NikkiDoc

I was near tears the afternoon I got my surgery date.

I am scheduled for February 2nd. I start the pre-op diet tomorrow. 3-4 shakes plus broth, SF Jello, SF popsicles. I sorta started a little early. I weaned off of caffeine and carbonated beverages 4 weeks ago. Tues and Weds I had Protein shakes for lunch. Today protein shakes for breakfast and lunch. I did have 1 bite of hubby's mac & cheese and 3 bites of BBQ pork. I plan on having a real meal for dinner and probably one last beer. I am having surgery at Barix Clinic in Langhorne,PA

You need to check with your individual plan. My insurance is through Horizon BC/BS but the Bariatric case management is through Optum which is UnitedHealthCare. Your individual employer may choose more or less strict pre-approval requirements. So Emblem may have different requirements for different plans. Each doctor will also have different pre-surgery requirements.

I have a $250 copay for the hospital stay and a $20 copay for the NUT visit during my pre-admission testing.

I have a co-worker who had the band almost 6 years ago. She lost 80 pounds and has kept it off. She would not recommend the band. She still has issues with stuff getting stuck. She also said that her surgeon is doing a lot of band to sleeve revisions and he may not do the band anymore. When I went in to talk to my surgeon the woman taking my history asked me which surgery I was interested in. I said either band or sleeve. Her immediate reply is you don't want the band. Both of these contributed to why I did not go with the band. I personally did not want the by-pass. The malabsorption issues and dumping syndrome just scared me. Talk to your surgeon and their staff. Each surgery has its place and what is right for me may not be right for you. I am scheduled for the sleeve on February 2nd.

I am February 2nd also. I don't start my pre-op diet until Jan 23rd. I have my pre-admission visit/final labs on January 28th. Scheduling told me that the NUT will call me before then to go over things. I picked up some Protein shakes. Got some Protein shake samples in the mail and some protein shots. I have been throwing away foods that are high carb that my DH doesn't like. I have a few more things to get to make sure I am ready. broth, SF Jello. I am traveling part of next week for work. I am thinking that I may try to do liquid for some of my meals each day and then one meal of meat and vegetables. Kinda ease into things. I weaned off of carbonated beverages and caffeine already. I am actually staying at a cool new hotel. They have work-out equipment in the rooms, work-out videos on the TV and a healthy cafe on-site. No bacon or sausage. Egg white omelets. Good luck to you LisaLou

A friend had lap band and lost 80 pounds. Her husband was a jerk. He had been cheating on her for years with various women. The weight loss gave her the self confidence to finally kick is ass to the curb.

I am pre-op. I have PCOS and about 6 years ago did some laser treatment on my chin, lip and sideburns. I was shaving my chin twice a day prior to that. I only had 3 treatments. It got rid of all of the lip hair, really reduced the sideburn hair and now they are much softer and finer and reduced the chin hair so I was down to shaving once a day. I just restarted the laser treatment. I had my 3rd session last night. It is a different type of laser. After the first treatment there was a huge difference. No more permanent 5'O clock shadow. I have a few stray hairs. Still will need a total of 6 sessions. Last night's treatment hurt and I have some red today. But it will be worth it. I got the 6 treatment package through Groupon for less than $200.

I had mine early morning with Propofol. Took a nap when I got home. Had lunch around 2:30pm. Signed on the computer and worked from home for a few hours. I was not supposed to drive for 12 hours. I would have been fine with the nap, dinner and movie.

Can you take something like Arnica? It comes as a liquid but I prefer the sublingual pellets. I have used that for back pain. I used it for general bruising/pain once when I fell off my horse. It is certainly not in the category of a narcotic but it is fine for low level aches and pains.

I have Horizon BCBS (NJ). Submitted on a Tues approval received on a Friday right before Christmas. Just waiting for the surgeon to review all my tests for final medical clearance. I hope to get that and a date tomorrow.

I only had the supervised diet and psych visit for the insurance approval. I got all my other testing done after the approval. Why have all the copays, coinsurance, endoscopy, etc... if the insurance isn't going to approve the surgery. My labs and EKG were done 12/26, endo on 12/30, upper GI/barium swallow on 12/31. I am still waiting on my medical clearance. I am beginner to think the staff at the doctors are incompetent. They kept claiming they had only received the lab results. I kept explaining to them I know you have the psych eval since you submitted it to my insurance and that is how I got the approval. They finally got it from their corporate office. You can get all of the pre-op tests quickly. I used an independent NUT but she was useless. A friend had the band surgery 5 years ago and the NUT her office recommended that is covered by her insurance was awful. So I am not sure that going to a NUT is the end all/be all.

I had one 5 years ago and was diagnosed with GERD- Gastroesophaegal Reflux Disease. I just had another done on 12/30/2014. This time had a biopsy and the H Pylori test. The H Pylori was negative. That is the bacteria that can cause stomach ulcers. I had some abnormal cells on the biopsy showing some reflux. When I had the first one done I was starting to get a stricture from the acid. So things have improved but I have been on Prilosec for almost a year. The second endoscopy and the upper GI both showed a hiatal hernia which was a surprise. I am assuming that will get fixed when I sleeve.