Manatee

did your insurance cover the procedure? I am hopeful that they will come around to accepting the sleeve procedure.

Insurance covered removing the band as a "gastric obstruction". I paid out of pocket for the sleeve as part of the same operation, so I didn't pay full cost on it.

It's my understanding that many insurance companies are now paying for the sleeve -- UHC is -- but as I was no longer morbidly obese I was not covered

Not transitioning well

So this is a bit of a whine, most of you can skip it...

I've been trying to move from liquids to my "soft foods" category. So far all I've managed to do is regurgitate everything except tilapia fillets.

I've gone in and talked to the WLS coordinator, and the only advice they had was "eat smaller and slower". Heck, it's not like I'm cutting of sides of beef to stuff in my mouth.

I guess I don't understand. I thought that the esophagus->stomach connection was "normal" for lack of better terms, and so any restriction would be in the pouch itself. I don't think that's where this is happening. It feels just like with the band, with food stopping at the bottom of the throat.

So we step back for a few days and try again later this week with the solids. Fun fun -- nothing like creating a food aversion to stimulate weight loss.

Speaking of: this morning, 208.

Just over 2 weeks out

I'm down 20 lbs to 210, and working on soft solid foods. Some works, some doesn't, and I have a real aversion to eating at the moment. Fortunately only one really bad spell thus far.

I have a followup in 2 weeks with the surgeon and staff at the weight loss center.

The incisions are healing fine, no pain, and energy levels are back up. My belly looks like I lost a fight to a shredder, but so be it.

A week after the surgery

Well, the short version is that I'm doing just fine. Down about 10 lbs, but I expect the rate to slow now that I'm starting to eat non-liquid type foods. (Lunch today is mashed potatoes and butternut squash soup).

The numbness is completely gone from the fingers, and only a trace remains in one cheek. This isn't really a VSG thing, I just react strangely to the knock-out drugs.

The energy is back, mostly, and wounds are healing. All in all, things are good. No pain unless a dog crashlands on my stomach. I have a followup with the surgeon the second week in November. Unless something odd happens I don't expect to post until then.

I get soooo mad at these people for not fighting to stay! What's up with all the self-sacrificing this season??

Right. Let's review again, contestants:

This. Is. A. Game.

These folks forget there's money on the line?

3 days post op

So here we are three days post-op. The incisions continue to look good, no bruising or other nasty elements happening there. I am back on full liquids, which means Soups and fruit juices and such.

So far there's not been a lot of negative side effects. I'm very tired and don't have a lot of stamina, but then again I do have 6 holes in my abdomen. Hydrocodone helps, and hopefully I'll be weaned off of that by Monday. The plan is to return to work on Tuesday.

I'm currently at 230, aiming back at the 170-180 range

Through the mirror again

I'm on the backside of the surgery and am no longer a band patient. In fact, it's sitting in a jar on my desk right now. It's a pretty small chunk of technology to have given me such success and pain -- or a pretty big chunk of plastic to have inside of me...

In any case, now I have a microstomach thanks to the VSG. A few more days of Jello, tea and hydrocodone, and I can then move to Soups and other full liquids.

I have to give the doc full props. His bedside manner is a bit abrupt, but the guy rocks with a knife, and there's almost no bruising at all.

FWIW -- I was able to get my original revision covered by the doc coding it as a 'gastric obstruction'. Maybe that helps?

My insurance would not cover band revisions or rebanding/sleeve as my BMI was too low.

Getting closer

Yesterday I had the pre-op meetings with the surgeon, nurse, hospital, nutritionist and at least one person that I had no idea what their role might be.

I've gone through this before, so there wasn't a whole lot new. I was interested in the differences in digestion time between gastric banding and the sleeve. It turns out to be significant, as the band still has a complete stomach and the sleeve does not. This difference means that Vitamin supplements and Calcium supplements are more vital to sleeve patients than band patients.

In running through the paperwork it turned out that my initial labs were never ordered. The hospital decided to add them to the mandatory pre-op labs. This ended up requiring 13 tubes of blood from my sad little vein. I desperately needed some food after that!

