Manatee

Getting closer Yesterday I had the pre-op meetings with the surgeon, nurse, hospital, nutritionist and at least one person that I had no idea what their role might be. I've gone through this before, so there wasn't a whole lot new. I was interested in the differences in digestion time between gastric banding and the sleeve. It turns out to be significant, as the band still has a complete stomach and the sleeve does not. This difference means that Vitamin supplements and Calcium supplements are more vital to sleeve patients than band patients. In running through the paperwork it turned out that my initial labs were never ordered. The hospital decided to add them to the mandatory pre-op labs. This ended up requiring 13 tubes of blood from my sad little vein. I desperately needed some food after that! So all is set, and a week from now at 7:00 AM I get to have my 7th medical procedure in 2.5 years. Huzzah!

Why does it matter?

Ah. Urg. Maybe this ain't for me... (ok, mini-hijack over, sorry)

English? TPN, NPO? (worried pre-surgery dude)

Is the Duodenal Switch on the approved list? You know, the VSG is just the first part of the switch, and most patients have that part done first and then the gut rearranging done later. Perhaps if you just don't return for the second stage....

Ok, I'm doing my research for this second surgery. Over at LBT there's a complications forum that formed out of necessity over the years. I -really- want to know the bad possibilities, seeing how I seem to attract that 1-2% chance... Maybe someone can direct me to some threads? I need to know worst case possibilities.

Got my date! October 21 I go under the knife yet again. The nice thing is that the 'pre-op diet' only consists of "nothing but liquids after noon the prior day." :drool5:

WLS, take 3 Well, the word came down today, and I am now scheduled for VSG surgery Oct 21. The insurance company is picking up about half the tab because of the lap-band removal; the rest of the procedure comes out of my pocket. This looks to be an interesting and different path than the one I've been on, and hopefully ends up in a much better place. I still think the lap-band is a great procedure for those who can cope with it, but my body simply insisted on being in that 2%. (Lap-band 05/2007, high 292, low 178, slip, revision, slip, current 220 and headed up)

UHC Success! Got the word today that UHC has approved taking out the lapband system, after the doctor coded it (correctly) as a gastric obstruction. The center is talking to the hospital about the costs to do the VSG as an add-on procedure. I should have hard money numbers shortly. While the band certainly did the job when it was working, I'll be happy to get my slip-and-slide companion on it's way. I wonder if the doc will let me keep it in a jar?

Round 3, first steps I spent part of this morning talking to the new surgeon, Dr. S. As I mentioned earlier, Dr. M. is a good guy and good surgeon, but he only performs banding. I no longer have confidence in the band -for me-, and so I am looking into alternative choices. We discussed the VSG procedure, and between the two of us decided that would be the best choice. The other option was the bypass, but honestly I think it would be overkill given my current physical condition. I'm overweight, but only by maybe 30 lbs. I'd look like a cancer victim if I did the bypass now! Things are a bit more complicated because of the insurance company and the role they are playing in all this. They have approved a removal of the band, and so that is going to reduce the costs somewhat from the cash price of the VSG. The procedure is normally around 11K, which I cannot pay for at this time. I can swing the 8K or so that this should turn out costing. It will -hurt-, but I can cover it. If I consider Dr. M. was quoting 4K for the new band, it's not all that bad. Of course, that's the same kind of false logic that people use to justify expensive purses "on sale" :ohmy: The next step is for their office to start talking to the insurance company and resubmit for the revision. I have no idea on timelines yet for the surgery, recovery, etc. I do know that I will be out for a week, and given that I'm a contractor on a day rate, that's going to bite. Ah well. This all beats being FAT again, and it's readily apparent that without the assistance of some sort of restriction I will again top 300 lbs.