mamasugar

I am Pre-Op, so I cannot tell you about life after the fact. However, I do have a surgery date of April 2nd:thumbup:. The first step is to find out from your insurance company requiremnts are. Then take the initiative to start meeting their requirements. When I started the process my insurance company GEHA required 6 months of doctor supervised diet. I knew that was going to be hard for me. So I started researching other insurance companies. I found one that did not need one ( Federal BCBS) and during open season I changed it. That was in December and my covergae started on 01/03/10. I was approved on 01/25/09. My advice to you is to be proactive and meet all the requirements of the insurance companies. It may seem tedious and long but trust me if you are like me the weight will not be going anywhere. Good Luck and please feel free you have any questions.:thumbup:

I also have a surgery date of April 2nd:thumbup:. From my understanding the Pre-Op diet is supposed to shrink your liver before the surgery. This allows them to be able to manuever around while doing the procedure laproscopically ( probably wrong spelling). Also, I was told that the pre-op helps put you in the frame of mind for the right way to eat after the surgery. From the posts I have been reading here, people who actually did the pre-op diet tend to do better than those who do not. This is not a known fact; it is just my personal observation

Welcome ! I am also from the richmond area (not really, but I am there for my job at Ft. Lee). Do not be afraid of the appointment or process. I started my process last year May or June and found out that I was pregnant so stopped pursuing it. Needless to say I had a miscarriage and kept gaining more weight. Anyway in December I started back again with the process and was approved with in 2 days of turning in my paperwork to the insurance. I have a surgery date 0f April 2nd. :cursing: Do not give up and don't accept No for an answer if you think u desrve it. Good Luck and keep in touch PS: Which surgeon r u using? I am going with Commonwealth Surgeons

I am so excited. I have been approved for my surgery. A little background. I currently weigh 272 lbs and I have high blood pressure. All my life I have been on the thick side but not necessarily obese. After I had my daughter three years ago, I have been unable to lose weight and keep it off. I have played with the idea for the last year. However, when I started the process in May, I found out I was a pregnant. In July I had a miscarriage. My insurance (GEHA) at that time wanted me to do a doctors supervised diet for 6 months. The thing was, I figured that if that was so easy, I wld not be over weight in the first place. When open season rolled around, I did some research and found out that Federal Blue Cross Blue Shield was quite easy to work with. I have been a silent observer on this board and other people have motivated me to go thru with the process. Here is my timeline so I can also be able to help someone out. 12/08/09- Nutri and Psych Consult 01/108/10- Appt with Nurse Practi 01/14/10- Cardiac Eval 01/14/10- Attended Support Group 01/22/10- Dr. Submitted ppwk 01/25/09- Fed BCBS approval:thumbup: Note: I attended the seminar May of last year. I am hoping to get a surgery date pretty soon. Thanks guys.