adryan

So i thought i'd do a mini roll call. So how many people here are from the Huntsville Area?

When I worked at a retirement community, I was filling in for the activities director. So for some of the residents who couldn't get out of bed in the nursing center, I would go and sit in there with them and talk. I had one lady, ask me where I got my large size from. She didn't know what she said was offensive, so of course I couldn't get mad or anything. But yea it just kinda shook me I guess. Also, I am pretty sure my husband's family talks about my weight. Or they "worry". They love me, and would never ever say anything to hurt my feelings. But I have a feeling just from things my husband has let slip, that they do talk to HIM about it. So that makes me feel bad that he has to hear it.

I am becoming obsessive about getting this surgery. I feel like I have spent enough of my time being overweight and I am ready to not be obese anymore. I know I shouldn't rush it. But I can't help it. So far: I picked a doctor, then unpicked him after hearing how terrible he is in surgery (having to convert several laps into opens due to his errors). my husband's insurance does not cover any wls found a great job w/benefits didn't get it NOW i have an interview for another job, which has great benefits. However, in 2008 they will no longer be paying for wls. So now i am wondering what my chances are on buying some insurance that might cover it. B/c if i get the job i interview for, they will reimburse me for my tuition, and save me some money instead of paying for my husband to carry me on his insurance, and they actually pay halfway decent. So I am thinking I can take the money we don't spend on his insurance and buy a policy that might cover me. ugh, i just wish I would get some awesome news, like my husband's employer deciding not to exclude wls, or the new job to not exclude it. JUST SOMETHING GOOD! I am determined to have this surgery by next summer.

I am becoming obsessive about getting this surgery. I feel like I have spent enough of my time being overweight and I am ready to not be obese anymore. I know I shouldn't rush it. But I can't help it. So far: I picked a doctor, then unpicked him after hearing how terrible he is in surgery (having to convert several laps into opens due to his errors). my husband's insurance does not cover any wls found a great job w/benefits didn't get it NOW i have an interview for another job, which has great benefits. However, in 2008 they will no longer be paying for wls. So now i am wondering what my chances are on buying some insurance that might cover it. B/c if i get the job i interview for, they will reimburse me for my tuition, and save me some money instead of paying for my husband to carry me on his insurance, and they actually pay halfway decent. So I am thinking I can take the money we don't spend on his insurance and buy a policy that might cover me. ugh, i just wish I would get some awesome news, like my husband's employer deciding not to exclude wls, or the new job to not exclude it. JUST SOMETHING GOOD! I am determined to have this surgery by next summer.

Does anyone have them? and. Has anyone here had any luck with getting them to approve the Lap-Band. :faint:

First of all, i have been very sick the past few days. This has been no fun. So I did a bit of research about the next doctor on my list and she really doesn't have much experience with lap-band. So that knocks her off my list. So I am on a mass search for a doc. I believe i have found one. I love his credentials so far. Now its just calling to set up the consult. I am just disheartened. I need to get a job that will cover this. I HATE HATE that my husband's policy excludes wls. I know i'm sick and everything is weighing on my nerves right now. But it is just making me upset. I have finally come to this point in my life where I am emotionally and mentally ready for this commitment. I have a wonderful husband who is going to supprt whatever decision i will make. But i keep hitting walls. :help:

First of all, i have been very sick the past few days. This has been no fun. So I did a bit of research about the next doctor on my list and she really doesn't have much experience with lap-band. So that knocks her off my list. So I am on a mass search for a doc. I believe i have found one. I love his credentials so far. Now its just calling to set up the consult. I am just disheartened. I need to get a job that will cover this. I HATE HATE that my husband's policy excludes wls. I know i'm sick and everything is weighing on my nerves right now. But it is just making me upset. I have finally come to this point in my life where I am emotionally and mentally ready for this commitment. I have a wonderful husband who is going to supprt whatever decision i will make. But i keep hitting walls. :help:

So, I have some bad news. First I did not get the job. So none of all the perks i previously mentioned. Second, I am swapping dr.'s. My cousin is a surgical nurse and has worked several times with the doc i was going to use. UGH! He apparently is a horrible surgeon. She said she wouldn't use him if he were free. I liked him so much. So now i'm going to the next doc on my list. Which she has also worked with and said was a very good doctor and a woman so that's two good things in her favor. I've always felt more comfortable with female doctors. Also, my brother has offered my old job back, which won't be open for a month, and I just got another job offer for another company. I don't know any of the details though. But the money would be nice.

