dustout

Hello, I'm 5 days post-op and feeling awesome. Since the day after surgery pain has been extremely low, been feeling energetic, and great. The wounds are healing fine, hardly any soreness, not infected, red, or anything. Everything looks and feels perfect and well better than expected. However today I started flushing a little and feeling chills. According to my thermometer I have a little fever. However, my thermometer has mostly proven to be pretty crappy and unreliable. I'm wondering if anyone else had this problem. I'm wondering if maybe I am just flushing from the lovenox and/or hydrocodone. I also had a little bit of diahrea today but it's (sorry) thickened up since then. Tomorrow I'm going to have my friend pick me up a new thermometer and see if I actually have a fever or if I'm just feeling these weird side effects from the other medicines. I can't imagine much can be wrong with me feeling so great. I also have been able to get liquids down fine ever since surgery which seems to differ from other people. However, I haven't been actually hungry since surgery as I do seem to have some type of restriction. I just wondered if anyone else had these problems before I go further into this. If I do have a fever I guess I will call doctor. I really hope I don't like have an internal infection somehow although I would think I would feel bad or sore or SOMETHING.... Today I worked on getting more fluids and Protein just in case I somehow am lacking since I've been pretty active since surgery. Thanks everyone!! Dustin

Well last night I slept like crap and burned up even with a fan on me.... BUT luckily around 9am this morning I finally started feeling better and stopped having chills so I think my fever went away then. this morning my friend went and bought a new thermometer under the lounge... it's not showing 97.5. The bad thermometer is also a few degrees lower so it looks like I had a couple degree fever. Thanks for the info about it being normal after surgery. I'm feeling a lot better. Hopefully I can get a nap in some time today to make up for sleeping so badly last night.

I feel your pain! Quite literally! Luckily this evening gas has started escaping from various places. I would usually not be happy about this but I'm loving it! It's making me feel a lot better...

Still gassy and sore from gas. I feel like I have the burp from hell that just doesn't burp. I'm taking liquid tylenol during the day now. At night I still use the hydrocodone though since I sleep on my side and that makes me pretty sure. I just flat out can't fall asleep on my back.

My port's steristrips aren't sticking at all on the actual wound. The first time I walked at the hospital this site bled a lot and they covered it with a bigger bandage. Unfortunately it also made the strips not stick to this cut at all. You can see the actual wound under the strips and it looks like the skin is overlapping the skin below it.... like.... instead of the skin of one side of te cut butting up against the other side, it looks to be overlapping.. I'm worried this may cause it to heal really weirdly and if notinh else, make a giant scar... Any thoughts? I hate to go in if this is normal but I don't want it to look like a giant scar of I just need it re-taped. Did anyone else's do this? When I pull the skin tight it seems to even out okay but normally it's not so tight to fix it...

I ended up removing the original steristrips in the shower as they were barely on anyways at this point from lifting up. I replaced them with new steristrips from Walgreens. It looks MUCH better and smoother now. I think it will heal better now too. It pretty much looks like my other incisions now although with cleaner strips.

After reading this I've discovered that I'm super lucky so far in avoiding these problems. I'm not very sore, liquids going down fine, and have enough energy. I'm sooooooooo sorry things aren't going so well for others I did have a hellish day yesterday (surgery day) from gas and nausea but it seems to have passed. Make sure you're all getting in enough Protein and stuff even though that may be hard. You need good nutrition to heal! I hope it all gets better for all of you! We've all worked hard to get to this point. Just keep thinking of after you heal! You will be back on solid foods and happily eating (small portions) yet losing weight! Certainly something to look forward to! Take care of yourselves and get better fast!

It was really weird on the 10 day diet (first 7 days mostly liquid, last 3 days only liquid).... my roommate, who is thin, always ate as much food as I do. Somehow his BMI is NORMAL yet mine is mordibly obese. yet he eats the same amount as me and gets the same amount of activity :angry .... but anyways.... Once on the diet, I found myself thinking how it's crazy how much food he eats. Tons and tons of unhealthy food! I can't believe I ate like that! I'm sipping my little Protein drink or eating my two bites of chicken and he is snarfing down on a huge plate of burritos with cheese and and corndogs and then eats a ton of icecream for desert. I miss being able to eat some of those things some but the cravings are so much less now. Basically I just want some variety now. A small piece of grilled chicken, a low fat spinach enchilada, or some sauteed veggies. yum! I also can't wait to try this recipe I saw on TV using purred brocolli as the batter for chicken. This could be a good way to replace normal batter and frying chicken. I hope it turns out tasty once I can eat solids again.

