I had my first visit with the surgeon today. I'm pretty excited! Anyone else just beginning their journey as well? What are some of your requirements?

Recently my insurance (BCBS NC) has changed the requirements to include a 12 month diet prior to seeking surgery , but the office I chose informed me they've submitted a patients info recently to the same insurance company without the actual diet but with a lot of documentation and it has been approved so I have my fingers crossed!! I have several co-morbidities and a lot of weight loss attempts

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3 minutes ago, lisamarie8308 said:

Hey @bnicolexo: I came across this post doing a search for BCBS NC. Were you approved for the surgery? My last appt before submitting to them is 4/19, and I am worried about getting denied due to their 12 month recent change. I am hoping you got good news!

Hey Lisa! My surgery was approved within 3-4 days and I had RNY March 6th

My surgeons office had me handwrite a weight loss log for the last year of how I attempted to lose weight for the 12 month requirement BCBS states that they have, it was nothing fancy or detailed at all. I literally just listed 12 months and some sort of attempt for each one, of course some will/can be the same if you did things for longer than a month. Don't worry too much, if your surgeon feels confident to submit you should be okay! Good luck and let me know if you get approved!!

On 4/8/2017 at 10:06 PM, bnicolexo said:

Hey Lisa! My surgery was approved within 3-4 days and I had RNY March 6th

My surgeons office had me handwrite a weight loss log for the last year of how I attempted to lose weight for the 12 month requirement BCBS states that they have, it was nothing fancy or detailed at all. I literally just listed 12 months and some sort of attempt for each one, of course some will/can be the same if you did things for longer than a month. Don't worry too much, if your surgeon feels confident to submit you should be okay! Good luck and let me know if you get approved!!

Thank you so much! I am finally feeling confident that I will get approved as I have completed everything else. After reading your post, I made an Excel spreadsheet with each month from 1/16 through 4/17, listed my weight, BMI, and what diet I attempted. Most of the months were myfitnesspal, and a few were weight watchers or low carb and Contrave. Do you think that will be acceptable? Thank you SO MUCH for all of your help! <3

I had my first consult today, my insurance requires 6 months weigh in. But surgeon told me since I've gone to my PCP the past 3 months in a row they will count towards my requirement and now I have 3 months to go.

12 hours ago, lisamarie8308 said:

Thank you so much! I am finally feeling confident that I will get approved as I have completed everything else. After reading your post, I made an Excel spreadsheet with each month from 1/16 through 4/17, listed my weight, BMI, and what diet I attempted. Most of the months were myfitnesspal, and a few were weight watchers or low carb and Contrave. Do you think that will be acceptable? Thank you SO MUCH for all of your help! <3

I'm not sure if you are just using Excel to organize everything or if you are printing it off. I asked my surgeons office about typing it but they really wanted it to be handwritten, I can't recall their reasons why but I strongly recommend writing it! Ask your office. They may recommend typed and written, or just one

I think you are on top of it! I did not include weigh ins or any addition information

example of my letter:

jan 2016 - gym

feb 2016 - gym

mar 2016 - gym

apr 2016 - gym and low carb diet

may 2016 - swimming

Every office will have different advice and opinions, my office just recommended some type of attempts whether it was something I did on my own like exercising, diet programs like Jenny Craig or even your own kind of diet, a program with a physician and so on

When I said my letter was very simple I meant it! Lol. All the information you have is more than enough and will make for a great letter!

More than likely your surgeon will read over it like mine did, if they had any concerns I'm sure they'd let you know!

I had to go through 6 months of monthly calls or appointments with a dietician or my doctor or someone in the surgery department. Then... had to get a mental health exam and then 6 weeks of classes and a final mental exam before even meeting with the surgeon. I am on week 5 of my classes so hopefully sometime in May I'll get to meet with surgeon and then it'll be 2 to 6 weeks maybe til I can do the surgery. I am both excited and nervous but it is just a tool for success right?

Hi I am new here. I have been on my journey for just over a year. I needed 6 months of dietary, plus all the other stuff. I just got my insurance approval a few weeks ago. Surgery is June 1st., I am both excited and nervous. Any tips for before surgery?

13 hours ago, KassMiller said:

I had to go through 6 months of monthly calls or appointments with a dietician or my doctor or someone in the surgery department. Then... had to get a mental health exam and then 6 weeks of classes and a final mental exam before even meeting with the surgeon. I am on week 5 of my classes so hopefully sometime in May I'll get to meet with surgeon and then it'll be 2 to 6 weeks maybe til I can do the surgery. I am both excited and nervous but it is just a tool for success right?

I had the six months of supervised weight loss which my final class is April 20 and they called me last week with surgery date and pre-op diet. Surgery May 15 pre-op April 25. So hopefully soon you will get the call.

On 4/14/2017 at 8:41 AM, smwac said:

Hi I am new here. I have been on my journey for just over a year. I needed 6 months of dietary, plus all the other stuff. I just got my insurance approval a few weeks ago. Surgery is June 1st., I am both excited and nervous. Any tips for before surgery?

Congratulations!!!

I honestly don't have much advice or tips. The whole time I was unusually calm, in my opinion anyway. I had a pretty smooth experience

I can say that I did terrible on the pre op diet, so if you cheated on it don't beat yourself up

The pain is intensive right after, I don't recall because I was out of it but I was told that I was complaining about pain and I recall hearing a few words as the nurses or whoever were talking about it. As far as when you get to the room I was okay. I even lifted my gown to check to see if it was done, OCD and who knows what else kicked it ? It's painful and uncomfortable getting in and out of bed but it gets easier day by day

One thing I wasn't aware of is that more than likely you will have a jp drain, and you may have to go home with it. I had to go home with it. After it was removed the soreness was practically gone and I was moving around so much better. If you do have one ask that they remove it before you go home, it's not a sure thing but they will check for you