Chris61

Thats great to here. It took my wife and I less than 30 days. I was approved first within a week and then the wife was approved after we sent in a another from her OBGYN. and had surgery in less than 3 weeks. Chris

It would nice to have it approved real quickly.A lot will depend on how fast they can get all the stuff together and sent in. I would talk to the doctors office. Also see if you can have them fax or offer to pay to have the stuff overnighted to the insurance company. Get a person who can approved it. There will be a lot of people going on Vacation for a couple of weeks right about that time. Also what has the doctors office said, is the doctor going to be on vacation? Maybe it would be better to plan to do it right after first of the year unless you have all ready meet your ded or have a lot of expenses. Just a thought. Good luck with it. I hope that the letter I forwared to you will also help. Chris

SOunds like you are doing just fine. I will agree that when you fill full and then your hungery right after. I seem to have that a lot. I think that has to do what it was like before we had surgery in regards to eating and feeling hungery. I would double check with you doctor. Also I can forward you an article that talks about fills and what to expect if you would like. Chris

My wife and I sure need a 2nd fill. We are hoping to get it another one the Monday after Thanksgiving. After the first week with fill # 1 I was ready for a fill # 2. Not sure how much will get the 2nd round will ask for a lot. Chris

Imsamiam I just wanted to let you know that Iam in Florissant and that I have e-mailed you some information on the band. Chris

How long is your husband insurance in effect after he leaves the company. You then have 60 days to elect COBRA. I suggest that you talk to the doctors office and medical facility and see what there policy is. Everyone is differant on how they handle things. I have heard that some people had to pay it all up front and then get money back from the insurance company.

I noticed it in my face and waist line. Could not keep the pants up. Had to get new belts. Chris

Thanks for the updated picture and information. We need to figure out how to put all three of these together and mike it it's own post so people can see them all the time. Chris

My wife and I paid only 125.00 each on the ded. The rest was covered by insurance. I will say there was heavy discounts on the insurnace. Chris

I hope to get a 2nd fill 2 weeks from today. I lost restriction about a week after the first fill on 10/15. I also will be maping out how we do fills and how often etc. Will keep everyone uptodate. Chris

I think I have sent everybody there request for the letter. Chris

I was lucky that I had my company physicals and used that data in the letters also and was approved. if it had not been for that I doubt I would be banded today. Chris

I have UHC and we submitted 5 years but it was not consective and was approved. I can so you a copy of the letter I used for approval. You can get the records form all your doctors even foot, obgyn etc. You could have them each do this letter, and sned it to the lapband doctor. e-mail me at VCW61@excite and I will forward you a copy. Chris

I have UHC insurance and we had no problems with the doctors. Here is the statement down under claims Notes and I think most insurance has something like this "We have applied the contract fee. The patient is not responsible for the differance between the amount charged by the physican or health care professional and the amount allowed by the contract, expect in situations where there is an annual benefit maximum for this service. The patient is also responsible for any copay,deductible and coinsurance amounts." I hope that this will help you out. Chris

Use your OBGYN for your medical records. My wife had problems with her pcp doctor in doing the letter to the lapaband doctor. We ended up going to here OBGYN and he wrote the letter and sent it to the doctor and they sent it to UHC and was approved within 15 minutes after the doctors office refaxed the whole file. If you would like to see the letter I can e-mail it to you. Good Luck. Chris VCW61@excite.com

At lot of people might allready have the 6 months and not relaize it. We had to have five years worth of data and when I got it all put together I saw a pattern where I had gone to the doctor once a month for 6 months. We had no problem getting approved. Chris

COngradulations on being banded. The gas pains will go away soon. It takes time for the gas to get out of the body. I was banded 7 weeks agao and had pains for almost 6 weeks and doing fine now. As far as ICU they might had wanted to monitor you because of your sleep Apnea and other medical conditions you might of had. How long were you in ICU for? Also they might not have any room in the other part. Not really sure. Did the doctor say anything as to why you were in there? I hope that you are doing well. CHris

I would suggest that you make an appoitment with the doctor to go over all the records that you have submitted to him, and also ask to have the person who writes the letters in the room at the same time and ask why things have not been done and when they expect to have it done and send into the insurance company and that you wish to have a copy for your records. I would also have your pcp send a letter with his backing. If you would like to see an expamle e-mail me at vcw61@excite.com and I will forward you a copy of a letter that work for my wife and I. I hope that this will give you some ideas on how to approach this. Chris

My first fill I had 1 cc and felt it for a week. My wife had 2.5 cc on her fill and felt the same but after a week it was the restriction was gone. Thanks for the additional information want2beme. This answers a lot of questions. Chris

I would talk with your doctor and see what his game plan is in regards to fills. So far our doctor does them about 6 weeks a part. I saw one post on another site that says most people get about 4-8 fills and that was dependent on if the doctor had the fills in his price or not. Chris

My wife and I both have the same band. We had are first fill and my wife got 2.5cc and I got 1 cc and within a week we were ready for another fill. We go back in a couple of weeks and hope to get more than the first time. Will keep everyone up todate. Chris

Here is another idea put your lapband doctor under ICE on your cell phone and they can call him to get all the information for the band. Chris

I asked my doctor about this since I sometimes take incidiocin for my gout if I have a flare up. He gave me specfice instructions on how to take it with pepcid and only for 2-3 days. He did suggest to talk to your pcp and see if there is something else to take. Thanks for the list Gayle. Chris

Since surgery I have tried to have a soda a couple of times and I was only able to drink about an ounce and that was it for me. I like fountain better than can. Have not tried fountain yet. Chris

DO you know how they will do your fill? I had it done at the hosp. under flourscope. They numb the area and then put the needle in the port and then had me drink and swallow and watch to see if I had restriction or not. It took less than 20 minutes. I got 1cc and mine wife got 2.5 cc Chris