I was banded yesterday! I had horrible nausea after I woke up from the anesthesia and pretty much all day. It was AWFUL. I wasso miserable from that. They kept giving me stuff to stop the nausea but then I was so drowsy that I felt like crap. HOWEVER, today I feel awesome. 95% nausea free (just a little if I walk right after taking pain meds) and very little pain. Just feels like I got hit in the stomach or ran my stomach into something like the edge of a table. The pain is definitely not a problem. When I'm on the pain med and not moving, I feel zero pain at all. I pretty much feel normal, just a little gassy. Let me know how your surgery goes when it's time! I'm cheering for you! If you get nausea from anesthesia be sure to let them know so you can head that off. We didn't know for me since this was pretty much my first surgery besides tonsels. They figured the tonsels nausea was just from drainage.... it wasn't though...

On checking out they recommended milk of mag to help with constipation. I haven't needed it yet but we'll see. I'm drinking meal replacements with fiber so I'm crossing my fingers. I'm on post-op day 1 (banded the 15th) and doing well. Day of surgery I felt horrible. The worst nasuea of my life. Luckily that's gone now and I just feel like I got hit in the stomach by an angry person. The pain killer is working well though. No port pain (can't even figure out where the port is yet). I'm about to watch the Lovenox video and give myself my injection for that. Good luck guys! Congrats to all the new bandsters and keep positive! I wish everyone a good safe surgery.

Sorry to hear about the pain. I'm still not sure where my port site is... I'm guessing either the middle top incision or the one right below and to my right. It's a big incision although maybe that was where they put the band in... not sure. No one in recovery knew which was the port site sadly. Luckily though none of my incisions hurt much so I can't tell that way

Congratulations! I was banded also n the 15th. That day was bad with tons of nausea from anesthesia and gas but today (16th) I'm feeling like a million bucks! Congrats to everyone else recently banded and good luck!

Well I was banded today. Pain was very low. However, I've been naesous all day. Said anesthetic sometimes does that. The hydrocodone seems to be contributing to that too. When I walk around I've been burping a lot so I hope the gas going away will be helping things. Some people mentioned gas-x. how soon were people taking that? I really had the nasea and general feeling of sickness. Little pain though and they say I'm doing well other than nasuea. I was very unprepared for the nausea. It's making me very unhappy :cry i'm gonna go try and get some sleep I guess... although I've been sleeping a lot today

Thanks for the info! The nausea is 95% gone now! I only get nausea for a little bit after taking the hydrocodone if I walk around a lot.... nothing bad though! I'm so excited about how I feel! Pain is minimal. It just kind of feels like I got hit in the stomach. When I'm not moving I don't have any pain. sleeping was annoying as I normally sleep on my side and stomach. I was still able to sleep half-way on my side using a pillow to help support me sideways and that was fairly comfy. Turning over wasn't so fun though as I had to use my stomach muscles to help me turn. Better than I expected though. In short, I feel great and it doesn't even seem like I had surgery! Just like someone got mad and hit me :Banane35: But the pain killers take care of that well. I'm also not having any trouble getting liquids down at all. Did they forget to put the band in? :Banane10: Man that would be awful haha! But seriously, things are good. I'm sooooooooooooo happy!

I'm so nervous! I have an hour and a half left of being able to eat or drink before surgery. I will probably going to sleep now since I have to get up so early to shower with their special soap and drive to the hospital. I'll try to update here tomorrow once I'm banded! Wish me luck!

Good luck to everyone else who is having surgery today and all the upcoming surgeries! I just finished showering with the Hibiclens antimicrobial stuff and am waiting for my mom to get here to take me to the hospital. I've been re-reading the final instructions for before surgery and right after. Almost a bandster! See you guys in several hours!

