wendy645

Mine does for blind sticks (and I even got my band in Mexico). But they make me pay first then fill out the paperwork, submit and wait for the money (minus a minimal copay). I am not a fan of blind sticks so I prefer to return to TJ for my fills under flouro. Actually costs less.

P.S. Mine is BCBS of Arizona. States differ.

You got it done in Mexico.... so BC/BS AZ will cover fills but not the procedure?

I'd suggest another fill, too, or in the mean time try eating standing up and seeing if it makes any difference? Just a thought.

I'm actually excited that I won't be able to turn to food as therapy anymore, because it'll force me to look my problems in the eye and not eat through them. This way I can be on my road to healing and figuringmyself out, which is an ultimate goal of mine :girl_hug:

I'm worried that if I tell my co-workers they will become the lap-band police and watch everything I eat and comment on my progress. I just don't want the judgement.:girl_hug:

Seriously. We get judged enough for what we eat now, I don't want to continue the scrutiny! At least when people see me eating like a rabbit, they leave me alone!

Yay! :girl_hug: Thank you! I figured most of them would be answered, but then I'll write the answers beside them and ask anything that's left. It's good to know they're so informative, I went to one on GBP a few years ago and they didn't cover the lapband at all, but I've been told this will.

Plus, I wonder if I was the only one incredibly let down by the info packet straight from LapBand's maker... y'know, the one you call the 800 # for? It was lame!

I go to my info session tonight, and being the meticulously need-to-be-informed-of-every-little-thing-I-can-think-of person I am, I made a list of questions to ask the doc that are left unanswered after the info session. I'm driving 3 hours to get there, so hopefully he'll take pity on me and answer my questions!

So here's my list, if you can add any others in the next couple of hours, I'd love to see them!!!

Questions for Lap-Band Info Session 8/14/07

What kind of co-morbidities do insurance companies look for?

What has your experience been with insurance denials? Do you help appeal? What do you do to help with insurance?

Do you work to find loopholes in insurance exclusions, say if the patient needs something else like gallbladder or hernia surgery?

Have you worked with Mercy Health before, and if so how did it turn out?

Are there options besides insurance and self-pay?

What qualifiers make or break your accepting a patient?

What tests and specialists do you need before hand?

What are your personal pre-op requirements?

How many lap-bands have you done?

What kinds of bands do you use?

How do you decide which kind to use?

Do you use different kinds of ports?

Does the patient have to request a smaller port?

Other than size, are there any differences in the smaller and standard ports?

How do you decide where to put the port?

What was your complication rate? Death rate? What caused them?

What complications have you personally run into in the operating room? What is your protocol for complications?

Can you fix a hiatal hernia while in there? What does that entail, and can insurance cover it?

What is average recovery time?

How long do you recommend taking off work?

What is your pre-op diet recommendation?

What is your post-op diet recommendation?

Do/can you record the procedure? (Yes, I’m a Health channel freak)

What can a patient do to minimize recovery pain and time?

How long are patients usually in the hospital post-op?

Do most patients get relief from GERD?

What are the activity limitations?

What aftercare do you provide, and what is the cost?

How long do you wait to do a fill?

Are your fills done blind or with fluoro? Is there an additional charge for fluoro?

Why do people complain of shoulder pain?

What can we do to prevent slippage?

Why does erosion occur and what can we do to prevent it?

Are there many patients who reach goal and DON’T need PS/TT’s?

What can we do to be one of them?

What is the “golfball”? How do we avoid it? How do we get rid of it?

What about PB’s and Sliming?

Do we get a card saying what kind of band we have? What’s on it?

What affect does drinking while eating have?

Straws to drink – yes or no?

My PCP recommends 4 months supervised dieting before trying to get an approved consultation with you. What do you recommend I do in the mean time?

Wish me luck, I'm jazzed to go to the info session, plus my mom and boyfriend are going with me!!! :girl_hug:

Awesome smiley use, btw! Congratulations on a smooth surgery! I'm excited for you!!

