bobdole

My very detailed review of my girlfriends banding experience with Dr. Ortiz in Tiajuana MX. The cost was 7500 including everything for the bander and an escort but the flight(s) and food at the hotel, http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f17/dr-ortiz-review-log-my-experience-74200/

I know that nonsteroid anti-inflamatories are a no-no, they can cause ulcers and stomach bleeding which can increase chances of errosions and other problems. But are Steroidal anti-inflamatory meds acceptable, such as prednasone(sp?).

My girlfriend was banded and never did stop smoking. She hasn't had anything adverse happen yet. Not that I'm telling you to keep smoking. Just providing you an honest answer.

I asked Dr. Ortiz about why he uses Inamed over Realize and brought up the "self anchoring" port of the realize band. He said that with the port and stapler tool you attach the port to the abdominal wall without seeing where you are attaching it. That you could possibly pierce a blood vessel or incorrectly attach it and not know it. With the Inamed port you suture it under direct observation which he prefers so he can see every aspect of attaching the port. Beyond that in the band itself, iirc the Realize band is much wider and I've read that is to reduce the chances of slippage. I'm not sure I believe that as both bands use a technique to suture the bottom of the stomach around the top of the band to the top of the stomach which is the main resolution of the problem of slippage. I'm not aware of any other major differences.

I know its different for different people, but you're doing this for yourself. Its your body, your mother has zero say in what you do with it. If shes against it - so what? Unless you're still supported by her financially or living with her she can't do anything to you except give you a mouth full to which you can just hang up the phone or leave. I love my mother, but if I was obese (I'm on here all the time for my gf who was just banded) and getting banded would improve my quality of life substantially and my mother was dead set against it, I'd ignore her. She wouldn't be happy but would have to deal with it.

insurance WOULD pay in 2.5 yrs (gf had 3 of 5 yrs obesity required and then 6mo diet), but self paid to get in now.

Hey everyone. I'm headed to tiajuana tomorrow with my gf to get her banded by Dr. Ortiz. I pulled out some cash today for tipping. I'm wondering what is a acceptable tipping amount for various things: Drivers? (dude that takes you from and to airport) Resteraunts waiters? Bellhops @ hotel? Any others that you can think of. Also We're staying 2 extra days in the hotel which we are paying ourselves (OOC pays for other days). I'm wondering if the hotel will accept a Visa debit card for payment of those 2 days. Thanks

My gf is getting banded there next monday. I've researched him a ton and have found very few negative comments: 1 or 2 complications (they admited were probably due to them not following the postop diet) and 1 or 2 about the facilities / transportation. The 90-95% of what I read is glowing reports from people who were banded by him.

I'm confused as well. Maybe they had some problem/malfunction with the old front page and are using the forum index until they can fix it.

I know you mean well but you don't have hardly any knowledge of who we are or of our relationship. I can't marry someone until I'm sure I'll be happy with her for the long run. There are aspects of our relationship that have to change before I can marry her (not personality or anything like that). This is one of the reasons I'm doing this, I want to marry her so I'm trying to make it happen.

Hello Everyone, My girlfriend is wanting lapband surgery and I will be financing it for her. We will be using Dr.Ortiz of the Obesity Control Center in Tijuana. We've checked him out thoroughly and like him. Anyways, I contacted Welcome to Citerra Financial and they needed my gf's name and info as well. They said they the banks they apply to require the patient information. I have good credit (700+ credit - was approved for a 150k mortgage a few months ago, didn't take it due to some other circumstances but was approved), and hers is not so good. They said all the banks rejected the applications due to this. I am trying to investigate what other options we have. I know if I go and try to apply to a similar financing service for medical loans this will probably happen again and that every denial can negatively affect your credit. I called my local bank (regions) and they suggested either a "personal loan" ranging from 11-20% fixed interest 3 year term or a line of credit (variable rate, she said its ~9% now). The line of credit seems the better choice to me, the bank said it functions pretty much like a credit card. That there are minimal monthly payments and you can pay it off as quickly or whatever rate you want. My gf is trying to get on disability (denied the typical 3 times, now got a lawyer and going to a hearing). The laywer says there shouldn't be any problem pushing it through so she will getting a lump sum in backpay from the first time she applied which she plans to give to me to pay off the loan I get. I do however like to plan for the worst, just my nature. So if I assume she doesn't get disability and I end up having to pay it off (i'm ok with this), which option in your opinions would be better? The only loan I have every received was my car loan and I got a bit screwed on it so I'm being much more careful this time. If there are any other options for us that you know of please make them known. Thank you. We will be borrowing ~8500 dollars

read my thread: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f8/options-financing-lapband-self-pay-70735/

Hello everyone, My girfriend is getting banded in about a month and the preop information packet they sent says "absolutely no smoking for 2 weeks prior to the surgery". She says she'll do it but keeps badgering me for a reason (i'm handling most everything related to the surgery - finance, setting up, research). The only thing I can think of is maybe it interferes or affects the effectiveness of the anesthesia? Do any of you happen to know why this is required? Thanks, -Bobdole

I haven't seen it written anywhere but I always thought they might be checking for a hiatel(sp?) hernia, where your stomach extends up into your diaphram to much.

