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Saturday night I woke up at about 11 PM and my stomach was soaked and through my pants were soaked I called the surgeon to let him know that I had serous drainage. As a nurse I know that this is common however I have never seen it so bad in all my years of nursing. So he stated to just put a dressing over it and it should be okay. So the next morning I wake up still draining. By after noon is was draining so bad that the dressing was soaked within ten mins of changing it and I don't mean just wet I mean soaking through pants shirt and hoody. So my husband said I think u need to call the surgeon back. Long story short he said met me at the office on a Sunday which was wonderful since he was in the operating room all day anyways he said. So he looked at it and said everything looks okay and it may take a few days to stop draining. Today it's still draining super bad. I've been nauseous today a lot and now started with diarrhea. I'm hoping not related . I just don't wanna develope seroma. Or any infection as a nurse I do great with patients but not with my kids or myself bc I fear the worse. Lol. Which I know co workers have told me they're the same way when it comes to them or they're family probably bc of all the things we see in patients. Anyways I'm still soaking through dressings like crazy changes them atleast ten times today already. They have me comming back in tomorrow morning. I guess my biggest fear is that everything has gone sooooo smooth is this where I start having complications? Has anyone else had this? Sent from my iPhone using the BariatricPal App

1. It hurts if I drink with food in my pouch. The reasons they don't want you to is bc it washes down the foodm, so you won't stay feeling full as long. 2. And 3. You don't have enough restriction. I hate Protein shakes. Don't limit yourself. I, myself make homemade cream Soups. There's a whole wide world of liquids out there. Going a few days without protein protein protein won't hurt you. Sent from my VS985 4G using the BariatricPal App

Hi Dixiechic! Wow - I won't even comment on the ex husband LOL Anyhoo, I have Bc/Bs in Georgia and my employer specifically excluded Bariatric surgery. If that is the case that is a dead end. I am opting to self pay and I am paying 16,500 for the entire package. Alicia Surgery date: 8/5/08

I do a protein shake for a quick breakfast and made a bunch of frozen lunches in tiny containers like chilli, crab cakes, etc. go to theworldaccordingtoeggface.com and search bites. They are very easy to make ahead and freeze for grab and go! I keep a water bottle with me everywhere at work to sip sip sip all day. Its almost easier now that in working bc all the meals are premade and easy.

I have my surgery date with him on april 28th. I have not met him yet bc I live in MO to go to school and Im having it done when I go home. Im doing all my pre and post op stuff in MO. So let me know if you find anythiing out Im intrested too!

Hey there! I am doing great. I will be so much better on Monday when I can eat food that you actually get to chew! I am teaching summer school (kindergarten) and it is wearing me out. I don't think I am getting near enough calories to handle the energy level present in even one of those munchkins! I set up a fill a long time ago for June 30th. I don't know if I will need one or not, I have yet to feel hungry, but I wanted to make sure I could get in. I am down 13 pounds since surgery and I lost 10 preop. I am back where I started last summer when I got fed up withdieting and went back to eating everything in sight. At least I know that won't happen again!

My name is Stacey, and i'm from BC, Canada. I just got banded 2 days ago. Everything was smooth sailing except for my nerves and a bit of breathing trouble afterwards, but everything else went perfect. Just wanted to say hi!

So, I have Highmark BC/BS and my policy has the bariatric and reconstructive surgery riders, so I just found out I was approved for both a panniculectomy and abdominoplasty, which is AWESOME!!! But they denied my request for the brachioplasty, and I have medical documentation of the same issues on my arms as on my stomach. The stomach was approved but not the arms. The surgeon's office said I would receive my denial letter for the arm lift and it would include an appeal process. I will definitely appeal. I'm just wondering if anyone has had any success with appealing for a brachioplasty or really appealing a denial for anything. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

My dogs also love fruits and veggies. They love raw carrots and green beans. They also love apples. I usually feed them as treats. When one of the dogs was on a diet, we fed her green beans as a filler so she didn't feel like she was starving, but she wasn't eating empty calories.

You are right, but there is not that many doctors in BC, Canada doing the surgery. So, I am going to prove him wrong. I was thinking and I think he was speaking from past patient experiences. And there is nothing about me that is "go-with-the-flow". I am going to totally KICK BUTT. My Goal: 101 pounds. Yeah you heard me, deal with it Doctor! I am going to throw your "average" out the window. And guess what, I am going to do a post-op diet, even though you didn't mention it. Because after what I have read here tells me that it is much better for my recovery! So HAH! I am so ready to do this thing. Let's go.

Anyone from Essex ? banded 23/11/12 could do with some one from uk to be a buddy , stuggling weight not shifting , feeling fed up !

