Bunnyrae

I posted a question a few weeks backs about "fluctuating weight during the 6month pre op diet" and if that was ok? So I have the final correct answer in regards to my insurance requirements. They say that weight can fluctuate over the 6 month diet as long as the final appt weight is less than the initial appt weight while maintaining a BMI of at least 40. So for me I'm 5'8" my first appt I weighed 272 so my weight can go up and down in the next 6 months as long as my last visit I weigh 271 or less and my BMI is still 40 so that means I can go as low as 265 and still have a BMI of 40. Just another FYI on Kentucky Passport Insurance.

This may or may not be a stupid question but during my 6mth pre op diet can my weight fluctuate? I weighed 272 at my initial visit I'm 5'8" that puts my BMI at 41.3 today was my 2nd mth visit I've gained 11lbs! They have me so stressed about not going under a 40 BMI that I'm gaining weight like crazy. So Dr is saying just don't go under the 40 BMI which will put my weight right at 263, so it's ok to go up and down right? But I should weigh less than my initial visit?

@@rnsamantha hell yea you are done with the 6mth diet! almost at the, I don't want to say finish line just yet but more like the starting line in regards to having surgery lol. Congrats. Good luck with your insurance co. I'll keep an eye out for your success story since we are about the same ht and wgt.

This may or may not be a stupid question but during my 6mth pre op diet can my weight fluctuate? I weighed 272 at my initial visit I'm 5'8" that puts my BMI at 41.3 today was my 2nd mth visit I've gained 11lbs! They have me so stressed about not going under a 40 BMI that I'm gaining weight like crazy. So Dr is saying just don't go under the 40 BMI which will put my weight right at 263, so it's ok to go up and down right? But I should weigh less than my initial visit?

@@pops24 Congrats on quitting smoking! And good luck on the surgery. Yea it's stressful when for the first time in my life I'm kind of being discouraged from weight loss, messes with my head a bit.

Thank you ???? yea I'm going to do that. That makes sense. Develop a weigh in routine.

I'm just following up with my experiences so far with Georgetown Bariatrics Dr. Weiss, VSG and Kentucky Passport for anyone interested. I went for the all day appointments 8am-4pm with the psych evaluation, dietician, general physical exam and insurance coordinator. It was a long day but I still prefer this to making several trips and several different appointments, it was a pretty well oiled machine, it was a group visit of myself and about 5 other women, lunch was ordered for us if we wanted $6 and I thought it was very tasty. Paperwork paperwork paperwork, psych eval was pretty straight forward I wasn't sure what to expect but it was basically to make sure you don't have any behaviors or life stressors or addictions that will replace your food addiction or damage yourself or your sleeve after surgery, and that you are in a good place to help you achieve the best results post op. The worse case scenario is if the psych eval reveals that you aren't in the best place mentally for surgery then you aren't denied they will just work with you to find out your possible stressors and or addictions and post pone surgery until they are squared away. So that was a relief that they aren't trying to weed out people from this procedure. Then on to the dietician who was a hoot lol very personable and very down to earth she talked to us as humans who live in today's world of fast food and sweets and never once said that we should avoid anything at all cost she didn't belittle us and said she herself loves cakes and cookies and reminded us to make conscious decisions about what we choose to eat and when. I appreciated that very much. Some of the tips I found most helpful were: if you live with others; children, family, that you don't want to eliminate all their sweets but instead keep the kind of sweets in the house that you don't like personally, mine would be like sour candies or malted milk balls or plain ice cream or soda I can totally resist those items. She also taught us to think of our "new" stomach as a blender so if you put potato chips in a blender and turn it on you can really fit a lot of chips in there without it taking up much space but if you put a piece of chicken and some veggies then that takes up a lot more space. It makes sense. Also that the sleeve won't stretch the surgeon takes out the "stretchy" part which I was surprised to learn because I thought it would stretch so when you hear of people gaining weight back after VSG it's not because their stomach can hold more it's strictly because they are putting the wrong things into it, think of the blender lol. Protein is key! Eat by the clock and never go 4 hours without eating something. That's what I learned ???? ok so onto the other requirements they give us an insurance check list and on it says I need to have an endoscopy done, I have to be seen and cleared by a cardiologist, and I have to have blood work drawn, and that's it aside from finishing my 6 month diet check ins. My endoscopy is scheduled for the end of April and blood work that week also, sometime after that I will schedule with a cardiologist and bada boom bada bing I will finish the last few diet appointment and I will be scheduling surgery sometime in Sept. ???? *I did learn that with this "diet" (per my insurance) your weight IS allowed to fluctuate, so the beginning # and the end # are what matter* ok well again thanks for reading hope this helps someone and I will keep posting as I progress through the process ????

