Pumpkinmeli

I am on the same car-sick ride with you. I am 9 months post op and 8 weeks pregnant. I have already been into the hospital once for dehydration and dizzy spells. I cant keep ANYTHING down. I didnt even feel this bad after having the Sleeve surgery. Anyways... My doctor is going to have a home nurse come see me and put me on a Zofran pump so the medication stays in me 24/7 so I can drink and eat until I am 14/15 weeks along. Apparently pills for post-sleevers dont work the way they should because they dont stay in your body long enough to absorb. Talk to your doctor and see what they can do to make you more comfortable.

I was the same way... I didnt really feel hungry or even touch food for the first week. Slowly things got better and I could keep down a few oz's of chicken broth or gatorade. I sucked on ice chips ALL day. It helped me feel like i was eating something but also kept me hydrated. Good luck! It will get better... you just have to give your body the time it needs to heal.

I am about 9 months post-op and about 8 weeks pregnant. I have PCOS as well and the doctors told me it could take a year for my cycle to come back. I waited 2 months or regular cycles and we tried- sure enough it happened on the first try. I have had some complications so far and the doctors are saying its because I wasnt a full year post op from bariatric. I was in the hospital last week for dehydration and anemia. I have been SO sick to my stomach that even eating the 4 oz I am supposed to eat is coming back up. Im worried about what the next 7 months hold for me as the past 3 weeks have been a nightmare. Everyone is different so please dont take this as a warning... just sharing my experiance.

Im sure most of you are like me shrinking sizes very fast. I buy something and wear it maybe once or twice and then its too big. I dont have any friends/family that wear these sizes and I have a HUGE pile of clothes that I was going to donate. Someone I work with suggested that I might reach out to a support groups and see what other people are doing with their clothes that are too big. I was thinking if I could find enough people in my area (Frederick, Maryland) that I could do a clothes swap. Let me know what you think??

Melissa

I have started to get a bunch of compliments on my weight loss and I thought I would share my before/after pictures. Ive lost almost 63lbs and I am down 4 sizes. Thanks everyione for their support... This has surely been an adventure and I am so happy I made the choice to have the sleeve surgery!

Pre op-355.6

Current- 293.4

Surgery Date- 9/20

before-after.pdf

Congrats on the weight loss! I am about 9 weeks about and 63lbs down. Feeling GREAT! My poor boyfriend feels like he has to eat whatever food I cant finish so he has gained some weight as well. Now hes trying to lose it and its been such a struggle. Keep up the good work and enjoy the new body... I know I am! :-)

I am 3 days post op and I am just curious if I can use neosporin or mederma for my cuts? They itch like crazy and the neosporin can help them feel better. My doctor used glue to close the insicions... dont have any drains or anything. Just uncompartable itchiness.

I was sleeved on the 20th as well. I only spent 1 night in the hospital. I was feeling great and went home only to become very sick. I was throwing up bile and couldnt keep down my medicine or Water. I went back to the ER and they ran a whole bunch of tests and found that my stomach was spasaming so we took a few steps back and im not on ice chips and water only until Tuesday... then I can try other liquids if I feel up to it. They also put me on different pain meds and something for the nausea. I am feeling a bit better today but still buring like crazy. On a good note... my boyfriend said he can already tell weight loss in my face. WHOO HOO!

Thats awesome! Small world! Mine is also at FMH. My surgery is scheduled for 4:20 with a 2:20 check in time. I had my pre-op this morning and met Dr. Osborune who to my understanding will be assisting Dr.McKenna. Sounds like Dr.McKenna has a busy day on Thursday! LOL

@JayBaby88 Where in Maryland are you having your surgery done...and by who? Im in Frederick and my doc is Dr.McKenna.

Deffinately call Cigna... I called almost everyday. They are the most difficult insurance company to approve the sleeve. They are quicker with Lapband and Gastric bypass but with the sleeve being still kind of new they are EXTRA carefull. My clearances and everything were sent in on 8/23... I got my final approval on 9/12. I went through every hoop they threw at me and my doctor had to get involved at the end to do a peer-to-peer. I am like you.. I took off work and so did my boyfriend... we couldnt change the date from September 20th so the pressure was on. I have my pre-op appointment on Monday and just today did the blood work. Good luck!! I hope you hear back from Cigna soon!!!