So, I have some bad news. First I did not get the job. So none of all the perks i previously mentioned. Second, I am swapping dr.'s. My cousin is a surgical nurse and has worked several times with the doc i was going to use. UGH! He apparently is a horrible surgeon. She said she wouldn't use him if he were free. I liked him so much. So now i'm going to the next doc on my list. Which she has also worked with and said was a very good doctor and a woman so that's two good things in her favor. I've always felt more comfortable with female doctors. Also, my brother has offered my old job back, which won't be open for a month, and I just got another job offer for another company. I don't know any of the details though. But the money would be nice.

I have not had my consultation yet. I am waiting to see if I get this new job. If i get this new job most of the red tape you have to go to prior to surgery come down. The insurance won't require me to do the 6 month diet, and the doc's office will put me up on his surgery calendar b/c of working for the hospital. That, there's nothing wrong with me mentality. I am so there with you on that. I never really looked down on myself for being fat. I guess part of that was due to the fact that my parents also overweight so they never really told me it was bad. well not often anyway. According to the grief counselor i've been seeing this year, i have super high self esteem. I actually told him at one point, that just b/c i am fat doesn't mean i'm ugly, stupid, and unloved. I was like i am a pretty girl, i'm super smart, and i have tons of friends and family and most importantly a husband who loves me to pieces. They are part of the reason I am doing this. I want to stick around for as long as possible. My mom passed away when I was 17 after a very ugly battle with cancer i can't do that to my husband or my future children. sorry that was long.

So In my last entry i talked about how my insurance excludes wls, and how i was trying to get other insurance or a job at the hospital b/c i can skip the 6 mo diet with their benefits b/c my surgeon is affiliated with the hospital. Well one of the jobs i applied for at the hospital got forwarded to the hiring manager so hopefully i will be getting a call soon for an interview. It is actually a part time job WITH the benefits i need. This would work out perfectly. I can work this job earn a little side money for the holidays, still have my school schedule how i want, work my other side job, and most importantly get my lap-band. I just pray that this will work out. In fact i believe i'll ask everyone else to pray it works out as well. :girl_hug:

So In my last entry i talked about how my insurance excludes wls, and how i was trying to get other insurance or a job at the hospital b/c i can skip the 6 mo diet with their benefits b/c my surgeon is affiliated with the hospital. Well one of the jobs i applied for at the hospital got forwarded to the hiring manager so hopefully i will be getting a call soon for an interview. It is actually a part time job WITH the benefits i need. This would work out perfectly. I can work this job earn a little side money for the holidays, still have my school schedule how i want, work my other side job, and most importantly get my lap-band. I just pray that this will work out. In fact i believe i'll ask everyone else to pray it works out as well. :confused:

Hey! I am 22 years old and I am trying to jumpstart my lap-band journey. Right now, i don't have any serious co-morbidities. But I don't want to get them. I hate being 22 and not feeling my age. Feeling dragged down by my weight. Ugh. I just want to feel better and be more active. Not just more active i want to be super active. Like i was when I was in h.s. I would love to be able to run a marathon, play intramural sports, etc. I am also, graduating college soon and will start my masters program. I am not dumb, I know I will be much more marketable when I am not fat.

okay, so here's my issue. I have bcbs of al. Most of their policies will cover the lap-band. However, b/c my husband's company is so small they have an exclusion for all weight loss associated surgeries, treatment et. al. We are not really in a place to finance the surgery ourselves. i mean if it comes down to it, we can. But we'd rather not. So I have started looking for a new job that has insurance (my current does not) that i can take out on myself that will cover the lap-band. But in case that doesn't work... I was thinking of just buying my own policy privately. Has anyone took out their own insurance policy and done it that way. I started thinking about this and wanted to know if this has worked out for anyone.

Thank you for your reply! I have contacted a few insurance companies and i am now waiting to hear back. From what i've seen online UHC looks like it might be my best bet. The deductible will be a few thousand. But that's much easier to come by than doing the whole thing self pay.

haha! Well we are a lonely group. How about North Alabama in general? Morgan,Madison,Limestone,Marshall Counties?

