ribearty

One of the main purposes of the psych eval is to determine if you understand what is involved in the surgery and have realistic expectations. If your doctor's office arranges your evaluation or suggests a doctor, then you have no worries. They want you to be successful and receive approval. They aren't going to send you to someone who won't approve you. You will find out for yourself once this is over that you worried for nothing. Good luck. I'm sure you will do fine.

I am at 91.8 miles. It is getting ready to rain today. I know I will get my miles in before the end of the month. October will be a challenge for me to complete 100 miles. Between work and this thing called "sleeve surgery", it will be a shortened month for me. My last day to exercise for a lengthy period of time will be 10/23. I am going to see the Eagles in concert on 10/24 and go the hospital at 5 a.m on 10/25 for surgery. I have four evening deployments which will prevent me from exercising on those evenings. I will do my best in October.

10/25 band to sleeve revision.

Jennepen, Most insurance companies go by the weight on your first visit to the doctor. They tend to not penalize you for losing weight on a 6 month diet. To be sure that you won't be excluded if you lose too much during this period, verify it with your insurance company. You might ask them to give you something in writing so you know what criteria you have to meet and don't have surprises down the road. Good luck with your weight loss journey. The six month period will go by quickly.

I have not had my surgery yet, but take trazadone every evening. My doctor told me i should be able to swallow pills the next day after surgery.

Congratulations. My doctor's office receive the written approval letter today. Now I can get my surgery date. I hope I have it tomorrow or Monday. I am hoping to have surgery on Friday, October 25. Good luck with your pre-op diet and weight loss journey after surgery.

Good luck with you band removal surgery. I hope to have mine removed and sleeved four weeks from tomorrow. My doctor's office now has the written approval letter. The next step is a surgery date. I hope I get it tomorrow or Monday. Prayers and positive thoughts being sent your way.

I called my insurance company on Monday, 9/23, to check the status of my claim and received verbal confirmation of my approval. I was told my case was reviewed on 9/18 and approved. The case was submitted by my doctor's office on 9/11. Ins. co. told me they left a voice mail with my doctor's office on 9/18 with the decision and a written confirmation was mailed out the same day. I hope the letter arrive today since my doctor's office does not give you an official date until they have the written letter. They do this to make sure that the surgical code on the letter is correct and the ins. co. approved you for the correct surgery. When I heard I was approved, I felt a flutter in my chest or my heart dropping to my stomach. Hearing the words you are approved made it very real for me and the surgery was no longer a distant unknown date in the future. For me the feeling was very similar to having my first pregnancy confirmed by the doctor. i was pretty sure I was, but until you have it confirmed by a medical professional there is some doubt. I am planning to attend my pre and post-op nutrition class on Monday, September 30, and have my last visit with my surgeon on October 4th. I have two remaining tests left which will be a piece of cake to complete. They are a chest x-ray and lab work. I know surgery is the right choice, but I am also a little nervous. My date could be as soon as 10/8. As of 9/24, it was still open. If my surgery does not happen on 10/8, I will have to wait until 10/25 due to work commitments. I am a revision surgery patient. My lap band will be removed and my sleeve surgery performed in the same surgery. Congratulations to everyone who has received their approval, had their surgery already, or have a surgery date coming up. Good luck with your weight loss journey.

Congratulations. I have verbal approval also but have not received the written approval letter. It should be here any day since it was mailed on September 18th. My doctor's office does not schedule your surgery until they receive the written letter to make sure the surgery codes are correct on the letter providing proof the ins. co. approved you for the correct surgery. I know I will have an October date, but right now do not know the exact date. When I spoke to my doctor's office on 9/24, I was told they are now scheduling surgeries for the second week of October. Hope you get your date soon.

Linda, Thank you very much. This sounds delicious. I will definitely try this recipe. Might even try it prior to surgery. My surgery date will be in October but not sure when. My doctor's office does not schedule surgery without the written letter. It will be either 10/8 or 10/25 due to work schedule.

I agree with Fred1977. Mary, you should ask your doctor's office to submit the claim. You don't know for sure unless you try. My doctor told me that he thought the ins. co. would deny my claim submission the first time. The office sent it in with only two nutritional visits due to lap band complications and i had not completed the six month diet. I received verbal approval on 9/23. it was approved on 9/18, one week after ins. co. received it for review. My doctor's office also received approval notice. They do not schedule surgery until they have the written letter. I hope it arrives on Wednesday, 9/25. I am looking at a 10/8 or 10/25 surgery date.

