MacMadame

My company is self-insured and they do advertise that. They ask us to do things to stay healthy, so our costs are kept down. Which is why I'm :thumbup: that they exclude WLS as it's the best thing I can do to be healthy. I am working on a letter that explains that they spend so much on my blood pressure and other meds now that WLS would actually be cheaper in the long run. I've been there for years and will most likely be there at the break even point so it really is worth it to them. My dept. is small enough that it would be pretty obvious who it was. But that's okay. I don't care if they know because I think it's WRONG to exclude this surgery and I'm willing to fight them about it.

I think WasA is right about it being like chocolate. Because the way the Realize port is placed sounds better to me. :blushing: I also prefer that the Realize band is one-size-fits-all because I've heard too many stories about people being given a too small band and having erosion or a too large band and not getting enough restriction or, worse, having slips. Then there are the ones whose band is the right size when it's put on but now that they've lost so much weight, it's too big and then slips. The Realize band has a much bigger balloon for saline and so can be made to fit a wider variety of people. Of course, if it's too small for you, you need a different band, because one-size-fits-all is really one-size-fits-most. I do agree about the buckle on the Realize band -- that's the only thing I don't like about it. It's really kind of honking big and I worry that if it moves around, it could lead to erosion. Though the data doesn't really show that. But I worry anyway. I'm a worry wart. :wub: I think this shows how important it is to have choices and why one band isn't right for everyone.

Heh heh. I tell you after I got the PHONE CALL and then 5 junk emails and then couldn't log on, I was sure it some sort of VAST CONSPIRACY to sell people's info. Then I calmed down. Anyway, thanks for your offer, but I emailed them again and asked them to send my password to a different email and they did. (Which they probably shouldn't have, but I'm glad they did anyway.) I don't know why I wasn't getting the original emails but that part I'm sure is my nameserver's fault and not them.

I've got dibs on the couch! :blushing:

I think it's because they price it as a loss leader. They assume families won't go out to eat as much if kids have to order from the adult menu, eating food their palette may not enjoy and paying an adult price to waste half of it and whine about how horrible it is. However, if they don't accommodate a banded patient, it's the same thing. The family won't go out to eat as much if it's an unpleasant experience for one of the members of the family. But we're not asking for a special dish. We're asking you to make the same dishes you always make only at half size and give us a bit of a break on the price. Then price them so you can. I don't think most of us want to pay half price for half the food. Most people know that there are fixed costs to any meal no matter how few or cheap the ingredients. Many restaurants already make a smaller version of their dinner dishes for lunch and charge slightly less. Why can't they do that at dinner time for a few people who have a medical need? Or let people order off the kids menu or the seniors menu that they already have? Most of the time, the reason isn't really about profit and staying in business. It's about not being flexible.

I can't get back into my account. I've emailed their support address and pressed the link to be emailed my password a million times too. It's been very aggravating.

I've lost a guinea pig.

When I hit 47, I started to feel really creaky. Some days I'd have to roll out of bed because I was so stiff. Then I got plantar fasciitis. Finally, my blood pressure went over the magic number and I'm now on blood pressure medicine. I am hoping that a lot of this will go away if I lose weight, but I've been over 200 lb. before and not had these problems. At first, I figured it was just a function of getting older. But now I'm wondering if it's a mixture. Maybe as I get older, my body is less able to handle the excess weight? I worry that I'll get a band and lose the weight and then not have some of these issue resolve after all. What have other people who are actually banded found? How much of your healthy problems were entirely due to weight and how many are due to age?