Oh my! Why am I fat? Lots of reasons it seems. Most people in my family were/are "fat". My parents never encouraged good eating habits in me. I'm from the south so fried foods is actually a food group in itself, and every event no matter how big or small was celebrated/mourned with a huge feast. Those things just made me predisposed to gaining weight. I am an emotional eater. I was a super active kid. I was on every sports teams and on top of that I was on all the all-star teams and summer camps. I was constantly on the go. Well in the middle of my freshman year of high school my mom almost died. She was extremely ill, and was diagnosed with cancer. So I turned to my pal. Food. Well as luck (bad) would have it, I got hurt several times over the next two years. I would go to physical therapy, come back to sports. But i finally injured myself one time to many and all my doctors decided that I wasn't going to ever be able to play again. Well atleast not competively. So I had to mourn the loss of everything I loved to do. I had been involved in sports for so long, and as a young kid, i felt it sort of defined me. So having to deal with a sick parent, the loss of myself, and puberty oh man I packed on the pounds. Well my mom passed away right at the end of my junior year and then the pounds really really really started coming. There wasn't anyone who was going to tell me not to eat that chip/candy bar/ nachos/ chicken fingers. Next, I decided I was going to go off to college. So being alone away from home, still not dealing with my mom passing away, I gained the freshman 15 (50). Then over christmas break of my sophmore year in college, my dad had 2 heart attacks. So i had to move back home to help take care of my dad. Well I gained even more weight. Then my job was beyond stressful, so I gained some more weight. Verbally/Mentally/Emotionally abusive boyfriend, I gained even more weight. Well I am glad to say that now, my dad is going pretty good. I left that job, and that boyfriend. I found a great boyfriend, then i married him. I am now a senior in college, but after all the school swapping i'm not really that close to graduating but it's on the horizon. I am currently working on all my baggage from losing my mom at 17. I am a work in progress and now that I KNOW why i'm fat. I feel that this decision to have the lap-band is the right one. So hopefully when all this insurance mess is taken care of, I can have the surgery, and won't be feeling FAT to terribly long. Sorry that was so long.

Huntsville, Alabama

So I am sort of disheartened. I went and got a copy of my plan and yea my insurance plan through bcbs does in fact exclude bariatric surgery. So now i'm trying to figure out all the options. Right now, i'm trying to either a. get a job at the hospital b/c the hospital does have insurance to cover and if i get on at that particular hospital i don't have to do the pre-op diet for Dr. Mailapur. the other option is getting a part time job with insurance that will cover it. I sent out mass resumes last night. I am not thrilled about working at the hospital. I worked in the healthcare industry for a few years and i pretty much decided against it. However having this surgery is more important so I would much rather bite that bullet and get the surgery. oh and also, my husband and i have to drive 5 hours tomorrow for a family thing that we got coralled(sp?) into going. I really really really do not want to sit in the dadgum car for that long. And on top of that when we get there, there is all this WALKING we'll have to do. Well umm I still have a huge hole in my leg and I'm supposed to stay off of it as much as possible. So i'll be hauled up in the cabin for a couple days probably. So i'm just really not happy about all of this. I am also missing my best friend's birthday for this family thing. So she is mad at me. She won't say she is. But i know it hurts her feelings. Maybe when i come back monday someone will have called back for a job. OR maybe i'll buy a lotto ticket and hit the jack pot and can pay for the procedure out of pocket. Sorry for the rant :faint:

So I am sort of disheartened. I went and got a copy of my plan and yea my insurance plan through bcbs does in fact exclude bariatric surgery. So now i'm trying to figure out all the options. Right now, i'm trying to either a. get a job at the hospital b/c the hospital does have insurance to cover and if i get on at that particular hospital i don't have to do the pre-op diet for Dr. Mailapur. the other option is getting a part time job with insurance that will cover it. I sent out mass resumes last night. I am not thrilled about working at the hospital. I worked in the healthcare industry for a few years and i pretty much decided against it. However having this surgery is more important so I would much rather bite that bullet and get the surgery. oh and also, my husband and i have to drive 5 hours tomorrow for a family thing that we got coralled(sp?) into going. I really really really do not want to sit in the dadgum car for that long. And on top of that when we get there, there is all this WALKING we'll have to do. Well umm I still have a huge hole in my leg and I'm supposed to stay off of it as much as possible. So i'll be hauled up in the cabin for a couple days probably. So i'm just really not happy about all of this. I am also missing my best friend's birthday for this family thing. So she is mad at me. She won't say she is. But i know it hurts her feelings. Maybe when i come back monday someone will have called back for a job. OR maybe i'll buy a lotto ticket and hit the jack pot and can pay for the procedure out of pocket. Sorry for the rant :faint:

oh wow, we'll have a lapband support group before long. lol

Dr. Mailapur. Who do you use wendy?

oh i miss auburn. i'll go back for my masters. but it was so much fun when i was there. war eagle!

I checked out that link and got really excited. So i called my provider. BUT i was tired of being on hold for long so i shot them an email. This is what it said. "Thank you for contacting us. Benefits are not provided for services related to the treatment of obesity, including services such as gastric bypass and related complications. I hope this information is helpful. Sincerely, Kathy Customer Service --Original Message-- From: adryan@knology.net Date: 10/10/2007 2:11:41 PM To: BCBSALCustomerService@bcbsal.org Subject: Customer Services Comments and Questions " SOOOOOOO yea i'm kinda disheartened right now.

Hello! I am from huntsville. I am pre-op. I am trying to jump start my 6 mo diet. Hopefully that will fly by. I going to use Dr. Mailapur. Does anyone here have bcbs and did they cover the lapband?