So all is set, and a week from now at 7:00 AM I get to have my 7th medical procedure in 2.5 years. Huzzah!

Just a couple of quick comments:

1) The other players love to hate on Tracy, but each and every one of them with the exception of Abby wanted the power, and they would have -all- done the same thing. Sour grapes syndrome seems to be rampant among this particular group of Losers.

2) I think a lot of these folks are losing the majority of their weight via tears. Seriously, what's with the blubbering this season? Did they producers go looking for emotionally unstable folks, or are they being fed a steady diet of Lifetime TV?

3) Anyone who has watched this show would not have picked BOB as their trainer. Silly Tracy, nobody from the Cult of Bob ever -wins- this game. Then again, Lady Popeye doesn't seem to bright.

4) There's some really weird vibes coming out of the former Brown team. Those two are each married, aren't they?

5) To quote another forum, "Shut Up, Shay." I'm so tired of the crackbaby whining or whatever her story may be. I just tune out and hear <whinewhinewhine life's hard I'm fat pity me whinewhinewhine>

So Danny's playing the game too -- but since he's not Tracy all will be forgiven.

Kinda dumb of the show to say "see how the eliminated PLAYER is doing now" before they show us the vote.

I'm beginning to feel Pink Team Irritation. Kinda bitchy, aren't they?

The teams still don't like Tracy, but she's doing ok with a huge handicap. In some ways I think there should be some understudies to come in when the trainers break people. Next to "Dancing with the Stars" this show has the highest body count in reality TV.

Coach Mo needs to man up and quit deferring to Tracy in every decision. Hard to believe this guy can coach a team -- how does he ever pick a play?

Frankly I thought her gameplay was fine. Where I have the issue is the fact she wouldn't take responsibility for her actions. If you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly!

She should have been completely unapologetic and just said "hell yeah, I'm playing the damned game." Instead, it was all "oh, I made a mistake" and "I learned my lesson" and "I don't know what I was thinking." Horsefeathers! She just didn't want to deal with the consequences of her decisions.

Sadly (and here come the flames), this isn't unusual in the MO. It seems a majority of us view life as a series of things that happen to us, rather than a result of what we choose to do.

Well well....

Looks like we have our villain for the season. I -knew- I didn't like her.

Tracy reminds me of every whinging little secretary with a power trip, every meter maid, every elementary school teacher showboating at the PTA meeting. She better watch her back, because nobody else will be.

Well, it seems like the 'no elimination' shows don't generate much interest.

I do think I like the 'all for one' approach in week 2, when the waterloading is gone and the real losses begin.

In some ways I wish they would just dump the person who lost the least each week, but that would eliminate drama.

Anyone else find themselves not liking the Purple Hospital Chick very much?

No picks yet for me. Frankly I never really care about the backstory, and so the sobbing doesn't win me over. I want to see how they act -On The Ranch-

That's all. Do they want it enough to get over themselves and kick their own rear? Tens of thousands of other people would gladly be where they are; will the contestants realize just what a gift they've been given?

I suspect this is why I never cared for Bob, and like Jillian's methods better.

At least this season we don't have to worry about blood ties messing up the game strategy.

See signature

Well, well. Looks like the producers finally figured out how to keep Bob from losing to Jillian

I wonder if he'll be able to do his whole Cult Of Bob with Jillian always in the way.

Oh, BTW -- I -love- Jillian's style

WLS, take 3

Tuesday appreciation:

Well, the word came down today, and I am now scheduled for VSG surgery Oct 21. The insurance company is picking up about half the tab because of the lap-band removal; the rest of the procedure comes out of my pocket.

This looks to be an interesting and different path than the one I've been on, and hopefully ends up in a much better place. I still think the lap-band is a great procedure for those who can cope with it, but my body simply insisted on being in that 2%.

(Lap-band 05/2007, high 292, low 178, slip, revision, slip, current 220 and headed up)

UHC Success!

Got the word today that UHC has approved taking out the lapband system, after the doctor coded it (correctly) as a gastric obstruction.

The center is talking to the hospital about the costs to do the VSG as an add-on procedure. I should have hard money numbers shortly.

