jmegirl

I just had to post in here to say that this message board is better than any book you could ever buy, and any doctor you could ever talk to. There is so much information on here, and it has helped me immensely in my quest for knowledge about the band I am getting in ... 69 days!!! :tt2:

I live in NC, so I'm travelling for this. The roundtrip flights right now are about $240/pp and the hotel is about $120/night (staying 3 nights). So altogether we'll probably spend close to $11,000 - actually, probably a little more than that when you consider the prescriptions and all the liquids we have to buy for my 2-3 weeks of liquid diet. But it's all worth it! I didn't even bother contacting my insurance company about this. I read the insurance literature I have about bariatric surgery, and it clearly lists the conditions I have to meet (none of which I meet) as well as the hoops I have to jump through. One of those "hoops" was an 18-month doctor supervised diet. I was like - HELL NO, I am not waiting another year and a half to get this done. So I convinced my husband to take out a medical loan, and we're doing the whole thing self-pay. We got our loan through www.surgeryloans.com in case you are interested. 69 days until my date with Dr. K.... :tt2: :thumbup:

I'm pretty sure I have one. Gosh, I think I have them all! :tt2: Will check when I get home (in about 4hrs) and let you know!

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that most insurances won't cover fills if they didn't cover the band, but I'm sure this depends on each person's insurance. My insurance won't cover the band without a long list of requirements being met - none of which I really care to do - so I'm a self-pay going to Dr. K in CO.

HAHA To heck with a bra! I'm letting these puppies be free for 7 whole days while I'm out of work!

Thanks so much for everyone's response! I guess I'm just torn. If I tell him, I will most certainly face a deluge of questions, accompanied with a lot of :smile2: and :crying: and :crying:. Ultimately, I really don't think my dad would be capable of understanding my situation. I'm not "morbidly obese" (5'8" and 250lbs, BMI 38), and I think he will see my actions as drastic and uncalled for. I am physically able to exercise, and I am competent enough to diet, so I feel he will strongly disagree with my choice and in the end - that would really hurt me. If I don't tell him, then yes, I will feel a little guilty. He's my father, after all. We have a great relationship, so I should be able to tell him this. But I also know that if I don't tell him, I could probably hide it from him. In the first month when my diet is restricted to liquids, he'll surely notice then. I don't know if I could get out of having lunch/dinner for a whole month without telling him WHY. But after that, having healthier meals, taking smaller bites and chewing longer - these things he shouldn't notice. What kills me is that if I decide not to tell him, then I most certainly can't tell him after I've already gotten it, if I should change my mind. He'd be crushed then. *sigh* The good thing in all of this is that my surgery is still 69 days away. No need for a decision just yet!

well then, consider me ill informed :thumbup:

NO!!:thumbup: That doesn't sound right at all. The purpose of the pre-op diet is to shrink the size of your liver to make the surgery easier on the doctor, thus making it safer for you. I would seriously question a doctor who thinks a pre-op diet isn't necessary.

If you insist on going to Mexico, then Dr. Ortiz (I've heard) is the best choice. He has performed over 6,000 LBs in his career. The only problem with going to MX is that if you have any complications, then the MX doctor is not liable for anything. This is why the surgery is so much cheaper down there. Dr. Ortiz has a very good reputation, so I would not worry. Personally, I wanted to save $3,000 and go to MX to Dr. Ortiz, but my husband absolutely refused to let me have any kind of surgery in MX. Since he's paying for it (my insurance won't cover it) I let him make that decision and opted for Dr. K in CO for $9950.

Gabi we could be twins! I am 26yo, 5'8" and 250lbs, with a BMI of 38. My insurance only covered the surgery with a BMI of 40+ (which automatically excluded me). They would cover a BMI of 35-40, but they required 2 comorbidities along with it, which surprisingly I don't have. So my husband broke down and agreed to pay out of pocket for it. I'm getting banded 11/5/08 in Colorodo with Dr. K. He has his own thread in the Doctors forum, you should check it out. His website is there as well. He only costs $9950, and that includes everything but travel/hotel. :cursing:

I'm definitely curious about this as well! I turn into :huh2: when I'm off the pill.

I must admit, I'm a little sad about this as well. While I'm not an alcoholic, I do enjoy drinking beer. My husband and I's "crew" get together on the weekends and drinking beer usually accompanies whatever we do, be it cooking out or watching football or NASCAR. I'm going to have to find something else to drink! Or just quit drinking entirely, which I suppose isn't really a bad thing. It would certainly help with the weight loss! Quitting sodas is bugging me too, since my alertness at work before 11am depends on the caffeine in sodas and coffee! But, I also know that quitting sodas will aid in the weight loss as well, and that's probably the only reason I'll manage to quit. I hope you all have fun at RR! I'm super jealous. Shelbi, we need an East Coast RR gathering sometime soon. Even if I haven't had the surgery yet, I'd still love to meet some of you! What part of NC are you in Shelbi? I'm near Raleigh.

