Jonnycat1

Well, it's been an ARDUOUS task, but Insurance finally approved my claim this morning. I won't get into the nitty gritty, but after initially approving, then rescinding the offer two weeks later on a technicality citing that I was non-compliant with documentation that they said I never was required to have, they had to approve the procedure after reviewing recorded phone conversations I had on three separate occasions when I first started researching what was required for approval. I had to get my benefits coordinator involved and go all the way to a special review committee. Luckily, the recordings prooved that I did indeed ask if any additional documentation was required (on three separate phone calls), and was told no. So, when they say "this call may be recorded for training purposes" remember that anything they tell you over the phone can be retrieved for later review! It's the only thing that put them on the hook. Surgery date set for January 2nd! I'm so blessed and VERY excited! :cursing:

Just found out that I'm a January 2nd bandster! Go 2009!!:cursing:

Hello all. Just got some exciting news! After three months of going through the motions, having psych. evaluations, various testing and bloodwork done, my file is FINALLY beind submitted to insurance! Hoping that the approval doesn't take too long, but am 99% certain that they will approve, as my insurance covers this procedure and I qualify on every prerequisite! I'm just so excited, I had to share! This might actually happen before the year is up!

Congratulations! I'm probably about two months pre-band right now. Have friends that have had this done. They tell me that it is really important to get up and walk about after the surger to get rid of the CO2 gas pains in your shoulder(s) and chest. If you can manage, try to do as much walking as you can bear. It should help. Also, if you are still feeling cruddy and the tylenol with Codeine is not doing the trick, don't be afraid to call your doctor for something stronger. That's what the meds are there for! Best of luck! :sad_smile:

Can anyone out there who has had the banding, or knows the answer to this question let me know what kind of pain management program they put you on after surgery? When you come out of the surgery do they give you something like Dilauded? Or Morphine? Or something else? What about while you are recovering? What should one expect as far as post-surgical pain and how medications help? Can you ingest pain pills, or do they give it to you in a different form? Thanks.

I've heard that about walking. I plan on getting my walk on next week and get myself back into semi-decent walking shape so that I can power through and heal faster. Good information!

I would find out the person at Cigna that will be processing your paperwork. Then, you can call the clinic and let this office administrator person know that "Susan (or whoever is processing your claim at Cigna) is going to be processing your paperwork and that she needs it right away and to please call you back the minute it has gone through and the fax confirmation sheet prints off." That way, you can call and verify that it has indeed been faxed and received by Cigna and you have successfully routed it directly to the person who will be processing your claim.

I have United Healthcare as well! I'm glad to hear that they responded so quickly. That's what I've heard from the surgical group that I am using!

Yes. Very benign questions. Helps them to identify if you have any specific eating disorders, suicidal tendencies, etc... I was worked up about it at first, but then it went very well and was a piece of cake. Hm. That was a bad pun! Perhaps I should have just said that it went swimmingly! :Banane37:

Like everyone else has said, your personal weight goal really is a decision that you need to make on your own with your doctor. I do highly recommend that people get a Hydrostatic Dunk Test for body composition. This is the test where you climb into a tank of Water and sit on a swing that is submerged and then you dunk yourself completely under and expel as much air out of your lungs as you can. The swing is attached to a scale, so it most accurately weighs you, your muscle and bone mass vs. your fatty tissue and will give you the most accurate number based on a realistic body fat percentage. It gives hope to people like me who, according to the height weight charts, say that I should weight 178. My dunk test told me years ago that I should be at about 225 - 230 to be at about 8% bodyfat. (Yes, I'm a guy.) At that point, I was 212 and was trying everything I could do to get thinner. My friends began to be concerned and now when I look back at those pictures, I still can't believe that I got that thin. I was told after the test was done to go home and safely put about 10 lbs. back on to be right in the optimal zone. We're all made differently, so please don't get stuck on a number. It's JUST a number. We're a whole of our parts. Not a number! Get the hydrostatic dunk test if you want to know the EXACT number you should generally be keeping things. You'll thank me for it! :Banane37:

I'm finding much the same issue. The waiting game. I'm finding that if I don't stay on top of the surgical group and all of the other related doctor's file and information gathering, this process could very easily go astray. I find it irritating, but at the same time, if I had to rely on anyone to do this for me, I could be two years out, rather than two months. I'm making it clear with the group I'm having the surgery done through that I have a short window of opportunity within the next two months that I need to fit this into and so far, it seems that they are being responsive. It seems that if I show the active interest that I have thus far, they will see that I am very serious about this and will push things through more readily. Of course, I'm still waiting on some things, but I guarantee you that I'll be on the phone on Tuesday if I don't hear anything from anyone tomorrow!

Hello all. I'm a 34 yo male in the Portland, OR area. Found out recently that my insurance will cover the lap band procedure if I meet the criteria. I clearly meet the criteria, have had the initial seminar required, filled out all of the necessary paperwork, met with my doctors and had them send over all the information. My file is currently under review by the Bariatric Surgical group at OHSU so I'm in the waiting game. I have scheduled my psych eval. for tomorrow to get that out of the way to expedite this process. Can anyone give me any advice on how long this may take? I have been told that my case will pretty much be a slam dunk through the insurance, as the surgical group has a premiere relationship with my insurance company, once the file has been approved and they start scheduling me, what's after the nutritionist and psych. eval? A meeting with the surgeon? Then scheduling the surgery? I don't know anything about how this works, so I'd like to find out from someone who has done this and roughly what kind of time I'm looking at here. I just get up every day wishing this was all over and I was on the way to getting back in shape and dropping weight. It's so hard to keep trudging on at a snail's pace. I know it fill finally come, but seriously. How much longer??!! Thanks.

