momotrips3

Also, good luck!

I contacted my patient coordinator today. Hopefully she'll get back to me soon. I am not exactly 50% higher than my ideal weight, but I am BMI 40 which is supposed to not require comorbidities as a consideration, even though I have at least one - sleep apnea and a biPap machine. My weight when I was in high school and in my mid 20's was only 10lbs higher than half my weight and I was always curvy, so I don't really know what my ideal weight really is. So who knows!

Wow! Yes, the last time I called was before the new year. I can understand that they "know" the requirements, so this close to the new year, these things could get overlooked. That would be great! I'd still like to take a little time and get some face time with the Nutritionist, but if I could choose early May instead of June or July that would be clutch! I've got some commitments until mid April or I'd say sooner. I'm going to check with the surgeons office and see what they say. Thanks again!

I have UHC Choice Plus and have just chosen my surgeon and started scheduling the various appointments required, thus starting that six month insurance clock. From everything I have researched and been told by the Bariatric Center, BadWolfGirl is correct. I have had the same information and instructions. I must meet monthly for Weight Management Classes where we weigh in and can't gain any weight and try to lose, do a Psych eval, get a cardiac release from my Cardiologist, meet several times with a Nutritionist (I can't remember how many, but may pay for some extras, because I am f-ing serious about this), get some records from my Pulmonologist re: sleep apnea/ my biPap, i am having a lapband removed and revised to RNY, so I may have a couple extra requirements - that is not 100% set, yet. I haven't had to deal with Optum yet. My Bariatric Center has been around for years here in Houston and I have confidence in them. I hope that confidence is not misplaced. It's a good size practice in a large city in the Houston Medical Center, so they had better know! So, I have not been told that I need to document my weight other than the six month period - I could if they just need a number recorded annually from a doctor. I have never had any issues with UHC in the past for other things, so don't anticipate any going forward. The worst that has happened is that UHC has cut ties with a large hospital system in Houston and half of my doctors are employed through that system. Sigh. Both called the other's bluff and unless they come to terms in a couple months, I need some new docs. Surgeon is fully covered, thank God.

Hey all! I'm back. I had my meetings with surgeons and my Gastroenterologist. I picked my surgeon (he said one surgery) and started my 6 month insurance clock! I am having a EGD on Valentine's Day and my first weight management class on the 25th. I'm nervous, excited and all the emotions. I let the cat out of the bag to my niece, who had RNY about six years ago. She's pretty blunt about things and would tell me if she thought it was a bad idea, but she is more confident than I am that this is the right thing to do. She's been great - encouraging and helpful with real-world advice and warnings. The best kind, because she knows me and how I am. (We are much closer in age than my sister/her mom and I). That and the hearty green light from my Gastroenterologist with an order to go forth succeed and enjoy my new life gave me so much more confidence and positive feelings. I get very anxious and in my head sometimes and I certainly have been. I have been set free in a sense. Looking forward to the future! I hope everyone else is doing great. Have a great week!

@lbugher Actually, I had a very easy pregnancy apart from gaining almost 100 pounds - it was my first and only. Luckily about 40-50 of the pounds were fluid from pre-ecclampsia two days before delivery, which was my only complication. That was weird. I am often embarrassed to admit this to other multiple moms, as so many had such a difficult time. I think I was just built to carry a litter. 😉 I'm sorry to hear that your experience was less than stellar. I hope the kids are doing great. However, it's time to look after yourself. They need a healthy mama who feels good about herself. I'll let you know how my consultations go, and what they say about taking out the band and how weight loss is supposed to go (slower, the same, etc.). I'm curious to know myself. I'm thinking that you may have an easier time the sooner you do your surgery, as I am already in menopause - that has GOT to make things slower, I'd think. I wish I'd have decided to move forward on this sooner.

Me too! It was Lap Bank Talk, then Banded Together, I think. We had lots of fun, actually.

