ronwifey

Congrats! I'm so excited to hear all about it!

Hi, welcome to the board. I'm new too and addicted to this site, lol. I'm waiting on approval now. You have a lot of things going for you and it seems that getting the surgery won't be a problem with insurance; which is a blessing! I'm so sorry about your loss. :eek: There is hope. My friend had 2 miscarriages and her OB/GYN said she needed to lose weight and get "healthy". She lost the weight and now has a beutiful 3 month old baby girl named Olivia. Keep us posted and it's great that you decided to follow your Dad's footsteps and have his support.

I agree, send them the copy of the approval letter, letter by Dr. or the letter the Dr. got from Anthem, send those copies of those approval letters and a nice little note about retaining an attorney! You can win this. Hang in there and keep us posted.

And your first born too, right? That criteria is ridiculous. Like someone said before I think some plans make it hard so it will discourage us and we will decide not to do it.

I love all the information I have found on this site and all the help I have received and I can't wait till I'm banded to be able to help others but until then I can help others hopefully in this area....... May 2006 when I lost a lot of weight from Phentermine I had a hanging tummy . If I was naked it would be down to my pubic area. I had Tricare at the time and they denied twice to pay for it so I went ahead and self-pay. I think it was 5k, maybe not that much even. Anyways..... I got down to 180 and felt that I can resume that weight after the Tummy Tuck...WRONG!:tt1: For about 2 months I maintained that weight but I had to switch medications and my eating habits were worse then before so the weight just came back full force! Now I am about 65 pounds heavier and decided to get my life back on track. I hope to be getting the lap band end of Feb or early March. I refuse to go through my whole Tummy Tuck process to just get it back! I refuse to do that! Here's pictures of me. PictureTrail If I could be any help please let me know. Oh and I love my new Tummy even with this new weight gain. Best 5k I ever spent!!!!!!!

:biggrin: Yeap Mindy :eek:

WOW your post and you sound identical to me. I am/was in the same boat as you. I had to gain a couple pounds to get to 40. My insurance would cover if your BMI was 35-40 BUT you have to have 2 comorbities. If you have a BMI over 40 you don't need those, which I do not have. I may have sleep apnea but I'll be doing a sleep study for that. My insurance (BCBS FEP) does not require 5 year weight history, 6 month diet or anything like that. Now that the scale said 40.2 it will be much easier to get approved and date set for surgery now. I understand how you feel and there are many of us here that are going through the same daily struggles. Hang in there and if you want/need this surgery then do what you have to do to get it then!

Today I weighed in at a whopping 249 with a BMI of 40.2!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!! I am on my way! Thanks Mindy :biggrin:

:party: wink wink Thanks

You have all the right to brag! What a great accomplishment. You worked hard for these results so brag on! :party:

LOL, just my luck they'll fall off as I step on the scale or they will make me wear a gown or something. Good idea though!

Last week I was 5 pounds away from being at 40 BMI. I go in tomorrow for my appointment with nutritionist and Dr. so hopefully with my PMS eating, bloating, and nervous grazing I will have gained the 5 pounds. They will still cover it if I have 39 BMI but I have to go through all the commorbity (sp?) tests and have at least 2.

I had enough sick leave and annual leave to take 6 weeks off and besides even if I didn't your employer HAS to give you the time off if your Dr. recommends it! I had FMLA covereage from day 1. It is MAJOR surgery and that is all your employer needs to know and on the FMLA paperwork it isn't supposed to go into graphic detail about what type of procedure just have Dr. go into detail about what you can and can't do and how long you'll be out for. My job requires me to lift 70 pounds many times a day...my Dr. said HECK NO! So my boss wouldn't give me a desk job for a couple weeks so he said NO WORK AT ALL THEN! It was great for me. No, thankfully my tummy and skin haven't stretched back out like the rest of me has. I can't wait to get the band.

Traci~ Good luck and you'll be fine. Look forward to hearing all about it. :biggrin:

My daughter sells them too and I too can eat a box of thin mints at one time. I hope they come and go before I get my band. viridescence~ I know, why can't people just let it be! When I don't want a piece of cake or food at a work party or something people are like "oh come on don't be shy...you know you want some". I'm the ONLY fat women, wait no I'm the only fat Person at work and I'm not going to graze in front of them so they can all have something crappy to say behind my back.

Is a McFish real fish? I make my dog wear a red sweater.

I agree....that was a dumb post. In my opinion I would smoke mary J. before I would drink alcohol or eat crap after I get the band.

I wish I had advice but I don't go for my 1st appointment until Friday but wanted to say Good Luck and let us know how it goes! Carly~ I'm in SA too and I'm trying to gain weight before Friday too, LOL. I thought I was the only one. I really need my insurance to cover this but I'm a couple pounds away from being 40 BMI, which I have to be for BCBS FEP.

Blund~ I'm telling my 9 year old daughter that I'm getting my gall bladder out becuase I KNOW she will tell everyone! I can't say nothing because she'll know something is not right with Mommy. Also, when I went to my seminar the Dr. told us that what we "think" is our height is usually not accurate. Being overweight can compress the spine and when they measure they round down instead up. So I think I'm 5'7" but Friday I might be only 5'6". I weight 240 so I'm at about 39 BMI I think. If you have BCBS why are you going to Mexico...just curious :tt1:

Lynn~ I would do it again a million times over. Not all Dr.s use drains my BF's Dr. didn't and she has great results too. As far as down time. I work for the USPS and lift very heavy boxes and do a lot of walking so I took 4-5 weeks off. The more you do the first couple days and weeks the more you swell (OUCH) and the longer it will take to heal. I can tolerate pain but I did need my husband to help me get around the first couple days and I had a Dr. appointment the following day after surgery so he had to drive me, so I think you will need someone to help you the first couple days at least. They removed about 8-9 pounds of fat so my incision was very long. My scar looks like a smiley face now, lol. The scar is very very light and a mole that I had right underneath my breast is now right above my new belly button....so they had to do a lot of stretching but they got rid of a lot of stretch marks too. I relied heavily on the pain meds they gave me so that's another reason my husband had to help me get around. I was doped up 24/7. Did I need all that pain medication????? Probably not but I didn't want to see if I did or not. There is so much after the surgery, days after the surgery, I don't even remember. If you decide to have it done you will be so glad you did it.

Sending positive thoughts your way +~*~*+~*~*~+*~+ Let us know how you are ok.

I'm so confused as where I should go. I have no idea which Dr.s are in my network or not. I tried to look on BC/BS FEP web site and can't find none. I have a seminar on Sat at NE Baptist but I haven't seen anyone here use them and it worries me. Someone help please, lol. So far I have heard of True Results, NIX, and I have a seminar this Sat. at NE Baptist with Dr. Patel and Dr. Cavazos. I hope someone can lead me with their experience in the right direction. TIA

Hi, I thought I posted this thread already but guess not..........anywho...... I was just wondering why you guys chose lap band over the gastric sleeve? I'm reading a lot about gastric sleeve now and it seems like it has less complications. So confused.....I really had my heart set on the band. TIA

Thanks guys...... I've decided I am sticking to the band. :tt1: I can't wait for my appointment with the Dr. Friday.

Congrats on your approval letter :frown: That's wonderful and I'm sure a huge weight is lifted off your shoulders now. I have GEHA but only dental part :tt1: I have BCBS Federal Employee Plan and my Dr's office said they do cover lap band but can't tell me forsure or even submit to insurance company until I go to my appointment this Friday. Do you have a surgery date? Congrats again.