blueangelkc80

I had both my pre-op appointment with the surgeon and my diet class today and started my pre-op diet tonight, I have to get 70g of protein from supplements and then eat 4-6 times a day and can choose from yogurt, sugar free pudding or jello, oatmean or cream of wheat, low fat soup or broth, unsweetened applesauce, sugar free popsicles and fudgesicles, milk, coffee and tea. My surgery is scheduled for the 23rd at 7:30 am so I am the first one of the day. I have to be at the hospital at 5:30 am which my mom is not so thrilled about. I did get some samples of different protein powders from the dietician at the diet class today and I tried one this evening and surprisingly it wasnt too bad. It was the Nectar chocolate truffle protein powder. Hopefully I can tolerate the others as well, time will tell I guess.

I finally got the approval on Sept 23rd and am scheduled for surgery on Oct 23 with Dr. Martin-Hawver at Christ Hospital in Cincinnati. For me it took about 9 months total to get it all approved and I think part of that is because I switched surgerons back in July.

My surgery is scheduled for October 23rd

I will be 28 on Saturday 9/27 and, have no kids just 3 incredibly spoiled cats, and I have been over weight for as long as I can remember. I too have tried every diet you could possibly think of and was moderately successful but always gained the weight back and then some. Back in Decemeber I started having heart problems again and my Cardiologist actually was the first doctor I have ever had who sat down with me to actually discuss my weight and what all I have tried in the past, most of my doctors either said nothing or just said you need to lose weight but never went beyond that. He told me about the lap band and how he thought that it would probably be to my benefit to have it done to get my weight under control once and for all. Most of my friends and my family have been really supportive which surprised me because I wasnt sure how they would react, especially my parents but they have both been great about it. My dad had mentioned to me in a conversation about how he wished one of his doctors would say something to him about it. I am pretty healthy now but diabetes and the like is hovering in the background for me, my dad already has it as well as high blood pressure and some other health issues and my mom thinks hes waiting to see how I do with the band before mentioning it to his doctor. I told my mom that he would actually probably benefit greatly from the band if he decided to look into it. I am having surgery October 23 and can't wait to start working on a whole new me. I already have a goal to work towards because my sister is getting married in about a year and I am in wedding. But ultimately I am doing this for me and to make me feel better.

My surgeons office submitted my paper work to the insurance company last month and I got online today to check and see if they had decided anything and saw that they had just approved it yesterday. I called the doctors office to confirm and she said yes they had just got the approval this morning so I am looking at a surgery date of October 23rd. I can't believe the wait is over!!!

I am also a state employee and have been going thru this since January. My doctors office sent the information to insurance on August 12 and I have yet to hear anything, and was beginning to wonder if anyone else who is a state employee had been able to get apporoved so reading this thread gives me hope :thumbdown:

My surgeons office requires you to attend 2 support group meetings before surgery, which for me meant leaving work and then going back. The first meeting there were only a few people there interested in lap band and I dont think there were any banded people there and I was a little worried because it was mostly bypass. This last meeting there were 4 or 5 people there who have had the band done and quite a few people that were preband so it was completely different this time. But the physician assistant that runs the support groups said that its difficult for them to get people who have had the lap band to attend and she wasnt sure why and they were trying to work on getting more to attend on a fairly regular basis.

I have finally felt like I had everything going to get the lap band since changing surgeons last month, I have now completed one of the support group meetings, the psych eval, and the sleep study, in addition to the 6 month supervised diet that the ins requires. Well my doctor who did the 6 months didnt include everything needed in the records and as they are right now the ins co will reject it if its sent in, I called the drs office back after talking to the surgeons office to make sure they had received the records and finding out that the dr had not put in the exercise part of the program into the notes and her secretary didnt know if it could be added but that she would talk to the dr in the morning to see what could be done, if they cant or wont put it in I would have to start all over again with the 6 months and I dont want to do that. I am at the point where I am thinking about trying to figure out a way to self pay if this doesnt work out...I am just so frustrated right now with everything.:thumbup:

its not going to deter me i am just frustrated that i did my part of this whole process and my doctor didnt follow thru with her end of it.. the surgeons office made the suggestion that if i have to start over again to go thru a dietician that way it gets done correctly this time..I am just incredibly frustrated with my doctor right now... They called back and are going to do an addendum to the records and we will submit that to humana and see if they will accept it, this is why I wish my dr paid more attention to what I said about this when I started back in Feb....

So my doctors office called me this morning and said that the dr cant/wont put the exercise portion into the records that was forgotten in the first place, so right now I am so frustrated its not funny and don't know what to do, because I definitely do not want to have to start this all over again. Maybe its time I look into figuring out how to pay for this myself.....

The bad part of this whole thing was I told my doctor at the beginning what the records needed to have in them, up until my last appointment she seemed pretty ambivalent about the whole thing but all the sudden seemed behind me getting this and now I don't know anymore

Humana PPO thru KY

I can understand too about the program fee, the original Dr. I was referred to had a $700 program fee that included some things that my insurance covers anyways and theres no way I can afford that much money..The new Dr. I switched to has a $300 program fee but it covers things like meeting with a personal trainer to do a fitness evaluation, and a fitness plan, a binder with almost all of the information you could possibly need about the program and the surgery and what to expect, as well as unlimited meetings with the dietician/nutritionist..Its still hard for me to come up with that amount of money it buts more do able than $700.

