Carrie

It took 8 days for Dr. Castro's office to get back to me. Maria called me the day after my consultation telling me that because my insurance would not file ANY appeals on my behalf. Basically my insurance denied me on my old doctor and because they used the correct code and then the Dr. Castro's office will NOT file under the same code because it's a waste of time. I have several phyical reasons behind why I don't RNY but apparently that doesn't matter apparently there are no case exceptions to the rule. It's this surgery and the bad side effects. Maria said she would call me back with the cash out of pocket price difference for the sleeve since they would already be in there doing the band removal. Apparently that difference is almost $13,000. I wrote my own appeal letter yesterday and listed who my new doctor was since they refused to do that much. So until either I can figure out a way to pay the difference or insurance goes through I'm SOL with liquids and pain and all. LUCKY ME..

You can do it! You've lasted 30 pounds, make it to 40 pounds, then 50. Do it in 10 pound increments that way you make you goal frequently. That made me feel great and successfull. :sad0: Best of luck, Carrie

I totally agree plus handsome. (sorry I am married though)

Welcome, I too am Pre-op well kinda... I had the not so great Lap Band installed back in 2005 and I've had 5 years of hell. I am currently dealing with the powers that be at the insurance company. I have a blog on obesity help (which is another great forum of folks that many of us also belong to) that I plan on bringing on over here. I wouldn't go into great detail at work. I remember my mother-in-law's ex-box told everyone he had his Gallbladder out and suddenly he was 100lbs lighter! lol needless to say folks started to figure it out when his diet changed so drastically even after coming back. I'd just tell them you need to have a surgery performed to fix an issue you have been dealing with for a while. It's true. I wish you the best of luck and I'm sure you will be fine on Saturday. Some Shrinks freak out over nothing for some reason. I wouldn't lie but not make them sound too bad personally, kinda vague. lol Take care and keep us informed. There maybe lots of us but we all care deeply for one another!

Welcome, I'm not too far from you here in Wylie. I am 32. I already have the Lap Band and we fight daily. My Lap Band experience has been horrible. I am waiting for the "puppet master" to grant me the ability to have surgery, I've already had the it's "experimental" and I'm all about being called Frankencarrie and lose some weight. I like you blog and will keep track of it. I have two girls ages 5 and 1.

As far as a meetup, That would be awesome. Either evenings or weekends would be the best for me as I am a SAHM to two girls under the age of 5, so if I am forced to bring them it's quit, stop, don't, etc. lol. I'm sure the ones that have to work it's the same, needing a weekend or afternoon.

I realize this thread is a bit old. But I too live in The DFW area. I am currently in Wylie. I noticed there are a couple folks in Lavon, Wylie and Plano. :svengo:

I'm sure you hear this all the time, but let me start by saying you are an awesome parent to know you needed this surgery to be there for your babies. ((((HUGS)))) to you on that. With that being said, I currently have the Lap Band that I am having LOADS of problems with. My husband also has the band and has lost 20 pounds in 5 years, he can still eat the "old way". I believe once I recover he too will convert to this surgery once our insurance decides it's cheaper than all the problems associated with the Band or RNY. As far as your food issues. What really helped me when I was going through my "withdrawals" from food was to really tell mysel that "The Colonel", "pizza, Pizza Dude", "The Golden Arches and all of them had done me WRONG. Basically they were all slowly killing me and taking me away from my friends and family. Why would I stay with a friend who continually hurt me physically? I wouldn't and neither would you. So if food is your friend then why would it hurt you so much? I understand correctly eating food isn't like alcohol or drugs or cigarettes you have to eat to live. But that's just it, you eat to live not live to eat. They did surgery on your tummy not your head. And until you get to a point and you will that you realize all the awesome benefits you get from giving up the beast that has hurt you so badly over the years you will feel this way. You've lost 23 pounds so far which is amazing. Your ticker says you want to lose 95 more pounds. I would be willing to bet within the next few months you will be almost half way to the remaining goal of 95 pounds. Write down a list of things that you want to do that has nothing to do with your scale weight. Such as taking your kiddos on a roller coaster, fiting into a regular airline seat w/o an extention, bending over to tie a shoe without feeling like you can't breathe, etc. Basically write out all your Non-Scale Victories and put that on your refigerator. When you start "missing" food look at the chart and by all means mark through each goal as you achieve it. Doing that will keep you motivated. As a single parent I would be willing to bet if it came down to doing something for the kids or yourself the kids would win everytime! Well you are doing this for yourself but also for your KIDS. They will have an even more awesome and interactive dad than they have ever had. You developing a closer relationship with your kids will fill the "void" you my feel without that extra food. YOU CAN DO THIS. You may also want to write down a list of everything you hate about being obese. This will give you an actual list of how your old friend aka food has "done you wrong". Perhaps this will make you miss it all the less. Another suggestion is to take up a new hobby or two that has absolutely NOTHING to do with food. Also when you go to visit folks, be there for the company, NOT the food. You are there for adult interaction, not whatever is there to eat. That's a hard one I had problems with that one for a long time because nobody ever serves others nasty food. lol. Take care my friend and remember you are never alone here. I sincerely wish you and yours the best.

