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Sorry, but you calling 30 years of obesity "laziness" further underscores my opinion. Science has shown that obesityhas to do with biological and genetics issues. Thinking it's nothing more than laziness has the same overly simplistic mentality as thinking that the only thing needed to lose weight is to eat less and exercise more. Getting Bariatric Surgery still requires heavy diet and exercise, but also requires that we literally put our life on the line to enable this tool. Putting ourselves in a position where we might die on the operating table seems to me like the opposite of taking the easy way out.

Keddycat75, I was given a run around similar to what you described. The process of getting a surgery date was different than what I was told in the beginning. My insurance approval came the second week of August. The bariatric clinic then had to send the paperwork to the hospital to see how I could fit into their surgery schedule. My particular hospital only did WLS on Tuesday mornings and early afternoon, so I knew it was going to be another long wait. In the meantime, they had me see the bariatric doctor again since so much time had passed while waiting to get a surgery date. While at that appointment (second week of September), the bariatric doctor asked if I wanted to take someone else's date that just cancelled. I said, "Hell yeah" and he put in a request for me to have the date. This was just a request, so I had to wait another week for the request to be accepted. At that time, I got a letter in the mail to complete a four hour hospital/surgery orientation the third week of September. During this orientation, they handed out papers everyone had to sign giving the hospital permission for blood transfusions and to accept the fact that we could die during surgery. Each person had their surgery date written at the top of these papers. Mine was October 6th, which was 11 days away at the time. This meant that I had to start my pre op diet at that very moment. I considered going through a fast food drive through on the way home since I knew I would never get to do it again. I didn't. Therefore, the wait time between insurance approval and getting a surgery date was about 5 weeks. If I didn't get the cancellation, I would have waited a week longer. The whole process from first appointment/consultation until the actual surgery was 9 1/2 months. And yes, it felt like an eternity. My advice would be to take this waiting time as a great opportunity to reduce your weight so that you don't have as much to lose after surgery. If it seems like the clinic is taking forever, just keep calling and nag. They actually forgot to mail off my insurance clearance papers until I called and asked. So, don't feel bad about nagging.

