Wheetsin

I really hate joining threads like this, but Kim - you've shared your story. You've posted an alert to people you might have wanted to warn. At this point you seem to be in a spiral of defending yourself against total strangers on the internet. There's nothing to gain in that. People will believe you, or not, but either way no one is gaining anything. At some point, the best thing you can do is say "OK" or "I agree to disagree" and walk away. Advice is only advice before the deed is done. After that, it's criticism. In much the same way, sharing your story is spreading information, but after a point, what's the point? Visit a different thread, give your blood pressure a break, and enjoy your time here.

My surgeries have never coincided with TOM but my reaction to things like stress and/or medication is to be late, not early. I would def. bring tampons if it were scheduled at that time. I know hospitals can supply them but I don't do pads and my body is pretty picky about the tampons I can wear comfortably. I've heard others saying the hospital gave them pads b/c there's no way they could manage a tampon. Not sure what the VSG post-op pain is like. I was sore after my other procedures but not so sore I couldn't have tended to feminine hygiene needs.

I asked my doctor a similar question a few years ago. Do I wait until I'm at something resembling a healthy weight, or do I go for the pregnancy first? Her response gave me a perspective I wouldn't have had. She reminded me of all the EXTRAORDINARILY obese people who manage to have perfectly healthy babies every day. And she also reminded me that at my age (31 at the time), more risk was going to come from egg viability than from obesity. Yes, some risks are higher. Your age is already going to classify you as a high risk pregnancy (though I think you said your weight will too). I'm still obese but if I wanted another baby, I'd be a LOT more concerned about complications stemming from my age (just turned 36, DD is 3) than my weight. A LOT. Keep in mind there's a waiting period after surgery before you can get pregnant. I'm not sure what it is with sleeve, but generically it's 1 - 2 years (my surgeon used to say 1, now he says 2). And conception probably won't happen as soon as you start trying, either. So figure 18 months waitlist + 24 months waiting period + time to conceive... if a baby i something you really want, I personally would not wait. I was about 230 - 240 when I conceived. For perspective, my normal BMI weight is around 175. I don't know how overweight you are, but my "conception" weight of about 240 represents about 140 lbs I had already lost. Was I still obese when I got pregnant.. yep. Would I do it again... yep. If you are having problems conceiving, weightloss is kind of like fertility hyperdrive, BTW.

Anesthesia can cause it, but it's notusually the exclusive cause. E.g. had my lapband, lost hair like mad. Had my gallbladder out, didn't lose hair. Had my lapband removed, didn't lose hair. It's probably more likely the general anesthesia combined with the trauma of surgery and the stress of healing. In the case of WLS, throw in nutritional/protein defecits. Physical trauma can actually change the lifecycle of hair. For women, falling estrogen levels can contribute as well. Fat people have more estrogen.

scales are rubbish. You cannot expect it to register a lower number every single day. Things just don't work that way. Remember that a scale is measuring your total mass. That's your hair, your skin, anything you're wearing, anything in your body, etc. Nothing in that is an accurate measure of the fat in & on your body. I gain about 11 lbs when it's TOM. I lose 4 lbs just by being awake for a few hours, but obviously I haven't lost 4 lbs of fat. Focus on less subjective measurements like how your clothes are fitting, changes in measurements, how you feel, etc. Pounds, pounds, pounds are completely drilled into our heads, I get it. But look how destructive they can be.

That's a horrible story, and a horrible thing to go through. As others have said, it sounds like you survived the surgery just fine, and some type of post-op complication, We're just pointing that out because a lot of people here are scared, and wholly believe what they read on the internet. We don't want "almost died from this surgery" to incite undue panic. Why did your nurses "hide" the buzzer? (That makes me think you have reason to believe they did it maliciously, versus maybe they set it somewhere you could not see) Has the hospital addressed that at all? Are you planning to appeal their review? If I can ask, what was your bleeding caused by? E.g. what was the "known complication" referenced in what you posted above?

I'm not a hair dresser but when you consider the reasons why the hair falls out, I can't imagine that a dye job would make it worse. The dye is just topical. The reasons the hair is falling out are systemic. There may be some impact on how your hair takes the color. Things like anesthesia, and especially antibiotics, exit our bodies in a lot of ways, including our hair (hence hair-based drug tests are effective for months). WHile they're still in our hair significantly, it can impact how certain treatments work. E.g. my stylist will not perm your hair if you've taken antibiotics in the last 3 months, she has you wait. Just my best guess.

