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Hello everyone. I had my request for surgery sent into bcbs last Tuesday after all of my pre op testing was complete. Today I received this message from my case manager. I tried to call to make sense of it all and basically am reading it as I have to wait another year for surgery. (WTF). How do I go about this message, I called up there and my case manager was busy. Now it's after 5 and I'm unsure how to somehow get my insurance to accept my request. SIDE NOTE: I actually do have a year worth of weight loss attempt consecutively since February of last year as written down for them to know. I just don't know how I can get my physician to document it... or idk if I have to do this for another year simply Bc I was not aware that I had to have 12 months of that documented with a physician or else I would have been seeing one. If anyone can tell me their story or help me understand how to go about this, that will be much appreciated. Xoxo

Hey guys, just got my EOBs for the surgery and hospital stay afterwards. I thought fellow FEPBlue or Federal BC/BS members might be interested: 1. Two night stay in the hospital after surgery. Of note, the hospital is a BC/BS Bariatric Center of Excellence. My total copay was $350. The hospital requested $175 upfront and advised they would bill or refund once the EOB came in... so I guess they will be hitting me up for some more cash lol. 2. Copay to Surgeon was $200. I had a lap band removal and then RNY during same surgery. Each procedure was listed as a separate line item, but only the band removal listed a copay. 3. There was no copay for anesthesia services. All in all it looks my my total out of pocket for the two procedures (performed same day) is $550.

Yes so normal, the day off my surgery i turned the car around twice to go back home lol.. i am almost 6 weeks out the first 2-3 wks you will feel regret bc everyone around you are eating normal, but once your body gets used to everything and you start soft foods youll be fine. I dont regret a thing, and i am 46lbs down!

Hello everyone had my lap band done back in Nov 2010 and lost about 45 lbs. Then I started gaining weight back bc I was doing much of anything but relying on the band. I gained 20lbs back and then decided to convert to the sleeve like a year ago. I again lost 20lbs in about a year and now I'm gaining weight again... I don't seem to have any restriction at all and my cravings for food are 100% back like it was before I even got the lap band. Please tell me there is something I can do to get these cravings to go away. I'm like gaining 2 lbs each week... help!

Hey, Don't be down. It gets better. I don't regret it any more. The first month is very hard. Once you get over the hump you will feel great. I am very happy now. You will too. I promise! Sending you hugs bc i know it's hard but you WILL overcome this!

Hey, Don't be down. It gets better. I don't regret it any more. The first month is very hard. Once you get over the hump you will feel great. I am very happy now. You will too. I promise! Sending you hugs bc i know it's hard but you WILL overcome this!

I had a PT for about a year prior and still use him. It's amazing. It's built confidence in myself at the gym. It also holds me accountable Bc I'm spending the money. Def do it.

Just submitted to insurance and looking at surgery the first week of April. Can't believe I have less than a month to go now... Excited and scared. Having trouble sleeping at night bc I can't stop thinking about what a change this will be.

Hi guys, just seeing how you measure/weigh food that is pretty light weight. For dinners i always weigh 4oz portions but for lighter items like lunch meats/salads/cereals im just not sure.. Should i be looking at doing a cup of food? Or do you just usually make up a plate and eat until you feel satisfied. Bc i feel like i can eat a whole bowl of cereal lol

I am too. They keep saying it gets better. I'm ready for better. Jesus. The purees are ok just hard to find a good blend and when u do u have to make so much then so much is wasted bc u can only eat so much. Smh. Catch 22

My surgery date was set for yesterday and I was denied again on Tues. So frustrating. My surgeon wants to appeal. I'm ready to just be done with all the BS here and head to Mexico. I'd actually pay less there then my out of pocket with insurance here!

Did BCBS mn require the 6 month diet plan? I am just curious bc I did a year long Dr supervised diet plan 2 years ago and I am wondering if that will work in substitute? my current BMI is 38, comorbidities are Asthma, High glucose, High triglycerides, djd in my right knee and gallbladder disease. I see Dr on Monday and I am just sick with anticipation

HI. If you get a regular DS and eat tons of carbs: 1. You can regain; 2. You're likely to have stool and/or gas issues. Carbs cause smells most wouldn't like to have often in public. The beauty of the DS is no counting calories & constant eating (if you wish). I eat every 2 hours or so. But it's protein. For instance, my lunch today was a Wendy Triple Burger with catsup and cheese. It took 2 sittings to eat it, but I did. However, I didn't eat the bun bc: a. I wouldn't have a lot of room for the protein; b. I'd stink up my workspace. As a female, I do eat carbs and sweets. But at home and only a couple of times a week. Others I know have some cookies or chocolate everyday. You have to see how you do. As a male, the odds are you'll be able to eat more and lose more than most females. Probably even more carbs and not gain a ton. But you probably would gain some and then there's that stink....

