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Hi, I have BCBS Fed and the co-ordinator at my surgeon's office says that they are very prompt--certainly within one week if everything is in order. All the best to you, Melinda

I had a surgery date of Aug 2nd submitted with my packet and here it is August 11th (packet sent July 11th) and still NOTHING! I just sent a message to the surgical coordinator asking if this was normal for Fed BCBS .. She's going to follow up and see what she can find out.

I also have Fed BCBS, my paperwork went in on July 11th..still no word from them after almost 3 weeks . I was under the impression BCBS was fast too. I called last week only to be told "It is still being processed" .. I dislike the waiting game very much!

They put me on collace a stool softener, and latter added miralax then suggested benefiber if nothing else helped but only a little bc it can quickly make things worse especially if your having issues getting all the fluids in If your still in the pain meds, that stuff really slows the bowel motility up too Took me several days, they said if no bm by four days, to call bc that can get you sick

Your very welcome. I have been speaking with quite a few people who have been having difficulty with their protein Intake bc they're so fresh from surgery that I thought if this has helped me drastically finally get in all my protein I need to share it so it may be helpful for others to do the same. I actually look forward to drinking it!!! What a difference from four days ago lol.

Yeah, many people from here often end up going elsewhere to Mexico. There was an agency here WLS now bought by a company in BC that used to send patients from here to see Dr Pompa . Sent from my SM-G950W using BariatricPal mobile app

On August 15th,2006, Elvira Arrelano was ordered to report for deportation, three years after she was found guilty of entering the country illegally and using a stolen Social Security number to obtain work. (Why it took three years to deport an illegal alien criminal I don't understand) She found sanctuary in a church near Chicago and defied authorities attempts to deport her. Finally, last weekend, ICE grabbed the uppity foreign bitch and deported her ass back to her rightful place, Mexico. Some facts: She entered this country illegally in 1997,was captured, and deported. She re-entered, again illegally, a few days later. Sometime in 1999, she spawned a bastard in Oregon, and eventually moved to Chicago, where she was arrested again, in 2002. Why she wasn't deported at this time makes no sense to me. She's claiming she needs to stay in the USA to be with her American-born fatherless son, who needs care for his ADHD. Of course, this 'care' probably comes from the same pocket of the US taxpayer as his hospital delivery did, along with the subsidized housing she was using, the free school lunch program that fed him, the food stamps she was issued, and likely a welfare check as well. Actually, it was she who separated herself from her child, refusing the final free-ride-for-two she was offered, opting instead to leave her child with friends in Chicago to be used as a political prop. I'm getting tired of the news copy that refer to this criminally unfit mother as an 'Immigrant Rights Activist', casually leaving out reference to the illegal part of those she is activating for (mainly, herself). Now I suppose we have to refer to John Dillinger as an advocate of banking reform? Or NAMBLA as a Child Rights Advocate? She ain't a hero. She's a lawbreaker who has already shown disrespect for our legal system, our taxpayers, our culture (after 10 yrs, she still hasn't a rudimentary grasp of English), and motherhood. Good riddance, Mojada. And may your son be better off without you. I know the rest of America will be.

Margie What board is giving you this BS info?

similar situation, getting revised to the vertical sleeve, band destroyed my esophagus, mysterious manufactured 1.5cc's of fluid. Since emptying I've had constant diarrhea and have gained back 50 of the 100;bs i had lost. I cannot wait to get this voodoo piece of cr@p out my body

Why couldn't u just pull the strings out of the celery? I do that anyway BC they weird me out. I'm way OCD

It's just the 2 weeks, was required to buy one box a week during 6 month diet which honestly I didn't do well with. The New Direction bars not so bad and chili was okay. The shakes though are horrid. I managed to choke down most of one of the lemon puddings with Fiber today then chase it with broth due to aftertaste. I think tomorrow I am going to try hunt down the Premier Protein locally because I feel like I am starving. I am making sure to get my water and liquids to not dehydrate but this is day 5 and hoping we get surgery date 8/26/19. My surgeon changed hospitals at the end of the 6 month diet so had to wait almost 2 months longer. Plus, still waiting on BC/BS with final approval which should happen by tomorrow since file was marked urgent. Then doctor order his instruments and not sure if they are in. So very stressful this journey. Thanks for all the advise!

