violeteyes37

My insurance is UHC choice Plus and I was also covered at 90 10. What I had to pay was the maxium out of pocket deductible for the year, which was 1000 and needed to be paid at the time of my preop.

Just wanted to check into the thread and say hello and wish everyone well. I start my preop diet tommorrow, but figured that I would give it a test run today to see how far I get before I crash. Im really going to try my hardest not to cheat on my preop. I have to do 2 weeks of full liquids. Went to the grocery yesterday to load up on stuff and was suprised how much I ended up spending, Protein drinks are not cheap. SillyWillyMommy: I feel your pain, Im going to be on my preop over memorial day. My brother has already voiced his concern about being any where near me :biggrin1: I do have a question? Part of my full liquids include cream Soups blended and strained. I dont want to do anything wrong but that seems a bit much blened and strained? Has anyone else done this and if so what process did you use should I blend and than strain, vice versa? :help:

Im waiting to see what repsonse you get from the post because I have the same exact fear. What if this doesnt work. Just like you I have tried the cutting back and workiing out thing to only lose a small amount of weight. I keep telling myself that the difference is going to be the fact that instead of getting discouraged and giving up that this time the band is going to allow me to stay on track and that my body will give up its fight to keep the weight on before I give up my fight to take it off. I guess thats the difference. This time it is truely for life and not just for a couple of months until I give up.

Experience is very important but you also have to consider the travel time. What if you are having some type of complication or another and cant get there? Plus like you said he has done gastric for 10 years. In my opinion, it seems doing a lap band would be a piece of cake for him. Plus he wouldnt have been certified if he didnt know what he was doing. Another thing to think of is that he is not going to be the only one in the room. Im sure someone else though they may not be the one doing the surgery have seen one done and could assist him if the need be.

Thanks for the chart.

pamla68 Congrats Ive been waiting to see you post that. :clap2:

I have a question concerning how do you feel in between finding your sweet spot (I think thats the term) and being too tight. I see post where people talk about being too tight and having to get unfilled. If you are too tight and cant eat or drink, are you hungry? Is that the reason for being unfilled? My thought is this and please let me know if Im wrong, I would love to be so tight that I cant hardly eat anything. This way I would not beable to get down things that I shouldnt. But on the other hand if Im too tight and still hungry that would be a problem. I know you have to get in enough food to get all of your nutrients and things, but couldnt you just take a muti vitamin?

This is a question that I have been meaning to ask. I also have UHC. If they are not going to cover the fills than like has already been stated it defeats the purpose of having the surgery done in the first place. I have preop on 5/8 and this will be the first question I ask. I guess the only thing we can do if its not covered is treat the fill like any other bill we have to pay and put it in the budget.

Im in. Im scheduled for 5/30/07. Just made the cut off. Happy to be joining this group. :clap2:

I finally got my date. I will be banded on 5/30/07. I cant believe this is really going to happen. :biggrin1:

I dont know if calling is standard or only after they have gave you the run around. But they do have your phone number. The claim form that the Dr. submitted would have your personal contact info as well as the info that your employer submitted when you got the insurance. I worked at Cigna for a short period of time and a phone # search is one of the ways you can look up a claim. Im sure other companies use the same type of program.

I received a phone call from UHC to say I was approved on if I remember correctly 3/29. I didnt get my letter until 4/7. The dr office got their letter before I got mine. Which most people say that they got the letter before the dr and faxed it. That wasnt the case for me. It seems that everything is going different for me than others.