BIG NEWS IN THE BAND WORLD On October 30, 2012, a Reuters article revealed that Allergan is considering selling the Lap-Band® to another medical device company due to declining sales of the band. Not surprisingly, this news has caused some excitement in the bariatric surgery community. When I first read the article, my immediate thought was that I don't have enough information to make it the subject of an article of my own. I'm still missing a lot of information, but have plenty of opinions about it (which can come as no surprise to you), so I've decided to give you my opinions with you in this article from today’s special edition of the Bandwagon® on the Road e-newsletter. ALLERGAN PEDDLES THE BAND I have a hard time drawing any conclusions (pro or con) about the band itself based on the Reuters report. The decline in Lap-Band® sales could be the result of management or other business problems rather than due to a problem with the band itself. It's highly unlikely that Allergan will ever reveal the whole story to anyone but their team of attorneys and board of directors. So, what could this hot news story mean? As you read on, please remember: these are only personal opinions from an ex-bandster who’s fairly well-informed but not a medical professional and in no way associated with Allergan or any other medical device or other company in the world of bariatric surgery. For what it’s worth, here’s my take on the story. The US economy is in tough shape, the popularity of bariatric surgery in general is leveling off, and insurance coverage for bariatric surgery is still a challenge. Allergan is not alone in this - Johnson & Johnson must face the same challenge in marketing the Realize™ Band. The story of what's really behind all this is clouded by the reactions of the media and of band-bashers who sing the "I told you so" song because they assume (without any credible basis at this point) that Allergan's decision is related to the safety and/or efficacy of the band. SO, WHAT’S THE REAL STORY? All the other bariatric surgery procedures now performed in the USA can have serious complications and failure rates, but it's easier to point the finger of blame at a single manufacturer of a medical device than it is to blame the thousands of surgeons who are doing bariatric procedures that don't happen to use a medical device. The FDA isn't looking over the shoulders of all those surgeons the way it scrutinizes Allergan or Johnson & Johnson. When Dr. John Doe stops doing bariatric surgery and goes back to yanking out gall bladders, no one leads a parade down Main Street waving banners about the dangers of the procedures Dr. Doe was doing. Except in rare cases (such as the sad story of my original surgeon), nobody's even discussing Dr. Doe's surgical expertise or behavior. It's an example of what I call the David & Goliath Syndrome. A big company like Allergan is an easy target thanks to its size and visibility. The general public may step on Dr. Doe's fingers but otherwise will kick him to the curb in eagerness to throw rocks at Allergan. One of the hurdles facing any manufacturer of an adjustable gastric band is that it is (in my opinion) the bariatric procedure that requires the most patient education, aftercare, and support. In the 5 years since I was banded, I have encountered plenty of evidence of bariatric clinics doing a great job of that, but I've also encountered clinics that are failing at it, to the detriment of their patients. Not because they're doing something wrong, per se, but because they're directed by a surgeon (or team of surgeons) who was trained to think of surgery of any nature as an in-and-out deal. They're used to seeing the patient 3 times: a pre-op visit; in the operating room (with an unconscious patient); one post-op visit; and never again unless the patient experiences a complication that requires more surgery. That's fine when the surgery involves removing a gall bladder or a mole or a wisdom tooth, but it's a set-up for failure with band patients. The bariatric surgeon who vetted Bandwagon told me several years ago that the band manufacturers make few demands on the surgeons or clinics that buy their products because they don't want to marginalize the customers who don't follow the manufacturer's advice but have acceptable patient outcomes. Avoiding marginalization of customers is a smart business decision but a poor medical decision, and I think it's a mistake for us to view surgeons only as super-wealthy, super-powered medical demi-gods anointed by a Supreme Being and the ASMBS. They're also customers, and just like you and me when we're shopping for a new car, they're looking for a product that has reliable quality and performance at a price they can live with. They are business people who want to make money (to pay their staff, their malpractice insurance premiums, their colossal student loans, and their kids' college funds). Sure they want to practice the art (and science) of medicine, but they can't do that very well if they can't pay their bills. Finally, keep in mind that someone, somewhere is going to end up with the Lap-Band in some form. It is highly unlikely that Lap-Band® research & development, its technology and FDA approval, to say nothing of the existing customer base, will drop to the bottom of the bariatric pond and never be seen again. Both Allergan and the new owner will legally and ethically have to stand behind their product, with the details of that worked out to the last detail by teams of expensive attorneys and insurance companies. Even surgeons who stop doing band surgery to concentrate on other procedures will still have the basic skill and knowledge to provide fills and other aftercare to their band patients. Although I lost my beloved band in April 2012, I do not regret having Lap-Band® surgery and if I were starting my WLS journey today, I would ask my surgeon's opinion about the Allergan decision and also ask how (or if) it will affect his/her practice. The answers to those questions would be towards the top of a long list of questions I'd be asking before deciding to have surgery. And if I still had my band, I'd be asking my surgeon the same questions so that I could go forward with some degree of comfort (if not 100% satisfaction) that I'd have someone to turn to should I need band help in the future. I most certainly would not be rushing off to make an appointment with the Speedy Weight Loss Surgery Revision Center, or at least not until I'd done plenty of homework on the procedures offered by the quacks at Speedy. Trading in a car just because it's 2 years old has never made sense to me, and if it isn’t broke, why fix it? Although my journey from Lap-Band® to vertical sleeve gastrectomy ended up taking 6 months, I'm still nagged about it by a little doubting voice, especially when my sleeve is giving me trouble. Should I have chosen the sleeve, or not? Should I have risked the return to morbid obesity, or gamble on more surgery? There are no easy answers to questions like that. If there were a cure for obesity, I'd be first in line for it, but until that cure is invented, I'm making the best of what I've got.

All I can add to what the others have said is that about half the people I met and still meet in the bariatric center are either having the band removed or revised to sleeve. I am almost 4 weeks post-op with no problems and no regrets, and no, my gall bladder was not removed.

But not new to bariatric surgery, has anyone had success with Tufts of MA paying for their sleeve?

Does Dr. Cribbins take Medicare? Im wandering because I am looking for a bariatric surgeon. I am wanting to do the Lap Band procedure. The surgeons in my hometown dont take Medicare or Medicaid. They will for cholycystectomies and appendectomies,but not for WLS.

I have attended his information Seminar and really liked him! I am not sure what insurance you have, but Blue Cross Blue Shield has awarded their facility the Bariatric Aware of Excellence!

Prior to RNY Bariatric Surgery, I would recommend 2 goals. 1) Walk 30 minutes each day. It will help the recovery process go smoother. 2) If you haven't cut out caffeine from your diet, do so now. I went cold turkey on my 5 diet coke a day habit when I began the 6 month supervised weight loss and exercise program. I suffered from breaking the caffeine habit with severe headaches and body aches that lasted a week. This is something you want to do early. You do not want to compound the effects of caffeine withdrawal with the effects of the surgery. As far as cheating by eating a piece of pizza, forgive yourself, move on and avoid doing it again.

