bbrecruiter2000

HI Everyone, New on this site. Would love to have a weight loss buddy. Someone to talk to or walk with here in the area. Some history. Had a RNY on July 11th this year. I was a revision from sleeve to bypass due to chronic GERD. My highest weight was 340. My lowest weight 165. Regained some weight over 10 years, but kept 2/3 off. Reflux, menopause and having a chronic autoimmune disease with lots of fatigue plus eating too much due to reflux caused the gain. Back to the basics again and hope to get to an all time low. HW 340 LW 165 CW 207 Goal: 145

Hi Penni, Nice to hear from you again. The surgeon who did my endoscopy is a lapband surgeon in Dallas. He has lots of experience scoping. Didnt see anything but a slightly larger than normal pouch. I am not worried about the cost of fills . I am worried about finding a long term doc here locally that isnt going to sink me with expenses since insurance wont pay for it. I have a lot of thinking to do.... I still am consdering the sleeve. Hugs, Babs

:help: Hi Everyone, I havent been here in a while and I hate to rain on folks parade, but I am seriously contemplating having my band removed and having revision surgery to something else. My first two years of banding, I was very successful. I started with a BMI of 54 and managed to get down to a 28 BMI which equates to a loss of 155 pounds. After two years, I quit smoking to have plastic surgery and gained 13 pounds. I had plastic surgery in August 2005 and left the hospital at 189 lbs. MY lowest weight was 180 ever from a start of 334 lbs. During my plastic surgery, the saline was accidently removed from my band by the plastic surgeon. My problems started before this with lack of restriction, so I dont want to say this was the cause of all my issues with lack of restriction, but I am sure that this was a contributor. A month later, I visited my original band surgeon to get my restriction back and was informed my band was bone dry. I was given 1 cc and sent home and told to wait a few months and he would up it back to the 2.5 I had before. He wanted to do it slowly since normally patients who have their bands refilled usually need less than before to achieve the same level of restriction. I was worried about regain and told to just comply and keep portions small. Two months later, I now have gained an additional 10-15 pounds, so I go to get a fill from a doc in Dallas who takes me to 2.25. THings are fine for a short while and then I start losing restriction. By August 06, I have now gained 38 lbs. I go back for another fill and I am told I have pouch dilation. All the fill was removed from my band and I am put on a liquid diet for a month. I go to a lapband surgeon who was not my original surgeon due to insurance change and he tells me that I have a concentric slip, partial prolapse and that I will need a new band. I go for a second opinion with another band surgeon who does an endoscopy, tells me that although my pouch is a little large, I dont need a new band though and refills me to 2.00 CC. One year later: I am still gaining weight. I have moved to GA and no one here will take me as a patient because they did not band me. My new insurance does not cover my band at all, nor will they cover a removal or revision. I will have to pay for fills. This is not a problem, but I am reluctant to start again here and have someone fill me and then have dilation or slippage problems due to a too tight band. I fear I have dilation issues again and getting another fill wont help me anyway and a saline removal will just result in starting the process all over again. I am not looking for someone to just do a fill. I am looking for a doc who can tell me if my band is fine and I am looking for someone who can really take care of me due to the fact that I have had problems in the past. It never ceases to amaze me that the docs here have no interest in me as a patient because someone else banded me, only want cash for fills or that my new insurance wont pay for a removal, but they will pay for me to have a gastric bypass. I am not obese enough for this to be an option anyway and my provider is notoriiously bad at making people jump through hoops to qualify anyway. I dont have comorbidites and my BMI is not high enough anyway. I am obese but not obese enough with a 34-35 bmi. I am really sad that my band is not working for me. I have had 14 fills and several unfills. I am tired of trying. I also refuse to blame myself. I have been compliant and clearly I have the ability to stick to the plan when I have good restriction. Its like the cart before the horse. Some folks here might say the the dilation was caused by my overeating. THis would be partially true because to gain weight, you have to be eating too much. But if one does not have the ability to overeat with a properly working band then they cannot overeat. I make healthy choices, but I dont have any restriction and can eat a very big portion. Its easy to say only eat 3-4 ounces when you have restriction, but when you dont, then its a problem. So then one would say the solution is to get more fill. What if everytime you were filled, it was either too little or too much with really small increments? The most I have ever had in my band was 2.6 and this was too tight. The 2:00 I have now is too little. I have been at 2;25, 2.3 2.4, 2.5 and these amounts have resulted in too little or too much. All were done with flouroscopy. I dont have a leak, but clearly dilation is an issue and has been in the past. I am really sad and worried that if I get a fill and its too tight, then I will have to go for more fills and unfills at my own expense. Worse, if I had a medical emergency that required band removal, it would be at my own expense. I feel like maybe its time to move on. I am now considering the gastric sleeve and removal of my band as a self pay. No post op hassles, no maintenance, no fills . Whaddya yall think?? I would love to hear from newbies and oldies. Babs in GA 334/180/225?