I have reflux now from my lap band. I am hoping it goes away post-sleeve surgery. I started off on Protonix and then the generic for that. I have been on Dexalant for over a year now. It worked very well for me until April of this year, My doctor had me double the dose for about 2 weeks and now I am back to one tablet a day at the 60 mg dose. They also have a prescription saver's card on their web site which gets me the prescription for $20 a month. I talked to my surgeon and he said if I wanted to stay on it that was fine. He normally starts patients on omeprazole. He said he keeps his patients on a ppi for 6 months post surgery. I have a friend who is almost 2 years post op and had reflux prior to surgery and said he will be on a ppi for the rest of his life. He said about 5% of sleeve patients have permanent heart burn. I asked him also if I had a higher propensity to have it with the sleeve since I already have it, and he told me no. Mine is due to my lapband and the prolapse. I hope you find some relief for your heartburn. It can be very miserable at times. I also have propped up the top portion of my mattress to help with elevation.

If you go by band standards, I was a success. More than 50% EWL and kept it off for more than three years. I was not where I wanted to be. I think you had great results with 85 pounds in 4 months. For the past three years plus I have been on rx meds for heart burn due the band. The med that was the most effective to treat it started to not work in April of this year. Even with no Fluid in my band right now, if I don't take my medicine I get terrible heart burn. My doctor said it is better for the patient to get both surgeries at one time. I have seen both opinions on the forum. Pretty typical. You also see different pre and post-op diets and lengths of time before introducing different foods for patients. My biggest fear is how much scar tissue is there from the band. I don't think there is a way to know until they actually do the surgery. My doctor said that a revision normally takes about 2 hours to perform.

Congratulations. Keep the bench warm for me too please.

Congratulations. I am a band to sleeve revision surgery also. Doing both in same surgery. Date will be 10/8 or 10/25.

I received verbal approval from the ins. co. on Monday, September 23. Written approval was sent on 9/18. My doctor's office will not schedule with a written letter. I am hoping for a 10/8 date. If it does not happen then, I will have to wait until 10/25 due to work constraints. I cannot wait.

My doctor's office and I have received verbal approval from ins. co. for my surgery. In order to get a surgery date, my doctor's office requires the written letter. The letter was mailed on 9/18. Hope it arrives on 9/25. I am a band to sleeve revision patient. Optum waived the six month supervised diet criteria due to band complications. Looking at a 10/8 if available by the time I get written approval. If that date is unavailable I will have to wait until 10/25 due to work obligations. Very excited but still a little nervous even though I know it is the right decision for me.

My doctor's office and I have received verbal approval from ins. co. for my surgery. In order to get a surgery date, my doctor's office requires the written letter. The letter was mailed on 9/18. Hope it arrives on 9/25. I am a band to sleeve revision patient. Optum waived the six month supervised diet criteria due to band complications. Looking at a 10/8 if available by the time I get written approval. If that date is unavailable I will have to wait until 10/25 due to work obligations. Very excited but still a little nervous even though I know it is the right decision for me.

My doctor's office and I have received verbal approval from ins. co. for my surgery. In order to get a surgery date, my doctor's office requires a written letter. The letter was mailed on 9/18. Hope it arrives on 9/25. I started with a BMI of 35. I am a band to sleeve revision patient. My ins. co. waived the six month supervised diet criteria due to band complications. Looking at a 10/8 if available by the time I get written approval. If that date is unavailable I will have to wait until 10/25 due to work obligations.

My doctor's office and I have received verbal approval from ins. co. for my surgery. In order to get a surgery date, my doctor's office requires a written letter. The letter was mailed on 9/18. Hope it arrives on 9/25. I am a band to sleeve revision patient. My ins. co. waived the six month supervised diet criteria due to band complications. Looking at a 10/8 if available by the time I get written approval. If that date is unavailable I will have to wait until 10/25 due to work obligations.

I just received verbal ins. co. approval on 9/23. My doctor's office will not schedule with the written approval even though they also received the verbal approval. I hope the letter arrives on 9/25 since that is one week since it was mailed. When I spoke to the doctor's office today, they told me they are scheduling surgeries for the second week of October. I am hoping for a 10/8 surgery. If that date is not available, then I will have to wait until 10/25 due to work obligations. I am a band to sleeve revision surgery. My ins. co. waived the six month diet criteria due to lap band complications. I am very excited and a little nervous even though I know I am making the right decision for me.

Hi Jashantee, There are a few more St. Louis area folks on the forum. I am having my surgery at Des Peres Hospital by Dr. J. Stephen Scott. I just received verbal approval from the ins. co. today. I think the earliest I can get away from work for surgery is October 25th, which isn't that far away. Only tests I still need are chest x-ray and lab work. My ins. had a six month med sup. diet also, but I got approved early due to lap band complications. I need to attend pre and post-op diet class. As Jessica said use the time to learn about the surgery, food choices. It does go by fast. I already completed 3 of the 6 required classes before receiving ins. co. approval. Welcome to the forum. You can learn a lot and meet some good friends through this site. It won't be long before you are posting your approval and surgery date. Good luck.

I can answer my own question. The answer is yes. I received verbal approval from the coordinator that the insurance company waived the 6 month diet criteria based on device failure and band intolerance.