wow, congrats! keep everyone posted! :w00t:

wow, congrats! keep us posted how it goes for you post-op! surgery is in two months for me, and i can't wait! i wish i could schedule it earlier!

i've done oodles and oodles of research on this whole LB thing, and i've gotten every single answer i could possibly get - except for the out-of-pocket cost of this whole procedure if you're not filing an insurance claim. my insurance won't cover it, and i've accepted that. my husband is willing to help me get the band anyways - bless him! but i have no idea how much this is going to cost me??? does anyone in the same boat as i am have any feedback? i just want to know what the procedure costs on average, not including the fills. i already know those are between $50-$200 without insurance. thanks a bunch :wink2:

this message board has helped me SO much in making my decision. ultimately i've decided to go with Dr. K in CO for $9950. i'm getting banded on 11/5/08!

LOL, I did have a Large Diet Coke with the whole meal. How could I not? I'm definitely NOT looking forward to quitting sodas. That's going to be one of the hardest things I've ever done - no joke. I can't wait until the day that a McD's Happy Meal is too much for me to eat. It seems unreal, but I'll be there by year's end. :w00t: The way I found out about a lap band is actually because a fellow "fat girl" told me about it! My husband and I got married May 10th of this year, and two weeks later we went to Cancun for our honeymoon. Our second night there, we met a couple who was our age, celebrating their 5yr anniversary. She was shorter than me, and she was a "bigger" girl. We got on the subject of weight, as most bigger girls do, and she told me she'd gotten a lap band in 2005 in Mexico. I thought she was crazy! She said she lost like 60lbs and was able to conceive their son. After the pregnancy, she got filled again, and was able to lose everything again and then some. She said it was the best thing she'd ever done in her life, and she was a Lap Band Advocate, trying to convince every bigger girl who struggled with her weight to get a Lap Band, because it had changed her life so much that she felt she HAD to pass the word on. So I went home, and that was the first thing I looked up. For two months I just sort of dabbled with the idea, then I finally convinced myself that it was worth it. I think I convinced my husband in about 3 days, and now here I am, awaiting my Lap Band. So the reason for that long diatribe is to say this: I am getting a lap band because a fellow "fat girl" actually had the nerve to say something to me when I told her about my weight struggles. Don't be afraid to say something if you think it will be well received! If she hadn't said something, I wouldn't be here today. I still talk to her, and she's so happy that I finally made an appointment! She also said they're working on Baby #2, haha.

So as some of you may have read, I got my appointment with Dr. K yesterday afternoon. I'm too excited for words - but most of you have been here, haha, and you know exactly how I feel. I told Shelbi this funny story in a private message, but thought I'd share it with you all. My husband typically works late on M-Th, and then he goes to the gym for an hour. So, when he came home around 8:30p last night, I had hunkered down on the couch with a Big Mac, Large fries, and TWO apple pies. And I was steadily eating every bite. He looked at me like I'd just slaughtered a pig on our coffee table, and I said, "It's called the Last Supper baby! I've got a date!!" and he just burst out laughing. He's so happy for me, and I'm too excited for words! :crying:

:smile2: I got mine today too! 11/5/08 WOOHOO!!! :biggrin2:

I made the appointment today! 11/5/08 with Dr. K in Denver, CO. YAY! I vote for the Notorious Novembers! Not a big fan of Newvembers, but that's just me... :smile2:

Hot diggity dawg, I'VE GOT A DATE with Dr. K!!! November 5th, 2008 baby!!! :smile2: :tt1:

Well, I've jumped over most every hurdle but that one. :tt1: I've gotten approval from my job to take sick time for what they consider an "elective cosmetic surgery". :smile2: I've convinced my husband to help me do this, he's filed for the loan, and I'm sure we'll get the $$ we need, probably getting approval within the next 24hrs. And I'll be calling Dr. K's office in about 15mins (as soon as I leave my office) to snag the first appointment they have in November. I'm just assuming at this point that they'll have some kind of availability at that time...lol. Surely they aren't completely booked! OK, so maybe I've not jumped every hurdle yet, but daggonit, I'm getting this band!

Wait just a daggone second here. You have to quit sodas when you have a lap band??? :tt1::confused2::smile2:

It won't be my burger for long...I'm getting banded in November by Dr. K! :smile2: Note to self: Have one last RR Burger.

They tell me curiousity killed the cat...but here goes. If you really really really wanted a big fat Red Robin burger - the one with the fried egg on it! - would you be able to eat it? At least like 5 or 6 bites of it? I guess I'm just not sure how small your stomach really is with a lap band. :confused2: I think this is what I'm going to struggle with the most (which is why I probably won't go out to eat much, haha) - at restaurants, I tend to get what I want when I want it. Which is why I've been overweight for so long, lol. Salads are good and all, but the RR burger with cheese and bacon and a fried egg on it... Oh my, I'm drooling. :smile2: