ShellShock

Last Thursday I saw Dr. Srikanth for my pre-surgery consultation. I went ahead and started my liquid diet on that day which made it a 12 day pre-op diet instead of 10. I haven't cheated except for having some caffeine which I am not supposed to have and yesterday and the day before I had a piece of fish. I wasn't feeling good and really wanted something. Unless I am desperate I hope not to actually eat anything else. But the caffeine has been warding off my headaches. I have been having protein shakes and clear chicken or beef broth. I haven't been getting all the water in though because I am trying to not drink 30 minutes before anything and 30 minutes after and have been forgetting to drink it. I can also have sugar free Jello and sugar free juice popsicles. I am really amazed that my date is getting so close. It is now 9 days away. I just cannot believe it is going to happen. Everyone is asking if I am anxious or nervous. I don't know how to answer that. I am kind of worried about the pain because I have never had any surgeries before. I pretty confident that it will all be okay though.

Last Thursday I saw Dr. Srikanth for my pre-surgery consultation. I went ahead and started my liquid diet on that day which made it a 12 day pre-op diet instead of 10. I haven't cheated except for having some caffeine which I am not supposed to have and yesterday and the day before I had a piece of fish. I wasn't feeling good and really wanted something. Unless I am desperate I hope not to actually eat anything else. But the caffeine has been warding off my headaches. I have been having protein shakes and clear chicken or beef broth. I haven't been getting all the water in though because I am trying to not drink 30 minutes before anything and 30 minutes after and have been forgetting to drink it. I can also have sugar free Jello and sugar free juice popsicles. I am really amazed that my date is getting so close. It is now 9 days away. I just cannot believe it is going to happen. Everyone is asking if I am anxious or nervous. I don't know how to answer that. I am kind of worried about the pain because I have never had any surgeries before. I pretty confident that it will all be okay though.

I tried it at a friends house. I would agree that you would need a regular workout at a gym but it was fun and a great way to get your butt off the couch. I really want to get one of my own. Maybe if I am good I will get one for Christmas...

I love hummus too. I am still pre-op though... Any problems with pitas after being banded??

My liquid diet is okay but it is hard. I can only have clear broths and protein shakes. I am not hungry but more week and have a constant headache if I don't cheat and have some caffeine. I know I won't be able to have diet soda after surgery but it is keeping me headache free for now.

I am finally on my liquid diet. 9 more days till my surgery on September 30th. I wish I was further along like most of you. This clear liquid diet has sucked. The past few days trying to stay caffeine free has been awful. I had to give in since I had such a horrible headache and medicine wasn't working. Since then I have been better but crave to chew things.

Go to Vitalady.com - Protein supplements, Vitamins & Minerals, and Safe Snacks! You can order samples of everything that they carry. If you are in Washington State, you can walk in and try them all for free.

Hello, I am being banded by Dr. Srikanth on Sept. 30th!!! I see him tomorrow (18th) for my pre-op and will then start my liquid diet till my surgery.

I am staying at my parents for a while and have the mattress on the floor. Will this be awful after surgery? I am worried about the getting up part. My surgery is on Sept 30th, should I hurry up and get a bed before then?

Wow, I am surprised that someone refused to band you. Good for you for getting a different surgeon.

Thanks everyone for the advise. I mentioned this to my parents and they have and extra bed frame in the garage and will set it up for me to use. I might also consider the recliner. I have 25 days to figure it out...

I have never been skinny. I cannot even imagine what it would be like. Ever since I was a child I was big. So now to think that I might actually be a weight that I haven't been since I was a child is amazing. I would love to be able to wear smaller sizes. I would love to go into any store and try on something that I like. I am scared though. I was on Jenny Craig two years ago and was doing great and was on the message boards everyday and thought to myself "this is it, I am going to do it this time". But only to gain all of the weight back a few months later when I couldn't afford it anymore. At least that is one thing going for me this time, it will actually cost less. I wonder what I will look like. What if I don't like the way I look. I will probably look weird to myself. You know when celebrities lose a lot of weight and you think to yourself "they looked better heavier". I hope that doesn't happen. I also wonder if I will look anything like my sister who has been skinny her whole life. My whole family is mismatched. If you get us all in the same room you probably wouldn't guess that we are all related. It is kind of funny. Though I look just like my dad when he was young. I saw a picture of him when he was in the navy and I thought to myself "wow that is me". My dad is a big guy. I wish he would do this too. He wouldn't ever do it though. I know some of his co-workers have had the bypass. Don't know about the band. But I don't think he would do whatever it took to get approval. It makes me sad because I want him to be healthy. My sister is overweight too. Only since she had children though. She was super small when she was younger. She isn't big enough to get approved through insurance and she can't pay for it. She is super jealous of me but I am also way heavier than her. I hope she can still be happy for me when I reach my goals.