I agree with everyone else... go for it! As for band vs. sleeve, I think that's something you have to take on a case-by-case basis. Some 18 year olds just aren't mature enough for bariatric surgery so having a band means you can take it out and wait until they are older to try again. But, like Steve said, it probably also means a re-operation later on down the line. It's something to talk about with the doctor and your daughter, for sure! Oh and check out this guy.... he's the son of a guy I used to work with. He's 18 and just got a band and is documenting his journey. Your daughter may find watching someone her age go through the process to be helpful: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jakes-Journey/92292716733?ref=search

I haven't seen any studies. That said, although I am a researcher by nature and profession, I didn't really care if there were studies or not. I was on liquids for four weeks post-op, too, so I feel your pain! But I had to tell myself, if I could research my way to good eating habits and a healthy weight, I would have done it and not ended up over 350 lbs and needing bariatric surgery. I decided to put my faith in the professionals who do actually have proven success in getting people from morbid obesity to health, and who I trusted to do major surgery on me, and not on my own apparently faulty ability to make informed decisions about eating and health. So I put me head down and followed orders . . . and it worked for me

Google "Bariatric surgeon, ( your zip code )". Hopefully u will get a few names.

I hated the bariatric products. I found that Body Fortress from Wal mart is pretty good. Tastes like im drinking a glass of chocolate milk. Not thick or gritty at all. I also use GNC unflavored protein powder for my flavored drinks (like crystal light) or in sugar free pudding and stuff like that.

Here is a major peer reviewed paper on wieght loss nutrition after bariatric surgery. it is very heavy reading but intended for the medical community. This is great information if you are willing to wade through it. Pasquini asmbs_nutritional_guidelines.pdf

Have you been to a Lapband seminar yet? Typically there is a bariatric coordinator and it's their daily routine of working with insurance companies and knowing the in's and out's and pitfalls, etc... I would recommend attending one of if you already have a surgeon in mind, they usually have mandatory consults or seminars they hold which are very helpful. They definitely got the ball rolling for me. I am going on my 3rd (3 out of 3) supervised monthly weigh in's with my PCP and had my psyche eval last week. One more Dr's appt and I am then submitted to insurance. From there, once approved, the surgeons office will schedule my surgery date and guide me on my EKG, Chest X-Ray and Labwork appts. Good Luck!

Just found out that my insurance won't cover any type of bariatric surgery, and it would take me years to save up enough for self-pay. Im just stuck now and feeling pretty sad about it. I really thought this was going to be my turning point. Sent from my SM-G920V using the BariatricPal App

Hi I have Blue Precision HMO I chose this because this was only plan i could some what afford with my part time income. And it said they covered bariatric surgery. Then the insurance person at the place I will be getting the surgery done called me on Friday and told me there is an exclusion and it not covered.... I know it is a HMO i know I need to go through my PCP first but why is it saying it's not covered when i went through the exclusion packet part and it does not say anything about it. And right before I bought the insurance the reps said it is covered on my insurance, this was only reason I bought the insurance and paying a whole paycheck for it... idk any info or insight would be nice. I have 8 days to opp out of this insurance if i don't like it so kinda running on time.

I understand your angst. I had to do 30 days. 14 days before and Post Op. The first 4 days are torturous. They were for me. I'm not gonna lie. Sugar depressed Popsicles and Jello got me through. Along with being resolute that I was making a decision to change my life for the good forever. I also wanted to ensure my doc had the best view when he operated on me. That's the purpose of the liquid diet. I did hat a little fear he would know if I had cheated too. Lol. I did have one slice of fat free turkey lunch meat. Lol. I savor end every flipping bite. Anyway....the best advice I can give you is to experiment with your Protein drinks. The best one I made and still do is....Unjury unflavored pro powder, unsweetened cocoa, PB2 Peanut Butter, ice, 1/4 of frozen banana 1(cut up, put into ice trays, froze, and transferred into baggy), milk, and sweetened with Stevia. This gives you about 31 grams of protein and 220+ calories. It will keep you full for at least 4 hours. I don't like super sweet stuff....this was perfect! Also, Health Wise protein juice mix....my fav is Lemon Raspberry and I doubled the Water. I still like it now. Bariatric Choice is a good website for options. Best Wishes! You Can Do It!!!