For anyone interested I'm posting my experiences with Ky Passport Insurance requirements and Georgetown Bariatrics: I have posted other info up to this point which can be read from my profile.....ok so I received a call from the insurance coordinator who is extremely nice and knowledgeable she scheduled me for an appointment on March 31st, this is an all day see everyone appointment from 8am- 4pm which I think is a brilliant idea dietician, surgeon, psych all done in one day psych evaluation is not covered by my insurance and is the only out of pocket cost at $250 that is due the day of this appointment they call you the day before to collect this fee. She says a packet of info will be sent out explaining the details of the day. She went over again my supervised "diet" requirements which for me personally is that I'm 5'8" 272lbs and a BMI of 41.3 so she stressed that I cannot gain any weight or lose any weight that will take me under a 40 BMI or I will be denied straight away ???? so that's going to be a balancing act. She said maintaining weight is still considered success. Ok that's all I have for now. It really seems to be going fairly quickly, I have my 2nd "diet" check in with my PCP on April 10th to make sure I haven't lost any weight I guess lol. I will follow up whenever I have anymore info. Thanks for reading.

Thanks ???? yea I hope it does fly by I just keep thinking next summer is MY summer

For anyone who has Passport Ins. in Kentucky I want to tell you what all I have learned... I went to the required seminar at Georgetown Community Hosp. on Monday 3-9-15 the surgeon Dr Derek Weiss was very informative and answered many of our questions, you can tell he not only enjoys his specialty but he's damn good at it and as a prospective patient that's a relief The insurance coordinator is extremely knowledgeable, she knew most of our insurance requirements right off the top of her head. Soooo for those who need to know: Kentucky Passport Insurance requirements are as follows: **I'm not an expert this is just my info received and my understanding of it all so far** -have a BMI of 40 -psych evaluation (which is not covered by passport insurance the cost of that is $250 through Georgetown) -6 month supervised diet and during that diet your BMI cannot go below 40 or insurance will deny you this is what the guy said at Passport when I called to get details (so my current BMI is 41.3 I weigh 272 I'm 5'8 which means in 6 months I can only lose 7lbs to bring my weight to 265 and my BMI right at 40 (doesn't make a damn bit of sense to me why I can't try hard to loose as much weight as I can in 6 months and still qualify but whatever who am I to question the all mighty and powerful insurance company) ok... -Attend info seminar -fill out packet completely and mail it in with copy of insurance card -schedule appointment with PCP to start supervised diet -Referral from PCP to see bariatric surgeon -6 month supervised diet which is technically 7 months because you have to do an initial visit then 6 months of check ins after that That's where I am so far people, I did my initial appointment with my PCP and she is so on board with me having this surgery it almost made me cry, I'm getting tons of support from my wife which I'm so grateful and hearing my Dr backing me on such an important decision really sealed the deal for me, I've read some stories from people who don't have that support from their PCP and it makes me furious because the process is hard enough as it is without having to fight with your Dr and prove that u need their help with something. So my Dr is helping me to a smooth process and that's wonderful she sent the referral over already and I have to now schedule my appointment with Georgetown on Monday for my initial visit with them. I will keep you posted to that visit and what all I learn.

I appologize in advance if this question has been asked before (or several times) but my WLS seminar is scheduled in Georgetown Ky and the only info they were able to tell me in advance is that they DO accept my passport medicaid insurance but she wasn't sure what they require as far as a supervised diet or any other requirements. Does anyone have any info on this? Thanks in advance.