gnortenjones

Got banded on Friday. I've been using Unjury's Protein powder, blended with 8oz of skim milk, per the dieticians instructions to drink three 8oz servings a day. However, after I run it through the blender, the final product is well more than 8oz due to it getting "fluffed up" in the blender. My question is this: So should I be drinking the entire amount I'm mixing, or only 8oz of the final fluffed up product?

My surgery has been bumped up from the 31st, to this Friday! Not even close to being ready. Lots of things to do! Lots of things to do!! Ok.... breathe.... I'm calm....

I felt the same way when I was considering surgery (scheduled on Friday). I felt that this was a sign of weakness, and felt like I was giving up, and a failure. The more I thought about it though, I realized that results count more than intentions, and I have about 20 years worth of failed weight loss attempts, and if I'm serious about a life change, I needed something more drastic. All I could think about was that nicotine patch commercial, where the dad is telling his grown daughter that if she was serious about quitting smoking, she wouldn't need the patch. She replies that when she got serious about quitting smoking was when she realized she DID need it. Sappy and corny? Yes. But it really described my thought process on deciding to do this.

Excuse me while I vent. I got my surgery date, after fighting with BCBS to get approved, a week or so ago. I'm scheduled for the 31st. Now that I'm only 2-3 weeks away from the surgery, time seems to be moving EXTRA slow. I began this process in January when I first made the appointment for the mandatory information seminar. It's been a long, long, LONG road, and I'm ready to FINALLY start my new life. The 31st can't come soon enough. I'm not a patient person by nature, so I suspect these last 2 weeks are going to be absolutely unbearable.

I have BCBS in New York. I had made sure I was going to meet all their requirements before I began the process. After about 6 months of prep, seeing nutritionist, psychologist, getting sonograms done, getting documentation, and dropping 5% body weight, they denied me 2 days after my surgeon sent in the pre-approval request and paperwork. They denied me for "indications of severe liver disease", which I don't have. I do have "fatty liver disease", which their policy specifically mentions as not being considered a disqualifying reason, so it should never have been denied in the first place. They had 30 days to consider the appeal, and make a decision. They waited until the afternoon of the 30th day to overturn the denial. Lord was I pissed. Sometimes I wonder if the people against health care reform have ever actually dealt with an insurance company.

When did you start counting your weight loss (ie "35lbs lost")? From the very beginning of the process, dropping weight to meet requirements or during the nutritionst stage, or did you wait until you actually had the surgery to start counting? Just curious.

That's sucky. I can understand why doctors/insurance/etc want you to have a psych evaluation beforehand, but I have to wonder how many of the therapist abuse this to make a few bucks? My eval was a joke. I met with the guy for an hour, half of which was filling out paperwork. On one hand I appreciate that he didn't hold me up from going forward, but on the other hand a therapist cant possibly do an adequate evaluation of someone in under an hour, so whats the point of doing it in the first place?

Mine has been a long time, but I think thats more to do with my surgeon being in high demand, and always booked out at least 2 months in advance for anything. I first called about the seminar in January, but couldn't get into one for 3 months. From the date of the seminar to the surgery (on the 31st) has been about 6 months. Only about 2-3 months of that has been meeting requirements for the surgery though, the rest has simply been waiting for available appointments. I'm impatient by nature, so I think the waiting has been the hardest part of all this so far. So 9 months in total between the day I called for the seminar, to the date of the surgery.

Checking in after joining the forum. My story: My PCP suggested the band last year, but at first I wasn't open to weight loss surgery. I had always felt that it was incredibly drastic, and a sign of defeat. I told him I'd give weight loss another go, but quickly began to realize that even with weight related health issues starting to creep up, I wasn't able to maintain the motivation to drop the weight. Finally in January I decided to start the process, and scheduled an appointment for the information seminar. The seminar was booked for 2 months, so the waiting began. It was horrible because I weighed more than I ever had, and wanted to START!!! Finally I had the seminar, met with the nutritionist over the course of 3 months, had the psych evaluation, sonogram on my gall bladder, and had been approved by the doctor to have the surgery. The surgery date was set at August 25th (3 weeks from now). I say "was", because 3 days later the insurance company, BCBS, denied the claim due to "evidence of severe liver disease." This was shocking because I didn't HAVE liver disease other than fatty liver, which was specifically mentioned in their policy as not considered a reason to deny a claim. The surgery was cancelled, and I began the appeal process. That was over a month ago. This was a long month. Nothing like having a life changing procedure put on hold to sap your will. The appeal was finally granted, and the denial was overturned on the very VERY last day of their 30 day requirement. The paperwork has been sent back to the surgeons office, and now I am waiting to hear back from them. Again. When I decided to do this, I came to accept that I usually fall into the same pattern whenever I try to lose weight. I get really motivated for the first 2-3 months, drop a bit of weight, then stall, begin to lose the motivation, and begin to regain the weight. This is why I feel I need this surgery. To force me to continue even when I hit wall. Whats making me anxious, is that I have definitely hit the wall. All this waiting, cancelling, postponing, rescheduling, and more waiting, is making it really hard to stay on target, and I'm terrified that if they drag this process out too long I'll end up putting some weight back on, and be denied AGAIN on that basis. No wonder so many people self pay on such an expensive surgery. End rant.

Wow. I think at this point I'd be looking for a new PCP. My PCP was the one who actually suggested getting a lap band, which was surprising because my experience with him usually boiled down to him telling me to excersize more and eat better for ANY problem I had. I used to joke that I could walk into his office with a bloody stump where my left arm used to be, and he'd tell me I needed more Iron in my diet. btw everyone, I now have a date! August 31st. I probably should have posted it in this thread, but in the heat of the moment I started a new one the other day with the details: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f18/woohooo-99737/

It's non of my business, but I agree with the others that you should tell your husband. This is a major life changing surgery, and keeping that kind of secrect is probably not good for a marraige. I've told pretty much anyone who would listen, just out of excitement. I'm kind of regretting that now, because I have a feeling the first question they will always ask me when we talk is "how much weight have you lost?" I typically don't do well with that level of scrutiny.

I've never even heard of sliming before. Kind of wish I still hadn't.

The insurance company somehow got it in their head that I have severe liver disease (which I don't). I do have a mild case of fatty liver disease, which they specifically mention in their policy as not disqualifying someone from the procedure, so I think someone saw the words "liver disease" and automatically red-stamped it without looking any further. I think what annoyed me the most was that this was such a stupid screw up on their part. I almost think they knew it was a screw up, but denied it anyhow in the hopes that I wouldn't appeal it, and they wouldn't have to pay. I was nervous about the BMI thing also. I had actually counted how much weight I could lose to meet the 5% requirement, but still be above the BMI requirements. Was your BMI of 39 when you first saw the nutritionist, or after you have been on their diet for a while? My insurance/doctor started counting when I first saw them not at the end. Also, if you have any co-morbities, high blood pressure or diabetes for example, the BMI requirement was less, so you might want to check into that if your nervous.

Just got a call from the surgeons office. After being denied by the insurance company, and appealing it, my surgery is back on for August 31st!!! When I was first denied, and the surgery cancelled, I had essentially begged them to put me back on the schedule while I sorted things out with the insurance comany who had obviously made a mistake. It's a good thing I did that because the next opening in the schedule would have been mid October.

My doctor doesn't even require a pre-op liquid diet, only a post op one. The only pre-op diet is the standard fasting prior to any surgery. I had to ask twice about this to make certain I wasn't missing something.