Poster child

Dana, I will be going on my pre-op liquid diet for 4 weeks. I am not looking forward to that at all. Especially since I am going to have my entire family staying in my house for the Easter weekend!!! I begin on april 10th. I will be using Optifast with 1 small meal per day. My surgery date is May 8th. When is your surgery date?? Hang in there on the liquids. I'll be joining you soon!!

Babyjane, Are you being banded by Dr. Bour in Greenville??? I will be on May 8th. He is very good and has an excellent pre and after care program. Good luck!

Reporting in a few days late....sorry! 260 I have my endoscopy on Monday. Surgery is set for May 8th. Opitfast liquid pre-op diet begins on April 10th. Can't wait!!:clap2:

I am sure this question has come up but does anyone know if Tricare covers the lapband??? Thanks. I am self pay but my office manage has Tricare and wants to get it done.

Good luck!! Let us know how you made out!!!

Good luck on your surgery! We will all be thinking about you! Post as soon as you can!

I think that is an excellent idea. There are several new articles out on the band long term. I have access to medscape, etc. Let me know if I can help.

Good luck!!!

Great job!!! 32 lbs is very good! Can't wait for my surgery!

Good luck Monday to both of you!! I hope you breeze through it!

Ok, I weighed...261 (+3)...that time of the month water gain. That is what i weighed at my pre-op consultation. I can't wait until i start the optifast!

thanks Tricia!! 3loves - I can relate exactly to what you are saying!! I hope you get insurance approval soon. I am self-pay, so I can set my own date. My insurance will cover the endoscopy, so that was easy. It will also cover my pre-op labs and ekg. Right now, I feel ok. The Optifast will be 5 drinks a day with one meal, so hopefully, I won't mourn the loss of food too much. Thanks for all the support! I have the support of my family and friends except one, but she is slowly coming around. I can't believe it is really going to happen. One cool thing, the nurse weighed me. I said 'ugh' and she said 'that's what we're going to take care of'!! Made me feel very good!

Well, today is the day. I am going to the pre-op appointments. I meet with the co-ordinator, the psych test, the nutritionist and the surgeon. I expect to be there at least 5 hours. I have been calm up until this point. But, today I am nervous and excited at the same time! I will check in later on today and let you know what they said. The surgeon has a very structured program, so I am sure other pre-bandsters may be interested! I gotta weigh in for the Gone for Good Club, too!!!

Update! Everything went well. I am very excited now. I am going to begin Optifast for 4 weeks starting 4/10 and then surgery on 5/8. The diet is fairly structured, so I need to be good and expect to lose about 10% of my body weight before the surgery. After surgery, a very strict post-op diet consisting of clear liquids for 10 days, full liquids for 10-16 days, then pureed food and then regular bariatric diet. Wow, I am impressed. He also said a fill maybe at 4-6 weeks done under fluro only with a barium swallow. Very interesting. anyway, thank you for the support and I am truly excited to be part of the band community!!!

Congratulations!!!!!! Excellent job on losing 70 lbs in 6 months!!!!

Congratulations!!! Thank you for the inspiration. As a pre-bander, I hope I can post a year from that I lost the same amount. Good luck with the plastic surgeon!

Congrats!! I did talk to them to find out if they did the fills if another doctor did the surgery. I am sorry for the 500.00, but at least you don't have to travel anywhere toget the fills. Hopefully, you'll only need a couple!!! Good luck on your surgery on the 11th. If you need help, let me know!!!!

I double checked and the fee upfront is 2500.00 with and without insurance. They charge this and it must be paid even before surgery is scheduled. My sister had RNY last year in MD and her doctor's office charged this fee as well. Her fee included support, visits with the nutritionist, etc for 1 year. Interestingly enough, he built a new office which has a gym some patients can go there and workout after surgery so they aren't embarrassed going to a 'real' gym. My doctor recently built a new office...?

My doctor's office told me I had to pay $2500.00 for the psychologist, support groups and the pre-op Optifast. This includes lifetime support. I think that is outrageous!!!! I am going this Wednesday and I will let you know for sure what I have to pay.

Excellent Heather!!!!

Hi everyone! I am happy to be a part of this group. I live in Columbia SC and have been overweight most of my adult life. I am a typical yo-yo dieter. I have gone through all the diets, Nutrisystem, Physicians Weightloss, Weight Watchers, etc only to gain back the weight and then some. My highest weight is now, 258 lbs. I can't imagine I am saying that publically, but I don't think anyone would believe I weigh 120! I am going for my pre-op appoitnment 3/8/06 and I am planning on having my surgery 5/8/06. I will be self-pay and feel the amount I do pay is worth getting my life back. Thanks for inspiration and great posts! My goal weight is 130 lbs. So: 258/130

Congrats to everyone having surgery on March 7th!! I have my first pre-op appointment on the 8th. Wish it was May already for me. Good luck!!!

Tabbi, Thanks again for sharing your story. It is truly amazing! I would think your insurance may cover your surgery since you have alot of excess skin and it may become painful to you now or down the road. If they deny it, I would appeal it with pictures, before and after or even a personal meeting in order for them to see the remarkable transformation. You deserve to have this done and also you need to have it done. Good luck!!!!

Get Stainless Steel Magic at Home Depot. Costs about 6.00 I have clean my sink with this stuff and it looks better than new. They also have one called Counterop Magic...great for granite, cultured marble, etc.

I was thinking the same thing. I am usually right on time and I think that I may have it when i finally do my surgery. Hopefully, it won't happen due to 'stress' of surgery. My sister had RNY last year and, of course, it hit full force on her surgery day. But she survived!