Sorry I can’t offer any help in regards to a revision to bypass & rheumatoid arthritis. I did find the article below about managing methotrexate side effects. (I was interested because I have a non bariatric friend who takes it for RA too.) May be worth another conversation with the bariatric surgeon in regards to the suggestion that taking folic acid can reduce side effects. Repairing your hernia may alleviate some of your reflux issues too. It’s unfortunate that while it’s helpful managing arthritic pain, methotrexate can also cause weight gain. ☹️ https://www.arthritis.org/health-wellness/treatment/treatment-plan/disease-management/methotrexate-managing-side-effects

Vitamins, minerals and other dietary supplements are important for staying healthy when you’re a bariatric surgery patient. Not every patient receives the same advice and some patients don’t know the best options. This forum is a great place to let everyone know which bariatric supplements YOU take. Can you please take a few minutes to share which dietary supplements you take? Thanks for spreading the word! 1. Do you take a bariatric daily multivitamin/mineral supplement? Which brand and formulation specifically? For example, you might take Centrum for Women or One a Day Women’s Active Metabolism. 2. Which bariatric vitamins and minerals do you take each day? What is the brand and formulation of each? For example, you might take Puritan’s Pride Calcium Magnesium Vitamin D or Nature Made Iron 65 mg (ferrous sulfate). 3. Which other supplements (including herbals) do you take, and what brands are they? For example, you might take Nordic Naturals Ultimate Omegas fish oil.

Twinlab Bariatric Support Chewable Multi plus Iron - berry Flavor 1 tablet NOW Certified Organic Spirulina - 500mg La-La Liquid Probiotic - 1 bottle On the list of things to start soon: Calcium Fish Oil B-Vitamins

I bought comprehensive Bariatric multivitamins from Health Foods Unlimited, they taste ok and met the nutritional guidelines the nutritionist gave me.

First off, let me say that you should always listen to your doctor and nutritionist...rather than crazy people on the internet, myself included. But here's my rant today. And for what it's worth....this is just MY feelings on this nonsense. I'm no expert. Ya'll need to eat. Not overeat. But also NOT UNDER-EAT. Eat healthy food you enjoy. I know how it happens. Your weight loss gets sluggish and stuck and you think OMG, this isn't working, I'm Failing at this! You start to panic. And what does a lifelong self-destructive dieter DO when they start to panic? They go exteme. They go...ok, my doctor said it was ok to eat this much.....so I'm gonna try to eat HALF of that to speed up my weight loss! I'm going to work harder than anyone! I'm going to eat less! I'm going to force this weight off of my body...because this is my last chance and I'm freaking out and I can't fail at this, so I NEED to do better and cut back! Only, here's the thing. You don't need to cut back. You need to stay the course, nourish your healing body, have good energy to boost your metabolism and lose weight sensibly. Why do people do VLCDs? (very low calorie diets....1000 or less calories a day)....they do them because they show results in a hurry. And there is nothing people like better than a lower number on the scale...regardless of how they're achieving it. Or how harmfully they are achieving it. When you eat less than 1000 calories a day, did you know you lose more muscle than fat...even if you are eating tons of protien grams? When you lose muscle, you slow your metabolism, endanger your organs that have muscle (heart anyone?), and decrease your bone density. None of this is a good idea. And when you're eating starvation level calories, your body tries like hell to keep you from dying....by, you guessed it, slowing your metabolism even further. And the carb thing...can we talk about that a minute? You DO want to avoid carbs that are metabolized to sugar really fast, like sugary foods and refined white flour items because they can cause your pancrease to over-react and send too much insulin and you'll end up with rebound hunger....but other carbs, particularly ones that have good fiber content to slow the sugar can also have good protien content...and they don't do the rebound hunger thing. They give you great available energy. Why do we lose so much weight so rapidly when we do keto? We don't really....but the first five pounds is so quick and shocking that it MUST work! (except you're not losing fat, you're losing the water that your liver stores extra glucose in.....and you've stripped your liver of its emergency reserve of energy. And yeah...you can make the sugar you need from other things through gluconeogenesis....but it takes amino acids that your body is typically harvesting from your muscles.) Don't do that thing where you lose the five pounds eating keto....then eat a few carbs and go OMG, look at the weight I've gained!....and go keto again and lose the same five pounds of water. It's an illusion. (Not saying keto people can't lose weight...they do lose weight fast...but they also have about five pounds in lost water from glucose storage, no emergency stores, and their bodies may be consuming their muscles) Food for thought (literally!) Guess what organ runs exclusively on sugar? Pure glucose. Your brain. Your brain burns over 300 calories of glucose every day. At just 2% of our body weight....our brains burn about 20% of the calories we use each day! The CPU needs fuel. Lots of people lose weight rapidly with Very Low Calorie Diets after bariatric surgery. They have these amazing results that other people notice and are in awe of. They lose to goal eating very little and feel very accomplished about their self discipline and their amazing fast results. And then guess what happens? At goal...they are still people who have never learned how to eat sustainably for life. All they know is starvation and self deprivation. And starvation doesn't work long term. Please learn to eat sustainable amounts of calories. Do it early so you don't fudge your metabolism into starvation level calorie requirements. One of the best ways to have a robust metabolism...is to do exercise every day. It doesn't have to be the gym or something you find tedious. Do things you enjoy....but keep moving. It's hard to build your robust metabolism.....when you're too tired to do anything but go to work and go to bed...because you're starving yourself. Please eat. Don't overeat. But eat. Learn to eat right, not starve. Starving is not the cure and in many cases sets the stage for significant regain. Do it right, even it it's slower than other people. Do it sustainably. Learn to coexist with food, not avoid it. (easier said than done) Don't get discouraged by small losses. Just keep losing to goal with small sensible tweeks. You don't have to suffer extremes to have success. Learning to control your diet moderately...is the best skill to have when facing a lifetime of sustaining a significant weight loss. This end my rant. Totally ok if you think I'm nuts/wrong/whatever. Take what you like and leave the rest. Peace and best wishes to everyone on this crazy road.