Sheesh: When you are looking at a forum index of messages (like when you have "general Lap-Band support" forum open and are looking at the messages available, there is a button on the top left of the forum index. That button is "New Thread". Click it with your mouse :biggrin: Aubrie: When you are typing your message there is a button on the toolbar of the text box that looks kinda yellow and has a "mountain looking" thing on it (5 to the left on the bottom). Click it and it asks for the web location of the picture. You'll need to host your image and direct it to the picture. I generally use ImageShack® - Image Hosting. Read that website's FAQ and it should let you know how to load your image. Once loaded, use its link it provides in the box asking for the web location on this forum previously mentioned.

I ended up going with a $8500 "line of credit" from Regions Bank with interest rate currently at 8.5%(varies as fed rate +2.5). I got approved for 2 loans, one with my credit union for 10.9% and another from regions at 13% i think it was.

I'll ask the patient coordinator next time I speak to her, but do you think a nicotine patch would affect anything in place of smoking? I'll look into the Chantrix deal as well, just trying to investigate everything.

A question: If I got something like carecredit or a line of credit from a bank would that be considered a credit card payment from the doctors point of view? They info packet said paymets made with credit cards incur a $300 processing fee, which is of course rather gay and I'd like to avoid it.

Thanks for the replies. My gf and I have been together for a little over a year. We basically live as we're married and both know we will be. I just can't propose to her until her condition improves some (extremely low energy - has severe fibromyalgia). We're both hoping this surgery will help her lose weight which will in turn lessen her chronic pain, give her more energy, and improve her self esteem. cranberry - 2.5k ontop of the interest you would pay for the 10k? That is rather absurd. I'll look and see if my credit card company has any loan promotions, thats a good idea. Thank you. Long2bfree - the 8.5k is 7.5k to cover the surgery (+500 deposit i gave them a week ago) and the remainding 1k for airfare, 2 extra hotel nights, and a bit of walking around money. This would cover fills if we were to return to dr.ortiz, but i don't think $600+ in airfare per trip is worth just getting filled locally and paying out of pocket. Its $100-300 from what I've seen. I can afford the loan payment no problem, just don't happen to have any cash saved up at the moment. I also just got an 8k raise at my job that will become effective next month. If anyone has any more ideas please enlighten me.

My girlfriend is trying to get lap-band surgery. My insurance company, PHCS is requiring "the dread-ed 6 month diet". I am wondering if there is anyway out of this? She is ~250lbs, 5'8", and BMI ~39. She has other medical issues that is causing problems with this is the main problem. She has severe Fibromyalgia to the point that she is sometimes to tired or hurting to bad to get up and go to the bathroom and just holds it. She is pretty much bedridden now due to both pain and fatigue. Because of the fatigue and pain it is absolute hell for her to get up to go to doctors appointments and that is generally the only thing she leaves the house for. She misses those appointments often as well due to this. She has other comorbid issues to go with her 39BMI. Moderate sleep apnea, arthitus in her feet, body pain, and is teetering on diabetes. From what I understand of this 6mo diet, you have to see a nutritionist once a month every month and a physciain every 3 months. I and she are pretty skeptical that she can make these appointments regularly and would atleast miss one or two at which point the 6mo supervised diet is basically restarted ending up with her never getting this surgery. I and she believe that if she were to lose weight she would gain back much of the energy that she has lost over the past 4 years since she began symptoms of fibro, alleviate some of the pain, as well as her self esteem which has suffered terribly. I am trying to search for any cases where an insurance company requires a 6 month medically supervised diet and someone was able to bypass it and any details about such cases. If anyone knows of anything like this or has any advice please reply.

Hmm defintely not good news. If we absolutely have to, we may try and self pay. She has been fighting to get on government disability for over a year and has been denied 3 times. We got a lawyer involved now who says this will be no problem and he can push it through (just a side note, our nations disability application process is pretty f'd up). Anyways, she'll likely be getting that + backpay from the point she first applied which could perhaps cover the surgery costs. We would love to make use of my insurance though, so if anyone else has any useful info please let me know.