I started my journey back in Dec/Jan and actually met with a surgeon back in Jan but due to financial reasons I had to switch surgeons to get the process going and feel that I made the right decision making the switch. I am now going with Dr. Lisa Martin Hawver with UC Center for Surgical Weightloss, and had my initial appointment with her on June 27th and during that appointment also met with the Insurance Coordinator, Nutritionist and Physician Assistant. Who were all incredibly friendly, nice and helpful and made me feel very comfortable..I am in the process right now of getting the sleep apnea test done as well as the psych evaluation. I have completed my 6 month Doctor supervised diet already and am just waiting for my PCP to send the information to the surgeon's office. I have also gotten my cardiac clearance and had some initial blood work done. At first my PCP didnt really seem to be behind me getting this done, but lately seems to have changed her mind about it which I am thankful for. My cardiologist was actually the one who referred me for the surgery and let my PCP know that he had done so. I am also working on starting to adopt the eating habits that I will need for after surgery. I am just grateful that things finally seem to be making progress towards getting a start on a new me..I also will be attending the support group meeting on Thursday that is part of the pre op process. Thanks to anyone who takes the time to read this, I have been reading posts on this site for a while and have learned a lot and I know that there is more to learn and that everyone has been very helpful on here answering questions.:thumbup:

I originally started with Dr. Sonnanstine in Florence, KY but could not afford the program fee, I am also not sure what he would charge if someone was paying out of pocket.. and went back online and was doing some more reseach to find other doctors and came across UC's Center for Surgical Weight Loss..From the information they sent me if you pay out of pocket they have negotiated a package price for lap band with both The Christ Hospital and University Hospital which is $14,500..I have a consultation with them on Friday, but so far I have been impressed with all of the information they have sent me regarding it and how nice everyone has been when I have called up there.

I had made an appointment with my cardiologist to get in to talk to him about what was going on with the heart procedure that hes sending me for and what was going on with the lap band and needless to say I discovered a few things.....My blood pressure was 150/100 which is very high for me, and that my PCP's scale is either very wrong or shes not reading it correctly when I weigh in because there was a 38 pound difference between what she had weighed me at on Friday the 6th and what the Cardiologist weighed me at on Tuesday and it wasnt to my benefit...So then the question became were they still going to be able to do the procedure since the doctor has a weight limit. I started freaking out that it was going to get cancelled and this has already been dragged out for 6 months on Cleveland Clinics end of things...so it was a huge relief when the Doctors office called me back and told me that despite the weight issue they were going to go ahead with surgery on the 16th..As for the lap band surgery I told him that I had to look for a different doctor due to not being able to afford the program fee at the office he had initially referred me to and I told him where I had found and he reassured me that they had a excellent program as well and gave me a copy of the original letter he had sent referring me for lap band surgery and I have my appointment with the new doctor on June 27th...Then a follow-up at the cardiologist on July 2nd and my last weigh in for the 6 month doctor supervised diet on July 3rd so things are finally starting to come together I hope..Due to the huge discrepency with the scales I elected to restart my ticker with the current weight from the cardiologist office and go from there..

As far as the weight difference I was pretty sure that my PCP scale was wrong I just didnt know how far off it was..So that wasnt a huge shock to me..The one thing that did shock me was when I was talking to my dad he made the comment that he wishes that one of his doctors would have suggested the lap band to him...I was completely floored that my dad had even thought about it..I told him why don't you ask your doctor about it and he just said that his doctor would acknowledge what he said and continue on..When I talked to my mom later tonight she thinks that he might also be waiting to see what happens with me and my lap band journey.. I know he would benefit from it due to having issues with his blood pressure and diabetes so hopefully he will follow up with looking into it..Good luck with your journey

I understand how you feel, I also have Humana and work for Pretrial Services in KY, and am in the 5th month of my 6 month diet..I also get monthly phone calls from active health because of how they have it set up to get approval for surgery..I had picked a surgeon and had a consult with them only to be unable to come up with the program fee that they want and am currently talking to another doctors office about going with them for the procedure..Good luck and keep your head up.

I had my consultation in towards the end of Jan and with my insurance company have to do the 6 month supervised diet which will be complete in July which is not a big deal, but what has me frustrated at the moment is that due to some unforseen circumstances there is no way I can come up with the proggram fee the doctors office requires to proceed with surgery..I called the doctors office today to see if they had any other suggestions on what I could do and pretty much got well the program fee has to be paid before any further appointments can be scheduled. So after that phone call that was an exercise in futility, I feel like I am back to square one in trying figure out what I am going to do...My mom suggested looking for another doctor which I looked into tonight and have some calls to make in the morning but I am not really sure how much good they are going to do..Sorry I just needed to vent a little bit.

The program fee is $700. I dont have a credit card or access to one to put that much money onto it..I found another surgeons office when I was doing some research online and contacted them today, they are location in Cincinnati, which isnt too far from me and they were very friendly and informative when I talked with them on the phone..They still have a program fee but theirs is $300 which is still going to be hard but is more doable than $700 for me...They are sending me some information and once I get that I am to give them a call and they are going to set an appointment up for me to meet with them..So thats where things stand at this point..

I worked for Linens N Things for about 2 years part time and I definitely did enjoy the employee discount, and I met some great people that work there that I still keep in contact with..It can get a little stressful there sometimes but overall I enjoyed it. I left due to my full time job sending me to a different county to work..Good luck with the job!!!

I've also seen them for sale on Torrid's website but I think they only carry them in certain stores...

What about Fashion Bug?? I just happened to think of them..Or if you find a sleeveless dress that you like what about wearing a cardigan or something similar over it to cover your arms?

Another website that I just thoght of that might be worth a look is Trendy Plus Size Clothing, Dresses, and Tops for Fashionable Women. sometimes they have some really cute stuff on there...I think thats all the websites I can think of at this point