There are some clues that can help you though. I find it pretty easy to spot the "real" posters because they post like real people. The PCs have few posts and they only post about a particular doctor. Generally, they leave no clues as to their real life either. Real posters talk about their jobs, their friends and families, their weight loss, their symptoms, etc. The coordinators haven't got time to do that. Though that doesn't weed out a real person who came here for support with their own band and is also a patient coordinator, of course. Generally though, I don't pay much attention to the "my doctor is great" posts. I look for the negative ones. :biggrin: The hack doctors have patients who almost died for no good reason, for example. I also pay attention when people complain about the office staff. You see them WAY more than the doctor. If the office overall is slow about responding to questions, doesn't do a good job with the insurance paperwork, etc. then that's something to give me pause. There is also ObesityHelp.com where there are tons of patient comments for every doctor I've looked up. However, after I registered there, I started getting tons of emails and even phone calls for "Mr. Mac Madame" the name I gave when I registered. So I'm pretty sure they sell your registration info to others. If I had to do it again, I wouldn't have registered as you don't need to in order to read the patient comments. Finally, I used your How to Research a Mexican Doctor thread and came up with a list of questions for the docs in my area that my insurance covers and ended up on my short list. I'm sending them off now. :biggrin:

All these people posting they have trouble with eggs are making me :biggrin: I lurve eggs!

Thanks, guys!

Actually, there is tons of video on YouTube that predate YouTube. I watch skating videos from the 80s (and even earlier) all the time. But that doesn't matter because this one is labeled 2007. But it's definitely not the current Realize band. It looks positively ancient -- just look at the port!

Care to share who? I'm looking for a surgeon in this area and narrowing it down to just one is nerve wracking!

I quit diet soda cold turkey about 2 weeks ago and now I can't even look at can of soda without feeling gassy and gross. I thought that would be the worst thing to give up (which is why I started early), but it's turned out to be pretty easy.

I knew there was a reason I liked you. And you're from the right state too. Maybe it's an earlier generation? Because in spite of what lsuza/redstar keeps saying, the Realize band being sold in the US is not the first generation. In fact, the first generation band (put out in the 80s) didn't even have a buckle, but was sewn shut! Luckily, all the bands have changed a lot since the 80s.

I think depression is even considered a co-morbidity by a lot of insurance companies.

Interesting, because I feel that way about Rumbaut. But I'm still hopeful that I can work the insurance angle even though my company has an exclusion for weight loss surgery. It appears there are some loopholes. Have you tried appealing? Some insurance companies just reject out of hand the first time. Also, make sure your doctor documented ALL your co-morbidities.

But if people didn't post their experiences with their doctors, how would newbies like me know who to avoid?

I sometimes get ignored at stores. But my kids get it much worse than me. They can stand at a counter for days being ignored if I don't go up and rescue them. So I guess being a kid is much worse than being fat!

Thanks for the link, MichelleInCA. I love to read research... I'm weird that way.

There are a couple of ways to get your food into The Daily Plate. You can type in the search box and get a list of foods that match your keywords. If I get too many results the first time, I look at what is coming back to figure out a way to express what I ate more precisely to get less results. Also, it remembers everything you've typed in though so you can bring up a list and just check off what stuff you've ate today without having to search again for them. There is also a list on your page of foods you eat a lot so you don't even have to bring up the full list if what you want to input is right there in the sidebar. ETA Looks like HeatherA and I were typing at the same time!

I just have to say that whenever I see this thread title, it makes me smile. Congrats on seeing your ribs!

I think it has to be a partnership. The doctor is an expert in medical things, but we are an expert on ourselves. So both have to have input into any decision, IMO.

I had staples for gallbladder and c-sections. Sometimes it stings when they take them out. But sometimes it doesn't. I guess that's not very helpful, is it? :tongue2:

The part about no health problems related to being overweight isn't exactly true. In fact, if you have "co-morbidities", you only have to have a BMI of 35. There are certain health problems that will mean you can't have surgery (like serious heart problems) but not every health problem related to being overweight precludes it. In fact, having WLS is the recommended treatment for a number of weight-related health problems. Some obesity-related health problems that people with the band routinely report are hypertension, diabetes, PCOS, sleep apnea, GERD and joint pain. As for being overweight for at least 5 years, it really varies by insurance company. Aetna just changed their policy to only having to provide 2 years of weight histories, for example. Also, you don't normally have to be morbidly obese for those 5 years, just "overweight". What qualifies as overweight will probably also vary but one definition is any BMI of 25 or higher. By that definition, I've been overweight for 25 years!!