I finally got my insurance approval today and surgery is scheduled for Septemer 20th. I have been on my liquid diet for a week already... I miss chewing food like you wouldnt believe but I am so excited for the outcome! Good luck and keep me posted!

GREAT NEWS! I was finally approved about 5 minutes ago. It went to peer-to-peer this morning and my surgeon read them the riot act! I couldnt be more happier and SO excited. 8 days from now I will be in recovery! I CANT WAIT!! Thank you so much for all the prayers and well wishes. See you all on the losers bench soon!!!!!

Oh guys... youll love this one. I heard from Cigna today (9 days before surgery) to let me know that I have been denied once again.... because the letter from my primary care was written by the PHYSICIANS ASSISTANT and not the PHYSICIAN. Can you believe that!?! So I call my primary care doctor to get them to re-write the letter in a hurry and they tell me I have to come BACK in... pay ANOTHER co-pay and be RE-EXAMINED before they will write another letter. So... I called the cardiologist that my Bariatric Surgeon had me see to get a clearance for surgery. Now this was not something Cigna required so we didnt send the letter before... but they faxed me over the letter for "clearance" and I have sent it in to Cigna. They are pushing for an answer today but Im not holding my breath. 9 days from surgery and on a liquid diet... talk about stress... and I cant eat anything!!! HA what I would do for a reeses right about now! Will power, will power, will power.....

I have been in a nightmare with Cigna for weeks now. Since August 23rd to be exact. My surgeon sent over 36 pages of documents to Cigna for approval. Including all clearances from doctors, weight check ins for 6 months, reccomendations for surgery from multiple doctors. I get a letter of denial saying they need more information to prove medical nessescity. We discovered that they didnt recieve the fax with 36 pages... so they re-sent. Then on August 31st I get another denial saying they needed a letter from my dietician, a letter showing proof of a BMI over 40 for 12 months and a letter from a physician approving the need for surgery (which they ALREADY had). My surgeons office RE SENT for the 3rd time marking it URGENT. I called this morning as it had been 48 hours since they recieved the fax marked urgent. They said that it would take 5 business days before they would do a reconsideration plus 48 hours to return an answer. I am 13 days from surgery and still have 2 pre-op appoinments that they wont schedule until I get approved. There just isnt enough time. I cant move my surgery date since my boyfriend can only take off certain days because of they type of job he has. Plus I have a wedding in October to go to... and have to be feeling good enough to go... at this rate they would have to push back my surgery to the end of October which doesnt work for my work schedule. I am disgusted with Cigna. Luckily I work for Human Resources and my boss happens to be the director of benefits. I had my surgeon fax over all 36 pages to me and I have given them to my boss... she is calling our Cigna rep and is going to go above the medical directors head to try and get this approved today. PLEASE pray for me... I cant take another denial. I am running out of steam and I am SO stressed. Good thing all I can eat is Protein shakes... I dont think I could keep anything else down.

I have been in a nightmare with Cigna for weeks now. Since August 23rd to be exact. My surgeon sent over 36 pages of documents to Cigna for approval. Including all clearances from doctors, weight check ins for 6 months, reccomendations for surgery from multiple doctors. I get a letter of denial saying they need more information to prove medical nessescity. We discovered that they didnt recieve the fax with 36 pages... so they re-sent. Then on August 31st I get another denial saying they needed a letter from my dietician, a letter showing proof of a BMI over 40 for 12 months and a letter from a physician approving the need for surgery (which they ALREADY had). My surgeons office RE SENT for the 3rd time marking it URGENT. I called this morning as it had been 48 hours since they recieved the fax marked urgent. They said that it would take 5 business days before they would do a reconsideration plus 48 hours to return an answer. I am 13 days from surgery and still have 2 pre-op appoinments that they wont schedule until I get approved. There just isnt enough time. I cant move my surgery date since my boyfriend can only take off certain days because of they type of job he has. Plus I have a wedding in October to go to... and have to be feeling good enough to go... at this rate they would have to push back my surgery to the end of October which doesnt work for my work schedule. I am disgusted with Cigna. Luckily I work for Human Resources and my boss happens to be the director of benefits. I had my surgeon fax over all 36 pages to me and I have given them to my boss... she is calling our Cigna rep and is going to go above the medical directors head to try and get this approved today. PLEASE pray for me... I cant take another denial. I am running out of steam and I am SO stressed. Good thing all I can eat is Protein shakes... I dont think I could keep anything else down.

