lovex5

Thanks Jean i was hoping you would reply

Thanks for the encouragement. Good luck on your fill!

Congratulations! Mine was approved Friday but no one from the bariatric center has contacted me yet. They are all out of the office this week. The only reason I know is because I was stalking my insurance website and saw the approval

I have a question about reflux with hernia. The reflux i get is as follows: chest pain in the center of my chest then i will burp up acid within 10mins. Never fails. I have lost about 25 on my own and thought with that and diet change my symptoms would ease. Nope. My heart is fine, it's reflux. I've never heard anyone else with the chest pain followed up in 10mins with acid burp and my pcp commented they may find a hernia on me. Just curious!

I didnt read all the posts and i realize this thread is old. However i wanted to add that i'm not surprised. Any time i've tried ww and looked to their boards for support i've been disappointed. I try not to let one person spoil the entire group but they are nearly all that way! Once i asked a question and they attacked me. I replied how their attitudes needed adjusting and someone went back through everything i had posted and ragged on every little thing i had said. Dang, really? Lol! Anyway i don't find ww'ers to be supportive in the least. This environment is far more caring/supportive. Maybe make a group for lapband weight watchers only?

That is great! The youngest son (corey?) from pawn stars had it too. In the newer episodes he looks awesome, he's lost a lot of weight!

I had a nephrectomy 2 years ago. I was actually pregnant and it was a really high risk surgery. Two days before surgery i developed strep throat. They put me on antibiotics immediately. The day of surgery the anesthesiologist did not want to tube me. My urologist and vascular surgeon fought it over with him and in the end he agreed to go forward. I think it depends on the surgeons, anesthesiologists, illness and type of surgery. Best of luck to you!

I'll say a prayer. Hang in there. Insurance approved my surgery friday and it's like it isnt real or something. Just not sure anymore. I have the same pro/con list as you. Best of luck to you!!!

This is where i am stuck. I had my pcp submit the referral which Tricare denied due to...yup, mtf being "full" despite them telling me no they aren't full and they are taking new patients. My next step is to hopefully go to patient advocacy on post and see if they can assist at all. I hope Tricare can release a copy of the refferal request because my dr's office is surely tired of me bothering them about this. The first time it was submitted it was done incorrectly with info left off. I tried to get it corrected by 3 different people then finally had to call the office manager to complain. She took care of it right away but I hate bothering them time and time again about this. Especially because most people don't understand the headache that is having this surgery done if you have a *gasp* civilian pcp. I tried to locate this benefits mgmt office here on post but so far no luck. Do you know what other names they may go by?

I hate that Tricare wont cover it. I know 100% i will not do rny or band. So many spouses settle and get one of those two. Not me! Thanks for sharing your info, maybe the bariatric nurse i talked to was right. She told me tricare has nothing to do with it. I hope we both get somewhere with this soon!!

That sounds promising! Did you ever find out if we do in fact need a referral from our civilian pcp's? My hands are tied for another couple months when they hold the next seminar. I am crossing my fingers for you!!

Hello everybody. So, the hospital I'm trying to go to isnt having another seminar until late summer. On top of that I'll likely be having surgery at a military hospital which I've been told can be wait list for 6-9mo. So it may be a full year before I can have surgery. I feel trapped. I don't want to just remain this weight for another year but I am worried if I lose too much I wont qualify. I dont have comorbidities and I'm a 41 bmi. My insurance requires I be 40+ without comorbids. So to those who had to wait, what did you do in the meantime?

Thank ya'll for the suggestions and advice. I recalculated my bmi it's actually 43.2. I thought it was lower. I figured it out and I can lose 17lbs and be at a 40 bmi. So before the seminar, which is in 3 months, I can lose that 17lbs have my initial weight be good. Those who have had it at an MTF did they use your seminar weight or your first visit weight? I had started the process at a civ hospital and they took my weight at my first visit.

I meant to say if the mtf offers vsg,, not covers it.

It's weird for us because Tricare wont cover vsg but we can have it done at a hospital on post/base if the bariatric center covers it. I cant speak for everyone but my issue is i have a civilian dr off post so getting treatment at a military treatment facility (hospital on post) has been so difficult. I'm ready to self pay but i should be entitled to it like any other beneficiary of an ad/retired svc member. So, i'll wait and see.

Exactly!! Hope it goes well. They flat refused to help me anymore they just kept saying sorry the mtf is full.

I understand everyone is different but I'd like to ask about recovery. If/when I have surgery my husband will be deployed. My family is unwilling to help apart from watching my kids while I'm in surgery and until I get discharged. I have one person that told me they would drive me to the hospital and back home but no one is able to stay at my house with me. Is the recovery bad enough that I will need someone here with me for a few days?

WOW thank you all for responding! My oldest is 9 and *very* helpful, plus a 4 1/2 year old and my youngest is nearly 2 and potty training right now. The biggest problem with her is diaper changes (she's tiny so I still use a changing table) and getting her in and out of her crib. She is training well though and we are actually switching her to her toddler bed soon. I shouldnt have to drive anywhere for a while. Oldest child is riding the bus next year and preschooler's school is less than a mile away--walking distance. If I have to I'll wait until my husband is back. I hate to wait that long but if it will help me heal better I will. I have heard the hospital I will use if I have surgery does use drains and you go home at 36-48 hours.

