My name is Jean and I am a 52 year old mother of two, and grandmother of two. I meet all the guidelines of needing surgery, including comorbid conditions of high blood pressure, type II diabetes, and sleep apnea. My husband is retired military and has a good job. I work 30 hours a week at a call center answering phone calls. We have good insurance coverage. Throughout my life, I've been successful at weight loss programs, only to slowly gain the weight back.

It seems like a no-brainer -- the lap band would be a good tool for me.

I had problems with my family doctor's staff. They lost the paperwork on the sleep study, and didn't keep up with paper work. They also messed up some paperwork on my husband's knee replacement. So I switched doctors, and I am getting a lot of resistance from the new doctor's staff.

This is crazy, I have insurance coverage, but feel unprepared to have to justify my decision on the lab-band and get the medical community on board. I feel like I am being condemned for my decision.

I am planning to have surgery with Dr. Colquitt in Maryville, TN. It's been a year since I attended the seminar, and I feel like I've gotten nowhere.

Any advice?

Edited June 18, 200818 yr by jlkschmidt

Change doctors because you will need support. If you have a pulmonary specialist on board, he can recommend the surgery or probably any other specialist - maybe even an OB/GYN doc.

I agree with Kansascase...maybe since you are diabetic an Endocrinologist would be supportive; I see one for Thyroid and PCOS and he was very supportive.

I agree with everyone. Find a doc that will support your decision. I'm lucky, my PCP of 10 yrs was the one that recommended the lapband procedure.

There are docs out there that will be supportive.

I thought about this a while. It reminds me a lot of my ten year struggle with infertility, the terrible times I had with side effects to fertility drugs, pregnancy losses, ectopic pregancies, an adoption from foster care and an adoption from an overseas orphanage. People are so incredibly stupid with what they think is well-meaning advice which turns out being well, Mean Advice. ( The advice about changing doctors is well-taken, there are some battles not worth fighting, and I still consider it a good option).

I would seldom tell people my infertility woes who were considering treatment because I would never take away their hope at treatment and their only chance to have a child. There are risks to treatments and there are risks to adoption. I think it's important to tell people risks but let up on all the horror stories. THe same thing with lap band. I know there are risks but spare me the horror stories. It probably won't happen to me and it may be my only option at a healthier life. IF something goes wrong, I'll deal with. I'm a survivor and I certainly know how to evaluate the risks and make my own decisions. I don't want to be treated like a child or stupid person.

I've heard so many stupid tips on getting pregnant and losing weight. Really dumb stuff. People who have it easy seldom understand us who don't.

It wasn't easy raising my children, but my husband and I did it. Our son is attending college (the orphan baby people warned us not to adopt), and our daughter from foster care is raising her red-headed twins. Things turned out successfully. I am a competent person so why wouldn't the lap band turn out favorably? I'm successful, I just happen to be too fat. Being overweight can be solved, but maybe stupidity and ignorance can't.

I called my surgeon's office and after talking to his staff, I decided I can face the family doctor's staff. I will educate the ill-informed dietician and social worker at the family doctor's clinic. I am tough and I can do this.

Life is always stranger than fiction. Due to budget cuts, some of the doctor's staff has been cut. Guess who got laid off? The unsupportive staff. Ha! Ha! The roadblocks are out of my way and I believe I can work directly with the doctor. He's pretty reasonable.

I'm going to a fitness center today and start a new program with a different dietician and personal trainer. I got a lucky break! Wish me luck!

Edited June 23, 200818 yr by jlkschmidt