Yep! Mine is starting to fall out like crazy. I see some bald spots. I'm heading to my hairdresser right now. Not sure what I'm going to do yet. I'm blonde w long shoulder length hair. Might just chop it all off bcs these long strands all over the place are really annoying.

I have BC/BS of Alabama & was denied immediately ( after the required 6 mos nutrition visits, psych eval & so on) because bmi was not documented @ 40 for 3 yrs, & the nutrition visits not signed by PMD . BMI 37 to 38 for 10 yrs... No where in the policy did it say any of this ! Have decided to pay out of pocket using other resources. It is worth it at this point. There was no way to appeal.

Hi Gayle, Believe me…I'm ready to face the whole list of challenges to get approved. From what this team tells me, they are the ones who will jump through the hoops to help, and that was reassuring. I did call and find out it is an approved surgery - WITH 6 months of evaluation ahead of time. And I'm fine with that as well. That is with my current surgery. Being that I work for a major Pharma Company, we have GREAT insurance coverage choices. Next month I will choose to go to BC/BS or United Healthcare; both of which approve the surgery for my company WITHOUT 6 months requirements. We'll see…this is all just in the 'planning' stage. I need to read here some more, find out how folks are dealing after - and so forth.

Has anyone been approved that has Blue Cross PPO of Tennessee? I'm set for my doctor on Feb.5 for my approval, I'm not worried about them approving me. It's the insurance company. I want this so bad!!! I have been overweight since I was 10.I'm tired of starving myself to lose weight.If anyone has could you tell me what all I need to do?

The first facility I interviewed required a 4 to 6 month waiting period before surgery even though my insurance requires one (Anthem BS CA). I'm interviewing another this Wednesday who only requires what the insurance requires. Pros/Cons on the waiting period? I know what to do, I need a tool to help me do it.

hello all..tonight is my seminar and im just wondering what to expect..im nervous and excited at the same time..also i have Anthem bc/bs in GA..anyone have that and can give me some info thanks

:thumbup: I have just started the process of getting apporved by my insurance company for Lap Band Surgery. I had my labs done on friday and I see the nurtitionist this thursday. Psych and Surgeon appt this week. I guess I am just scared that I will not be approved. My BMI is 44 and I do have co-morbidities including high blood pressure, being on 2 meds with fair control, fibromyalgia (not sure if this counts) and poor pain control related to my fibro. I have gastric reflux and was in the hospital in February for a suspected heart attack, but that was proven to be gastric reflux. I remain on medication for that...Just wondering if anyone has any experience with BC/BS. When I called my rep about benefits, he stated that the Lap Band procedure was covered along with the surgeon that I have chosen to use, along with the Psych consult...just nervously hurrying up and waiting...It seems like once I made my mind up now I can hardly wait!

Was banded at cibo clinic in 2012 , lost 50 pounds everything great ..then the clinic closes leaving everyone to fend for themselves unless I would like to pay an extra thousand dollars a year for care that my 18,000 dollars already paid for. They said drs. Anvari and Hong are still our drs. And if there's any issues they are there for us ...load of crap !!! I've been in constant pain for a little over a year ..no longer can I eat anything good for me ..only slider foods here because to eat anything else causes great pain. I have a 14 cc band with 8cc fill ..I have terrible left rib and shoulder pain , sinus issues , vomit all the time , feeling dizzy like vertigo , racing heart , but no one can find anything wrong ... I've tried numerous times as has my family Dr to get ahold of dr anvari ...no one ever calls back ...went to St joes emerge where both anvari and Hong work from ..to try to get un filled ...the emerge Dr says nope can't help you go back to where the band was placed ...explained what happened with cibo clinic and that drs anvari and Hong worked at cibo but emerge Dr still says we are not equipped to do un fills , I'm like seriously this is a bariactric hospital..so after spending 10 hrs on a few occasions in hospital no one will help me but they certainly didn't have a problem taking my 18,000 dollars to put it in .... I'm so sick and fed up with this band ...can anyone please help me or point me in the right direction.

Did your doctor tell you that you had to loose a certain amount of weight before surgery? I am having surgery tommorow too and my doctor told me I didn't need to do the pre-op diet... I have been kind of panicing these past few days, but I guess I just figure my Dr knows best... I haven't gone crazy with my eatting but I am afraid to weigh myself bc I don't want to have gained weight!

Such awesome results! So happy for you! Allowing something to have that much control over your life is tiring, isn't it? It must be so nice! I'm just waiting to complete my program and get my date set! About throwing the food out, I don't think I will ever be able to do that. I have a problem with waste. All the "bad" food, or "going bad" food gets fed to my collection of animals, mainly the chickens! Good luck to everyone!