My husband is AD but I am going through this right now! I have a civilian pcp so no one wants to deal with me. What a total nightmare it is. I have heard so many different things. Several ladies on post said just have your pcp submit a referral. I did and of course they approved it for a civilian surgeon, even after I called Tricare to explain to them why it needs to be for the mtf not off post. Then they gave me the run around about post being full which is not true because I had called them the day before and they said they're accepting new patients. Every person I talk to has something different to say. I have been told by the mtf's bariatric head nurse just to attend the seminar and she told me Tricare has nothing to do with it. I even went to the Tricare office on post Thursday to confirm. They said if that's what she told me then they guess it's right. That didn't make me feel much better. I did find out that we have patient advocacy at the mtf here so I'll be in touch with them soon. If I have to I'll switch and get a pcp on post but I really would rather not do that. Be prepared to push because from what I've seen we'll have to.

I attended my first seminar in April. I am switching programs so I have to wait to attend another one this summer. The one I attended was pretty straight forward. It was lead by one of the surgeons at the hospital's bariatric program. He had slides to show, went over stats of problems due to obesity/success vs fail rates of dieting with and without wls, explained in detail each surgical option and touched on who might be a good candidate for which surgery along with pros and cons of each. They passed around a book of before/after photos. They also had everyone fill out a little insurance info sheet along with a packet basically outlining everything the surgeon went over. Afterward he hung around for a while and answered questions for those who had them. The entire thing took about an hour. Good luck!

I have not had surgery yet but I completely agree with you. I read something somewhere about whey protein coming from cheese. I have only tried Pure Protein thus far and I dry heaved when I took a drink. All I could think was fake chocolate flavored liquid cheese. Even thinking about it now sent a chill down my back! I dont know how I'm going to do this, knowing both pre and post ops require the drinks. I purchased 2 isopure (the clear ones) today and am crossing my fingers they will taste good.

I took my mental health eval last week. I don't know why I stressed over it so badly, it was simple! Talked to the psych dr for maybe 15 minutes then did the q&a on paper. She just asked a little about my past health, my family life growing up and my life in general. She also made sure I had done my research on wls. A couple times during my interview she commented this will go quick or oh you're going to do great. I thought it was a little odd and unprofessional but whatever. The personality test thing I did was the MMPI. I found a link here that has the first 75 questions, it's the exact one I did. Good luck! https://antipolygraph.org/cgi-bin/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1109032158

i read a post-op page about vsg and it said they need to take pinky fingernail sized bites. do lapband patients take teensy bites like that as well? if so that's one more thing i'd like to start practicing now.

i've completed my labwork and now my mental health eval. they've told me i should be getting my band in early july. i'm really excited but having doubts creep up now. i am on military insurance and know that i can get sleeve IF i have it done on post (which i'm not wild about) and it wouldnt be until probably oct/nov. with the band i get to use my hospital of choice and get it in a matter of about 7 weeks. i truly can not decide what to do. i have wanted lapband for the last 3 years or so. it was honestly my first choice until i started hearing all the results of people getting the sleeve and dropping all their weight in 6-9mo. i dont know if i should really step back and figure out what i want to do or if this is just a normal case of cold feet or what. how much doubt is "normal"? did anyone here not having any second thoughts at all? my husband is encouraging me to go forward with the band but i know this is a decision only i can make. i hope this doesnt offend anyone...i think lapband is a great choice i'm just really confused and not sure what to do. advice please...?

first, obesity runs in both sides of my family. my mother was always big. i remember her coming to eat lunch with me when i was in 3rd grade and ran home to tell her one of my friends had asked was she pregnant. it didnt dawn on me why the kid had asked me that but mom got upset. anyway my parents never put eating guidelines in place. mom was sexually abused as a child and i've always thought she kept herself obese as a barrier. my mom ate to comfort herself it seemed and i just followed along. i remember staying up late with mom during the summer watching our favorite shows and eating bowl after bowl of sugary cereal then we'd sleep in until 11 the next day. this isnt a bash mama session, but it's true. i love my mom dearly but like anyone else (myself included) she isnt/wasnt a perfect parent. we didnt always have the most money so dinner was often fishsticks, frozen pizza, frozen steak fingers, casseroles, etc. i was horrified to start wearing a bra in 4th grade because due to my weight i was developed. in 7th grade i remember a birthday gift one year was what i later found out a maternity outfit...flowy top and stretch pants. i was always big in school. i had purple sweat pants in 9th grade track and hated indoor days because we jogged the gym alongside the boys class. one ass-hat (sorry but he was) decided to nickname me grimmace due to those sweatpants. probably funny but it hurt like hell at the time. same kid had stood behind me during a play in 5th grade and poked my fat rolls. couple times i recall weighing myself in hs i was 180ish. the summer after graduation i finally weighed myself...247. i moved out from home when i was 19, and over the next year dropped from 247 to 130 by being broke and eating once daily. maintained for a few years. met my ex husband, got pregnant at 23 and gained up to 160. he and i split the next year after my first was born and i went from 160 to 220 due to emotional eating from divorce. met and married my husband in 2006. happiness and a man that loved me for me fueled my eating obsession. i figured hey he met and accepted me at 232 who cares i can eat all day long! he likes to eat as much as i do but also does pt every morning and fortunately doesnt have a weight problem. pregnancy in 2007 took me up to 282 my all time high. from there i lost to around 230, got pregnant in 2010 went up to 250 and lost again to about 230. then around dec 2011 i hit 255. i managed to lose 20lbs on my own and right now am bouncing between 235-238. whew!! that is my fat story in a nutshell.