ChangingMeToday

I get the feeling you are young and do not have the perspective of someone who has spent decades yoyo dieting only to gain back more than I lost. May I ask roughly how old you are? Have you have followup appointments and fills, or have you give up completely shortly after the surgery? As I understand it the band is empty when put in place, and if you gave up and did not follow through it is not fair to say that you did not lose any weight. I have done lots of research on this and even watched videos of the real surgery rather than the pretty animations, I know what I am in for down to every cut and stitch as well as the complications that can occur. I have pain in my back anytime i stand for more than 10 minutes, I am at the point that I would trade that off for nearly any complication short of mortality. My knees get stiff from minimal exercise. Without the surgery and weight loss my arthritis and backpain will only get worse. Knowing what I know now, I would like to say if I could go back to 20 and do it then I would have, but without the life experience I know I could not have committed to the disipline required to follow a healthy diet. I can honestly say at that stage I would not have stopped drinking and socializing as part of it, it would not have worked for me the. Now is the right time for me, I have the conviction, determination and willpower. If I am correct, perhaps you will decide otherwise in several years after trying other things and give this another try. Try to work hard on those weight issues without medical assistance if that is how you chose to address it, but realize that statistics are not in your favor. If you are morbidly obese you have a 1% chance of success using natural methods.

Check your insurance company's handbook they may have a website with that online, I have Independent Health and the policy for my plan says that the decision will be made within two business days of receiving the request from the doctor. I have an appoinment on July 1 and the will get a follow up call from me on July 7th if they don't meet that service level agreed to in the contract.

My husband doctor recently outlined the next five years if he does not lose weight - High Blood Pressure, Arthritis ,Knee Replacements, Insulin Dependent Diabetes, Back Pain issues. Hearing those items put determination in him to get this taken care of and he wants us both to consult for it on 7/1 and both of us to get it done. I have read about the surgery but don't know much about the process before the surgery. I have tried dieting and exercise have lost and regained 20 to 60 pounds a dozen times in the past 15 years. I am interested in this "wait six months for surgery" that I am reading about, is that ever waived? I have been following this device and others since they started and have no doubts about the process as compared to other surgical methods.