carol422

Wow, the April Avengers has really grown. Welcome everyone...we will all be on the losers bench together. I think there is at least four of us on the 8th. Keep in touch so we can support one another.

Congratulations and Happy Birthday!

Has anyone recieved info in the mail from BCBS regarding LifeMasters? It is a free service thru BCBS .The program is administered thru LifeMasters, " a condition management program". The program is completely voluntary. Your benefits are will not be affected if you decide not to participate or if you withdraw from the program. You will learn how to monitor your health, including measuring and recording your vital signs and symptoms. Be able to share your info with your doctor to receive improved care. Receive valuable educational materials and videos. Does anyone know if they send this to insurance members for participation when they know that the insured is hoping to have WLS? My concern is that if I do not join this program it may be grounds for denial of surgery. That they may say I didn't want to improve my health with this program, so I may not follow the WLS guidelines. Has anyone else been offered this free service and not joined and still got approval for surgery? Thanks for any info you can tell me.

Hi Dan! BCBS of Il has approved me for surgery. My journey started with going to a seminar and learning the requirements for WLS. I then made an appointment with the surgeon. They sent my info to the insurance company and the ins. co. sent me a letter letting me know what the requirements for surgery were. I had to have 5 years of medical records showing my weight, I needed to do a 6 month supervised diet, could not miss 1 appointment or I would have to start over. BMI of 35 with 2 co-morbitities or BMI over40. I also had to get a phys. evaluation, visit a cardioliogist and a pulmonologist. Every insurance policy is different. You could also call your insurance company and they can tell you if WLS is covered and the requirements. Continue reading these threads and learn as much as possible before you make your decision. Good luck with your journey and keep in touch.

April 1-- April 2-- April 3--GiGiRN April 4-- April 5-- April 6-- April 7-- April 8--Carol422 April 9---Natasha April 10-Turler April 11-Lynne (countingthedays) April 12 April 13 April 14 April 15 April 16 April 17 April 18-JennyLynn April 19 April 20 April 21 April 22 - Pat (Tricia) April 23 April 24 April 25 April 26 April 27 April 28 April 29 April 30

Yes, it would be great to have a complete list of everyone having surgery in April. I think that it would help to make it easy for us to support one another. Thanks for wanting to do that! Does anyone know how to make those sparkly signatures so we can all have an "April Avengers" logo? Of course then you'll need to tell me how to add it since I'm not that computor savy.

Hi carol4784...I'm glad to have someone with the same date as me. Joliet is southwest of Chicago. I actually grew up in Chicago. I will be 52 in April and my BMI is now 45. I started at 49. I have three children and four grandchildren, with another coming around Halloween. My husband and I drive thru Ohio when we go to WV to visit my son's family. I will add you as a friend and then we can PM each other. Have a great day!

I gave up diet pop when I started my 6 month supervised diet. I do not miss it at all!

Hi everyone! April Avengers sounds great! Count me in! :thumbup:Good luck everyone and lets keep in touch! We are in this together!

I haven't posted here for awhile. I've been approved. My surgery date is April 8th.:confused_smile: I can't wait to be on the losers bench! Now I must attend a three hour education meeting. :thumbup::thumbup::tt2::thumbup::eek::thumbup:

I haven't posted here for awhile. I've been approved. My surgery date is April 8th.:biggrin: I can't wait to be on the losers bench! Now I must attend a three hour education meeting. :tt2::thumbup::frown::thumbup::eek::thumbup::mad::thumbup:

I too had to have to do a 6 month supervised diet. March 3rd will be my 6th weigh-in and my paperwork will be sent in for approval. Do not miss any of the 6 appointments or you will have to start over. The bariatric doctor wanted us to lose 20 pounds during this time. I have lost 22 and am happy that I have. They use the BMI from the 1st visit. Good luck with your journey!

I've got two. The first one I got was a gift from my daughter when I turned 45. A butterfly on my left shoulder . The second one I got was last July. I was 51 then. I have a sun, moon and 5 stars on my right ankle. I can't wait for the next one!

I have a Tanita scale and the paperwork that came with it says... Female 45-60%........Male 50-65%.......Hope this helps.

Today was weigh-in #5. Lost another 3 pounds. Much slower weight loss since I'm not walking on a daily basis. I can't wait for the weather to clear up just a bit. The Dr's office will mail my packet after my next weigh-in on March 3rd. I really thought that 6 months would take sooo long, but the time has flown by quickly. Total pre-op loss is now 22 pounds. Yeah!!! Doing the happy dance!!!!!!! :rolleyes2::Dancing_biggrin: These smilies actually look like they are exercising!

Today was weigh-in #5. Lost another 3 pounds. Much slower weight loss since I'm not walking on a daily basis. I can't wait for the weather to clear up just a bit. The Dr's office will mail my packet after my next weigh-in on March 3rd. I really thought that 6 months would take sooo long, but the time has flown by quickly. Total pre-op loss is now 22 pounds. Yeah!!! Doing the happy dance!!!!!!! :biggrin::Dancing_biggrin: These smilies actually look like they are exercising!

Welcome to LBT. Learn all you can and keep us posted!

Welcome to LBT! I'm still pre-op and have learned many things from this site. Tomorrow I have another weigh-in for my 6 month supervised diet requirement. This is weigh-in #5. I can't believe how quickly the time has flown. I thought 6 months would seem like forever. Keep in touch and Good Luck!

On the right hand corner at the top of this page is a box with a green heading that says" Members Area" New posts is the second line. Hope that helps. I too was confused when I came online today.

Welcome Chelle! I'm not yet banded either, but have learned sooo much from coming here. Hopefully when I get insurance approval I will have learned even more to keep me on track. Good luck on your journey and keep us posted.

Thanks for your info....BCBS called me last night to follow up on the paperwork they sent out. I told her I hadn't read it yet, but would be in touch after I read the material. My biggest concern is that if I choose not to work with this nurse and the "lifemasters" program that I would not be approved for surgery. The paperwork came addressed to me and the insurance is actually in my husbands name. Later....

I guess no one else received this info in the mail...

Welcome, I haven't had surgery yet and I'm here to learn all that I can. My advise to you is to go to the seminar the Dr's office offers. Bring your husband with you. My husband went with me and we both learned a lot about the procedure, insurance coverage is also covered, along with questions and answers by the people in attendance. At the seminar they also talked about the different appointments you will need to have (pulmonologist, cardiologist, and phys. consult) before the procedure can be done. We also received a packet that had a ton of information to take home and read. Good luck with your journey. Keep us posted!

Take it one day at a time...Look at all you have accomplished already....by the way, "Congratulations" on your weight loss. When you need some friends, just come visit us..we'll be here for you. Have a great day!

Congratulations to you! Way to go!!!!:whoo::whoo::whoo: