DianaG

Hello all, My fills were included in the total cost for up to a year. I have only been banded since July 27th, so I won't have to pay for one before June of 2010. Don't know how much they will charge then, if I still have to have them. Abby, since BCBS FEP does not require the supervised diet, I would see if they would even pay for the visits to the diatician/doctor for something they don't even require!! I would bet they would balk at that! I had to see the diatician twice before my surgery and they did pay for those visits. She is always available for phone calls and emails about my diet. I attend a support group and the diatician as well as the RN in charge of the program are always there also. That adds up to a lot of supervision/time for conversation with her without having to go through the 3 month deal when your ins. doesn't require it. I have learned over the last 42 years of having Federal Employee insurance, that you have to really be insistant that the billing dept. of doctors, clinics, hospitals, really, really understand that it is NOT like the local programs. Good luck to you all.

My surgeon had me on a two week liquid diet to clear the fat from the liver. He warned me that if I cheated on the diet that he would "pull out" if he saw a fatty liver. He said that it made the surgery more risky for his patient and he would not put the patient in danger because of the challenge of operating with a fatty liver. He would have you start all over with the liquid diet and try again. Turns out that my liver was not fatty, but was really large. He made the decision to go ahead and band me,because a repeat of the liquid diet wouldn't shrink my liver any more. It did make the surgery more challenging for him and I did end up with a couple of lacerations to my liver. That was extremely painful and he kept me in the hospital a couple of extra days. I am really glad that he went ahead and installed the band, because if he had pulled out because of my naturally large liver, I more than likely wouldn't have had the courage to let him try it again later!! So there you have it....it is really a lot safer for you if you have stuck to the preop diet and cleared the fat from your liver.

Lisa, I must say that I am impressed with your mental attitude and your weight loss. You have a great ability to step back from the situation that faces you and to readjust your thinking and act on it. You should be very proud of yourself:thumbup:

Ya got that right! Keep at it and they will finally understand. Let us know how it goes.:confused:

I don't know what could cause that feeling so long after eating. I would suggest that you call your doctor. At least then you would have an answer and that might provide some peace of mind.

Let us know what you find out.

I love sugar free gum. I was using it until I read, somewhere on this forum, that if you accidentally swallow it you may have a "stuck" episode of very painful proportions! You may even have to have the fill saline removed so that the gum can pass on through!!!! It seems that our digestive juices and papaya enzyme can't dissolve gum. I really hated to give it up...but I have.

Congrats!! You are now on the way to a new, healthy, you!!! Binders?!:thumbdown: I never heard of that!!! The only thing that I had for support was a small pillow to hold tight across my tummy to help support it in case I sneezed, coughed, or hit a bump in the road on my way home from the hospital. That did help a lot. Good luck to you!

My surgeon does not require everyone to have a sleep study before surgery. Having said that, I do have sleep apnea that was diagnosed well before I even started the lap band process. My husband was diagnosed with sleep apnea several years ago. Sleep apnea is a serious thing. It can contribute to several health issues, such as heart problems, high blood pressure and strokes. It doesn't mean that you just snore loudly! My internist explained to me that when you have an episode of not breathing, your body reacts just like it would if someone put a pillow over your face to suffocate you. When you have sleep apnea this means that several times a night your body has to react to the sensation of suffocation. Adrenalin flows, heart pounds, you have oxygen depletion, etc. Think about it...that can't be good for you!!! Since being on CPAP's, my husband and I both feel a lot better and have more energy and are not being suffocated multiple times a night! So all sleep centers and sleep studies, are certainly NOT scams. Sleep apnea and associated health problems can take years off your life. After your test, if you don't have sleep apnea, be happy. But if you do have it, be glad it was found and please use your CPAP. It is a tool to be used to help your get a healthier life, just like the lapband does!

Man, I am feeling really, really lucky! Sure I have had the pain and been in bandster hell with hunger,but I have an excellent surgeon, support group,diatician, etc. My surgeon is the only one who gives me my fills and is patient and understanding. The first fill he put in 2cc's, the next time I found out why you have to do fills in different amounts for different people!. He put in 2cc's more to bring me up to 4 cc's. Then I took a few sips of Water and the pain hit me in the middle of the chest! It was so bad that it started to affect my breathing. The surgeon then removed 1cc. That was such a relief. He told me to come back in a week. Well, the week went by and I was eating anything I wanted! Today was a week from that fill, so I went back to see him again. He told me that he was going to only put in 1cc to see how I would react to it. It went in and I sipped the water. Didn't hurt like last week, but just sat there in the middle of my chest and sorta gurgled. Really uncomfortable, but painless. I took some more tiny sips and the nurses (2 of them) thought that perhaps the dr. should remove a half a cc. I didn't want to lose any of the fill, but also did not want to be too tight. Luckily my dr. is a very calm and patient individual. He calmed me down by just explaining what was happening,and why. He asked me to stay at the clinic for about a half hour. Just walk around and see how I felt. If I did feel like I needed a slight unfill he would do it, but just relax for a while and see if I didn't feel better. He totally understood that I was really nervous after the episode last week and was very sympathetic. Long way around to say that I wish everyone had the same excellent care that I am receiving...from pre surgery clear through the fills. Not to say that this is easy, but with the right medical team helping you out, it makes it a lot better! We all deserve the very best of care and the right to have everything explained to us before we experience it first hand!! Keep searching until you find a facility where you can receive that level of care!!

My doc said that he does not want me losing less than a pound or more than 3 a week. So sounds like 2 pounds a week is just about perfect!:thumbup: Keep up the good work, and if you hit a bump in the road, just hang on, move around it and keep going!

There is a lot of reading to be done here. I have been trying to keep up with a lot of threads and find that I must just pick and choose the ones that catch my attention that day! Lots of information to try to absorb. Just got back from having my 3rd fill. Last week the fill was too tight and the surgeon had to take some out. Of course, I then didn't have enough restriction! So this morning he added another cc and I am now up to 4. I feel restriction with this fill and if it really bothers me, I am to go back to the Dr. and have him take some out. I hope I don't have to do that as I am anxious to find that sweet spot soon! You have lost a good amount of weight so far. Do you want the band because, like me and others, you can lose the weight but then you gain it ( & possibly more) back again? Wishing you all the best.

Hey, don't know if this would help you or not, but I'll tell you about me and Optifast anyway. First of all, I had a total of 6 a day, so already I was better off than you:wink2:. I got up each morning, and drank black decaff coffee until 10am when I had my first optifast. I sipped it really really slowly!!! Then I had one at noon, 2pm,4pm,6pm, and the last one at 8pm. That schedule worked pretty well for me, and of course the crystal lite popsicles helped out too. Good luck to you....the time will pass faster than you think!:thumbup:

Abby, BCBS FEP, has the same coverage in all states. It does not matter what state you live in, or what state you have the surgery in. I live in Arkansas, but had my surgery in Missouri. The insurance paid 85% of the surgical costs after my deductable was paid. You will find this information in the book of benefits that BCBS sends to each federal employee ( or retiree) who has their insurance. The only trouble I ever have with the insurance, is trying to explain to the billing departments of clinics, dr's, and hospitals, that the BCBS insurance for federal employees is different from the regular BCBS and will pay for things that the regular BCBS of that state will not. Sometimes they really have a hard time understanding that. The "R" at the beginning of your insurance number, designates that it is indeed federal employees insurance and has to be sent to a different office to be paid than the regular BCBS. Usually, insurance is the hangup with getting the surgery approved, but that is not the case with our insurance. By the time the doctor's office submitted mine until the time it was approved was 1 week. Not bad at all. Also, there is no 3-6 month diet requirement before surgery!! So, if your dr's office keeps insisting that BCBS of Ohio does not pay, you keep insisting that you do not have BCBS of Ohio,and that you have BCBS FEP and that they do pay. You might even take in your book from BCBS FEP and show it to them!!! I have reached the point, where I just ask if there is someone in billing that is familiar with filing claims with the BCBS federal insurance, and ask to speak with them. You might want to do a "search" on this site, because I know that there is more information here about this subject. I remember responding to another thread, but can't remember the name of it. Good luck to you!!

I agree with Lolly. Call your doctor. Keep us posted. Good luck!

Hi Rebekah, glad you decided to join us. You will find that everyone here is helpful and supportive! I know that you will find a lot of helpful information and friendship here. Welcome!!:sad:

WOW!!! Phyll, that is fantastic!! Hopefully someday I will be able to get in to a 14/16 also!! Didn't make it all the way to New Mexico. We spent a week in Oklahome so DH could attend a woodcarving seminar. Had a ball, but noticed that I was getting really, really, hungry and since I had only had one fill, we decided to come back home and get me a fill. It was only my second one, and the surgeon wanted to try putting in 2cc. Well, I had a terrible pain in my chest and so he took out 1.5cc's. I go back to see him on Tuesday and if I am doing well, he will give me another fill at a smaller amount. Wish me luck. So we will be heading out on vacation a bit later. Probably after Christmas. Will try to make it to southern NM or southern AZ. Don't think we will make it to CA this year, but hope you have a grand time there. I am so happy for you being able to get to go shopping and find out that you have "shrunk" some more!!! Way to go!!:thumbup:

I am glad that you decided to join the rest of us bandsters. This site is full of valuable information and help. Of course, it sometimes has some not so valuable information, but we can overlook that!:thumbup: Welcome!!!