I have never been skinny. I cannot even imagine what it would be like. Ever since I was a child I was big. So now to think that I might actually be a weight that I haven't been since I was a child is amazing. I would love to be able to wear smaller sizes. I would love to go into any store and try on something that I like. I am scared though. I was on Jenny Craig two years ago and was doing great and was on the message boards everyday and thought to myself "this is it, I am going to do it this time". But only to gain all of the weight back a few months later when I couldn't afford it anymore. At least that is one thing going for me this time, it will actually cost less. I wonder what I will look like. What if I don't like the way I look. I will probably look weird to myself. You know when celebrities lose a lot of weight and you think to yourself "they looked better heavier". I hope that doesn't happen. I also wonder if I will look anything like my sister who has been skinny her whole life. My whole family is mismatched. If you get us all in the same room you probably wouldn't guess that we are all related. It is kind of funny. Though I look just like my dad when he was young. I saw a picture of him when he was in the navy and I thought to myself "wow that is me". My dad is a big guy. I wish he would do this too. He wouldn't ever do it though. I know some of his co-workers have had the bypass. Don't know about the band. But I don't think he would do whatever it took to get approval. It makes me sad because I want him to be healthy. My sister is overweight too. Only since she had children though. She was super small when she was younger. She isn't big enough to get approved through insurance and she can't pay for it. She is super jealous of me but I am also way heavier than her. I hope she can still be happy for me when I reach my goals.

My surgeon's office tells us to buy children's chewable Vitamins and said they are no different than adult. I hear the Kirkland brand from costco are good. I take Lexapro also but my nutritionist said they should be small enough that I won't have to crush them.

Some doctors don't require a pre-op diet at all so it must not be that big of a deal. A friend of mind didn't lose anything on her pre-op and everything was fine. Later she asked the surgeon if he had ever not done a surgery because of the liver and he said no. I don't want to take any chances though and plan on doing my liquid diet. Though my surgeon seems to be the strictest and it is a 10 day "clear" liquid diet. Protein shakes are okay but no caffene or any solid food at all.... I can feel the headache coming on already!

I am so glad everyone is doing great. These posts are really making me anxious for mine. I will probably be the last to report as my surgery isn't till September 30th. At least reading everyone's progress will help me prepare.

I got a similar letter last week. They said I was denied because they didn't get my psych eval. You just need to contact your surgeon's office or whoever submitted your paperwork to the insurance company and have them contact the insurance. They will then submit whatever you are missing for you. I got an instant approval as soon as they received it. It does sound like Clinicals would either be your six month diet chart notes or your five year weight history.

Check out Vitalady.com - Protein supplements, Vitamins & Minerals, and Safe Snacks! You can get samples to try. Then you aren't paying tons for a giant container that you don't even like. I would suggest Champion Pure whey Stack chocolate. It tastes good and is low calorie. If you are in Washington State her store is in Puyallup and they let you taste anything they carry.

It sounds like you are on the right track as far as your diet. It is the surgeon's preference not the insurance company to get it monthly so if you fax everything now it shouldn't be a big deal. I had to fill out the release form at each specialist's office then they faxed it all over. I am sure that as long as they get everything to submit at the end you will be fine.