You know my thoughts on the band Given the options you're presenting, I would go to Mexico. UNLESS I truly believed that once I lost weight, I'd be able to keep it off on my own. Then I might consider the band. But I would assume it was a temporary implant, not a permanent fixture. I'm kind of like you. I had set a timeframe for this. If I'd been denied, I was going to appeal once. If that appeal was denied, I was going to self pay. I did not want to spend 8 - 10+ months appealing only to never be approved and essentially be out 10+ months of time. Yes, that's "giving up" in a sense. But to me, it was more a matter of how much is my time worth? If I could pay $12K (my selected surgeon's self-pay cost), and know I would get the surgery, or wait 10+ months and know I still might have to pay $12K anyway... it was worth it to me. (Actually if denied it would have been for fightable causes, so I was going to self-pay, and then go through appeals, and if approved fight them for reasonable & customary reimbursement)

As someone who is not yet sleeved, but scheduled, this is a great thread to read. I have had WLS, and some things are universal. There is a "window" of opportunity, so they say, but remember that "window" is not an expiration date. Your sleeve doesn't come with a set number of days, and once they're gone you can't lose weight. As long as you're alive, you're metabolizing. And as long as you're metabolizing, you have the ability to lose weight. Try to stay away from "stinking thinking" -- things like I'm never going to lose weight or This is impossible. Things like that have a bad habit of causing self-fulfilling prophecies and will become as negative/true as you allow them to. Everyone has a BMR - basal metabolic rate. Your BMR is the number of calories you need just to live, but do no activity. Your BMR is higher when you're heavier. You need more calories just to exist obese than you do to exist fit. Right now my BMR is about 2200 calories. At goal it's about 1500. Point being - it changes, and calories are not a "one size fits all" thing. You can get a rough idea of your BMR here. Base your intakes & activity levels accordingly. Stalls - true stalls, do happen. Stalls, not "plateaus", last for a long time. "Stalled" is generally at least 6 weeks (but some will not call it a stall until 3 mos) of no change in weight, and no change in size, despite being in a fat burning mode. I've seen a lot of people (me included) hit stalls and it's dismaying how many want to give up because of them - they think "it's over, I've lost what I can lose." Maybe try to think of your weightloss like... the stock market. Stocks (and your weightloss) are going to rise, they're going to fall. Sometimes you'llbe thrilled, sometimes you'll be depressed. But that doesn't mean you should bail out (physically or emotionally). It has to be a long term comittment - stick with them, because what you're really after is a nice, even, long-term average. Some stall busting ideas: Going back to basic - how you ate 4, 6, 8, 10 weeks post-op before you started experimenting and cluttering up your core foods. Add in more calories, rather than trying to remove. If you're also following a low carb diet, have a night where you add in more carbs. Or try a structured/researched plan such as the Atkins fat fast. Try changing your workout routine. E.g. add in more cardio, or do something lower paced for a longer time. And Susan brought up a really good point. Muscle burns calories. That's (partially) why muscular people can eat ridiculous amouts of food and stay lean. Ever seen a body builder eat? I used to work with one, and his average daily Breakfast started with a DOZEN eggs. If you're starving yourself and not exercising, or just starving yourself period, you're guaranteed metabolizing muscle mass, which is going to make it even harder to lose weight. HTH. You guy are all awesone.

I'm not sleeved yet, but if the bruising is atypical for you, and looking at the length of time since your surgery, I'd guess a Vitamin deficiency. C, K, B9 & B12 deficiencies are fairly well known causes of bruising. A good friend of mine had RNY about 6 years ago, and about 2 months after she started bruising like mad. Sometimes the tiniest touch would leave a bruise, and sometimes she'd bruise in a place where she'd swear she hadn't bumped anything (like the inside of her thigh). Someone told her it looked like leukemia and she freaked out (sigh). At her 2 mo post-op her surgeon ran labs she had some pretty severe vitamin deficiences. He made her switch to a bariatric vitamin (she had been taking regular Centrum to save money) x 8 per day, and gave her a B12 booster shot. After she upped her Vitamins she did not have anywhere near the amount of bruising.

My surgeon recommends 6 - 8 weeks before swimming in a pool, assuming all incisions are completely healed, and 10 - 12 weeks before swimming in open Water. I asked him about diving (this was a few months ago) and he gave me a timeline of 8 - 10 weeks for shallow diving (< 60 ft), which is the time to heal, plus a little buffer just to make sure there wouldn't be any unforseen issues with blood sugar imbalances. He suggested waiting 12 months to do deep diving/decompression dives. My family Dr is also a diver and she was asking me what he had said. She agreed and said those timelines made sense in terms of recovery. We were speculating about the role of the atmospheric changes, both with my band and the sleeve.