For 2 weeks before my surgery I had to drink 6 "optifast" Protein drinks a day. This was to remove all fat from around my liver. I could have Jello and popsicles, but no solid food. Just Clear liquids. If I had not followed this diet, the doc said he would have stopped the surgery if he saw a fatty liver!! So I did not cheat at all!!!!! Pre op physical at hospital was blood work, ekg, etc. Hope this helps. And as always, follow your doctor's advise.

knbmom, slime is a LOT of saliva. I think I got lucky yesterday. I had a warning of how it felt to get stuck. I had just had my second fill of 2cc's of saline. I was sipping Water just afterwards. The doc asked me how I felt, and I had told him "just fine". He said the nurse would stay with me while I finished the water and said he would be back if I needed anything. Well, one sip later and the pain in the chest started! I can imagine that is how a heart attack feels. The pain was intense!!:thumbup: . The saliva started to flow!!:biggrin: I couldn't believe how much of it there was!! I thought I would drown! So, the nurse called the doctor back and he immediately gave me an unfill of about 1.5 cc's. The relief was instantaneous. Like the nurse said, I was glad that I found out how bad it could be to get food stuck, while she and the surgeon were right there and could fix the problem. They told me that since I am now aware of how painful it is to get stuck, I have a "head's up" that I must really be sure to eat small bites and chew very well. Hope I can keep that in mind every time I eat!!!!

Tory, My husband is a stomach sleeper also, but he has severe sleep apnea. After he got the cpap, he has felt much better. There are other symptoms involved with sleep apnea, not just stopping breathing. Although, that is serious enough!! The way the doctor explained it to us, is that imagine how your body would react if someone placed a pillow over your face several times a night. You actually never get into the deep REM (rapid eye movement) sleep that you need for your body to be completely rested. One thing that really was improved for me by using the cpap, is that my blood oxygen level was up higher than when I didn't use the cpap. In response to the concern some have about getting used to the cpap and it's headgear. It took longer for me to get used to the nasal pillows and headgear than it did my husband. The only way I got used to it was to just keep using it, and if I threw it off in the middle of the night sooner or later I would wake up and put it back on. As far as the dry mouth goes, my cpap has a heated humidifier that practically eliminates that problem. Most, if not all, later model cpaps can be purchased with a humidifier. Hope this helps some of you give your cpap another chance. It really does improve your health.

Tonya, I had my surgery here in the States with a great doctor and facility. Having said that, my neighbor couldn't afford to get it done here,so she went to Monterrey Mexico and had hers done by Dr. Rumbaut. This was over a year ago and she has lost 105 pounds. She was very impressed by the facility, staff ( all of whom spoke English). She had taken her friend who is fluent in Spanish with her, but didn't need a translator, although she was glad her friend was with her for moral support! She was most especially impressed by Dr. Rumbaut!! She is always talking about the VIP treatment and the skill of Dr. Rumbaut. The only thing that is not good, is that she had to go to Kansas (from Arkansas) to get a fill. She is at her sweet spot, so she hasn't gone there for quite some time. So, be sure to find a facility here where you can get the fills before you go to Mexico. That is unless you can afford to go back to Mexico to get them. If my insurance had not covered a lot of the cost, I would have probably gone there also. I am one of the lucky ones who had a great surgeon and after care. The surgeon had actually taken my gall bladder out several years ago.....so I was thrilled that he was the one who did the lap-band for me. I guess I better put in a DISCLAIMER here....I am not one of those people who have been hired by a surgeon (or clinic) to heap praise on the person they were hired by!!! I am just telling you that I have heard great things about this particular doctor. I hope that prejudice is not what is influencing your family doctor's attitude, or that she is just repeating a general attitude about going out of the country for surgery. Sometimes people don't have any choice in the matter because they can't afford the surgery here for various reasons. Good luck to you no matter where you go for surgery!! It is truly a life changing experience!!

I have found that the Gas-x liquid gels work great. They have more simethecone than the strips or chewables. You take them only 2xday. Good Luck!

I am 2 months out from surgery and I still get a lot of intestinal gas at times. The best thing I have found that really seems to help, is the Gas-X gel caps. You only have to take 2 a day and they help me more than the chewable or the dissolving strips. It must be because they have more simethecone than the other forms. Give them a try. Hope it works!!

Hey Phyl! Good to hear that you are doing so well!! Fantastic news. You will really be in great shape for walking this winter in sunny California! Sorry to tell you that we can't meet you and Pioneer in New Mexico. We have decided to make the trip later. I know how you were looking forward to the "short cut" to California!!:tongue2: Perhaps next year! One thing I have to do is to get my second fill on Oct 6th. I am looking forward to that!! Well, I better stop for now. Again, congrats on the amazing progress with your knee.