I'm just starting, I've done my first PCP consultation bringing up the subject, attending an info session tonight, and setting up a nut. consultation today, and since the info session is 3 hours away, I have to leave work early. I said I'm visiting a doctor for hernia repair consultation... which is mostly true. The doctor wil be at the info session, I'm visiting that and by proxy him, and the PCP said they could most likely fix the hernia while in there, so...

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!!

This is why, if at all possible, I'm not telling anyone but my mom, boyfriend of 9½ years, and best friend. And they all support me 110%. I don't think other people will, and to be honest, I don't feel like listening to their crap about it. I've researched this well and I'm sure you have too, so they can piss up a rope! We're doing this for us, not them!!

I hope you've sat quietly and thought about this long and hard... if it's something you really want to do, don't let anyone get in your way. This is a life-changing decision and you know who needs to make those?The owner of said life! YOU! :girl_hug:

At least you know you have tons of support here!!

You had it right when you said it's with any surgery. Heck, you could die having your tonsils out. It's just the fact that people's bodies vary so greatly, some are allergic to anesthesia and don't know it until too late, or there's a miniscule chance of something major going wrong, like cutting a major blood supply, but your surgeon will no doubt be too competent for that!

Besides, the risk of dying with a lap-band surgery- to me at least- is not nearly enough to consider not doing it, especially since I'm gonna die if I keep along this path! May as well DO something about it! :girl_hug:

Oh! And your dog is adorable! He reminds me of mine!

Hi Nichole! Your post really caught my attention because I'm in rez land, too! Well, not technically, I'm in Page, but we're surrounded by rez. Where are you? I'm loving reading your blog and progress, I'm still at the very beginning stages

I'm curious (completely off-topic here) why do some people's posts have every word capitalized? Not caps locked, But When A Sentence Is Like This?

Also... where do I sign up for one of those newfangled non-finicky bands?

I looked into surgery (bypass) when I was 19 years old after seeing Carnie Wilson on TV. I went to a seminar about it which is where I first heard about LapBand. Since I didn't know alternatives to rearranging your innards existed, I knew immediately I had to look into it.

I've taken my time researching and decided this was for me. There are several things that did it for me.

Feeling like I'm about to be decapitated in my own car by my seatbelt.

Getting asked when I'm due. I like to reply with something dripping sweet that makes them soooooo embarrassed for asking. It's my little bit of spite, I guess.

Going on a business trip and running across the airport terminal and feeling like I was going to DIE, but being afraid to ask for a ride from the carters because they'd just look at me and be disgusted little miss fat ass couldn't walk across the terminal.

BARELY fitting the airplane seatbelts, and feeling my butt squishing under the arms and into the next seat, where the people next to me looked disgusted.

realizing that 'm out of clothing options and I REFUSE to shop at Lane Bryant etc. I'm a tight size 26 but I will not go any higher because the only thing clothes-wise in my town is an absolute travesty. I mean, honestly. I think the vast majority of plus-size clothing is designed by bitter skinny minnies. Elastic waistbands and terrible cuts, prints that just shouldn't have been manufactured to begin with, much less turned into something a person has to wear on their body! It's what's inspiring me to want to make my own plus-size clothes line with my friend... even though I'll be too skinny to wear them

Everything has just piled up onto me lately, making me more and more determined to do this.

After being told since I was 7 that I was fat and worthless (I didn't get fat until I was 13, and I'm not worthless, dammit!) I have always thought of myself as fat and worthless. Until recently. I now know I'm just fat. And I'm ready to do something abuot it.

Yay you for taking this step to a better life! We're all rooting for you and will be subsequently post-stalking you to see how you do! :eek:

How did it go? I go to mine tomorrow!!

I'm just starting the process but this thread rocks my socks off! I can't wait to add to this list!! I'm not the only one with tears in my eyes, at least, that's good

My goal changes all the time, and I'm a self-proclaimed numbers nut. I have played with numbers since I can remember, even back to 5 years old.

