flmama

Pre-surgery testing, my gallbladder was great...showed nothing. Over the last few weeks, I've had increasingly bad attacks...a CT scan during an ER visit showed it was enlarged and bloodwork showed elevated liver enzymes, but no other issues. No fever, no aches or chills...just pain on the right side and nausea/vomiting. Averaging a couple of attacks a week, and finally my hospital appt for an ultrasound and hida scan rolled around. Ultrasound showed sludge and stones, so they canceled the second part of the hida (CCK) and just did the first part, so I don't know EF and it doesn't really matter because at the end of the test, my gallbladder wasn't showing, so I had to wait around for another 45 minutes and do another series of photos. PCP says it has to come out. I go to referred surgeon and he keeps referring to my surgery as a "bypass" (and I keep correcting him), and he tells me he has to do the gallbladder surgery OPEN instead of laparascopically, because he knows I will have lots of scar tissue and he is sure I have an infection in my gallbladder. But then tells me he can't do it for 2 weeks b/c he is going on vacation. And he doesn't do any bloodwork or put me on antibiotics for this alleged "infection" or anything. I've requested a second opinion, and am also going to ask my sleeve surgeon when I see him next week (he is 4.5 hours away, so initially, I didn't think it made sense to involve him...but he may be my best option, even if it involves more travel). So my questions for those who had their gallbladder removed post-sleeve: 1. Was it automatically open for fear of your new anatomy and scar tissue? 2. If it wasn't scheduled for open, did it end up being open because of unforeseen issues? I know that there is always the risk of having to be opened up when you have surgery, but I thought they did everything they could to avoid it and was really put off by this guy saying he was going to do it open because it was such a concern to him, yet he wasn't concerned enough to get it done before his vacation or to do any bloodwork or antibiotics or anything while I'm waiting. Seems like a $$ to me.

I had it the first week.

And fwiw, my pre-surgery scan of my gb was clear...No sludge or stones at all (which is why my surgeon left it alone). Here I am, 3.5 months later and having attacks 2-3 days a week of increasing severity...ultrasound shows sludge and stones. Hida scan didn't even show my gallbladder at the end of the hour, so I had to come back for more pictures...which means it's not working the way it should. I even have attacks on days where I been been so afraid to eat, I just have fruits and veggies. For some people only fats and dairy is a trigger. Others are bothered by acid. Everything bothers me since mine just doesn't seem to want to work!

My doc says about 30% will have their GB out. Actigall works if you're willing to take it forever...he doesn't blanket prescribe for everyone. Some people will just have problems. Several sleeved folks I know have had gb out despite actigall and following physicians diets (I've seen people here be snide and say you only have gb probably post-surgery due to not following your diet and that isn't true).

Thanks so much everyone! I have a second opinion scheduled for next Tuesday and then my sleeve surgeons office moved up my next appt to next Wednesday so he could see me as well. I hope gb recovery isn't worse than sleeve...my sleeve was awful! I'd never had general anesthesia before and was so ill. I also couldn't tolerate the liquid hydrocodone when they took me off the pump, so I just went without pain meds. It sucked! I didn't have gas pain...just lots of nausea and incision pain for a couple of weeks.

Thank you! My husband's gallbladder was almost as bad as yours was, many years ago, so I knew going into this that I wasn't facing quite the same he was. And they still managed to do his laparascopically. It took a lot longer, but still they avoided fully opening him up. I appreciate your feedback...I was second guessing myself and wondering if I was being a ninny about this. You definitely helped me!

Hooray!!! I'm so happy to join all you guys on this side. I was in the hospital for 4 days (details on my blog: http://healthyfitforme.blogspot.com/). I haven't had the best experience pain/nausea-wise, but every day gets a little better and a little easier and I am fully embracing this new chance at life.

Thanks yall!

I'm officially scheduled for April 11th! Do we have a private FB page for this group?

This morning, I got the phone call from pre-registration wanting my money. The actual cost of my surgery as billed will be $63,201. Insurance allows $18,909. So I'm on the hook for my deductible ($500) and 20% coinsurance to a max of $1500. I've already met quite a bit of that, so they just took a grand from me and I will pay the rest when the bill comes and all the dust settles with other claims that are pending. I was shocked at what the actual bill will vs. insurance though, and I know I've seen other people ask for those numbers, so here are mine.

Right?? I am very grateful for insurance. I know some people spends tens of thousands more than my measly $2k. I am very very grateful.

