phthaloblue

Congratulations!

I am exactly in the same spot as you - started last summer, tons of appointments that take months to get, currently waiting for (another) sleep study so I can get cleared for surgery. It's tough to see so many others post surgery dates that are only a few months after their seminar/consult dates. There are days that I even wish I'd known how long this would take, and just find a way to self-pay and get back this year of my life. I'm guessing that your doctor is popular (lots of waiting) and very conservative (lots of tests) like mine is. What's helped me lately is encouragement from other posters who (like some in this thread) are reminding me that at least I have insurance that will cover the surgery, and that all the hoops they make us jump through will only improve the success of the band once we get it. We WILL get it, if we keep going to all the appointments and jumping through the hoops, and once we do, all this waiting won't seem nearly so terrible. I hope this helps, at least to know that you're not alone!

I'm coming here to vent for a moment... I've been going through the approval process for the band since August. A few months in, my insurance carrier changed their tune and said that I needed a 6 month diet, so I started that in October. In the meantime I've been doing every blood test and clearance they could possibly imagine. I understand that it's all to make sure I have the best possible outcome from surgery, but there are days when it feels like they've just added hoops in the hope that someone just gives up. Anyway, I went for my pulmonology clearance last month, although I have no history of breathing issues. No problems sleeping, no asthma, nothing. They were going to clear me except that I have big tonsils and my tongue is set high, so they wanted me to get a sleep study done just to make sure I didn't have severe sleep apnea (though I don't even snore at night). But they said that so long as it didn't come back as severe, they'd just sign off on the clearance. Okay. Another hoop. I did the study, and the tech said in the morning that I did fine; there was a touch of mild sleep apnea during one REM cycle, but nothing that would hold up surgery, in his opinion. I called my pulmonologist this week to get the clearance authorized. Only, the pulmonologist wasn't ready to issue a clearance, saying that I was getting different amounts of oxygen throughout the night, or something. So I have to go back for another study to try the CPAP machine. The whole pre-approval process has been frustrating enough, and it feels like it's not ending. Every time I think I'm finished, there's something else. On top of it, now I'm afraid that I won't be able to get a surgery date until the fall if it continues at this rate. I'm a teacher and I'm counting on getting it done during the summer when I have plenty of time to recover. At this rate, I need to get approved in the next month or two to make that happen. (It takes a while to get the surgery with my surgeon, great as he is) In the end, this whole process will have taken almost a year of my life, and though it will (hopefully) improve the quality of every year after, that's still a whole year to put off an important health procedure. Sorry for the long rant. I feel better having vented this. :sneaky:

Maestrita, thanks for the perspective. It's the positive things (like how my insurance will eventually approve payment) that I need to focus on. I got the impression that they wanted to diagnose apnea in order to arrange a CPAP machine for the recovery after surgery. I got some more information from my pulmonologist and she said that the results show mild apnea with some variability in my heart rate and oxygen levels during the night, which is a red flag for her. Though it seems those are normal symptoms of mild sleep apnea - she said last month that if my apnea was mild, she'd sign off on it. Thus my frustration. But at least it'll be over soon!!!

Thanks for the comforting words. I'll be so glad when the surgery is over and life can begin again!

Loretta, your experience sounds a lot like mine! Let's cross our fingers for June! :sneaky: Slim, I hadn't thought about this being a good preparation and learning time, but you're probably right. I've been journaling the process, and I've put a great deal of thought into it along the way. I should start looking into band friendly recipes next, like you suggested. I had assumed I'd be eating the same kinds of things I'm eating now, just less, with a little more focus on Protein. That's probably not the case, though, is it?! :confused:

Congratulations! That must be so exciting. (I'm still in the waiting process) Good luck with everything on Wednesday, and report back with how it goes! :w00t:

Thank you for your words of encouragement. It helps so much to see that others have experienced the same exhausting wait! :w00t: You're right that the silver lining is that all these tests and hoops to jump through will only yield a healthier, better outcome in the end. That is something I need to keep reminding myself.

Hello to all! I'm starting on the lap-band journey and I can use all the support and information I can get! I'm looking forward to contributing to some threads and just learning a lot about this crazy process. :redface:

Thank you for posting this!!! I'm just starting on my own journey. I had a consultation with the program nurse, and I've scheduled all my lab/psych/nutrition appointments. The tough thing right now is, exactly like you said, trying to get over all these little hurdles so I can get to the finish line. The paperwork, the appointments, and the anxiety of "will insurance cover me??" It's so incredibly reassuring to hear stories like yours. Thank you for taking the time to post!