Hi ! Does anyone know a doc in GA that will do fills?? I have BCBS of GA and none of the docs want to take me as a patient citing that they wont do fills on patients other than their own. IF they do fills, they only take cash anyway and wont take my insurance. Any ideas??? Babs in GA Banded 4 years and counting......

Hi Alex, Havent been here in 7 months and just saw your post. I didnt know about your band slippage. I hope you get a new band soon. I just moved to Georgia from TX and cant find a doctor to do my fills. Not one so far in Atlanta who will take insurance and the ones that take cash want way too much $. So I sit with no restriction and a lot of weight gain since I have not had adequate fill since August 2006. Anyway, hang in there. Babs in GA 334/180/2-- teens???

HI, No way I would vote for Hilary. Never liked her or what she stands for. I would love to see a top woman candidate run for office. IT would be refreshing to have a woman president. Babs in TX

dawn, I had an abdominoplasty in august o5. My plastic surgeon had experience with banded patients. He didnt actually move my port, but due to the skin removal, my port is a few inches away from my original scar. He did do an unfill when I was under anesthesia so I could eat a little more post operatively and accidently removed all of it. My restriction has not been the same since them and I regained some weight and spent some time trying to lose what I gained. Make sure that yhour PS knows about either moving ports or replacing with low profile port and let him know where you want it positioned if he/she had no intention of doing it. The port is sewn in the abdominal wall/muscle and depending on where it is, it can be a nuisance if it is near a pant line or somewhere where you can see it. Babs in TX 334/190 ish

Hi, Busywoman: I have always had group insurance (through a company) where there are no underwriting guidelines. If you were to lose your job and could not find another before your group insurance expires (which is my case) then in order to have health insurance you would have to buy an individual plan since you were no longer part of a group and no longer had an employer. I am self employed and my husband has always worked for large companies IBM and Motorola. Both companies are self insured and pay the bills but use a network like Humana or CCN PPO to administer the plan and provide the network. My present situation is that my husband is no longer employed, our insurance is running out and I need insurance. COBRA is an option, but the premium is at 102% of the normal premium that the employer formerly paid for my group plan. It means I have to pay it myself. For my family of 4, the monthly premium is $1,400 dollars. The only folks that would want COBRA are people who cant get insurance because they are considered high risk. Having any kind of bariatric surgery within 10 years excludes me from most plans. That is why I am asking for help. Someone here who is self employed or pays for their own insurance may have the answer I am looking for.... Babs in TX

Hi, I thought of posting this under insurance but this is a long term problem for ALL long term bandsters and I am encountering this now. I have had a lapband for 3 1/2 years. It was paid for by Motorola and the network was CCN and now Humana. My husband got laid off in late July and our insurance expires November 30th. We have the COBRA option, but decided it was cheaper to look into an individual plan for our children through Unicare here in TX. My husband and I decided to research options separate from our children due to the fact that I have a lapband and didnt want to be turned down without talking to some folks first. I called a few insurance companies to discover that I am high risk and uninsurable because of my lapband. We are talking about individual plans (not to be confused with group plans through employers) No one will insure me it seems regardless of the fact that I am healthier, have no health issues and I am no longer morbidly obese. It seems my only option is to pay 400.00 plus for Cobra until my husband finds a job with group insurance. Does anyone know of any insurance company with an individual plan that will insure me that is cheaper than COBRA? IT is possible that my husband may opt to work for a really small consulting firm that may have insurance, but as a very small group, they will also have underwriting requirements and I will likely be turned down anyway since I dont know what constitutes a group and the company will not be self insured. Besides the COBRA will run out in 18 months and at that point, I would have to get insurance and with a lapband, I would only qualify for the TX high risk pool which probably would cost more than the COBRA. I cant believe this. Surely there must be insurance available to me? I would even consider an exclusion for any band related maintenance or problems since I dont have any and dont expect to in the near future. If it became a problem, I would just go to Mexico and have it removed. Any ideas??? Please?? Babs in TX 334/190 ish

Hi Alex, You really have to wait until December??? That seems long... Babs in TX 334/190 ish

HI Michele, My doc DID pull out a lot of air. Maybe thats been the problem all along?? I guess time will tell. I havent lost any weight since I started with the solids again, but I aint gaining either, so now its up to me. I liked this fill. No fluoro, just a good ole fashion, put some in, add a little more, then a little more and then he removed a drop when I got a little too tight. Pulled all the air out, so now I am feeling what he put in. I slimed yesterday!!! WOW, havent done that in a year. Babs in TX

Hi Shelly, Glad they didn't find anything although I am sure you probably would be happier if you knew what was going on. I have an appointment on Thursday with a lapband surgeon. He is out of network but at least I can get an opinion bringing him my flouros. I am hoping that he will schedule an EGD for me as well. I am still having the chronic throat burning, no reflux but a sure sign that something aint right. I am pretty sure I am going to need a reposition surgery. I dont think my insurance will cover a new band, just removal, so I am sure that I will be coughing up some cash if I want the new band. We will see. Maybe the barium swallow will show something different??? Babs in TX