Pashion

Hello Shells, After my surgery I will have to take the same vitamins that you are now taking. My question is. Were you able to find the Calcium Citrate, Iron and B12 in a chewable form? If so where at? I have been looking just in general cause I wanted to start stocking up on them before surgery. But nothing chewable. I am going to try GNC today and see what I can find.

Hello Topgun. I understand exactly how you feel. I started this journey back in 10/2011 only to have my insurance come back and say I had to switch facilities in 12/2011. Now that I have completed all of my pre-op and scheduled for surgery 20 days from today I am freaking out. I thought I was ready for this now I'm not sure. Wondering if I will lose the weight? If I will have any major complications? Will I gain the weight back? How much skin will I have? I just hope I am making the right decision. Not only that but I have lost 15 lbs so far and will prob end up losing another 10lbs before surgery. I'm just thinking to myself how come I can't lose the weight and keep it off without surgery. Anyways...we can hold each others hand on this one. Good luck

I am praying for the both of you that things get better soon. I will have my surgery on 02/29 and I hope all goes well.

My pre-op appointment is this Thursday. Not only did I have to lose 10% of excess body weight before my surgeon would even set a surgery date but I will also have to do a 14 day pre-op diet that consist of 2 protein shakes and one low calorie meal less than 350 cal. According to my surgeon people who lose weight before surgery have a better chance of losing and keeping the weight off after surgery. O'yea I can have a snack in between like fruit....Good luck

After doing everything that the Naval San Diego hospital required of me back in December, they approved me for surgery, then they came back and said "we are behind on scheduling and do not know when we will be able to actually give you a surgery date". Talk about a slap in the face. Well yesterday, I sat down and wrote a three page complaint letter to patient relations and to my surprise I received a call this morning from the head of the Bariatric surgery department and I now have a surgery date of February 29th. I am so relieved to finally have a date but I can't believe that it took a complaint letter to get it. Has anyone else ever experienced this?

You go girl, I have five pairs of jeans with the tags still on them. I can't wait til I can get them on. I don't have my surgery until Feb 29th and I am already thinking to myself what if I still don't lose the weight. But you have given me something to look forward too. Thank you

I know exactly how you feel, my insurance is Tricare Prime (military) thru my husband, and I was going thru a civilian Dr. who is awsome, to have my surgery and we had a date set for Nov 11th. I did everything Tricare and the surgeon required of me within a months time (6 mths weight management not required). The surgeons office sent my paperwork to Tricare on Oct 23rd I was approved on Oct 24th but with modifications. Because Tricare is military I have to go to their military WLS center and my heart just dropped. Now I have to start the whole process all over at the military WLS center and they are so booked that my first consultation is not until Dec 6th. I don't even know the name of the surgeon they assigned me to. So like you I am very nervous at this point. Plus I paid out of pocket for the psych eval and the nutritionist and none of that even matters now. It is so discouraging to have a surgery date of Nov 11th to now having to wait til Dec 6th for consult and probably not having my surgery til next year because I heard that they require a lot of testing before the surgeon will agree to do the procedure, which could take up to 2 months before all the results are back. I do not understand why insurance companies do not tell you up front just go to this place first, because that is were you will end up at anyway...But good luck, you have done all that is required so you will be approved. I use to process claims for Aetna, they can be tricky sometimes, if they deny you appeal it and show them you mean business. They do not like unhappy clients.

I don't know what it is but when you tell people you are thinking about or looking into having WLS they do look at you as if you have lost your mind. I have a friend who told me she went to a free lap band seminar and after she found out she would have to come up with 20% of the cost she has not mentioned anything more about it. So, when I told her that I was approved by my insurance (now I have to change surgeons) and that they will cover at 100% she was just like "O, that's nice." I told my Mom and I could just see the look on her face even though she didn't say anything. Now she keeps trying to get me to join WW with her, she keeps mentioning how they have a special and she is going to join and I should join with her. She doesn't even have a weight problem...lol. I told my BFF and she said "what ever you need to do to make you feel happy, I'm all for it." So, at this point unless they ask me how things are going I don't even mention it to them. What people think about WLS is their own problem, and opinions are like buttholes, everyone has one. So don't even let them bother you. When I feel like I need encouragement, I come on this forum or I talk with my friends who have already had some type of WLS. Live and let live.

Hello All, I officially decided today that I am going to switch from the lap band surgery to the sleeve. I have done all the research I am going to do and I think getting the sleeve will be the best choice for me. Sorry lap band I just don't want to be bothered. Good Luck to all

I was approved by Tricare Prime today for my band. It is a bitter sweet approval because I was hoping to have my surgery done thru Scripps Clinic, but because Prime is considered an *** they are only approving the band if I go to the local Navy Medical Center. I guess I should be happy because at least it was approved on my first try but now I might have to go thru everything all over again at Balboa and I have no idea of what to expect thru them or how long it will take before I actually have the surgery done. With Scripps I could of had it done befoer Nov 11th....Once again I'm playing the waiting game. If any one has had their band done at the San Diego MTF Balboa please let me know what Dr. you used and what I should expect?

Thank you all for the warm welcome...I can't wait to say "I've been sleeved" lol

I have a friend who had the same issue and her Dr. suggested to her the sleeve. She had that done and lost 100lbs in six months she went from a size 24 to a size 8. She is very happy and has even had a baby since then. O she did say that her Dr. told her that about 10% of lap band patients only loose like 1-2 lbs a month and she was in that 10%.