My high weight used to be 270, so I picked 135. Perfect number. But now, my high weight is 286, and I'd like to be 143 due to that, being half of it, but I don't like 143. Maybe 140 or 147. I've never seen/remembered anything below 165, so I'll also admit I have no idea what under-165 holds. I think it'll be a case of wait and see when I get there :-) I'd still love to see 135! Or be able to wear a single-digit size. Even a 9 would THRILL me!

The thing that I find so interesting is the double standard. I've had COUNTLESS skinny friends complain about how fat they are, and I tell them I'd love to be their size, and they all are quick to say they don't think I'm fat, they just feel fat for themselves. At first I thought of this as a load of horse pucky, but I'm starting to believe it. I still come away from the conversation feeling planetary if they're complaining about their size whatever, but I also know they feel bad themselves. And since I know how feeling bad about your body feels, I leave it alone.

Well I was beat to the punch! I was going to come in and post something to share my signature with you lovelies

When I saw this thread I read the name to my mom and she asked if she was a shorty porty. I exlplained the band has a port and that was the reference. She's overweight but losing, and not banded.

It's funny how a lot of us aren't happy with what we've got, huh? For instance, I'd LOVE to be 5'9" but it's not gonna happen (probably? That patient gaining some height inches is inspiring!!) but at the same time, I'm thankful I'm 5'7", which I know a lot of people here and gonna be like "Oh shut up, you!!" about LOL

For the poster who noticed things getting longer on her as she loses: I hope to have the same problem! I have faily long legs, but the pants I can find are short on me (I'm not much of a loser yet!) but instead of having a belly sticking out to make the fabric go out and then down... without it going out, the only place for it to go is down! Holy run-on sentence, bat man!

Anyway, good on you all for working with what you've got, and I hope my signature picture can bring you a smile :eek:

Wow I can't believe it's been 2 years since someone replied to this! I'm bumping this because I think it could get much more attention!

Wow, I have nothing to offer but I'm really interested in the answers here. Where in your back hurts and what kind of pain is it? Like, an ache? A shooting, or stabbing, or burning pain? And is it while you're eating or afterwards?

Sorry to ask so many questions but it might be helpful to narrow it down for other ppl who've gone through it or may know why

Yup, that's how I've taken to doing it! Thank you, at least I know it's not just me!

Thank you all SO much for your replies! You're all so very inspiring... I'm fighting back some tears, heh. I want to be part of the second group. I rather like exercise now, but like has been mentioned, being so overweight makes it very hard.

As it stands, I'm on Ibuprofin 800 mg just so I can walk further than my standard to-the-copier-and-back office walking. I have learned the hard way that if I don't take at least 800 mgs an hour before walking, my lower back seizes up and I can barely make it home. I plan to have a party when I can toss those babies in the trash bin, though! I know that being an NSAID, I should be careful with Ibu when I get my band. I just typed "if" and deleted it in place of "when"... heh.

Now, I'm one of those in the middle group liste, I work out when I remember, when it's convenient, which equals NOT OFTEN. When I do I love it and go balls to the wall, though. I really feel I will be one of those ugly ducklings when it comes to exercise. I have had so many dreams of being thin enough to run without my fat rubbing together and causing pain or a rash, the freedom it allows mw to just GO. Emotionally, I'm ready to be able to exercise without pain, it's just waiting for my body to catch up

Oh, and Ariel, best of luck!!

People IRL would be surprised that I'm taking the steps to get the band! 3 people know and I like it that way.

Lessee...

I am in lust with Orlando Bloom.

I've had 3 eating disorders in the last 17 years.

I like to chill out with my closest friends (we're all CSI junkies) and talk about murder and how to do it so you'd get away with it.

While I HATE coffee, and everyone knows it, my favorite ice cream is coffee.< /p>

I don't like diamonds.