Did they by chance give you any blood thinners in the hospital? Reason being is because the first surgery I had (Lap Band) they gave me a big ole shot of blood thinners to prevent clots. If it can thin your your blood why can't it mess with your period. Of course nobody tells you such wonderul things. lol

Hubby and I met with the man that will hopefully help me with my band problems and get me into a sleeve. Dr. Castro was very informed as to the causes that many of us "old timer" bandsters face as far as Esophageal Pain and stretching. I was surprised at the amount of time he spent making sure we were informed and understood my options. Dr. Castro agrees with me that the Sleeve would be the best choice for me because of IBS and he mentioned the fact that scar tissue would make RNY/Gastric Bypass difficult to "connect" and that when my band was functioning correctly I did very well loosing 140lbs purly on a restrictive surgery. He is going to submit to insurance again and is willing to talk to the insurance on a peer to peer basis, which is more than Dr. Felts was willing to do!!!

Yep as you read I picked up four new meds this week. I'm on my third different combo of High Blood Pressure medicine because the last two didn't work I've been averaging around 200/100 in a non-mad mood. Only the Good Lord knows what it runs when my temper gets into the equation. Of course after taking two other meds my primary care doc wants to know what could possibly be causing such high numbers other than of course me still being overweight. So he does a......blood test. I am now suffering from Hypothyroidism. I have already been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia how much more damn tired, depressed and over all feeling of crap must I take? His MA couldn't exactly explain to me all the issues and stuff related to this and how it could possibly relate to my Hypertension, Fibro, Epilepsy so I've decided to find a decent Endocrinologist. Why not? What's one more doctor on the pay roll? I was placed on Synthryoid and have decided to take it. Worst case it won't do anything. I just wonder if Hypothyroidism is a result or a messed up test from all the other medications I am on. I don't want this to turn into a complaining stage but damn how much more crap can I put up with? I'm only 32 years old. I know folks who've had cancer and all this other horrible diseases but I feel like I'm being hit from different angles with all this. I know continuing to lose weight will help with some of it and that everyone no the planet has some sort of health problem but it's really depressing to feel like you are going to have to deal with a condition for a very long time. I guess I should be happy in knowing there is a drug for that and a drug to ease the side effects of that drug and a drug for........

I have a consultation scheduled with Dr. Manuel Castro on Wednesday. After my previous experiences with Bariatric Surgeons, I'm not sure exactly what to expect. My hubby keeps telling me not to get too excited or hopeful that Dr. Castro can help us. Yes, us. I want to eventually get my hubby approved for the VSG as well. He is only 20 pounds smaller than he was at his highest weight 5 years ago when he was banded. I went to my primary care doctor, Dr. King and he was upset with me over my blood pressure. Apparently it has become more and more difficult to control and I hope that if it comes downt to it he will write that down in a letter. I'm now on two seperate anti-hypertensive medications. Dr. King ordered labs to check my liver, kidneys and heart in order to see if there is a cause to my high blood pressure. Kidney disease runs in my family. So who knows? I'm trying not to think about anything else "bad" happening to my body. I already have depression, fibromyalgia, degenerative disc disease, some herniated discs, sciatica and apprently high blood pressure. I believe a few of those could be helped with me losing the remaining 80 pounds that I need to. I know that the Sleeve is simply a tool and I have to stay on course and be good. I did great when I intially got the band having lost 140lbs. That was until Pamela (aka the band) decided to go all bitchy on me. :thumbup: That's it until Wednesday....

