teacherica

Hey All... I am soooo excited! I am being banded December 3rd. ONly a few more days to go. I went shopping with my gorgeous size 5 sisters and mother yesterday. I couldn't help but dream of picking out clothes in the same store as them. My dietician suggested a preop diet but it was never required. I did a preop diet for 2 months while waiting for approval from insurance. I kind of slacked over thanksgiving. Does anyone know of people who had the surgery without a preop diet? Did they have lots of complications postop?

Did you give BCBS a weight history from just one Dr? I had to submit my weight history from other Dr.s from the last 2 years. That REALLY helped them decide on approval after a denial and an appeal process! Don't be discouraged. Just be persistant and ask your provider to help you. My provider actually spent time talking with the nurse who was reviewing my file for approval. I must have received 10 phone calls that day about getting more info to them. My provider said later that more info was needed and she had to keep working with the nurse from my insurance company to make sure I got the approval. You can't do it alone, get the help from the provider! They should know a lot about your approval and they should be 100% involved! Good luck. It took 1 month from start to denial, than 1 more month of waiting from appeal to approval for me. Before that, I had to do 3 months of supervised diet. I started in June and am finally being banded on Dec. 3rd. So glad it took so long because I spent 2 months on the preop diet in addition to the 3 months of supervised dietician diet. I have really changed my eating habits and proved to myself that I can do this. I needed this time. A blessing in disguise.

I am scheduled for December 3rd! I can't wait. I was originally scheduled for NOvember 19th, but had to reschedule to find out more about my doc. and help my mom through her emergency surgery on her eyes. I will be starting my preop diet on Friday. (I did 2 months of preop diets and than took a short break for about 2 weeks) but my Dr. never mentioned the need for a preop diet accept the day before surgery. My dietician suggested the preop diet. Lost 15 lbs, so maybe I'll lose another 5 before surgery!

About Insurance... be patient and persistant. Good luck and welcome

I did the seminar and was okay with them. I did some research regarding Dr. salimitari who now does the lapband surgeries. He is okay but not board certified. Has had his training done in July but has done over 100 lapband surgeries. I would appreciate any advice of how things went after surgery. I am planning on having surgery next week with them. WEre there any financial surprises later? How were you treated just before surgery, right after surgery?

I graduated in 1997 a year early technically by a test. My dad graduated in 1975? He is now 51 years old. Now Indio High has a daycare on campus with a waiting list. Every class I was in had at least 2 pregnant girls in them. One girl even had 4 kids by the time she was a senior. I found out that by 1998, Indio was one of the leading High Schools of pregant girls. I now work at a Junior High as a teacher in Oxnard California and I have a 13 year old student with a baby who is almost a year old. I look forward to making more friends. Vegas sounds fun! I go there at least 1 time a year. I understand your addiction trade. I believe this is a good trade. It's great to hear your success. I hope for success like yours.

Thanks... Yes, I know Amistad. I went to Indio High School, as my father did. Well I did find out stuff about this Dr. He has no malpractice in his history and he used to work at a hospital. I also talked to a former patient (as of October 3rd) from lapbandtalk.com and she said she was very happy with him and has had no complications. The actual surgery center will do my fills for free for the first year and I can speak to a dietitian via phone whenever I want to. That has worked with me. (I have lost 15 lbs alone on the diet she told me to follow and I have completely changed my eating habits since June) I would love to find a support group and make some friends. That's why I am here on this website which was recommended by my dietician. I feel a whole lot better and am now ready to go through with the surgery. Thanks for being there. Erica

Did you find out any info regarding this Doc?