Hi Jenn and Ladypoohbear, Good luck with your sugery Jenn , I would love to keep in touch with you and see how you are doing, i too had loads of testing and mental health checks to see if we are mentally able to cope with what we are facing, i got fed up and told the dr that i'd lost the plot and my marbles years ago so either give me the surgery or decline me so i could get on with my life, to my amazement she laughed and said i'd do. unfortunately Ladypoohbear NHS hospitals dont permit us to take in our laptops or tablets, in fact other than my wash stuff and nightwear i can't take in anything else, no jewellery no hair products or styling tools and no makeup, i'm not even allowed to have nail polish on my fingers or toes and i will be in a ward with 9 other patients having gastic surgery. i have been cooking beef broth and freezing it in ice cube trays for post op, so today i will be making chicken broth as an alternative, does anybody have any ideas what else i can make, ideas are thin on the ground round here.

Now I don’t want to make anyone else jealous, but I just finished my psychiatric evaluation over the phone and it took all of 15 minutes. That’s it. No paperwork. No questionnaires. Done over the phone. No sweat. Granted, this did cost me $400 and it is not covered by my PPO. There was also the option of doing it via skype but since I'd have to do it during work hours and i can't use my company laptop for personal use, so I opted for phone. We arranged for a time for me to call her last week so I called her right on time as planned. She first asked why I was pursuing the surgery. I explained that while my eating has not gotten out of control, my various ailments including a bad back that may require surgery, arthritis in my shoulders and bone spurs in both big toes have made it difficult if not impossible to exercise without pain. I have not been increasing my portion sizes over the last few years as my weight climbed, but without the ability to burn off the excess calories I just kept getting bigger. Next, she asked some medical history questions (I never drink to excess because I’m allergic to alcohol and I’ve never smoked or taken illegal drugs) then asked if I was an emotional eater, a binge eater, a habitual eater or a miscellaneous eater, i.e. problems like portion control, which we’d already covered and I’d already identified myself as being. We went into a little detail about my current eating habits and previous weight loss attempts, which had mostly been successful when I could exercise freely. She asked about the kind of support I’ll have for the surgery and during my recovery at home. I explained that my daughter (who graduates from college this Friday with a BS in psych and a 3.7 GPA, thank you very much) will be taking me to and from the surgery. That’s because when I have it in late May/early June, my wife will still be recovering from knee replacement surgery. So, my kids (my freshman son was nominated by a professor for membership in an honors society that only admits 15 kids from each graduating class at his school, again, thank you very much) will be taking care of both of us. We consider it only a tiny portion of the payback they owe us for putting them through a private college. Finally, she went into a little detail about the required post-surgical changes in habits, such as measuring and logging food and sticking to the prescribed post-surgical plans, and asked if I thought I’d be able to handle. Having read through this board, some FB groups and all the literature I got from the surgeon’s office at my initial consult, I repeated everything back to her chapter and verse to confirm I know exactly what’s expected of me. I also told her that I’m far too cheap to spend all the money on the surgery only to throw it all away with bad habits. She asked if I knew about the types of complications that could arise, so again I referenced this board and the FB groups, explaining I’ve learned a lot about the types of problems that come up most frequently. She asked if I had any fear of the surgery and I said I’ve had many surgeries in my life, so I’m not afraid of it, plus I know that for each person who complains about a post-surgical ailment, there are probably fifty who do not have that problem so the odds are clearly in favor of not having complications. That was pretty much it. She said the approval will be on its way to my surgeon by the end of the day. I gave her my email address so she could send me some literature she likes to send all of her patients and her contact information in case I had any further questions. I am not kidding when I say it took me twice as long to write this as the phone call itself. With this and my endoscopy both out of the way, all I’ve got left before submitting for approval is my final visit with the nutritionist and the pre-op visit with my PCP who’ll also take care of my chest x-ray and EKG. The only real problem between now and the surgery is avoiding the temptation of pigging out at my daughter's graduation party...

Day 4 and it's getting easier. Last night was the ultimate test bc I went with my husband to a pool hall (we play in a pool league) that serves food that is a fat girls dream!! Not only is the cooking area in the middle of the place and you can smell it from anywhere in the building but we ended up sitting right next to the place that the waiters come out of with the food!!! It took everything I had not to snatch the chicken wings out of that girls hands!! I told my friend I was about to trip the next person and I'm not to proud right now to eat that shit off the floor!! (<< I would never do that!!) So as I fought and fought the urge the waitress starts popping popcorn, not the kind in a bag but the kind they make @ the movies, and guess where I'm sitting yup right next to that oh so smell good popcorn!!! And to top it off she goes over the intercom and announces that they are GIVING IT AWAY FOR FREE!!!! Oh holy hell!!! But I resisted!!! It was sooo hard to do, especially since I have not DRANK my dinner yet, but I did it!!! Anyway just thought u would share my experience hope all is well with you guys!!

My psych appt was in and out probably 10 min and I did this 3 times bc I was scared of surgery so had to redo paperwork multiple times