Oddly enough I asked Dr. Felts if he found anything in my stomach or esphagus during my EGD. Of course the answer was NO, you are fine, I found nothing and took zero biopsies. Yesterday I had a chance to check the voicemail on my cell phone. I had a message from Dr. Felt's Medical Assistant telling me they had the results of my biopsy and there was a problem and I needed to call her back immediately for insttructions. What would you think at that point? Worst case scenario would be a tumor or a polyp that came back cancerous. Best case something called H-Pylori, something that is treatable with a PrevPac (Prevacid and an antibiotic). I call Dr. Felt's office immidately after hearing this message to hear they are in clinic and I could leave her a voicemail and she would get back at the end of the day. The message sounded urgent and I tried to explain to the person on the phone the situation and she basically said too bad, do you want to leave a message or not?!? I left a message and called Hubby know she might be calling and talking to him as I had given her oral permission to talk to my husband or leave a DETAILED voicemail. Hubby too was worried and wondered what was found. I finally decide to call her back right before lunchtime. They told me she was with a patient and asked if I wanted to hold for several minutes I was like sure why not? Finally she gets on the phone to tell me that I have........................................... Inflamed cells in my Esophagus, I need to start taking a PPI such as Nexium or Prilosec and the doctor wanted to see me back in a YEAR for another EGD. Otherwise to continue as usual. I was told to take Nexium in the recovery room, told there was no biopsies taken, scared out of my wits by her, told to take the same meds I was already on and follow up with a doctor that had "fired" me that she happened to work for. I scense a little communication problem within the ranks of Dr. Felt's office.

After a great deal of soul searching Hubby and I realized we both had a lot of weight to lose. We also considered the fact that dieting and exercise only would take years to lose the weight and that's ONLY with us being a customized diet and workout routine and sticking to it no matter what. We decided to have a consultation with Dr. Robert O. Powell in Dallas, TX. We went online and checked his medical license with the states he had worked in and all was well. I searched and read references from others who claim to have been succefully banded by Dr. Powell and were happy. We found no negative posts. Our first consult was with a Physician's Assistant and he showed us a demo band and answered all our questions. Then we submitted to insurnace. Months past and still no word from the insurnace people he was using at the time. Finally after several months I decided to call one last time and the company had forgotten to submit our paperwork to our insurance. :thumbup: Dr.. Powell's Office Manager who also turned out to be his sister submitted the paperwork and Hubby and I were both approved in less than 24 Hours! This was back in August 2005. I had my surgery first. It was in the day surgery part of a regular hospital. All went well and I was discharged a few hours later as planned on my clear liquid diet. I developed an infection at the incision sites that laid immediately under my breasts. Dr. Powell blamed this on me. Simply because he had NEVER had a problem with infection and I must have picked it or something besides the fact that my boobies were laying on it. He placed me on an oral antibiotic and sent me home. About a week later I noticed a clear hard, yet flexible string outside of a few of my incisions. I called the office and they said it was normal and to pull them out. YUCK! Like someone waiting to be shot, I relunctly pulled the little strings that ended up being dissolveable sutures. It didn't hurt but was worrisome at the time. The exact same thing happend to Hubby so I believe it's common but not anything to worry about even though I think it's freaky and they should have warned us about it potentially happening instead of freaking us out. After losing around 100 pounds, I began to develop pain around my port area. Take into consideration I was banded in 2005 and they used a larger port than the ones they use today.I believe the no longer place the ports on the lower left side as much sas the use to. I spoke with Dr. Powell's office and he suggested that I have a Port Revision done under local anesthesia. He stated it would be day surgery and it would be simple and easy under local. I said sign me up and made arrangements with a co-worker to help me with more of the bending/heavy stuff for a week or so afterward. One Friday afternoon at work I get a phone call from Sandy at his front desk asking me to go to Lab Corps to have my blood drawn. I asked why and she informed me that whenever a person is placed under General Anesthesia they must have current labs and blood available in case they need it. I told her no, that there must be a communication problem with what procedure I was to have the coming Monday. Come to find out that instead of me being put down for a simple port revision under local, Dr. Powell had decided to do a full blown exploritory surgery with general anesthesia. The only problem is they forgot to inform me, the patient who had a 10 month old and a full time job at the time. Needless to say I was upset and I cancelled the surgery. This was the beginning of the bad experiences I had with Dr. Powell. I have another blog with dates and more precise issues that I faced in dealing with Dr. Powell at another one of my blogs. This blog is intended to hopefully document a new start in my life, not ponder over the many ways that Dr. Powell screwed all his patients. Let's just say that eventually EVERY LAST ONE of his patients were handed out to other physicians based on insurance. None of us got to choose who we went to. Which made for many unhappy folks. Dr. Robert O. Powell currently operates in California. He left his Texas patients high and dry and has moved onto another state to start the same old routine. I figure there are only 50 states and hopefully some day he will move on and find some obese Terrorists that pose a threat against America. In closing, you may ask, why did she chose "Meeting Pamela" as the title to this post. Well, my band is named Pamela. Just like a famous actress we all know named Pamela. She is full of saline with a little silicone and has some crazy mood swings, she can be quite the litttle b1tch if you know what I mean!

