mountainmomma

Well that is a tough one, Thing is my Dr is the one that will do my fills and this was included with the cost of the surgery, However in a conversation with my Dr, someone local had the lap band surgery from someone that was not local, this person ended up with a problem that My dr had to fix in the ER and he did not get compensated at all for it. Things happen. I had to make a 2 year committment to my Dr to stay in this area so that he can keep up with my progress and do my fills etc. I will see him every 3 months after the next couple of visits and then when 2 years is up I will only have to go 1 time a year. Not a big deal, If I do leave the area I am in now he said that most of the bigger cities have Bariatric Dr's that can take care of emergencies etc. Of course if you research DRs before you have it done then that Dr may wonder why you are going elsewhere for the surgery. Just some thoughts. Sorry I can't help with the main questions. Keep digging for info, Call the clinics that are closer to you and ask them the questions you have listed here, they may be able to help you.

I agree with you guys too, unfortunatly I had less then a day so no time to make those kinds of phone calls to dig for that kind of information, Big companies have deadlines for insurance renewals at the end of the year and I was already panicky over all the other stuff that was going on, last thing I wanted was to go off on some poor phone bank person at the INS company. But yes you are correct in the fact that you have to dig deep, but if your Dr has a patient advocate they can help alot.

Yea It is alot of $ out of pocket, Maybe talk to the Dr you have chosen and see what your options are. Don't get the new car. Get the band or whatever you decide to do,FYI the one that is advertised here is not a good option if you are trying to save money, esp if they do not have a Dr in your area. It took me 14 years to make the decision. Good luck and let me know what happens. My email is somewhere on here.

call your Dr immediatly, do not wait!

You definatly need to go to a free seminar on Gastric surgeries in general, they will explain all your choices and answer any questions you have. It is very informative and My DR would not schedule my first consult appt til I went to the class. Then if you have more questiosn they can answer them for you and make sure to take someone with you. Also the Surgeon will take all of your history into consideration and tell you which would be the best option for you. They do say that once the weight starts coming off most people can get off of meds. there are side effects of the bypass and you will always have to take chewable vitamins with any of the surgeries.Good Luck, I hope all goes well for you and also check with your insurance to see what and if they will cover for you.

My husband was going to switch us over to this Ins , I had him call and see if the surgery would be covered and they said NO. So we had one day left to switch back to Humana, which does automatically approve the surgery now if you are at least 100 lbs overweight. No waiting or anything. I had a feeling my surgery was going to get pushed out to Jan so we switched back just in case. It is not your work that causes this it is just the INS company that will not cover it. If you can go to another company for INS it will be worth it, but check the coverage first. I got very Lucky . Longer story but lets just say I only had to pay about $300 total for my surgery. Mind you est costs were $33K.

Luckily I only had to do clear liquids the day before the surgery. But yea You gotta have something to fill in the gaps so to speak. I guess all the Dr's and Nutritionists are different, I specifically asked about the shakes. But Sorry broth just did not do it for me either. lots of tomato soup , Low salt too. Glad I am past it.

WOW! I have to agree with these posts, I am only 3 weeks out from my surgery, yes I had the shoulder pain from the air during surgery but it did go away, as for the Husband... Well mine encouraged me since he knew diets are not for me. I lost about 20 lbs in the 2 weeks pre surgery diet and a couple more since, the surgery was a breeze,:thumbup: I would take your Hubby with you to an appt so he can ask all the questions he wants and maybe it will help him be a little more comfortable with it. I did have a friend who forewarned me about the jealousy after weight loss, someone I went to High school with who is 6 years out on a Bypass, told me all kinds of things I never would have even thought about. But Jealousy is one of them, Your health is the most important thing there is! Good Luck, I hope you get what you want, it will be worth it.

I lived off of Slim fast shakes and Atkins shakes, the onew without sugar for low carb Hi protein diets. This saved me. yes I had a noisy belly for a couple of weeks. I did not do yogurt till after the 2 weeks were up. I stayed strictly liquid. I had upwards of 4 shakes a day but rem this was mostly protein and yes you will be cranky, Its ok! I just went for my 2 week check last Thursday and I went on to soft foods, yogurt , grits scrambled eggs and oatmeal , mashed potatos. etc. So far so good. I had not had my first fill. but I can tell when I have had enough, does not take much. :wink2:

Ok So Just so you know , I felt the same way you do.I was told by my Dr that I was a good candidate for either one, However there is another option that I have not seen mentioned, It is called a Gastric sleeve, this is what I really wanted toget but INS does not cover any of it yet since it is a new procedure, This is sort of like getting a bypass in 2 parts but only half way, Lemme explain, they basically staple the stomach, but do not rearrange your insides at all, they just staple Cut off the excess and you are good to go. Like one long tube, unfortunatly I did not have the funds available, But I would ask my Dr about it. Also In one of your visits to Your Dr ask him about everything! I did, Just remember that the band does not have to be permanent, years down the road they could come up with something better,also I asked my DR about complications, for example if there would have been a tumor or something on my stomach then he would have had to go a different route insted of the band, while I was under, I let him know that if that happened what I really wanted was the sleeve if anything was wrong.Still all your choice. Good Luck. It was a breeze for me.