I told her she already has it. She started looking through the big stack of paper medical records from my PCP and said she couldn't find anything for 2002,2003, 2004 so I immediately called my PCP office and thankfully they hadn't sent the box of records back to storage yet and she was able to tell me that the weight of multiple visits in 2002, 2003, and 2004 was on what was sent to the surgeon's office. I called Charlene back to give her the exact dates on the doctors progress notes to look through and she should be calling me back this a.m. to confirm she's got it. Then I hope she faxes it to Aetna today!!! She said that was all Aetna was asking for.

Its getting so close I can feel it!

Hi Everyone,

I was banded on 12/26/07 at Mount Carmel West by Dr. Choban. I saw that there are quite a few of you on here that are with Mount Carmel. I can empathize with you regarding some of the short comings that you have experienced with the Bariatric group at Mount Carmel because I too have had a few little problems with paperwork at the very beginning of my journey. I started all of this in March 2007.

Unfortunately, I had Aetna as my secondary insurance and at the time, they told me that I needed to do a 3-month diet with a nutritionist and my primary doctor overseeing everything. Well I started the 3-month requirement in June and was done with everything by the beginning of September. I found out that I was approved for my lap-band surgery within a couple of days. However, my gallbladder decided to act up and I ended up in the hospital for 3 days in Mid-September after having my gallbladder out. When I woke up from surgery, I had a drain coming out of the middle of my chest. I was sent home with it for the next 10 days and after it was removed, I began having the same pain that I had before with my gallbladder in. After running a few tests, they found that an abscess had formed where my gallbladder used to be. I was admitted again for 3 days and had to have another drain inserted between my ribs. Thankfully, the second drain took care of it and I healed nicely. At that point, I asked Dr. Choban how long I would have to wait in order to have my lap band put in. She wanted me to wait 6 months but agreed to schedule me after 3 months at the end of December.

I did ok with the surgery however my incision above the port finally started to heal the last week of January. I was on 3 different antibiotics in which the 3rd one (Bactrim) finally took care of it. I am scheduled for my first fill on Tuesday, February 19. The only thing that I experienced since having the lap band put in was some dry heaves during the first two weeks but after that I was fine. Now I noticed that since week 5, my appetite has increased drastically and I have gas all the time. Gas-X doesn't help at all. Did anyone else have problems with this as well? I also wanted to know if anyone started following a diet such as Atkins, Weight Watchers, Diabetic, etc...as a guide once you were back on solid foods?

Thanks for your feedback,

Marie

:cursing:

Hi Marie - I had seen a post of yours on the OH website forum and its nice to see you post here. Gosh I am so sorry to hear about what happened with your gallbladder - I had a very acute episode in August 2007 and was leaving to go to Alaska for 2 weeks of all things about Sept 3 so I was worried if I'd make it through my vacation okay but I did. They immediately scheduled me for laprascopic gallbladder surgery, outpatient, at Mt. Carmel East when I got home and it was a breeze for me. Surgery on a Wednesday and back to work on a Monday, so I feel so, so bad for your experience. I wish you all the success in the world for a healthy recovery from your band surgery.

I'm waiting on Aetna to approve and according to Charlene, she will get them the 5 year history info (hopefully today) and then it should be approved. I hope to get banded by early March maybe. Several of us have said they need to get a second person to help process paperwork and consult with patients in the approval process but I think I'm so close now, I just need to get across the finish line!

Palarin---Gas--that is an interesting subject. I live in a constant state of gassiness. Dont really know why. doesnt seem to matter what i eat. just as gassy from eating chicken as beans.

Hi Ladies!!! We just got back from our cruise and I haven't had time to read yet.... just wanted to say Hey.

Welcome Home Angie!!! I hope you and the family found some much needed rest on your vacation! Glad you all got home safely! We missed you on Saturday! It was an amazing time, and hope you can join us in March!

Special K...any news today? Keep calling Charlene!

Debbie,

That is so odd, I'm the exact same way. I guess that I will have to ask Dr. Choban about it next week when I get my fill. I'll let you know what she says about it.

I see that you are now over 6 months into the Lap Band journey. Did you or are you following any type of diet regimen such as Weight Watchers, Atkins, etc. I'm into my 6th week now and trying to make sure that I get my 70 grams of protein each day along with staying at/under 1200 calories. Also, did you experience an increase in appetite prior to your first fill? I had heard that Dr. Choban is making sure that the first fill is nice and snug because I guess there were a lot of patients that were not able to tell a difference, so they were having a lot of problems. How many fills have you had to date? Sorry to ask all of the questions but inquiring minds want to know.

Thanks,

Marie

Thanks Niki but no, no news today. I wondered if she didn't make it in the office but I did call her and leave another message today. I also found out that Aetna revised their Clinical Policy Bulletin on Friday Feb 8th and I faxed that to her today. It looks like they lowered the years from 5 to 2 years of weight history if I read it right.

Check out the attached pages that compare the old Aetna clinical policy bulletin to the new one they just posted on their website with a revision date of Feb 8, 2008 -- reduced the time for severe obesity wording from "at least 5 years" to "at least the last 2 years" . This was the ONLY change I could find in comparing the whole document with regard to anything to do with Lapband surgery qualifications.

I'm going to post this in the Insurance Thread also.:mad:

AETNA Obesity Surgery CPB Feb 8 2008 Revised.doc

I did get a written letter that Aetna processed the request for surgery on February 6 after receiving it January 31 so that is pretty good on their part. I just need the surgeon's office to confirm they have sent the 5 year weight history. Waiting on a call. I'm trying to stay occupied with other things to keep my mind off it.

Smart Idea SpecialK!

Yesterday I had all of my pre-admission testing at Mt Carmel west hosp. Everything looked great, and I am still a go on the 12th. During a class taught by Melissa Webb, we all made it very clear how hard it is for us to get Charlene to respond to things, and she said it is a frequent complaint. She even had a meeting last week with the big wigs and they promised to work on getting Charlene another staff member to help with her load. Melissa said that Charlene is always working hard when she is around, and that she often works during lunch! One other lady at the testing said she called once to ask Charlene if she faxed her info in, and Charlene said she was working on faxing 700 papers that day! Can you imagine??? I feel bad for getting so upset with her at times, but from a pt stand point, that is something the program needs to fix before the word gets out to the communitiy!

Oh, and 10 days til DISNEY!!! Did I tell you I was excited? lol

BCBS called an hour ago to say that I have been approved for the surgery!!! I am still in shock! :eek:

Sue, that's awesome news! Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!