I am the youngest of 4 girls with 10 years between me and the oldest. I grew up in a family full of abuse. Not the typical abuse one thinks of when an adult says I was abused as a child. My abuser was my older sister who is 6 years older than I. She began abusing me both verbally, mentally and physically when I was about 6 years old. This continued until after I was well into young adulthood. At the age of 23 my Knight in Shinning Armor (aka Hubby) showed up and rescued me. Also during my childhood, my family had problems managing finances. My parents were chronic chain smokers who would rather buy a pack of smokes than feed us. We went many a days on Bean Soup and white bread if we were lucky. I remember being told stealing was wrong, yet we "borrowed" veggies from the neighbor's garden. My abusive sister's favorite things to call me was "thunder theighs", "fat ass", "lard ass" and she always made it a point to make my life as miserable as possible. We lived in a 3 bedroom home. My crazy grandmother lived with us as well. She had a pretty bad Morphine addiction from the 1940-1950's and also had Dementia. I never had any place to go to to get away from the abuse so I dealt with it. Whenever we had food in the house I would eat. I found that eating made me feel content and nutured, something I feel I never got from my parents as they knew the abuse was accuring, it happened in front of them, yet they never did anything to stop it. I figured if they didn't stop it then it must be true afterall at that age you believe anything your parents tell you and the lack of action told me a lot. It made me feel worthless as a person and not worth the effort to make her stop. Dad passed away in 1996. That's when I took on the role of money maker. My mom was never good in times of crisis. We lost the home we lived in because we couldn't afford to pay the rent anymore. My sister married an abusive, child molesting alcoholic so she always made it a point to live nearby. Of course this gave her the chance to continue to take her frustrations out on me. At one point I worked 3 jobs and went to school full time. I guess it's kind of like survival mode when it was going on as you do what you must to make it. My mom is very much a push over and allowed people (my abusive sister included) to use our long distance and run up huge (2-3,000 phone bills!). At this point in my life, I maintained my weight around 220. and within a couple years I started gaining weight. When I left home to move in with my hubby I weighed approximately 280 pounds. Neither of my parents were overweight. My mom can eat a whole plate of brownies without gaining and ounce. She has a hard time staying at 110 because her weight is always dropping. My dad was in the Army for 32 years and never was over 150lbs and was 5'8". He had Colon Cancer when I was 4-5 years old and after all his colon surgeries he never got back over 100 pounds. Personally, I think everyone who is overweight has a reason. Mine I believe was hoarding food. Growing up I never knew when or what my next meal might be so I ate well when it was available and the habit began. I also developed the attitude that since my parents never made my sister stop verbally making fun of me that everything she had to say and the fat references HAD to be true!