How much was your program fee? I've heard of others here having that but I didn't have one. The only things I've had to pay out of pocket were seeing the nutritionist, psych eval (insurance doesnt cover), and for Meal Replacements for the 10 day diet. I'll definitely post updates. I'll try to post once I'm back from surgery if I'm half-way sane after all the drugs.. :Banane30:

Well I finally got my surgery date, October 15, and started my diet.... lots of Protein shakes, supplements, etc. I miss variety on this diet! I can't wait until a couple weeks after surgery when I can add some more things to my diet. Sadly, this is a while away! I know most of you can relate to this! I'm super excited about surgery though! Although kind of scared since this is my first surgery. Also it's around midterms so I need to get back to class as soon as I reasonably can after surgery (Senior in Computer Engineering). Good luck to everyone else's diet!

I'm a web designer, programmer, and own a web hosting company. I'm considering creating a website devoted to gastric banding recipes (possibly sections for other procedures too) where people can submit recipes and share them and it would of course be free. I've been looking for such a place and I think it could be really useful. It could be fully automated, allow submission, searching, Does anyone think this would be useful? Would anyone use it? I think it would be fun to make and could prove really useful if others think so...

Ironically most of my diet related records were lost too... the doctor's office changed filing systems and lost a ton of stuff... my only record of the prescription diet pills is I have my last prescription bottle but they never asked for it. My doctor told me that although Blue Cross Blue Shield usually requires the 6 month diet, ANTHEM Blue Cross Blue Shield doesn't so hopefully that will apply too. It's really confusing about all the insurance stuff. I really hope some day it all changes so it isn't so confusing and such a mess. It's definitely not set up to make it easy for the patients to know what's going on or will be required of them. The term 'medically necessary' gives them loopholes too in my opinion.

I'm in Oklahoma but we always mail payments and stuff to Anthem in Conneticut. I also have PPO. Either way, Anthem itself has a main policy on Lapband which they created early this summer. Here is the link on what is required to be banded under anthem: http://www.anthem.com/medicalpolicies/noapplication/f4/s10/t2/pw_034084.pdf This is NOT state-specific. It's extremely informative. It took me about a month for insurance to reply. However, my surgeon only had expected about a week or two. I called insurance and they told me "We're about a month behind". Anyways, I hope you find out soon and good luck with surgery! I'm excited! Only a few more days to go...

That link is not state specific. It is the general Anthem policy. However, Anthem might provide plans which exclude bariatric surgery or states might override that policy. I don't know. If you call Anthem they will be able to check your plan and tell you if it a covered procedure under your plan if you meet the requirements. They told me very quickly that yes it's covered. You may need to call it the official name on the policy (restrictive gastric banding I think). Although Anthem was kind of slow, they approved me quite easily. I went ahead and went to a PPC (primary care physician aka normal doctor I've been going to) and got them to refer me so it's a tad more official looking to the insurance why you started wanting to do it. Good luck with your insurance! Just meet those goals on the policy and you should be good!

I have anthem. Here is the link to their official policy: http://www.anthem.com/medicalpolicies/noapplication/f4/s10/t2/pw_034084.pdf 35-39 BMI requires 2 comorbidities. 40+ BMI does _NOT_ require any comorbidities. I was approved a month ago one comorbidity (hypertension) although it's being easily treated with dieretic. Good luck and check out that policy!

My surgery date is October 15! Thanks!

I was wondering how long others had to wait recently for Anthem BCBS to authorize for this surgery? I've done everything they said I needed to do and fit the requirements. My PPO referred me and I saw the lapband surgeon, went to the dietician and psych eval, etc. I'm now waiting for authorization before I can proceed to finalize this and set a surgery date. I've been waiting on insurance to authorize this for a month. Is it normal for it to take this long? My Lapband doctor (Dr. Keith of Norman Oklahoma Weight Loss Options) said I should hear back in a week or two but it's been a month now. I tried calling them early last week but the insurance lady wasn't there so I had to leave a message and haven't heard back from them. I was hoping to have already had this done due to college scheduling and such but no luck so far. Insurance is slow it seems... Anyone else having slowness with Anthem BCBS?