They have to have a surgery date on the paperwork when they submit it to insurance. They picked a day 30 days in advance since Cigna is only supposed to take 2 weeks to get back to me. I have to be on the pre-op diet (liquid only) for a whole month prior to surgery so everything fits together. Just from reading everyones topics under the Insurance forum I think its ridiculous that we have to go through these denials and the appeals. We all work SO hard to do EXACTLY what these insurance copanies ask for. I even had my local rep give me the outline for bariatric surgery covered under my policy so I could follow it to a T. Then when I met with my doctor I was given additional requirments for clearance for surgery to complete. As mentioned I spent a good part of this year completing all of the required steps from Cigna and my doctor. To get a denail this close to surgery is just wrong... if they are missing something or need more information... why not tell me on the phone so I can do something about it. Instead they try to make me wait 10 days to get a letter in the mail!? Thats just crazy. I deserve the right to know why I was not approved just as much as my doctor has the right to know. Its almost as if they want me to just give up because they dont want to pay for it. Except my life depends on this surgery and I need it... So... Im not giving up... I will fight until I get what I want.

Thanks everyone... I will hold tight and wait to hear from my doctors office. I was reading through the forum and see I am not the only one going through this. Its hard when I have spent so much time and money getting through the steps Cigna requires only to get hit with a denial. Especially this close to my surgery date and having been on a liquid diet for 2 weeks already I felt like I did everything for nothing. I hope its an easy fix and that my doctors office will be able to appeal this and get it approved in time for my pre-op appointments. I have a feeling at this rate its all going to be VERY rushed. Thanks again everyone!

I talked to the insurance and they told me I need to talk to my doctors office for the reason of denial. I work in HR so I just talked to my boss who is in benefits and they are going to contact our rep to see if we can get more information. Either way I am worried that the appeal isnt going to get done in time for my Sept 20th surgery date. It took them 2 weeks just to review what we sent in. Apparently Cigna sent me a letter explaining why I was denied but I wont get it for 10 days. I guess they dont let the reps tell me over the phone....

I just got off the phone with Cigna. The medical director denied my application for bariatric surgery. They wont tell me why I was denied. I then called my doctors office in tears and the receptionist tells me that they are seeing patients and cant help me until tomorrow. I am 16 days from my surgery and no one at my docotrs office and help me until tomorrow?! On top of that I dont even know why I was denied so I dont know what I need to do to get it approved. I am sitting at my desk in tears. I have gone through 6 months of clearances and spent a small fortune on getting everything done for approval. I have been on a liquid only diet for 2 weeks and now the fate of my surgery is in the air. I dont know what to do... im heart broken. :-(

I just recieved a letter from Cigna stating that they dont find it medically nessesary for me to get the sleeve. Has anyone else had this problem? If so... how did you handle this? I have spent 6 months on a diet program with a dietician, countless tests and letters. I am diabetic on medication and I have PCOS. I have a BMI of 56 and I weigh enough to qualify for surgery. How could they not see the medical nessesity of getting the surgery? Im horribly discouraged and of course I have to wait until tomorrow to call my doctor. Any help or advice you could give me would be great. Thanks!

I just started playing around with different Protein Drinks and I found that Costco's Premier Nutrition chocolate Protein Shake is pretty good. Its 30g Protein and 160 calories. I am the worlds pikiest eater and I think it tastes like chocolate milk.

I got a e mail last night from the insurance coordinator that everything was submitted yesterday for approval to Cigna. Anyone else have Cigna? If so... how long did it take for you to get a response? I am set for surgery on September 20th and dont even have a pre-op appointment scheduled. Feeling the pressure. Oh..and she told me to start my pre-op diet... so goobye food...hello protien shakes!!!!

Its funny you mentioned the Holidays... I just wrote about that today on my blog that I keep during this whole process. Take a look... maybe it will make you feel better....

http://pumpkinmeli29.tumblr.com/

Its a piece of cake. I was SO nervous too but when I woke up I felt nothing... went home and ate some lunch. You might be a little out of it for the rest of the day or just want to sleep but you wont feel any pain. I was glad that I did this pretty soon after I got my "to do" list since they found a small ulcer and that I have reflux. They gave me a perscription and I havnt had reflux problems since. Good luck tomorrow!!