Hello Reginamarie, Thanks for responding, I have been on the bariatric website at Balboa and found it very informational. I already have the forms filled out lol. Also I have spoken with other people who have had their surgeries there and have had very good results. And yes, the more research I do the more I am leaning towards having the sleeve, especially since we may be moving to another state that does not have a MTF and I do not want to have to worry about trying to find a Dr. to do my fills. My PCM is at the Rancho San Diego Medical Office. Okay so this is how it went for me, Tricare Prime approved me to see the Scripps surgeon for the consult (authorization took about a week), but when it came time to get approval for the actual surgery (which only took 24hrs) Tricare Prime "Approved w/Modifications" meaning that Tricare Prime will only approve the surgery if I have it done at Balboa. If you have Tricare Standard they will give you the choice to have the surgery either at Scripps or Balboa, because standard is like a PPO and Prime is an *** and I have Prime. With Balboa everything is a waiting game. The issue that I ran into at Balboa is they are short on surgeons. I will not be able to see a surgeon at Balboa for a consult until December 6th and I was approved for the surgery by Tricare Prime on 10/24. The problem is, one surgeon is getting deployed so he is not seeing any more patients another surgeon just got in and she is still in the process of setting up her office, and the other two surgeons are booked. Tricare has a policy that you have to wait 28 days from the date of approval before they will even CONSIDER giving you approval to go to a civilian surgeon. The other issue is depending on the surgeon you get at Balboa he/she may make you use their own psych, nutritionist, support groups, and do all your blood work over again at their facility even though you already had everything done at Scripps. There is another very nice lady on this forum who had her lap band surgery done at Balboa she stated it took about three months to get all the blood work done. My friend who had the sleeve done at Balboa said she had to wait six months to have the surgery because Balboa was booked and her surgeon wanted her to loose 10-20 lbs before surgery just to prove that she could lose weight...if she could lose weight on her own she would not had needed the sleeve, thats just my opinion. My advice to you is, if you have Tricare Prime, just cut out the middle man and go directly to Balboa it will save you a lot of time and aggravation because that is where you will end up at anyway. Good Luck and keep me posted I am curious to see what happens with your approval.

How are things going with you? I am now playing the waiting game. The Military hosp. is now saying that they do not have any surgeons available to even do an consult with me. It pissed me off because I could have had my surgery done at the civilian hosp this coming Friday. Now I have to wait until the 22nd of this month before the Military hosp. will send approval to Tricare for me to be able to have the surgery done at the civilian hosp. They have this policy that you have to wait 28 days to see if a surgeon becomes available and if not then at that time they will outsource you. I am so disgusted.

I knew going into this that if there was a surgeon at the MTF available to do the surgery within the next 30 days of approval that I would be required to go the MTF. I was just hoping that would not happen. I do not know why each Tricare Prime region is so different but they are. I'm just praying that I do not have to go thru a whole lot of changes thru the MTF before they will do the surgery. When I called the MTF today to set up an appointment to meet with a surgeon. The rep told me that he first has to send my auth to the Nurse Practition and then she will fax him a list of surgeons that are available to do the surgery and that I should hear back from him no later than this Monday. He could not tell me what all the MTF requires before they would do the surgery he just stated that the surgeon would give me a list of things to complete before they will set a surgery date. Every time I use the MTF for ER visits I have a bad experience so I am hoping that the surgery center is not the same.

I have Tricare Prime (west) and my paperwork was submitted to Tricare yesterday and I was approved today. I did not do any type of six months weight management I saw the surgeon on Sept 20th and today is Oct 25th. This is what was submitted to Tricare: psych eval and nutritionist eval, notes from my PCM showing that I took phentermine for one month back in April of this year and it did not work, and my sleep apnea results showing that I was diagnosed back in Oct of 2010 with sleep apnea, my bmi is 38.6. My only issue is because I was doing all of this thru a civilian surgeon Tricare has now come back and said I have to have the surgery done at the MTF. I do not know if the MTF is going to make me do six months weigt management but I do know that as of today that is not required by Tricare but you do need to show that you have tried something and it did not work. I guess for me using the phentermine diet pills helped me out. Who really knows when it comes to Tricare.

I was approved today by Tricare Prime (west) and I did not have to do six months weight management, but they did come back and say that I have to do it at the local MTF instead of at the clinic I originally choice which is not military.

Thank you sooo much, I need all the prayers I can get. lol

Hello All, Yesterday 10/14/11 my paperwork was submitted to Tricare Prime for lap band approval. I started my lap band journey on Sept. 20th and I have done everything that Tricare Prime has asked of me. So, I just ask all of you to pray for me that I am approved. Thank you Nikia

Thank you, mee tooo

Thank you, that is sooo cool that you have lost so much weight within 3 months.

I hope that once my paperwork is submitted there will not be any issues. Thank you for your best wishes.

On Tuesday I received a call from the insurance coordinator at the surgeons office stating that my paperwork had been kicked back from Tricare because there was missing dictation from the surgeons report. She says they have a new dictation system that has been having gliches and for what ever reason only half of the surgeons notes was submitted. Then she goes on to say that the surgeon would not be back in until Wednesday and she would have him redo the notes over and resubmit the same day as well as give me a call back once she resubmits on Wednesday. Well today is Friday and I have no idea if she resubmitted my paperwork or not because she never called me back and when I called her today to check the status I got her voicemail stating she is out of the office 'til monday. I am so frustrated right now it is not even funny.