Ross, I'm 3 years out from band to sleeve revision due to esophagus complications. I did very well with band beginning in 2010, losing over 120 pounds. I was also fed up with the fills, unfills and all the other symptoms with the band! My complication leading to revision was a blessing with some post op expectation challenges. My weight loss with the sleeve has been very slow and I deal with GERD nowadays. Months before my revision my band was completely deflated and I put on over 30 pounds. Since revision, I lost the 30 pounds and just cannot get beyond that. I workout 6 days a week and my body is holding on between 215 - 218 lbs. Here's my take through my experience. With any WLS our metabolisms are damaged or become dormant and aging doesn't help the situation. Initially, we lose the weight because we eat so little and with time this changes. When we start to eat more and start experimenting with our old comfort foods, we gain weight. Remember prior to lapband and all those diets where we did so well, only to put the weight back on and usually doubled it once we started eating normal again? Metabolism freakout, now times that by two with weight loss surgery. A normal meal for me is 1/2 cup of protein and 20 minutes later 1/2 cup of salad or veggies or fruit which gives me the satisfying feeling of satiety. Anything beyond that is head hunger or self sabotage. Regrets? Other than my GERD, which is getting better, I am very pleased with the sleeve. Weight loss is slow, but, my waist size is a comfortable 34 and I can wear a snug 32. Shirt size, large and some mediums. Each one of us is so different. I wish we all had the same results, but, some of us have to work a little harder, but, well worth it! jake

I have been 100% approved with all the tests for a sleeve procedure. Now I have to decide when to have the operation done. I am always coming up with some excuse to put it off but I am calling BS on myself and want to proceed. I do have an important family function coming up (my mothers 101st birthday party) with family flying in from all over the U.S. I can have the procedure approx. 4 weeks prior to the party or put it off until after the function. My question is, for the average person, what am I to expect after 4 weeks? Can I function enough to enjoy the party and be social or am I going to be grumpy, uncomfortable and not 100% of myself? I want to enjoy myself and interact with my family or should I put it off until after the party. I will not have a problem with the food portion of the function, I just want to be enough of myself to enjoy.

I have a feeling this is a cop-out, but I'll bite anyways. So in your experience do you have a way of testing whether or not this liquid absorption claim is true? I mean, I take liquid calcium citrate and chewable multi-vitamins+sublingual B12. I largely am in the same boat as you in personally preferring liquid to large tablets, but that's merely a subjective personal preference. I just don't need all the BS that you cited that tries to pass off as science. Clearly you wish to try and convince others of your belief, and you're flat out wrong. It's a rather big deal because, for example, supplements in liquid form are generally more expensive, more annoying to store (must be refrigerated), etc. Is that higher cost of dosages worth it to most people? Well this is why Proud2BMe said "most people", because most people are just fine with tablets -- clearly you were overreacting and triggered by his casual response, prompting you to Google some sort of agreeable supplement-industry phrases passing off as science. I take issue with that because it isn't information. So to conclude, if there's a vitamin/supplement absorption issue with oral supplements, it's likely due to the person's body (for example, for B12 it would be called "intrinsic factor" in the stomach) and not the form the supplement takes.

Yep. It's probably BS. Go with what you're most comfortable with. It's less about the surgery and more about how we use the surgery to achieve our goals anyway..

Thank you so much! Nothing in my history that I can see as a red flag. To be honest he also told me that if I had Bypass it would only probably. Ring me down to a 35 BMI. I call BS on both counts. I'm going to use my frustration to kick butt at this. I think he was just trying to be cautious on expectations. I took that as shutting me down. I'll show him! Lol