This might help:

Think of it as a written request for verification of benefits. It's your surgeon asking, "Do you cover this for this person?" If your insurance company approves the predetermination, it's their way of answering, "Based on the info you gave us, this procedure is medically necessary . Usually we pay this. But whether or not we pay for it depends on the person's policy and the exact procedure done." The department that predetermines does not review your individual policy to see the specifics of your coverage.

To clarify (I may have misstated something) CIGNA approved me the first time to have my band removed, but DID NOT approve me the first time to have my sleeve. I had to appeal. Predetermination is an estimate of benefits (what's payable, what you will pay, etc.). Does not guarantee payment. Preauthorization determines whether or not the procedure are a covered benefit. Often it guarantees payment as long as the treatment given is the same as the treatment submitted, and that it occurs within some time frame from when the preauthorization is given, usually about 60 days. But some places will still state that it does not guarantee payment (legal red tape). You might also hear "precertification," which determines medical necessaity and what and duration (e.g. is it a medically necessary procedure and how long are you allowed to stay in the hospital). IIRC. You can get specific definitions here.

Oh yes, they approve on the first time too. Believe it or not. My case was a little different. I'm a revision: previously had a band (under UHC), had the band removed (under Cigna, first time approval) and then submitted for a sleeve (denied by Cigna first time, approved on appeal). They denied me because I didn't prove mechanical failure, and I didn't prove compliance with the post-op diet. Well -- my band had a "profound" slip. It was considered uncorrectable, and my choices were pretty much removal, or live with it slipped. Slip is a nice term for the stomach prolapsing through the band, btw, so we aren't really talking about comfortable living conditions. It was clearly visible in the xray and I had an EGD as well, and 2 years of GERD and aother slip symtoms which can cause their own complications (I had aspiration pneumonia from the GERD twice, basically inhaled vomit and it gave me pneumonia... not to mention it is gross, and hurts like a mutha). So how they figure I didn't prove that it was a mechanical failure, I have no idea. As for required diet - there isn't one with the band, so how do you prove that? Gah. That one took some work. I was only with Cigna for about 2 years, but I absolutely hated them.

As Pookeyism pointed out, not all carbs are created equal. A bean has carbs, and so does a Hershey kiss. Which do you think you should eat? Generally when people say "don't eat carbs" what they mean is "don't eat white or processed carbs": things made with white flour or rice, refined white sugars, etc. They usually don't mean "don't eat a piece of fruit" or "don't eat vegetables", which also have carbs. The bulk of carbs in a healthy diet come from vegetables. 40/30/30 (Protein, fat, carbs) is a healthy average. When I was low-carbing it, I maintained about 70/25/5. It was extreme, but it worked. But ALL of the carbs were natural carbs from vegetables. No fruits at all. High protein ratios require more Water intake. The easy formula is half your body weight in ounces of water, per day. For good hydration, but also to keep the Proteins flushed out of your system. They'll cause you some problems if you don't wash them out. (A protein only diet will kill you, you'll basically get protein poisoning... that's why survivalists tell you to cook the animal, but also eat the organs and other tidbits.) HTH

I don't know it for a fact, it's just what seems to be true anecdotally. But from my own example (approval and denial took the same number of days) there are absolutely exceptions. I've spent decent chunks of time gathering coverage statistics by procedure and by insurance carrier (making FAQ type things for another WLS board I use, and for my own info). I've "been around" WLS boards off and on for about 8 years, and I tend to be fairly active in the insurance forums, and I've just seen a lot of the same thing -- in the most generic way possible, good news tends to come quickly, bad news tends to take a while longer. But don't freak out. Referring to my example again - good news can take a while longer as well. BTW, I hate Cigna. 29 days was ridiculous. UHC took 7 days to approve my AGB. BCBS took 2 days to approve my sleeve. Wtf were they doing for 27 days?!? (BTW, I called Cigna every. day. to check and see if a decision was ready yet. I knew before my insurance coordinator did that I had been denied. Cigna routes predeterminations through their "utilization board" (I think that's it... utilization something...) so sometimes you have to get away from the basic customer service reps and get ahold of someone in that utilization area to get worthwhile info).

Cigna's official policy on preauthorizations or predeterminations (per Cigna) is a minimum of 20 business days, but no more than 30 business days. Their trend seems to be the longer it takes, the less you're going to like the response. They took 29 days to respond with my denial. When I appealed the denial, it took 29 days again to get the approval. By that time it was December and my insurance was changing Jan 1, so there wasn't enough time to schedule me in anyway.