My coordinator called in my info on Monday 3/4 and was verbally told I would be declined because I didn't have a 6 month physician supervised diet (after being told in January that my only requirement was to have "tried and failed" to lose weight). She raised a fuss and I raised a fuss and we went ahead and submitted everything anyway and I planned on using Lindstrom if I got an actual denial. I called to check on it late last week and the nurses said it had actually been sent for a physician peer to peer review, which surprised me...I thought that was only for appeals, but she said the way THEY work (Aetna Signature Administrators...a self-funded plan being administered by a third party administrator) is that if the nurse can't say "yes", it automatically goes to peer review, because nurses can't determine medical necessity. So, I figured it was just delaying the inevitable "no." I just got a call from the nurse, telling me that the physician director approved my surgery as medically necessary after speaking with my surgeon and PCP! Hooray! I can't wait for the coordinator to call me to schedule now.

Just an FYI...they are. SPLC has had them on their hate group watchlist for YEARS. Pure evil.

Im scheduled for 4/11. I sent you a pm Khloe!

Best username ever.

I'm flmama80 on MFP!

THIS is the way to say you prefer to tell vs. not telling. Thanks for sharing with us!

I guess we all must think when someone says "why lie?" Or "I don't understand" they are actually looking for a conversation about it vs. just asking a rhetorical where they don't expect any replies or answers. Our bad.

I had the exact same thing happen! Originally they said no diet, then when we submitted they said 6 month diet...then they surprisingly approved me any way! I'm scheduled for April 11th!

Mine too!

Lindstrom Obesity Advocates. I was going to use them and spoke with Kelley, who was super nice and helpful. I found their rates super reasonable too. And when I emailed her to let her know I didn't need their services because I was (surprisingly) approved, she was very excited for me...which isn't what I would expect from someone who is losing my business, ya know? I don't know your specifics, but you can ask Kelley what sort of approval rate they have for your specific situation. For mine, it was 85-90%...I thought that would be worth it. For me, I can't go out country, because none of my potential complications or follow up care would be covered under my insurance. I know people self pay out of country and even in country and have no insurance to fall back on, but that wasn't a risk I was willing to take.

I think the "not tellers" are so defensive because you don't see any posts started here that call out other posters or their "friend" (it's always a "friend" who has lost the weight and not told) for being so open about having surgery. And accusing them of being liars or unethical or immoral. Nope, it's only the people who don't tell who are called names and accused of being bad people...even if it's through inference and backhanded compliments. Every few weeks one of these threads pop up with someone who essentially says that it's lying to not tell.

Congrats!

See, this is it exactly. I've seen a VERY few people who posted here that the weight just fell off with no effort from them and they don't exercise or track what they're eating. I can literally think of 2, and mayyyyyybe a third, that I've seen claim that...if my sleep-deprived MamaBrain isn't doing me wrong. The way I see it, the sleeve will just be a tool, similar to willpower or a conscience, that FORCES us to eat smaller portions. But it's up to us to do the real work. I could eat smaller portions all day around the clock like it's my job, and not lose the weight because I'm still eating too much. I could eat smaller portions that are carb-filled and slide right through, and not lose the weight because I'm not tracking the nutritional value of what I eat. I could eat smaller portions and still sit my @ss on the couch all day, and not lose the weight because I'm still a lazy bum and more people than not can't lose if they don't add movement to their lives. All the sleeve is doing, is restricting the amount of (SOME) of the foods that I can eat. It's not keeping me from eating all dang day. It's not keeping me from eating carbs/junk. It's not getting me moving. The only thing it is doing is changing the anatomy of my stomach, so I can't consume an entire pizza in one sitting. And this might be an unpopular opinion, but frankly, I don't think bariatric surgery is the answer for all fat people. I don't. There are some people who will never see the sleeve (or whatever surgery) as less than the "miracle pill" they've always been searching for...without long-term commitment to their mental health to address their issues, without long-term commitment to moving, without long-term commitment to eating to live rather than living to eat. There is a lot of lip service to that going on, but the actions of those same posters quickly negates it. It's not a miracle pill, it won't be easy for the majority of us, but it gives us the slightest leg up on the diets and treatments we've had in the past...it only addresses one SMALL portion of the problem pie. So no, I don't think it's anybody's dang business how I'm losing weight and I don't think it's up to me to shout it from the mountaintops and save all the fat people from themselves. Some don't want saving. Some won't put in the effort. The ones who will are already researching and have probably already found this site or others like it.

I have an Aetna plan...the requirements will be different based on what your employer selected. Originally, they told my coordinator that I didn't have any requirements...just had to have "tried and failed" to lose in the past. When the coordinator submitted all of my paperwork, they told her I would be denied, because I didn't complete a 6 month diet. We went ahead and submitted any way, so I could appeal once we had a denial in writing. It went to the physician director who did a peer-to-peer review with my surgeon and PCP and it was approved as medically necessary, without the diet.