Hi everyone (: Firstly, I'll start by introducing myself a little bit... I'm a 22-yo girl from Belgium and in August 2016, I went for my first appointment to get more information about bariatric surgery. Now, what led me to making this appointment? Well, ever since I can remember I've been struggling with my weight. I started going to a dietician from the age of 10, had a personal trainer for a few months at the age of 12, between the age of 14 and 16 I did Weight Watchers, a Soup diet and also the Dukan-diet that I did for about 6 months. After graduating High School, I went to a life coach and did some kind of special diet, combined with exercising every day. With this diet I lost about 12 kg (26 lbs). I felt really healthy and more confident at this point, I thought I had finally managed to change my lifestyle and habits. However, as all of my past diets, I only very slowly lost the weight and hit a stall. I tried to break the stall by increasing my exercising, but my weight wouldn’t move and my coach would only get annoyed with me telling me I didn’t exercise. As a result, I would get very frustrated and stressed out as I didn’t know what else to do and I started to get quite demotivated, because every week I went, I knew what was waiting for me. So, I made the very, very bad decision of saying ‘F this’ and every week after my consultation I started binging and then for the remaining 6 days I would just followed my plan to the letter and exercise. After a little while, I got fed up and just stopped going in general. Needless to say, that just like all of my previous attempts, I gained every single gram back plus more (of course). After all of this I just gave up on diets in general. I only had one goal and that was to get an internship in London, get out of my comfort zone, change my environment for a few months and be on my own. Last year in March, I reached this goal. I moved to London on 19 March 2016, words cannot describe how happy I was of being away from everything for a few months. I could finally try to get some structure in my life and be away from a little something I like to call “Village Mentality’. The period I was living in London, I opened up more and I just became more comfortable and happy with myself. I actually started to like and accept myself for who I was. I didn’t feel like I constantly had to live up to a certain standard (appearance wise) anymore. My social anxiety, that had been getting quite sever because of the way I look, was finally diminishing. I was feeling genuinely happy and when my friends came to visit me they saw me blossom too. I don’t know how much, but after these three months I lost a quite a bit of weight without even trying to… I guess a reason for this is because I walked literally everywhere. Then, sadly, 12 June came along and I knew this had to end sometime and I would have to move back home. I tried my ultimate best to hold on to this feeling of being happy with myself and leaving the house more, but I slowly felt it slipping away. I kept trying to get a hold of it, but as I am writing here, you probably know how this ended… So, I took matters into my own hands and went to my doctor for advice. I told him about all my insecurities and my weight and he referred me to a bariatric surgeon. Three weeks ago, I had all of my pre-op intakes (psychologist, dietician, physiotherapist, endocrinologist and physician). I am to this day still waiting for a phone call of the multidisciplinary team with their advice/approval for me. The only things they told me that day is that they were very pleased with my bloodwork (no Vitamin deficiencies, no diabetes and no high blood pressure, only thing they did see, was that my thyroid tends to process things a bit slow) and that the psychologist wanted to work with me on my self-image and my cognitive perception about myself (I’ve always been bullied about my weight/appearance even when I wasn’t obese yet and I guess this caused me to have a morphed perception). Prior to these intakes I already underwent a sleep study which indicated that I have obstructive sleep apnoea. It is starting to dawn upon me of what I’m doing and I am starting to doubt whether I am making the right decision. I feel like I am letting myself down by not being able to do this on my own. So much is going on in my head at the moment as it will affect the rest of my life: Am I making the right decision? Will the outcome be positive or negative? Shouldn’t I try to change my lifestyle one more time before going to this last resort? Shouldn’t I just work on myself and love myself for who I am? What if I go through with this and I fail? Or what if I go through with this and I will still feel the same way I’m feeling now (just without my “protection suit”)? This might sound weird, but somewhere I am also very scared of becoming very vulnerable without my “protection suit”, without being able to hide myself behind my weight… But, I also feel like I am stuck in my own body and I could do and achieve so much more if I could just get out of this… Or then again, is this just wishful thinking? Conclusion, I am completely lost. I apologise for writing so much, but I guess it might be good to have written all of my thoughts down for once. Did someone else go through this? Am I making the right decision? Every single piece of advice or input will be very much appreciated! <3 Xo Losty

Better and worse than I thought. Recovery was no BS, but hardest part was not being able to get around and relying on others. First two weeks were rough but truly no pain when I was sitting still; and just really uncomfortable when I had to get up. After that just bored being laid up so long, that was worse than I expected. Went back to excercise walking at 5.5 weeks. A few tips 1. I rented a recliner that stands you all the way up. This was key!!!! I lived in it for 4 weeks even slept in it. 2. Walker, helped first week and half just for extra security when I was moving. 3. A raised toilet seat helped first week and half. 4. Shower seat of course makes for safer first showers Overall I NEVER had even one moment of regret. I'd do it again in a heart beat.

Not me, but welcome from the West Coast! (Vancouver, BC).

I've been on two medication (PPI) for 19 years. I developed my HH while pregnant with my first child. And I get an upper and lower GI done once a year due to the damage from my HH. Each time I have polyps that need to be tested, etc. The surgery to have my HH was suggested and when I told my PCP, he's the one who suggested having WLS at the same time. But bc the stomach is reduced with the sleeve the acid is pushed back up more often... so for me I'm not really sure how it will all work out... I can't imagine the reflux pain being worse but I was really hoping to fix that all together.... since my objective is to heal my esophagus and get off the medications bc they are not good long term either. So to answer your concern, my doc says I will remain on my medication after surgery and take me off one at a time, see how I do and then take me off the other. Fingers crossed... I'll be off them for good! 😉

I'm from BC I was told I could be waiting game 3-5 years for gastric bypass. Thinking of going to Mexico.

My surgery is also October 18. Surgery wgt is 234, cw 177. I workout a lot though sometimes I run 10 miles in a day bc I just have that energy and I really enjoy running

My surgery is Monday I was really worried but now after doing a lot of reading if it really was a big safety thing then I think all docs would have the same protocol but bc it Varys so much and so drastically I'm not to worried about it anymore I've had 2 other emergency abdominal surgeries I had my gallbladder removed and my appendix so I'm just not as worried anymore