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I think this is common! My Dr. said that my hospital's standard practice is basically to pick an arbitrary date and ask insurance to approve it. They are fully expecting insurance to come back and ask for more info and to lay out 100% what I need to do to be approved. My Dr. said that is how they get insurance to tell them what is needed without playing games. Then we do everything they ask and send it to them again with the real date for approval. Insurance sucks, hang in there!

Thanks! That is exactly why I want to cut out coffee! Healing from the surgery is enough all by itself! I don't need to be having caffeine withdrawals at the same time! No thank you! I am hoping to go cold turkey a month before surgery (TBD). I do plan to move away from the lean cuisines at some point. For right now I'm so overwhelmed with what to eat that I need them for my sanity otherwise I'll make bad decision because I am so overwhelmed! Your surgery is coming up soon! What does your pre op diet consist of? I know someone who is having surgery today at the same hospital I will as well. She has 3 shakes a day and is also able to have brother and sugar free jello. Wow, that is going to be hard when the time comes!

Following! I got pregnant after lap band but only after 4 years of fertility treatments and 2 IVFs later. Hoping to get sleeved in January and would like to try and conceive again in 2019!

It'll all be worth it KIllian, hang in there! 17lbs is amazing!

True story, I gained 15lbs to get my BMI to 35. Was it worth it you ask? I don't know yet; I guess we'll find out if I get approved! Good news is I've been doing pretty well since meeting with the dietitian and I've lost 4lbs in the last 6 days. I feel really good and want to get back to 195-200lbs before surgery which is where I was (and had maintained for more than a year) BEFORE starting the VSG process in September!

Say what?!!! In 7 months? You look amazing! Congrats!

Congratulations on sleep apnea, I think lol!

Hey all just letting you know that I'm on Instagram now! @going_vertical

I did! I am working on band to sleeve revision now but back when I was banded I started out at 252lbs and I don't think I felt a huge difference visually until I was in the 180s. Hang in there!

Thank you @Diana_in_Philly and @dominyks_mom!

Can you please share with me your stats day of surgery and your stats 1 year post op? Feel free to post pics if you'd like. I'd love to know what a typical day of food looks like for you as well at 1 year if you'd like to share! Thanks!

The psych appointment went well yesterday afternoon. She asked me many questions basically just trying to gage my habits, reasons for over eating, figure out if I had an eating disorder ect ect. She (like the others) encouraged me to work out more but to set small attainable goals. It was actually a really nice appointment. When I went through this the first time with the band there were these series of 4 classes I had to take (everyone did) and the psych said I didn't need to this time so I really lucked out! Facebook sent me a lovely reminder of something I posted 5 years ago today.....my before and after. It was nice to see but kind of sad for me too. Oh how I can't wait to get back there.

I'm glad they gave you the courtesy of a phone call even if they didn't have the results for you yet! Can't wait to hear, fx!

Well, aren't you just the sweetest! Thank you so much for your kind words. What a wonderful way to start my day!

Pretty good thanks! I had to get my BMI up to 35 so I had a shot at qualifying. My sleep test came back with mild sleep apnea so that is "good" too because I needed a co-morbidity. I have a 90 day waiting period and that'll be up mid-December. So, i'm looking at late Dec/early Jan hopefully!

So glad you are doing so well! Congrats on your loss thus far!

I think that is good! I called 2 days before my 2 weeks and they said the results were not released yet. Then I called 2 weeks exactly and they said someone would call me back. A call back is good! I think it means the results are in! FX for you!

Thank you! Don't forget to keep me posted on your sleep test results!

I am in a similar situation! I am 5ft 5in and lost over 100lbs. I went from 252lbs to 149lbs. I struggled with infertility and gained a lot back. Pre pregnancy I was about 210lbs but lost while pregnant. 1 week post par-tum I was 195lbs! The next year I fluctuated between 195-200lbs. In September I went to talk about revision and they said my BMI was too low. So, I had some fluid removed from my band and now I'm up to 215 and I also have sleep apnea so I'm hoping insurance approves me. Insurance sucks.