Indiogirl I need some advice. I don't want to make a stupid decision. I told you about what I found out about the Dr. and place I was going to get my lapband surgery done. (Top Surgeons) The Doc wasn't board certified, had less than 20 surgeries, the ownders had their licenses revoked and suspended... remember. Well, I found out that Dr. Billy is amazing... but my insurance will only cover 70%. That means I am stuck paying $8000 out of pocket, and they want half of that before I can have surgery! Top Surgeons was only going to charge me a copay of $250 and was satisfied with the 70%. So, basically, I can't have the surgery unless I get it from Top surgeons. By coincidence (I really don't think it was a coincidence) 1 minute after I found out the devestating financial news about Dr. Billy... Dr. Samari from TopSurgeons (the one who was suppossed to do my surgery in the first place) called me personally and asked me if I was uncomfortable and was willing to answer my questions. So I asked him if he was board certified... he said no, but was in the process of becoming board certified. I asked him how many lap band surgeries he had done. He said over 100 in the past month and more since July when he completed his lap band training. I asked him what complications to expect and how many of his patients came back with complications. He said that less than 1% of his patients have come back and it was for band slippage and he blamed poor diet for that. So he made me feel a lot more comfortable and I want to know from you... AM I CRAZY FOR RECONSIDERING? I thought that since it's orthoscopic surgery, and he does have experience and I can afford the surger only here... that it may be worth the risk. It's not brain surgery. I am also looking to find out how his other patients are doing after having surgery by him. You would know if this is "major surgery" and worth these kind of risks. Your opinion would be appreciated. Thanks, Teacherica aka Erica

Hello All, I am getting banded November 19th. I am very nervous. Not about the surgery, but about missing food. Has anybody else gone through this mourning process. I find it logically rediculous to miss food, but I am really feeling some anxiety over what I am saying goodbye to. Any advise would be GREATLY appreciated. I don't know anyone else who is going through this, so I am glad to find this website! :thumbup:

Thanks for the advise. It is very helpful. I am not nervous anymore. I just want to get banded! I am finally ready.

I did the seminar and my first appt. at the same time. My insurance (Aetna) made me do a 3 month diet under a dietician's care as well as a psyc eval. I did an endoscopy, blood work and I finally got my approval. I started in June and am now ready

Thanks Janet, I was scheduled to be banded on the 19th by Top Surgeons in Beverly Hills. I just found out that the Dr. scheduled to do my surgery is not Board Certified and has only done a few Lap Bands ever. He has only done surgeries under his supervisor's instruction and has only been trained since July! I found out that the two owners of Top surgeons have had their medical license revoked or are on probation for malpractice! Needless to say, I am NOT going through with the surgery and am in the process of looking for a new Dr. I am excited to meet Dr. Billy in Ventura next week, but I still am a little sad about missing out on surgery this week.. But I do thank God that I found this stuff out before I went through with the surgery. This website is awesome. The lapband community is small and everyone seems to know so much and thanks to this website, I saved myself a huge headache and future complications.

Hello, I'd love to share this journey with someone who is having surgery on the same date as me. I too will be banded on the 19th. Feel free to send me some advise or questions. Are you going through "Last Super" syndrome?

I too am being banded on the 19th. I hope everything goes smoothly for you. It is all going to be worth it!

I will be banded on the 19th! I too am scared, shocked, but mostly excited!

Indiogirl55, My home town is Indio, California. I wanted to ask if you would consider being my Buddy. I am going to be banded on Wednesday, November 19th. I am having some anxiety about missing the food after surgery - even though I have been doing great the last 2 months on my preop food plan. I've already lost 15 lbs. I currently weigh 260 lbs and I am 5'7. I wear a size 20/22. My heaviest weight was 275 lbs. I have been replacing 1 to 2 meals with Protein shakes and eating sensibly for the past 2 months waiting for my insurance to approve the surgery. Good news is last week they approved it. Bad news is I am suddenly full of anxiety over missing food. Even though I haven't been bad, I have had the comfort of knowing I can be bad, but with lapband, I lose my security blanket. When I get stressed, or upset, I tend to go to food, so what do I do once I'm banded if I can't eat? Thanks for listening, if you already have too many buddies, I understand, but please refer me to someone. I KNOW I will be much more successful if I have a buddy. teacherica

You are not alone. I too am starting to want to eat a lot. I am having a lot of anxiety about giving up food. I just found out last week that I am getting banded on the 19th and I am now trying to stick to the diet, but I am finding that it is hard because I can't help but think that this may be my last "steak" or my last "ice cream".