amprice4

Well I guess I can fill out this form... I'm Andrew a 27 year old male from Phoenix AZ, never married, no kids. I'm always willing to meet new people.

I agree with both posts above... If you are going to have your insurance cover the surgery you will probably have to go through a 6 month medically supervised diet anyways. You could start the program that your doctor wants you on and after 6 months you can make a more accurate decision on what you want to do. The band requires a complete lifestyle change but it's all for the good. My life no longer revolves around food and I don't even think about it like I did before. Good luck with whatever you decide!

I felt the same way about burping post-op. It was pretty uncomfortable for a while but the feeling did go away about day 10 after surgery. It is completely normal so don't worry about it. Like restless said, don't drink with straws.

I used chewing tobacco all the way up to the day before I had the blood work done and they never said anything about it. I haven't used it since and I'm so happy about that!! I think I have one of the rare surgeons that will do the surgery even if you use tobacco product because I was never even asked about it.

well I have cigna and my experience was interesting to say the least. I went through everything required and it was submitted for approval. I was denied within a week because the surgery center that my surgeon uses wasnt in network. After re-submitting everything about 3 times they finally found a hospital to do the surgery at about 5 months later. To answer your question it took about a week for me to hear an answer every time.

I think I was a little faster than most but I was up walking in the hospital an hour after surgery. I was driving the following day and back to normal activity on day 2 also. Everyone heals differently and has different tollerences for pain. I think you will be fine to go to class. Good luck with everything!

I was banded on a monday morning and was driving tuesday afternoon. so much for dangerous and painful here as I didn't take ANY pain meds in the hospital or at home.:thumbup:

In my surgeons instructions it says you can try it after 2 months post-op but it may cause discomfort... everyone is different, my suggestion is try it and see how you feel.

Thats good stuff Liz keep up the good work you look beautiful!!! I myself have started to notice that the clothes I haven't worn in a couple years are fitting now. I also had to put in an order at work for more uniforms.

Every surgeon is different but my diet allows me to have sugar free pudding, yogert, applesauce, soups if blended, and other stuff like that after 48 hours. I am a week and a half post-op and my day consists of a protein shake in the morning and at night and I will have a yogert or pudding for lunch. I am totally satisfied with this so the diet has been pretty easy. I have started buying the cambells soup at hand that you can sip on and they are great. The noodles are very small and they go down nice. You may want to try sugar free popsicles but call and ask before you do anything.

I have cigna and I lost 21 pounds on the 6 month diet. I was told that it doesn't really matter how much you lose as long as you don't gain any weight. As I understand it they are just making sure that you can change your eating habbits after the surgery. I was told though also not to lose an extreme amount of weight. As long as your bmi is still over 40 (or 35 w/ 2 co-morbidities) you should be fine.

Congrats on quitting smoking! I know I did a little over a year ago and it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Most suregeons wont do the surgery on smokers and some will test for nicotine in your blood test. Just be honest if they ask you about it. I think nicotine only has a 48 hour half life so you should be fine for your tests. Good luck!!

Mine was almost a year to the day of my first consultation. 6 month diet, psyc, nutrition, sleep study, then 4 months to get approval, pre-op testing, then 2 months later I had the surgery. I could have done the surgery in June or July but I had a scheduling conflict. Good Luck!

Surprise, AZ. It's just minutes west of Phoenix

Good luck to all of you!!! I was banded last monday and I'm doing great! I was nervous like everyone else but it really wasn't bad at all.

Awesome! I have nothing but good things to say about him and everyone else at TR.

Hey everybody I'm 27 from Phoenix, AZ and I had my surgery 8-24 so I'm just a few days into all of this. I guess I'm different from most of you by being a guy with the band. Good luck to everyone!

I had to stay overnight per insurance req. It wasn't too bad but I would have liked to do it outpatient. I was up walking around 30 min after I woke up with almost no pain at all. I didn't take any pain killers at the hospital and I still haven't touched the lortab I have at home.

I've been looking at these boards for over a year now and I figured this would be a great time for my first post. I was banded yesterday 8-24-09 by Dr. Nirmul. I had to stay in the hospital overnight (insurance required) but I could have easily gon home the same day. I've had very little pain through everything so far. I didn't even take any pain killers at the hospital thats how good I felt afterwards. I have a little gas pain in my chest today but nothing bad at all. A littler background on me: I am a 27 year old male been overweight my entire life. I'm looking forward to this marathon of weight loss!

I have kind of an odd story. I started this whole process in August '08 and I had to go through the 6 month supervised diet. I did everything that insurance required and it was submitted for approval in January. I was denied a few times mainly because the surgery center that my doctor uses isn't in network. Then last month they called me and said they got an approval for an in network hospital. My starting weight at the first appt was 391. I lost about 15 lbs during the visits. the other weight that I lost all came in the last 2 weeks from the pre-op diet. I had no issues with the pro-op diet because I could still eat lean meat and have Protein shakes. Good luck to you with your decision just remember this is a complete lifestyle and you have to be 100% commited!