Dr. Schmitt did complete my surgery on December 18, 2006. He was so wonderful, I cannot even begin to explain how wonderful my experience was. I have lost 65 pounds. I am scheduled for another fill next week. I was too tight in May and in June he took some out of my band. This is September and I cant wait to get to my goal weight. Dr. Schmitt has always answered all of my question. This has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. I feel like a different person. I am 36 years old and feel like I did when I was in high school. The only bad thing was that when I was to tight I would throw up alot. I went back to the doctor and everything has been fine since. I have BC/BS of Alabama and it would not pay for my surgery. I was self pay. This has been the best money I have every spent.

you should know and will learn, and please understand a loss (any) no matter how small or big.....counts please give yourself a break and not go into this with expectations you feel are needed as if you dont meet those, you may hinder your excellent progress...judge your true/accurate loss by clothes getting smaller, better fitness as inches lost means you are losing weight... hang in there sounds to me as if you are doing just fine ps get rid of the only lost this bs.....you need to talk nicer to YOU

heres a simple thought so many fat people seem to know so much about being healthy yet cant get healthy themselves, so its do as i say not as I do because i tested 1 person who had diabetes, so therefore i know the truth. When i ask you what studies show artificial sweeteners not taken in tremendous bulk directly injected into lab mice has ever shown a correlation in humans. besides saccharin, and you cannot do it, because there are NONE but you say your surgeon is researching it. which is also amazing that a surgeon would be doing research not related to ther field of surgery. To me, youre lying over and over and what you are lying about is libelous and negligent. Then you want to attack paramedics by saying they know nothing but can give a few meds.Now i know maam you are so full of BS that you must have dark brown eyes. You are irresponsible, fraudulent and repulsive in your ideas. Project ME, you research diabetes, you dont experiment on your son, thats what this lady supposedly ( i dont believe she knows what a research study actually is since she had no control group, no study plan, no baseline of findings, no medical reports. but hey shes a whack job so whatever) see if you told us you feed different foods to your son then stick him right after to se what his blood sugar is, and do this over and over to test medical facts, id say you were an unfit parent but you dont, you monitor your son and looks for ways to make his health better. there's the difference. This idiot lady says that sugar doesn't make your blood sugar go up. um if anyone knows of anyone with diabetes like your son project me, you all know this is the height of BS ive had family members die from diabetes who never were alive to injest a single artificial sweetener. bt hey dont let facts get in the way of irresponsibility. Nothing is worse than an idiot armed with a little false knowledge. Here is the basic facts, when you go against established medical facts its not inventing or any such thing, hurt yourself, you can only blame yourself too bad so sad a darwin award goes your way. but when you promote it as fact to others you are disseminating lies to others in a medical context which as I said legally is libelous and can get you charged in a court of law. i can point out case after case of supporting case law to back that up. So because this lady works with paramedics she says she KNOWS what they know , see shes a secretary who thinks she knows more than the doctors do. Amazing. to be honest i would push to have her removed from this sight for promoting dangerous materials, but i assumes that he is such an idiot no one would listen, but just like the 9 eleven theory nuts and alien supporters, there's always a few nuts to cling on to their BS.

I also have Anthem BC. I got approved very quickly, no problems. I had to do the psych exam, nutritionist, and a medical eval done by my regular doctor.

Not CG, but when you are eating so little you don't get as full. I was nervous in the beginning bc I was thinking I could eat alot but as you add thicker and more filling foods you should notice the restriction. I get chest pain if I eat more than about a cup. I am almost 5 weeks out.

I have the band, but not restriction. I am not much of a "dieter" as I don't want to feel deprived. Stay away from carbs except for that one night a week to allow yourself to drink. Lapband diet is easy....protein protein protein. I've lost 30 lbs so far by just doing this. I don't feel deprived bc there are alot of foods you can eat. You actually sound like you have a good head on your shoulders. Most people are not honest with themselves, and tell themselves they are ready for the surgery when they're not ready to follow everything that goes with it.

Let me see what I can remember......I did a 3 day pre-op diet. Day 1 of pre-op, I cheated. Day 2 we had to take a lax, day 3 I was on the plane to Mexico. I slept most of that day bc I was nervous. The next day I had surgery, I woke from Surgery with the worst gas pain in my back and chest, I thought I was going to die. At the Clinic I felt best when I slept sitting up in the recliner I puked from the anesthesia, I always do that, I had a pounding headache, but they give you meds to put you right back to sleep =), As soon as I woke up from surgery I started walking the halls, I didn't sleep for long periods of time bc of the gas pain, so I was up walking about every hour. The next day i went to the guest house. Then the blues set in, I would cry for no reason at all, I would find myself just stairing at the wall sad. I had no pain. Except for gas. Later I found out this was Post Surgery depression. It is a side effect some people get from the anesthesia. It lasted about 1 week. Day 3 was the worst of it all! The leak test! They have you drink this stuff that taste like posion!!!!!!!!!! I cried and puked and cried and puked! The first two weeks are tuff. I slept sitting up on my couch bc of acid reflux for about 11/2 weeks, then it was gone. I haven't had it again. By a month you are feeling much better. At almost 9 weeks out I eat almost anything. Very small amounts. But for a good part of this nine weeks it has been trial and error finding out what is to much and what my body likes. My body hates Protein shakes. I haven't tried them for a few weeks, time to see if I can handle them now. Hope this helps! You might find info you are looking for by going to members profiles, then go to the post tab, then find their older post. Good luck!

