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You look GREAT!!!! That is so awesome!!! I can not wait till I'm sleeved. ( and those lei's smell so wonderful! I vacationed on Oahu back in February.)

Congrats!!!!!

Congrats!!!! Can't wait until all of my paperwork has been submitted. Way to go!!!!

Understand completely! Haven't been sleeved yet, working on it. I told a few people at work about wanting surgery. One in particular seemed to believe that I need is to not think I'm hungry all the time. The funny thing is I'm not. I crave all the bad carbs. Which I have successfully cut out two evil's that have been my best friends for a long time. Dr. Pepper and Mountain Dew. Yep quit drinking both of my favorites cold turkey. Their replacement is decaf tea with splenda. Which has been for five months now. Not to mention that I have cut my bread intake to half of what I was use to eating. I have lost a few pounds. (Not enough to brag about.) With the help of the sleeve I'm hopeful to regain control of my eating habits and my life. So yes I know what you are talking about. Some will never understand what we go through day after day. Wishing all the best to you on your journey. Deb

That is what I was thinking. When I had it done, the procedure entailed not only the stomach muscle area but the flank and back area. (circumfrential abdominal plasty) Not only fat was removed but a lot of extra skin. They weighed both and a total of twenty eight pounds was removed. It was very painful. The surgeon that will be performing my VSG had asked why I did the tummy tuck first? My response, "seemed like the thing to do at the time and WLS wasn't even on my mind then." He chuckled and said."you did it backwards." I think I did it the right way. The tummy tuck was a three hour surgery which I awoke right in the middle of it and the surgeon yelling she is awake give her something quick!!!!! I had my follow up and he told me no more surgeries for me. I said, "why, is it because I woke up?" he didn't say a word. So that was so very strange waking up and hearing and SEEING but not feeling any pain. Oh so weird. Thanks for confirming that the weight loss shouldn't change.

Happy Birthday!!!! Hope you have a great day!!!!

Just checking in to see how things are. Have you heard anything back from Dr. Jawad's office or UHC? ( I too have Dr. Jawad) I have to do the six month diet and exercise and the labs and the eval. Still have two more months with pcp. I know that my pcp has faxed things to Dr. Jawad. But she is waiting to send UHC their paperwork until my six months is up. She wants to make sure that all of the six months are together. I hope things work out for you and get a date soon. Let us know how it goes.

Okay had my "eval" today. Have to go back and do the MMPI test. The therapist seemed harmless and he was informative. So no worries. I feel confident that this will be okay. We did touch on a few things like how he has worked with my surgeon with the evals and that I have nothing to be concerned with. So my heart in the pit of my stomach returned to normal. As soon as I have my results I will let everyone know. (I was all uptight and worried for nothing) LOL. Everyone have a great weekend!

I'm getting nervous too. My psych evaluation is tomorrow to. 12/10. Not sure what to expect either. I did get a nice little questionaire in the mail from UHC to fill out and take to the evaluation. I just chuckled when I read some of the questions. But I will fill it out when I get there. Will let everyone know how it goes. I'm sure it will be fine.

The six months will go by pretty quickly. I will be entering month four on December 10th. Just make sure that there is plenty of documentation. Even if you need to add your own documentation. Every month I bring in everything to my primary appointment that I have done for the month to lose the weight. How many calories at each meal. How many minutes a day I exercise. So that there is no mistake that I'm doing my part. They are sticklers for documentation. The more the better. Keep in touch if you want to contact me just email me. Take care.

Welcome!!!! I haven't been sleeved as of yet. But my required tests are based on what my insurance required and surgeon. Six month diet and exercise documentation with primary. Nut eval. and have a BMI 40 or above with no co-morbities. Below 40 with at least two co-morbities (As each is different on the requirements ) The surgeon is requiring a gallbladder ultrasound, CBC, CMP, TSH, H. Pylori. Every surgeon is different on what they require. Again, welcome. Keep us updated..

Welcome! I'm currently three months into the process. I too have UHC. I have scheduled my nut appointment for December as well as my fourth month of supervised diet and weight control. ( Both on the same day ) It will be here before I know it. I'm hoping to have my sleeve late February or early March. ( fingers crosed ) I know from reading all of the posts here, there is a lot of information. And I read and read. Keep us posted.

Sorry to hear that. Did you speak with your case worker with UHC? I was told up front from my case worker what was required. Try that and call the psych doc office to see where the eval went. Sounds like the "right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing." Let us know how it goes.

Good luck fingers crossed for you. Let us know when you get your date. I too have UHC but mine isn't PPO it's the other *** Choice. I have to complete the hoop jumping. The six month supervised diet, pysch eval, and last are the labs. So I'm half way through it. No biggie. Hope to be sleeved early next year. Keep us posted. How exciting for you.

Hi everyone! I started my journey back in September. November 12th will mark my three month mark with three more to go until my paper work can be submitted to my insurance company. I still have the psych eval to do which I'm hoping to get done the begining of December. Then to have all of my labs completed the same day as my January doctor's appointment, I hope that by reading everyone's posts it will serve as my guide towards being healthy. Giving me the strength and encouragement to overcome the obsticles that will present themselves to me.

Thanks everyone. I will keep posting as the updates present themselves. I will be going to the head shrinker's office to have them get prior approval before I schedule an appointment this week. A BIG thank you to Tiff. The information was a tremendous help. I did wonder about what size bougie that is often used. Question to the surgeon I will be asking.

I'm hoping to have a late February or early March surgery date next year. Fingers crossed pending all paperwork is submitted in a timely manner. I wish I would've known my insurance covered the sleeve last year. But I didn't. Now I do. So, I'm on my way. So glad I found this forum so much information.

Thanks Liliy. Just a little nervous about the eval. I've been researching what to expect, what questions will he ask? I did see "depression" listed in all of the results I searched. I don't feel depressed. What I am is dissapointed at all of diets I tried and needless to say I seemed to either fail or just didn't see the results. All of the miles I logged around the lake, treadmill. I decided to research WLS. When I found that my insurance covered RNY and Lap band and the sleeve I was like what is the sleeve? And the nurse told me and I was like really? When I got off of the phone with her I googled it. Thats what led to my decision to have the sleeve instead of the lap band. I know this will be my new tool to acheive my goal. I have an excellent support system. My family and co-workers are more excited than I am. (LOL) So if anyone in Florida (central) has any suggestions on what to expect let me know. Again thanks Lily.

I found this you may want to check it out..... Dr. Paul Cirangle - Your Bariatric Surgeon for Weight Loss S... Tripler Army Medical Center, Honolulu, HI - 7/98 - 8/01 .... laparoscopic isolated vertical sleeve gastrectomy versus laparoscopic roux-en-Y gastric bypass. ... www.lapsf.com/dr-cirangle-your-bariatric-doctor

I'm covered by UHC through my husbands employer. Per our policy WLS is covered. WLS coverage depends if your company purchases the WLS coverage. EPO. ***....We have the *** coverage. So far I have no complaints. All three are covered. I have decided on the sleeve. I have to do 6 months of supervised diet, pysch eval. and labs. So far so good. My surgeon's insurance billing office tells me that they have no problems getting UHC members approved. The case worker with UHC was very helpful. I call her when I have a question and she will answer it or get me an answer before end of day. Work with your insurance provider. I will let everyone know how it goes.