Thanks so much. I wish everyone who is still waiting for approval and to get a date the best of luck. This is a stressful process. Now Im hoping everything goes right during preop and my surgery doesnt get delayed. With my luck, anything can happen. pamla68; Hang in there, I went thru the things with UHC also, they will come thru for you soon. :biggrin1:

I havent had surgery yet but, I have also had two c-sections both verticle and it has not been mentioned. I was kind of thinking that maybe it would be easier for them to just go back in the same scar. I guess this wouldnt make it laproscopic than, but I dont care what ever it takes. If you think about it there is already one scar why make more. Also this is just me being crazy, but why do they just push the fat to the side when they could just as easy take some out. I wouldnt mind:biggrin1:

Thanks for the advise. I guess if I really be honest with myself Im afraid that after all is said and done that just eating less is not going to be enough. I know I have to work out too. But I have done this before. I have counted calories and kept them to no more than 1200 a day and done some type of workout, probably should have done more but I did do what I could and still didnt lose much weight. So now Im second guessing myself and trying to figure out how this is going to be different. In my mind the only way to make it different is to keep my calories as low as possible without feeling hungry, thus being as tight as possible. And if I cant eat I wont throw up so I wont risk a slip. Or is that not what causes a slip?

Oh my thats what I was afraid of. I will definitely tell my co workers ahead of time and make sure I use Beno gas or something. I know i cant spray any type of air freshner, we have some kind of policy against using those type of things in case someone else my have an allergic reaction. It took forever to get an automatic air freshner in the bathroom because of this. Thanks for the heads up.

Ok here goes... When you have the gas after surgery, does it go away after sometime or will having gas continue to be a problem, and if so is the gas the type that just stays in you or do you fart and does it smell? I dont mean to sound nasty but I work in a cubicle with other people and was wondering if I was going to be having embarrassing issues that I should apolgize for beforehand. They know Im having the surgery so I think if I tell them of the side effects they will understand if they start to become a issue. :embarassed:

I know what you mean. I havent even been scheduled yet and have been going crazy with eating everything I can think of. Tonight I plan on going to a Chinese Buffet, which is my favorite. The problem is, since I dont have a date yet and have been told that it probably wont be until June, if I keep this up im going to gain alot more weight. Im looking forward to doing my preop diet so that I can stop this maddness:hungry:

Im in Columbus Ohio and Im using the Barix Clinic. Though I have not had my surgery yet, I have gotten my approval through UHC and what I have to pay is the maxium out of pocket deductible which is payable at the time I have my pre op. The only cost up front was my office deductible of 30. Not sure how far away you are but you may want to contact them. Their # is 1 800 282 0066. As has already been stated it makes since if this cost is going to be for pre op and will be coming off of what you have to pay anyway. But im still not sure if I would want to pay it upfront before you even get approval from the insurance.

Thanks for the info. I have UHC and though I have my approval I havent had surgery yet. So this makes me nervous as to if something could happen prior to getting the surgery done. I will definatly be checking further into this. I hope the issue is resolved soon. :nervous

Im new to all of this but Im going to Barix Clinic in Groveport, Ohio. Im not saying anything bad about Cinci but it was my experience that they were out of network for my insurance company and thus wanted payment up front. Im not sure if this is the case for everyone. I just know there was no way I could pay upfront.

Yes, I finally got approved. I guess when I think about it my wait has not been as long as some. Right now Im just waiting to hear back from scheduling for a date and to do pre op and diet if it is required.

That is crazy. I think they are intentionally messing up claims. It took me about 3 weeks before I got a hold of someone who admitted that they had done something incorrect to my claim and fixed the problem. You know what? I was thinking I looked at your other post and noticed your BMI was not 40 or over. It seems that once you get to 40 it makes it medically necessary. Just a thought but how much would you have to gain to get to 40? About a month prior to my consult I ate anything and everything just to make sure. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do:biggrin1: But I realize that there is always still the chance that you could gain the weight and still be denied.

spectacularone You would think that UHC could give you this info but its obvious that they cant. I think its their way of giving you the run around so that you give up. From what I understand, your benefits handbook or benfits rep at the company should beable to tell you what the requirements are. I also had the option of asking some people at work what they had to go thru to be approved. Luckly for me the only requirements were a BMI of 35 with co- morbidties or a BMI of 40. I happen to have a BMI of 42.9 and high blood pressure, though it is currently untreated.

I called the phone number that you had given in one of your post. I think I was just lucky this time to get someone who was willing to do their job.