Hello all. I have found an amazing program that PBS put out called "Fat: What No One Is Telling You". For those of you who have weight issues and are trying to find the words and information to share with your friends and relatives on how and why you feel the way you do, how and why weight doesn't come off and how and why you have come to the decision to have this or some other procedure done, this is the program for you to watch, and share with them. I have spent the past two months defending my decision with my friends and family. It's exhausting trying to convince others that this decision that YOU are making for YOURSELF is okay. I encourage all of you to watch this program and share it with your friends and family letting them know that as part of your journey, it is very important for you to have them watch the entire program. It's free on PBS. Here is the link in case you have trouble finding it. Best of luck to everyone! FAT: What No One Is Telling You - Watching: Chapter 1 | PBS

Thanks for the reply! I agree. People shouldn't have to defend this decision. The only solace I get out of my friends and family being so concerned is that they inherently care about my safety and well-being and also that they just don't know enough about the problems overweight people face and that they don't have any exposure or information about the Lap Band procedure. They hear surgery and start to freak out. That's where this wonderful video has come in so very handy. It clearly outlines the issues, both medical and psychological and shows how this is a good thing for people. Best of luck on your journey and continued healing!

I'm working on getting banded. Having been very heavy in my youth, losing much if not all of the weight I needed to lose and now, having gained most if not all of it back, I can give you a few points of view that your Mother is going through. First, the comment you make about "trying to be supportive". In that kind of language, this says to me that you are only being supportive, because you have to, not because you want to. Being genuinely concerned and being OVERLY PROTECTIVE, are two entirely different things. You need to focus your mind differently on approaching your mother and how you deal with things. Statements like "I've tried to be supportive" indicate that you don't trust the person inherently and this can create an emotional chasm between you and the other person that can have ill effects later on. My second insight to you is that having been an EXTREMELY obese person, migrating to the EXTREMELY FIT and healthy thin person, I never truly saw how wonderful I looked. I always thought I was still fat. I look at pictures now and wince, knowing that the person in that picture was thinking that he was still disgustingly fat, even though he looked AMAZING in the picture. The problem is called Body Dysmorphic Disorder. Body Dysmorphic Disorder is a psychiatric disorder in which the affected person is excessively concerned about and preoccupied by an imagined or minor defect in his or her physical features. This is especially common with people who have lost a tremendous amount of weight, or have eating disorders. The only suggestion I can give you is that perhaps you gently encourage your Mother to speak to her physician and/or you possibly speak to her physician on the side asking if he/she could recommend that your Mother see a psychotherapist. Perhaps the one that did the Bariatric Surgical Evaluation to go over these issues. Please just be careful when approaching your Mother. Be patient and understanding, because the last thing you want to do is to alienate her and her feelings by trying too hard to "Dr. Phil" her into seeing that this is a problem. Your mother needs to come to this conclusion on her own, with some really great, nurturing psychotherapy. Now that I'm on the other side again, anxiously trying to get back, I have overcome this issue and know that when I get where I need to be, I will be the most thankful person in the world. Best of luck to you and remember to be really proud of your mother and her accomplishments. A 74 year old lady who lost that much weight deserves to kick up her heels and live a little! Enjoy this time with her!

I'm not a very patient person either. I'm definitely keeping on top of things, but again, I'm at the mercy of other people to do their job. I'll be calling next week to find out the status on my file, as it will have been three weeks since my file went in for review at that point. I will have to investigate what the diet entails and start working on that. I'm mentally ready for 1 month of no solid foods. I can do it. I know I can. Great information about being prepared and understanding the food changes. I know everything about everything else, but the eating regiment. Thanks for the feedback!

Hello all. I have been talking with and sometimes AT my friends and family about my decision to move forward with the Lap Band surgery and just recently found an AMAZING program that was done by PBS. It's called Fat: What No One Is Telling You. You can find the program, that you can watch online by typing the title into a Google search or try the link I am including. Instead of trying to talk about this with my friends and family, I am just sending this link to all of them asking them to watch the entire program and REALLY listen to what they are saying and that it is VERY important to me that they understand what and why I'm doing what I'm doing. I can only hope that by repeatedly asking them if they have watched it, they finally will and will grasp that it's not just as simple as eating less and working out more for some people to lose weight. Some of us have something wired into us that makes this difficult, if not impossible. I urge all of you to watch this program, all 11 segments of it, because there were parts that just struck me and some parts that eloquently put into words, the explanation, both clinically and in layman's terms so that people can understand what I go through. As for me, my file is currently under review, I have my psych eval. tomorrow, then I'm off to the nutritionist and hopefully to the surgeon soon! FAT: What No One Is Telling You - Watching: Chapter 1 | PBS