Arnie1269

Last night after all your talk of potatoes I had to try some. Bought ready made heat and eat country crock garlic mashed. Mixed 1/2 cup, with 1/4 cup of cottage cheese, and 1 tbs of parmesean, and a little chicken broth (I am still on purreed food) It was the best thing I have eaten since before the surgery ! YUM.

I think mashed potatoes or anything else is supposed to be ok in moderation with the band. The point is not something so runny it just goes through, and to eat Protein first. But when you are on purreed foods or mushies its hard to think of a lot of protein only things you can purree. I have had a half cup of mashed sweet potatoe now that I am on purreed food and added some unflavored Protein Powder in it and it was nutritious and filling. Not all bandsters are aiming for super low carb eating as their goals. You can loose weight without going super low carb as long as you are watching your portions.

Is it possible that there was something going on in your body that day that made you seem more restricted than you actually are ? IE, Water retention, constipation, gas, or menstruation??? I am just thinking maybe if he really is taking the position that you're full.. you should ask if he can check again under floro at a different time of the month to make sure he's really getting an accurate read of what's going on... Also - did he unfil and refil. Maybe there's even less in there than he thinks and that's why you feel like you're not restricted enough...???

Anyone here banded at Hopkins Bayview? I am hoping to be banded by Schweitzer in March or April. I just switched insurance and am trying to get everything together to seek approval. Were you happy with the drs? What were you required to do in terms of a preop diet ??

Great thanks ! I wonder what the xray is for ?

Stocky md - yes I have met dr S - I thought he was great - very straight forward. The only thing was the prescreening his nurse practitioner meets with you first to try to answer as many questions as possible. So my meeting with him was rather short because I had already done a lot of research and his nurse answered a lot of the questions. I then went to the nutritionist and got the psych consult and all that and submitted once already in July but my last insurance wouldn't cover the band. So dr S said now I can just submit and don't need to do another consult.

Do you have the email they sent you ?? What exactly do they expect from the 6 months ? I lost a few lbs and then gained them back I think over the holidays... I am worried that I should have lost more and/or that I should have more than my drs notes... like a personal trainer or curves records for the exercise. I hope I wasn't really supposed to loose a lot during the 6 mos... I thought it was so that you could show that you couldn't loose with traditional weight loss methods... But what if it was so they can see you can committ to something... I don't know.....

Barbara C - Yes I am. I tried to get approval from BCBS in june and was denied. Then I immediately started the 6 mos supervised weight loss with my doc. Tomarrow is my last appointment (for the 6 mos). I hope what we've done is sufficient. Did they (GEHA) tell you exactly what should be happening during that six months ? I hope the drs notes in my chart are sufficient. I should have all the paperwork together next week...

Looks like you guys just met last weekend ? Guess I missed it - hope to join you next time. I am preop, had to change insurance on Jan 1 but hoping for easy approval now.... I will be getting it at JHBayview w/Schweitzer

I finally got on a plan this year that's supposed to cover the band... I hope to have everything together to submit soon.... Anyone have any good or bad stories of getting approved by GEHA PPO ?? (also known as Alliance PPO, MAPSI PPO, MAMSI PPO, or United Healthcare PPO) ????

I finally got on a plan this year that's supposed to cover the band... I hope to have everything together to submit soon.... Anyone have any good or bad stories of getting approved by GEHA PPO ?? (also known as Alliance PPO, MAPSI PPO, MAMSI PPO, or United Healthcare PPO) ????

Ok - after Federal BCBS PPO swore up and down that the lap band absolutely was not covered and they would only pay for Gastric Bypass I have now found FOUR people that did get Federal BCBS to pay, despite their clear exclusion (The following are excluded from this plan: Services, drugs, or supplies for the treatment of obesity, weight reduction, or dietary control, except gastric bypass surgery or gastric stapling procedures) I may use these four cases of people to appeal - I am looking for more also --- PLEASE HELP - Please email me if you have had federal BCBS PPO approve or pay for your lap band procedure. Please provide your name, your doctors name, the state you live in, your surgery date, and the hospital where you had surgery. If they are approving some people and not others and its a national plan I think I may have grounds for appeal !! PLEASE PLEASE HELP !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!