In my last post I spoke about how my original surgeon had his patients handed out based on insurance. Well Hubby and I ended up with Frank Felts, M.D. as our new bariatric surgeon. Time went on as it has a tendency to do. The first year with the band I lost about 140 pounds. I started at 297 and ended up a little over 160. Life was good. For some reason I always had a major problem with adjustments of my band. I played the "fill then unfill" game for many months. I woke up one morning after getting a fill the week prior and discovered nasty enough, that I was unable to swallow my own saliva. That's a bit of a problem considering I had to be at work no matter what. I worked in another specialty and physician's office. The funny thing about working in the medical field. They know you're sick. Heck you can be at death's doorstop yet they expect you to be at work. I worked in one office where the doctor diagnosed his nurse with the flu. She had gotten sick at work and had a positive flu test, after being around all his sick flu infested patients for 40+ hours a week!! I heard the doctor say, as your doctor I think you need to go home and sleep and rest for a few days to get better. But as your employer you need to make it to work ALL TIMES or else pickup your last paycheck. Well, I wanted to maintain employment when the inability t swallow Saliva came up, I requested that every drop of liquid be promptly removed from my Lap Band. This was back in February, 2008. As of today I have NEVER gotten another adjustment and have lived life with what should have been no restriction and a wide open Lap Band. In May 2008, we discover we were pregnant with our second baby. We were thrilled at the thought of giving our 4 year old daughter a sibling to go through life with. Even though I went through my entire pregnancy with little to no morning sickness I failed to gain ANY weight while pregnant. In fact I lost weight while pregnant!! I lost approximately 40 pounds while pregnant. I have the best OB/GYN in the world. She was very concerned about the nurishment the baby may or may not be getting. I had approximately 10-12 ultrasounds throughout the pregnancy to make sure she was growing normally. I also consulted with a High Risk OB as well. After one last ultrasound to estimate weight, we scheduled a second c-section for February 12, 2009. Our second daughter entered this world shortly after 8 am that Thursday morning. She was larger than her big sister weighing in at 7 pounds 12 ozs. Needless to say everyone was surprised. After losing all the water weight I was about 40 pounds lighter than before i got pregnant.. Apparently pregnancy is a great diet for me. lol. Too bad we decided we are out of the baby business!! Around the time our daughter turned 6 months old I began having problems eating. Keep in mind I continued to have ZERO liquid in my band, which as you know should have meant a wide opening. It got so bad that I would eat 2-3 small bites of food and immediately feel a sharp and stabbing pain my chest. I placed myself on liquids drinking my meals to see if perhaps it had to the "little turkey" I had given birth to in the previous months changing or moving my stomach into an unnatural or weird position. At the beginning of July 2010 things had finally gotten to the point where I had enough liquids and felt it was time to get Dr. Felts involved. Of course the very first thing he wanted to do was a complete unfill. I explained to him that had already been done 2 years ago. So onto a Barium Swallow with him present we went. I did as instructed and slowly drank the Barium Drink. Dr. Frank Felts had me stand in 2 different positions so he could see the entire draining process. I felt the uncomfortable pain I normally felt and watched the screen as the Barium seemed to make my stomach Contract. The Barium still hadn't drained 40 seconds later according to the photos I have. Dr. Felts wrote on a form that I had "adequate restriction", which in my opinion should have been NO RESTRICTION. I informed Dr. Felts I was tired of the band however I did not want to gain my weight back. He had mentioned that he was doing the Vertical Sleeve Gastretomy (VSG). I told him I had done research on it and I would rather not have RNY or Bypass due to the fact I already had a mild to moderate case of IBS and I could only imagine that removing some of my inside tubing would only make that worse. He agreed and told me that he would recommend that since I'm having problems that I should have TWO seperate surgeries. The first to remove the Lap Band. Then wait 4-6 weeks and see how well my stomach works. Basically about the time I start feeling human again it would be the time to have the second surgery, the VSG Procedure done. Dr. Felts submitted the Letter of Medical Necessity and Prior Authorization Forms to my insurance company for approval for both surgeries. I was scheduled for an EGD two weeks