Congrats! You're almost halfway to goal! Keep up the good work.

Hey! Twins, huh? As you can see from my screen name, I have triplets, but they are 21, now. I just never got the band set right, just like you. So aggravating. I know some people lost a lot of weight, but did they keep it off or not have GERD, vomiting, etc.? Ugh. I may have done better had I gotten full aftercare (doc retired unexpectedly - no referrals). All in all, not my favorite decision I ever made. I just love feeling like a failure. I still can't eat huge portions, but I can eat enough to have gained all that weight back and lost it a couple of times since. This band has been more of a nuisance than a helpful tool. The VSG just sounds too easy to "mess up" with the stretching and not having so much malabsorbtion, The GERD just sounds awful. I know there's a tiny chance of GERD with RNY, but it is small. I have dealt with it already, so... RNY is what I think I want. Family members have had it and the one that took it seriously has had great success. The one that is less compliant has had a positive outcome, but their weight loss would be greater if they weren't so hard-headed and followed their bariatric diet! I would LOVE to be my absolute normal weight (130ish), but would be content with healthy and not "fat". I'm willing to put in the work. I realize I'm over 50 and menopausal, so there's that... I wish you luck! i have my two surgical consults next week - I'm excited and a little nervous! To make things worse, I had a sinus infection going into the holidays and had to take steroids. HUNGER! I ate ALL the carbs. Sigh. I feel huge!

Thank you for your story JRT Mom. It's funny, when I had a laparoscopy and then my gallbladder out years ago, they were both super painful because of the gas/diaphragm thing. In 2006 when I interviewed my lapband surgeon, he laughed and said that they used warm gas and tried to remove as much of it as possible. No diaphragm/shoulder pain after that surgery at all. Now I hear that almost everyone complains of the shoulder pain with their WLS. Did they go back to not removing the gas prior to finishing surgery? Is that something just a few surgeons do? Odd. I'm really sorry you had the comedy of errors with the train. Isn't that always the way? I hope I am up and buzzing around like you right after surgery. May your recovery continues to be easy and uneventful now that your buyer's remorse is behind you!

Thanks, JRT Mom! I'm worried about the scar tissue. If the rest is like my port, there is a fair bit. My niece had a fundoplication for severe GERD prior to RNY and wanted the sleeve, but surgeon wouldn't do it, thank goodness. She's 7 years post RNY and still 100 pounds down at her goal with little to no GERD. No magic bullet, but it is a great tool. I'm ready for the challenge and I can't wait!

Thanks, Mark. Good luck with healing from your unbanding and sailing through your bypass! I'm hoping I can be unbanded and get RNY simultaneously. Prefer one surgery to two. Since it has been so long, I'm not sure if that's possible. However, I haven't actually met with any surgeons in person yet, so we'll see. The worst part (I hope) is removing this stinkin' port. There's scar tissue on the tubing, I can feel it. My older sister, BIL and a niece have all had RNY and have been long-term successful. Fingers crossed for all of us!

Elektra51 - First, how did your surgery go? I hope you are well and on your way to a happier you! Second, I'm in Houston, too and am wondering where you had it done and who was your surgeon? Was it one surgery or two? I have my first consultation on 1/22, but am wondering who to actually choose, etc. I too have a band with issues for YEARS. I was banded in 2006 and it never functioned as it should and has given me nothing but trouble. I just gave up on it and thought I'd have to suffer forever. I recently decided that was ridiculous and had a choice to not grow old as an overweight person, feeling old before my time. I also have a painful port - it sticks out so is unsightly, too when wearing a fitted top. I also have horrible, GERD off and on, little restriction when it counts, then stuck and vomiting on something stupid, actual pain around where my band sits. I never found the "sweet spot" some banders have talked about. I was either not restricted, or barfing. Even now almost completely unfilled, I barf and get heartburn, GERD and vomiting. All of that would have been fine had I actual restriction and weight loss... I want this thing GONE!