A few months back I would have went to the grocery store and had atleast 30% junk. A few months ago I would have went through about 24 sticks of butter cooking and eating with a family of five. I would never look at nutrition facts ever!!! I didn't care what I cooked or how I cooked it. I realized last night when I went grocery shopping that I only bought three things that were snack unhealthy foods and they were for our kids it used to be way more then that and for me as well. Last night it was more shrimp and meats ,turkey bites, tuna ,cauliflower ,broccoli, cucumbers, all healthy foods. And for the first time today I realized I don't even miss the sweets anymore. I made it through the entire holiday season not one cookie or cake or pie and I'm proud bc while everyone else gained the weight through the holidays, I shedded the pounds!!! I went through a couple weeks of regret bc everything would make me so sick when I went to regular foods but I went back to shakes for awhile then tried again and then I was fine. I watched my family eat and it really sucked I'm not going to lie but I also know I did this for a reason and wasn't giving in. It just took me realizing last night how much in just a couple months my life has changed drastically, and the healthier choices I make now and how much I focus on nutrition facts before I purchase anything. Shopping last night opened my eyes to my poor choices in life!! HW 289 CW 230 bypass 11/22/16

Totally normal. Try the dissolvable fiber in your water every day. I know I struggled with this in the beginning, but now it's normal to go every day to every other day. Drink lots of fluids too bc it can be painful if your dehydrated.

I still can hardly believe how great things are going. I stayed at a hotel for a few days post op bc I live about 8 hours from hospital. Came back home yesterday and was so happy to see my baby girl again! She is only 2 so she doesn't understand why I can't pick her up yet. I showed her my boo boos and she gave me a check up with her dr kit, made my day! My hunger has been nearly non existent. Toughest part was fixing her dinner and snacks, used to I would eat along with her. I can drink water without much restriction if I pace myself, but protein drinks and protein soups I feel very full at about 3 oz. still no pain or nausea. I have lost 10 lbs since surgery 6 days ago, I know that is not a realistic or sustainable rate, but for now I am loving it!

I'm with the Bureau of Prisons I am getting banded tomarrow very excited. I had my Dept. head make the comment about being fit for duty, I have 11 years with the BOP and 20 with the Feds so I got nervous kind. I have several other non related health issues Psoriatic Arthritis and Periferal Neuropathy which I hope will feel better.

Hello everyone: I have been searching these forums for some advice. Just quick I will rewind and give all of you my history. I am 30 i am recently remarried and we want to have kids. I was Dx with PCOS about 10 years ago from my GYNO never really treated my just told me i needed to lose weight( always around 200's). When i was 18 I had a successful pregancy and now he 12. I never thought he would have been and only child. Sorry I am rambaling. Ok now more present time over the last 2 years we tried to concieve but nothing. I did Metformin, clomid, synthroid and even tried femara but nothing. I only had 1 period naturally. So we decided that weight loss was going to be my only hope. I had LapBand 04/2010 i am almost 3 months post op and still no Aunt Flow. HELP?? I have had breast tenderness like crazy but no AF. I am not on BC because it makes me sick but we are protecting against pregancy at least for this year. So I guess I was wondering if anyone knows if there is a chance that I will resume normal cycles. Should I we an RE now or wait my year? If any one has any advice i would appericate it!!

Endoscopy was a piece of cake... ok, um.. wrong choice of words.. haha.. it was EASY. I was more nervous about my pending surgical pre auth. I stopped by the surgeon's office on my way to the hospital and dropped off more supporting paperwork for them to send off to BC/BS...when I was there I was told the insurance girl was on the phone with BC/BS for my auth. Keep your fingers crossed for the approval!!!

So do measurements with a tape measure MUCH more accurate especially when you are stalled and feeling fed up. Also the next pic is a true story