I am so anxious. As I have said before, I hate waiting. At least this week is going by quick since we had the holiday. This weekend I will get a major thing out of the way and that is the internist surgery clearance. I will also get my last bit of labs done. I should probably call the nurse to see if they want me to do any other labs because I have a feeling that I will have low Iron and Vitamin D still. I have been taking pills but they will probably want me to get an iron infusion. I hear those are dreadful. I want to go buy cookies downstairs right now. I smelled them baking during lunch. I have resisted only because I don’t have very much money. I hate that I want them so much. I hope I have the resistance to not buy them post op. I know I won’t cheat during the liquid or mushy stages because I know how important it is for my body to heal. But later when I am healed and can eat solids I really hope that I am committed. I think that if I see results that I will be. What worries me is that my co-workers that got the band aren’t doing so great. They drink high calorie drinks and eat cookies. So they are both at a plateau. I am just stuck in the mindset of… I can’t have it anymore in a month so I might as well eat it now. I know that “can’t” isn’t true but hopefully I just won’t eat those bad things. It is kind of weird that people may read this. I used to journal a lot when I was younger. I wrote everything going on in my mind and didn’t leave anything out so I was very protective of it. I would have died if anyone read it. Maybe I am more open since this is sort of anonymous. I suppose I also won’t write too much about my personal life or depressing things. I am so random though that I know I have written about the same things a few times. I probably sound like a broken record. I try to stick to weight loss stuff and the lapbandtalk website since that is where this blog is. Right now though I am jabbering on because I am at work and kind of bored.

I am so anxious. As I have said before, I hate waiting. At least this week is going by quick since we had the holiday. This weekend I will get a major thing out of the way and that is the internist surgery clearance. I will also get my last bit of labs done. I should probably call the nurse to see if they want me to do any other labs because I have a feeling that I will have low Iron and Vitamin D still. I have been taking pills but they will probably want me to get an iron infusion. I hear those are dreadful. I want to go buy cookies downstairs right now. I smelled them baking during lunch. I have resisted only because I don’t have very much money. I hate that I want them so much. I hope I have the resistance to not buy them post op. I know I won’t cheat during the liquid or mushy stages because I know how important it is for my body to heal. But later when I am healed and can eat solids I really hope that I am committed. I think that if I see results that I will be. What worries me is that my co-workers that got the band aren’t doing so great. They drink high calorie drinks and eat cookies. So they are both at a plateau. I am just stuck in the mindset of… I can’t have it anymore in a month so I might as well eat it now. I know that “can’t” isn’t true but hopefully I just won’t eat those bad things. It is kind of weird that people may read this. I used to journal a lot when I was younger. I wrote everything going on in my mind and didn’t leave anything out so I was very protective of it. I would have died if anyone read it. Maybe I am more open since this is sort of anonymous. I suppose I also won’t write too much about my personal life or depressing things. I am so random though that I know I have written about the same things a few times. I probably sound like a broken record. I try to stick to weight loss stuff and the lapbandtalk website since that is where this blog is. Right now though I am jabbering on because I am at work and kind of bored.

They will look at your starting weight for your BMI. They mainly want to know that you are going to be committed to doing the diet. As long as you do everything they want you to and everything is documented correctly you will be fine. Make sure nothing is missing when it is submitted or it will be denied. That happened to me but once we faxed the last thing in it was approved.

I got two denials from the insurance company before I actually got approved. Once they received the missing paperwork it was an immediate approval. I am sure that this will get resolved. Talk to the person at the surgeon's office who submitted your paperwork first and see what they know about this. They should be able to talk to your insurance and see what they are missing and fax it in for you.

If you already have your member number you should call the insurance company and see what they say about your specific plan. The link that was provided above for cigna is exactly what you need to know if you are covered. You will need do the six month physician supervised diet, do a psych visit and see a nutritionist. It was simpler than I though it would be. Once my paperwork was submitted it only took 11 days for approval.

I have Cigna also and did the 6 month diet. You see your doctor at the beginning of the first month to get your starting weight. Then you go back at the end of each month for six months to get weighed in, get all vitals done and talk about what you are doing to lose weight. I don't know why Kathrynh's visits weren't covered because mine were billed as regular doctor's visits and only had a co-pay. At the end you have the doctor send the surgeon's office the seven chart notes. All insurance companies are different so you will want to call your insurance company to see what your requirements are. Some want you to see their nutritionists some don't.