I weighed a little under 400 lbs for a very long time. I was in my early 20s the last time I was at my goal weight. Girl, you got me beat on the 6" heels. I can go about 3.5" before they just hurt too much. Plus I'm a hair taller than 5'10 so can you say amazon? Anyway, with my lapband I got close to goal. Close enough that it seemed doable. Here are some of the other things I suspect you might enjoy, whether you're actually thinking about them or not. If you feel nervous, focus on these. Maybe it will just make you more nervous, but it's working for me. Every hesitate going somewhere, or purposely avoid, or try and scope it out ahead of time, because you're afraid the chairs will have arms and you won't fit? That will become a thing of the past. And the first time you sit at that booth and realize not only is your stomach NOT being cut by the table, but you actually have room to spare, it's all gonna be sooo worth it. Do you ever (like every day) beat yourself up because you know you should be doing something about your weight, but aren't? Imagine the first time you can stop yourself mid-thought and realize I'm freaking doing it. Have you ever lost the weight, or part of it, before? Have you done it again and again? I can lose weight, no problem. I cannot maintain weightloss. I go from a state of losing, to a state of gaining. Stop thinking about the weight you're going to lose, and start thinking about the weight you're never going to have to lose again. See the difference? One day, probably sooner than you think, you're going to be walking somewhere and pass in front of a window, and for a split second you're not going to know who's in your reflection. You might even think something kind of strange like, "Oh, weird, that girl has my same skirt on..." before your brain can process that it IS you. You're going to feel very proud of yourself when you leave food on your plate. It's an odd sort of "atta boy" to your ego. Of course, your wait staff will just think the food was bad, or that you're trying to impress someone. F em. You're going to find some happy discomforts. Like maybe the way you sit in your car, if you prop your left knee against the door, you're going to realize that knee bone is hitting in the door and it hurts. But around the same time, you're also going to realize you can get your seatbelt on, even if you're wearing a coat, and still be able to move. One of these days you're going to have your hands crossed and it's just going to kapow hit you how slender your fingers are. And around that time, your shoes are going to start sliding off your feet. We forget about things like our fingers, feet, ankles... Oh, and do you get cankles if you sit for too long? That tends to go away too, or at least really really lessen. That bump in your chest that might freak you out? That's a bone. You're gonna have a lot of 'em. The first time I saw my collarbones casting a shadow on my chest? Hmm what did I do, actually... probably strutted around like I was a skinny minny. Now, no nerves, only smiles.

I've been told I will have one, and that I will have a catheter. When I had my band put in (same surgeon) I was told I would have one, and that I would have a catheter, and I had neither. So I'm cautiously optimistic. I'm not afraid it will hurt, I just think it's kinda creepy.

At this stage (1 week out) about 60% of the weight you're losing is Fluid. So figure that you've lost 5 - 7 fat pounds, and 7 - 9 fluid pounds. 7 pounds in one week is too high to maintain for a long period of time (so enjoy it while it lasts), but for right now when you're just starting it is fine. It seems universal across all WLS procedures that between weeks 3 and 5 (give or take a week), inevitably there's a plateau - a short period of time with no loss of weight or size. This is your body's natural reaction to a drastic change in what your doing foodwise. Yes, that's the untechnical version. Expect it, and don't get discouraged when it comes.

BTW, Target has what I call "tween" clothing (something like a cardigan, which could be worn in winter but could also be worn in summer) for something like 70% off right now. If I had any idea what size I might aspire to be, I'd pick some up. But last time around I bought bunches of "one of these days" clothes and either never got small enough, or blew through the size too fast to wear it.

I was initially denied for sleeve surgery. I talked to DH and we agreed that I would appeal (I'm pretty good at helping insurance companies realize they're going to help me out), and if I still hadn't gotten approval by the end of March he'd buy me a sleeve for my birthday. Well I appealed, and had the appeal approved. But I couldn't get scheduled before the end of the year, and our insurance was changing 1/1/12. Gad. So on 1/1/2012 I started over with a new insurance company, and ultimately got my approval last month. So here's my logic. Since I could have cost DH about $13K but didn't, I basically saved him that money, which means it's still mine to spend. Am I wrong?

I am sending you a PM.

LoserMama, do you have a local support group? I only ask because often they will hold clothing exchanges. Some WLS boards also host virtual clothing exchanges. I know I took a several bags full of clothes to my support group (that I didn't even like) - they were all brand new with tags still attached. I just never got a chance to wear them. If you haven't, you might also want to check your local Craigslist or FreeCycle. I've discarded clothing those ways as well, and usually see several people doing the same.