I am still in my pre-op stage. My 3 and final appointment with the dietician and the surgeon is on the 8th.... At that appointment they will be submitting my all of my stuff to Aetna. I went be having the surgery until the end of February cause I will need my tax return to pay for my copay of 1600... I'm so glad that my battle with obesity is almost over ???????????????????? from the various post from here and Facebook support groups I have learned to strictly follow the diet plan and to go hard with exercise the first 6 months cause that's when the most of the weight comes off. I Never really had a problem with losing the weight.... the problem was keeping it off. I believe the sleeve will aid me in that because it provides restriction. I am very optimistic and I believe I will succeed..... I have eliminated pop. From here on out I will be working on portion control and sweets..... that way I can have a handle on it now.......

Age: 34

HW: 305 (2012)

CW: 280

GW: 150

HEIGHT: 5'8"

All advice is welcome!!!!!!

You are about the same as I was with weight Good Luck and I would like to see how your progress goes after as well.. Its nice to have someone in the same range and to compare too.. I havent really seen that yet on here...

@@shannalynne Congrats on coming this far! Good luck!

Thanks ????????????????

I will definitely post my progress once I hit the losers bench ????

Ok! Sounds good!

So my last visit with the dietician was on December 8th...... yesterday I called aetna to double check and see if the paperwork was submitted in... the said that it was and I was approved!!!!!!! Excited to the max lol

approved!!!!!!! Excited to the max optimistic I will succeed....

@@shannalynne

wooooo hooooo

you are probably jumping up and down

screaming with joy

of course you will succeed!!!

so happy for you

luv your optimism and enthusiasm

having the right attitude is a bonus

hoping surgery date is sooner than later

good luck

kathy

congrats

Edited December 18, 201411 yr by proudgrammy

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!

I am 34 as well having my surgery on 12/23 2days away! Just got fully prepared today. Tips I've learned to prepare for surgery date:

Overnight bag:

ChapStick/lotion

Loose fitting clothing (I'm wearing medical scrubs found them for 4.99 a piece a few miles from my house.

Cell/tablet don't forget to pack your chargers!

Comfy slippers

Breath spray

Room spray in case you get gassy and don't want to be embarrassed when people come in your room

Favorite pillow. Great to put on your abdomen for your car ride home from the hospital!

Perhaps a loose light jacket/robe in case it gets cold

I've lost 15 pounds on a 14 day all liquid diet I chose trader joes vanilla soy Protein powder. Tastes great, kept me full low calories high protein and only 15.99 for a large quantity.

Congratulations on your approval!!! Statistically proven the more weight you loose before surgery the more weight you'll loose after surgery. So get busy!!! Your going to do great!!!

Thanks

Surgery is scheduled for January 27th!!!!!!

Is your Aetna an h. m. o.? I live in So Cal and also have Aetna and have pre -diabetes and high cholesterol (both I'm not on meds for at this time) but have been in the past. I found out at my sleep study that I do not need the cpap machine but that when I hit rem sleep I stop breathing 8 x's a minute and to stop this I need to lose weight... So I'm just trying to find anybody else who has my kind of insurance to see how difficult it was to get approved. I'm done with my psych evaluation, sleep study, my NUT visit and my primary care doctor is on board with the surgery... Any advice on how difficult it is to get approved?

Omg!!!!! This is too freaky lmao. Your user name is my friends name and his year of birth lmao. That means I need to call him.... anyways mine is ppo. I believe if your bmi is 35 with Co morbidities like the ones you have you won't have any problems with getting approved. I will say do not gain any weight during tour supervised diet. Me, for example, I was able to do the 3 month supervised diet with the dietician, which was located I my surgeon's office.... In October my weight was 292. At my next appointment(November) I could not weigh more than 292... I didn't I weighed 280. Same went for Dec. I could not weigh more than 280 and I weighed in at 273. I had to be careful with my weight loss because my bmi was 43 and from all the posts that I have been reading if your bmi falls below their requirements you will not get approved. So when I was on the supervised diet I didn't make drastic changes. The first month I cut out pop which gave me the 12 pound loss. The next month I ate the same foods but small portions. The third month I cut back on snacks. I was approved within a week..... I hope I covered everything lol... feel free to ask more questions and let me know if I left something out.

If you have not found a surgeon and you are in so cal, I would suggest finding out if USC Keck takes your insurance. It is a world class facility and Dr. Katkhouda is one of the best in the country. His department knows everything about getting you approved. Check if you will be covered for the initial appointment and then schedule. There website and phone number are http://www.surgery.usc.edu/uppergi-general/bariatric.html and 323.442.6868. Hope this helps.

@@shannalynne that's too funny!! Thank you for the info!! I will keep you posted, and hopefully I will get good news. It's definitely reassuring! @@smpgastric thank you so much for the info! I keep being told to go see Dr. Coonz In Riverside, but I will definitely check out the link u shared and see if they cover my insurance. Are u in SoCal as well?

How much weight have you lost since surgery?