While the band certainly did the job when it was working, I'll be happy to get my slip-and-slide companion on it's way. I wonder if the doc will let me keep it in a jar?

So, 'tis that time again...

Will there be a Tara Machine this time? A Ronfather? A super-surprise winner? Can Bob -finally- win a season (no!)

The Biggest Loser returns Sept 15, let the rooting and snarking begin :thumbdown:

The Biggest Loser - NBC Site

Place your bets...

Finally got back to seeing some flicks:

The Ugly Truth: Didn't have high expectations, and it met every one of them. You know going in exactly where this film will end up, and the only question is how it gets there. Some funny scenes, and legumes will never be the same :cool:

G.I. Joe. One of the summer popcorn flicks. Good special effects, decent characters, plot was weak but it's the first of what will obviously be an ongoing series. The body count is pretty high. Despite the fact the old GI Joe was aimed at kids, this is not a kids' flick.

Round 3, first steps

I spent part of this morning talking to the new surgeon, Dr. S.

As I mentioned earlier, Dr. M. is a good guy and good surgeon, but he only performs banding. I no longer have confidence in the band -for me-, and so I am looking into alternative choices.

We discussed the VSG procedure, and between the two of us decided that would be the best choice. The other option was the bypass, but honestly I think it would be overkill given my current physical condition. I'm overweight, but only by maybe 30 lbs. I'd look like a cancer victim if I did the bypass now!

Things are a bit more complicated because of the insurance company and the role they are playing in all this. They have approved a removal of the band, and so that is going to reduce the costs somewhat from the cash price of the VSG. The procedure is normally around 11K, which I cannot pay for at this time. I can swing the 8K or so that this should turn out costing. It will -hurt-, but I can cover it.

If I consider Dr. M. was quoting 4K for the new band, it's not all that bad. Of course, that's the same kind of false logic that people use to justify expensive purses "on sale"

The next step is for their office to start talking to the insurance company and resubmit for the revision. I have no idea on timelines yet for the surgery, recovery, etc. I do know that I will be out for a week, and given that I'm a contractor on a day rate, that's going to bite.

Ah well. This all beats being FAT again, and it's readily apparent that without the assistance of some sort of restriction I will again top 300 lbs.

Well, here's an update....

Next Thursday I have a meeting with a new surgeon about having the band replaced with a VSG procedure. I managed to hit my goal weight and I'm hanging within 10 lbs of it, but it's all on my own since the second slip.

My original doc only does banding. He's willing to put in another one, but I'm not confident that it will hold given my history.

Fun Fun....still, this is better than 300+ lbs :smile:

Star Trek: 3.5, solid but tried a bit hard

Night at the Museum II: I -loved- this movie! And where did Amy Adams come from? Never heard of her 3 years ago, and now she's literally everywhere. Speaking of...

Sunshine Cleaning: Decent little character flick. Didn't really -like- any of the characters, but the acting and story was well done. 3+

Terminator Salvation: 2. And I like Terminator flicks, but the CGI couldn't hid the lack of story. Since we already know the big mid-movie reveal from the previews, there's not a lot of tension.

Angels and Demons: 2.5. Frankly, watching The Castaway randomly run around Vatican City spouting ancient riddles and always getting there late gets old.

Wolverine: solid for what it was. Good work to explain how he and Cyclops met earlier without either one realizing it later. Best part was the still-frame intro through the years.

Ghosts of Girlfriends Past: Matthew M. doing what he does. I don't think he really acts, so much as wanders through being himself in most of his movies. Still, as long as he takes his shirt off and smiles, the ladies will go see it. Fools' Gold is evidence enough of that.

A little background: I was banded in 07, slipped in 08, and had a revision then. The Doc had to reuse the band because UHC wouldn't pay to replace it.

Now I've slipped again. Doc says the band absolutely has to be replaced this time. However, UHC won't pay to replace my band. They'll pay to remove it, but won't put a new one in because I'm no longer obese.

Fun.

Next step is to appeal, of course. The alternative is to talk to the doc about what the out-of-pocket would be to get it done while he's in there to take out the old one. After all, he's already got me under, the OR, etc. How much does the plastic cost?

Anyone had any luck with UHC after reaching goal?