Scylla

How could I have forgotten! My surgeon's office requires that I do a FIVE WEEK liquid diet prior to surgery. It would have been SIX weeks if I hadn't lost the 22 lbs. I have lost during the MSWL! Six weeks is the maximum and is for patients over 350 lbs.

Good luck with your surgery tomorrow! Don't worry about your husband and son--they'll be fine! Your husband will probably surprise you with how capable he is at taking care of your son and your home when you are in the hospital and recuperating after surgery. Tomorrow is all about you--please don't worry about them!

My surgeon's office requires that patients lose 10% of the amount of weight they are overweight. As I was 220 lbs. overweight ( ) I had to lose 22 lbs. prior to surgery, which I have already done by the beginning of month 4 of medically supervised weight loss. My insurance requires 6 months MSWL and my surgeon's office requires 3 (so, even in the case of there not being an insurance requirement, the doctor's office wants to make sure you can follow through on a diet). Surgeon's office also requires a psych evaluation, which I just had last week, meeting with a nutritionist near the surgery date, an endoscopy after insurance approval and attending at least one support group session.

The band is what I was originally planning to get, but after doing research and talking to my surgeon I decided on the sleeve. My surgeon told me that for every band he puts in, he takes 4 out in order to revise to either a sleeve or gastric bypass because the patients did not have much success with the band.

Right there with you! I just had visit 3 of 7 of my MSWL. Also commuted to downtown Chicago for 10+ years dealing with packed CTA trains and buses. Also looking forward to not having to buy elastic waist pants! I don't currently own any non-elastic waist pants.

Oh boy.... my doctor wants me to cut down on caffeine and kick it completely before surgery. I am going to have issues with kicking caffeine competely! I tried giving it up both times when I was pregnant and would get horrible headaches so I would just have a small 8 oz. cup in the morning and that kept the headaches at bay. I'm with Arts137--it's the only drug I have left!

The psych evaluation was...interesting! First I talked with the psychiatrist for about an hour about my history, what I expect from the surgery, etc. and she sort of quizzed me about possible problems with the surgery, what I would eat after the surgery, whether my friends and family are supportive, who I have told about the surgery, etc. Then I had to take five tests. One was a 15 question quiz about anxiety, one was a 15 question quiz about depression, one was a 15 question quiz about compulsive overeating, one was a short quiz on surgical expectations and one was a 344 (!) question psychiatric test where you had to answer questions on a sale of F - False, ST - Sometimes True, MT - Mostly true, AT - Almost Always True with questions like: I feel that everyone is out to get me I hear voices inside my head telling me to do things I often wonder what it would be like to be dead I have thought about how I might commit suicide Things are not going very well in my family I don't have any supportive friends My drug use gets in the way of my daily life I take advantage of people whenever I can to get what I want I answered all of the questions honestly and now I am a little concerned that the psychiatrist is going to make me come visit her to talk about my compulsive overeating / food addiction issues before she will give me the go-ahead for surgery. I'm not averse to dealing with those issues, but I just don't want them to delay my surgery. Anyone else have delays on surgery because of the psych eval?

I'm heading off to my psych evaluation in about an hour! I didn't receive any paperwork beforehand, so I will probably be filling out questionnaires at the doctor's office. WIsh me luck!

My surgeon requires an endoscopy beforehand, too. I have to say I'm jealous that your insurance doesn't require supervised weight loss and that you can have the surgery done so quickly--my surgeon's office requires 3 mos. and my insurance requires 6 mos.!

I currently have H M O Illinois. I have completed 2 out of 7 visits for medicallly supervised weight loss program and have a psych eval scheduled. As it is, the very earliest I would be able to get the surgery would be in late March or early April, and that is assuming the approval comes through quickly and I can get the pre-op testing done right away. It will soon be Open Enrollment at my husband's work and we just found out that my husband's company is "moving away from" the H M O option and we will have to choose a PPO (although we have not received the full details yet so I don't know what the options are). I'm assuming it will be BCBS. I am very concerned that the insurance requirements for surgery might be different from the H M O and that I may have to start from the beginning again. As an aside, I'm also kind of freaking out because I have ALWAYS had H M Os and am not clear at all about how PPOs work. Has this happened to any of you?

Unfortunately there isn't--they aren't budging. Even though I have been 240+ since high school (and 350ish now), both the doctor's office and insurance company absolutely require the MSWL. I tried--I offered to get my medical records dating back pre-high school to show how long I have been very obese and both the *** and the doctor's office said I must do the MSWL. I don't mind doing the MSWL--I have been losing weight and it has been helpful in preparing me for the new VSG way of eating (Protein first and not drinking carbonated beverages, for starters). More than anything I am just impatient to get the surgery and don't want the fact that I will have a new insurance company to delay the process any further.

Welcome! Good luck with your surgery on Monday!

Unfortunately, HMOI requires the 6 months MSWL program so I have no way of getting it done before the end of the year. My surgeon's office only requires 3 months. Wouldn't it be a nice surprise if I learned that the requirement for the new insurance was only 3 months?! (I know...wishful thinking!) HMOI has the same kind of requirement re the status of the hospital (and the medical group/surgeon), but they don't call it the same thing. I believe they call it "Center of Excellence" and my surgeon and hospital are part of it, so I should be good in that regard. I can't imagine the new insurance company giving me a hard time since my BMI was 61 when I started the supervised diet.

Welcome! I'm in the early stages of my journey, too, and was also determined to get the Lap Band--until I read the research and met with my surgeon who said he does more revisions from Lap Band than the band itself these days due to poor results. I have since read several books (including The Big Book of VSG) and now know that VSG is the one for me. So far I have met with the surgeon and am in the 3rd month of a 6 month / 7 visit medically supervised weight loss program. Next up is the psychological evaluation.

Thanks for the video explanation, joatsaint! I am pretty early on in the process and the psych eval is one of the next thing on my list.

I have BCBS H M O IL and had my surgical consult on 8/29. They require 6 months of medically supervised weight loss, and I had my first visit with the bariatric specialist from my surgeon's office. I was initially kinda mad (OK, VERY MAD) about having to do this because, duh, my BMI is 60! However, after my first MSWL visit I think it will be a good thing. She already has me trying to exercise more, tracking my food with the Lose It! app, trying to kick diet soda, and trying to get 80 grams of protein a day and tracking my water intake. This will all be in preparation for the way I will have to eat with the VSG, so its all good.

That is so great! Congratulations!

I apologize if there is already a thread for this, but I didn't see one. I just joined the forum today and went to my first informational session with a surgeon's office last night. I have severe arthritis that requires me to take NSAIDS several times a day, as well as other medications. Because of that, it sounds like VSG would work best for me. So, I'm curious...what made you decide on VSG? Are you happy with your decision?

Bummer...the video has been removed.

Hi everyone. I just went to my first seminar/information session last night and it sounds like VSG is going to be the best surgical option for me. I have a surgical consult o 8/29 with Dr. Woody Denham. I live about an hour northwest of Chicago.

Hi there. I live in the northwest suburbs. I just joined the forum today and went to my first information session yesterday. I have a consultation with Dr. Woody Denham on 8/29. From the information session last night, it sounds like VSG is the best surgery choice for me.