later even though Dr. Felts knew I had difficultly swallowing liquids and that my Barium Swallow failed to empty fast enough even though I had was should have been no restriction. About two weeks after my office visits as I continue on liquids, I get a letter in the mail stating that my surgery for Band removal was approved but that VSG done as a stand alone surgery (without a bypass) was an Investigational or Experimental procedure and therefore was DENIED. Apparently Premera Blue Cross and Blue Shield (and BCBS in general) does not approve Sleeve procedures which is something the insurance lady at Dr. Felts should have known. This should have been my first clue that he hadn't done many sleeves and especially revision surgeries such as a Band to Sleeve Procedure. His insurance lady also refused to file an appeal on my behalf. She stated that she had heard rumors that BCBS MIGHT be covering the procedure in or around the September, 2010 time frame. Again that is with a huge MIGHT. The next day after getting this letter I was scheduled for an Upper Endoscopy (EGD) to find out what the inside of my stomach looked like. Because of DEHYDRATION, the nurses had to stick me 6-7 times to get an IV started prior to the procedure. I had 4 different nurses trying to get one IV started because I was so dehydrated. Yet, he didn't believe that there was that big of a problem. At the moment I continue to look like a major Druggie because of the bruises, a few of them done at my wrists HURT. Dr. Felts told me I was perfectly normal and he didn't see anything wrong with me. After sufffering for months and months, feeling constant stabbing pains while eating solids and primarily consuming a liquid diet to have someone who knows I have ZERO Liquid in my band to say all is well and there is no reason I shoudl be having problems was a bit more than I could chew. The weird part was after the scope was done and my stomach repositioned simply because the insertion of the scope, for some reason I can now swallow food and drink like a person who has no restriction. My fear is that my stomach will "move" or return to the position it was in when I was unable to eat or drink! Weird I know! I began asking Dr. Felts questions such as how many sleeves he had done. He as very quiet as he reassured me he was qualified to do the procedure, yet he failed to give me even an estimate as to the number of cases he had handled.personally. My husband and i began to think that the reason why he wanted to do the two seperate surgeries was simply because he had never done a conversion from Lap Band to Sleeve and he was ued to dooing the Sleeve Procedure ONLY on people who have NEVER had weight loss surgery, not those of us with defective bands. I had been speaking with a very nice lady on Obesity Help who happened to have a husband who worked for the same company as mine. They had the exact same insurance as we do yet she was approved to have her band removed and a sleeve done at the same time. I found her doctor's website and found that he actually specializes in revision surgeries for those unfortunate folks such as myself who have had problems with the Lap Band and are ready for the Sleeve. He does this in ONE surgery and is experienced and confident in doing this. Needless to say I made an appointment with Dr. Manuel Castro for his next available slot which was only 8 days away!!! I called Dr. Felt's office to request my medical records and told them I'd be by to get them in a couple hours. It was weird how NICE they were to me. Almost scary!!! Keep in mind this was the same day I'd had my EGD and I feel asleep from what I guess was left over drugs in my system. I woke up too late to pick my reocords at Dr. Felt's office, so I called to let Dr. Felt's office know I woudl be there the next day. I drove out to The Colony and Dr. Felt's office. He had a room full of folks waiting to be seen and I had my 1 year old baby with me. I gave the receptionist my Driver License as she said she ahd to have it and a form signed. She disapeared and came back with the Dr. Felt's Office Manager. The Manager handed me a large envelope with my medical records along with a business sized envelope. I knew what was inside. I asked his office manager how many sleeves he had performed. Again she was couldn't have been more indirect and avoiding in her answer. I asked if perhaps there was a number value she could assign to it and she said more than 10. I was like wow.. I opened the small envelope as a lady began talking to me saying she had the sleeve done by Dr. Felts and I shouldn't have "cold feet" she was fine. I told her that there was a lot of history between Dr. Felts and I and I had found another doctor. As expected the small envelope contained a letter stating he woudl no longer be my doctor after 30 days. And in the immediate time he would only see me on an Emergency Basis. I guess I asked too many questions?????