Just wanted to let you all know that my Dr. said I can lose all the weight I want before surgery and it will not affect my insurance at all!

Good Morning! I wanted to give you an update on my appointments yesterday. I first met with the nurse practitioner, the one I’ve known for about 10 years now. She said with the mild sleep apnea and BMI of 35 I have a very strong case for approval now, yay! She said what they do is pick an arbitrary surgery date and send it to insurance for approval. They know insurance will say “no you need to do x-y-z first before we approve”. She said it’s their way of having insurance lay out 100% what is needed before approval. So, we fully expect them to come back and say I have a 90 day waiting period and that I need to see my PCP for the “OK” for surgery. I started this whole process Sept. 15th so my 90 day waiting period expires mid-December. That all means I could have the surgery this year but she said that most of the doctors take the end of year off so I’m not hopeful. I think I’m looking at early January instead which is fine since it’s such a small difference. The only benefit to having the surgery in 2017 is I’ve already hit my deductible for the year. Then I went to meet with the dietitian; that was stressful. I’ve barely eaten “food” the last couple of years. Like I’ve said previously I had 4 years of infertility that consumed me and that is also around the time my major food intolerance showed up. I basically drank my calories and consumed slider foods to gain all this weight back. So right now she wants me to focus on eating 3 meals a day and finding sometime in my day, even if its 15 minutes to work out. I’m pretty sure I can make it work but it’s going to be hard with my little one. He’s both a terror and a delight LOL! I can’t just put him in the pack and play and walk on the treadmill; he’d scream the whole time. The child needs his freedom haha. He does go to bed by 6PM though so instead of sitting on the couch I am going to hop on the treadmill. I use to walk 3 miles a day 6 days a week but that was pre baby and I think it’ll be years before I can do that again. Baby steps. I go back to see the dietitian on 11/27 and I’m going to try my best to make big changes between now and then. I see the psychologist today and I’ll come and update you after the appointment! Oh and confession………….I’m up to 215lbs, ugh. I hate that I had to GAIN weight to get my BMI to 35 to qualify! Good news is the nurse practitioner said I can lose all the weight I want and it will not affect my approval!

The other nurse practitioner called me this morning. She's the one that I've known since I had my lap band in 2009. She said I do not need to see pulmonary and that they are going to tell insurance they will treat my sleep apnea with weight loss. She said that my insurance is going to have the 90-day waiting period. So, since my initial consult was the end of September as long as scheduling works I should be able to have the surgery end of December. She said a lot of the surgeons take time off at the end of December so that may make it challenging but hopefully we can get it done!

hahaha I guess you do! Thanks! They called me with the results two weeks exactly.

I moved my work and babysitting schedule around this week for my nurse practitioner, psychologist, and dietitian appointment today but I received a call yesterday that the psychologist won't be in today. I'm pretty annoyed since I had to reschedule everything. Oh well, things happen! They squeezed me in tomorrow but I have to move things around again which isn't easy. Happy Halloween! I'm staying away from the candy!

Hi All, I had the lap band back in 2009 and in 3 years I lost 103lbs. At that time I started trying to have a baby and that proved to be very difficult. After many miscarriages I finally had a baby 4 years later (after 2 round of IVF. During my struggles with infertility things seemed off with my band though I was preoccupied with trying to conceive and I didn't really care too much. Due to an ectopic pregnancy I had emergency surgery to have a fallopian tube removed and even that surgeon said that she took at look at my band and it "didn't look right" to her. Now that my baby is a year old I've been thinking about going back to my baratric surgeon. As of right now I've gained half of my weight loss back. I also just got a letter from my surgeon's office stating that greater than 50% of band patients are having revisions due to ineffectiveness of the band, food intolerance, band slipping, and heartburn/erosion. I'm pretty sure I have all of those things. I'm a little nervous about a new surgery but I can't live the way I have been living anymore.