So, yesterday was my 6 month gastric surgery anniversary. And Holy Crap. Yesterday was a rollercoaster of emotions for me. I started the day feeling pretty good. Went to the Cardiologist. He was so happy for my weight loss. He wanted me to lose weight, but didn't know about the VSG. He was impressed with how much weight I lost so fast. He also commented I look great and was shocked I don't look "sickly" at all due to the rapid weight loss like many patients he sees. He was thrilled with my increased physical activity and my plans to hike the "Camino de Santiago" in Spain this summer. (It is a "pilgrimage" where you walk literally across Northern Spain or another route to Santiago de Compostela). We discussed my tachycardia and sometimes low blood pressure. He is having me reduce my dosage to half a pill (YAY!). We discussed my cholesterol and medication for it. I told him of my desire to attempt to go off it for a while to see if I can keep my lipid panel numbers in check without it now that I lost all my excess weight and am eating much healthier. We agreed that I will stay on it for 6 more months and then do labs. If my numbers are good, he will let me go off them and see how my labs hold up. I acknowledged to him that I know if they do go back on them, then I will have to take it for the rest of my life... he was happy with that compromise. On top of all that already great news... I asked him about my EKG which I had already looked at myself (I am a former trauma nurse, I know how to read them). He confirmed what I already knew... my EKG was NORMAL!!! Now this is HUGE because the reason I decided to look into WLS in the first point was because I was worried about my heart. At my appointment with him in fall 2018, my EKG showed that I had an enlarged Left Ventrical for the first time. I had an echocardiogram several months later that confirmed the EKG findings. THIS is the reason I insisted on getting weight loss surgery in the first place. My heart was working too hard and was beginning to enlarge. This was unacceptable. This was my reason to stop "trying" to lose weight and for making sure I "did" lose weight. So here I am... 1 1/2 years after identifying that my heart was enlarging.... and all my excess weight is GONE and my enlarged heart is GONE TOO! OMG, I left the cardiologist office on such a high note, I practically floated home lol. And I called my husband with so much excitement. It was a great day. Until..... During the drive home from my cardiologist I got an e-mail from the radiology office. I saw the e-mail when I stopped to exchange some pants at Old Navy. Some of you may recall I posted recently that my bilirubin levels had been rising since surgery. I normally have a high normal to slightly high bilirubin level. It is something that I have monitored my entire adult life. But since surgery, my bilirubin keeps getting higher. I saw my lab results before my bariatric surgeon did. I printed the results, wrote a note to my regular nurse practitioner, and dropped them off at her office. She called a couple hours later and agreed that we need to do an ultrasound to check my gallbladder and liver out. I did that Tuesday and was told that the results would not be available until Friday. Except now it is Wednesday, the next day, and I get a text that my results were available online. Again, I saw the results before either my general nurse practitioner or the bariatric surgeon. And what I read was devastating. My liver and gallbladder are just fine (weird... so why is my bilirubin elevated?). But I have a fairly large mass in my Left Kidney! I have a flippin TUMOR in my kidney! And they recommended on my report that I get a CT Scan or an MRI to further assess it. They used 2 terms to describe what kind of mass it appears to be. Both terms used, are the kind of masses that are cancerous 85% of the time. And even if it ISN'T cancer.... the mass is big enough that I know the first line of treatment is either a partial or total nephrectomy. Holy Crap. Add to that, I know that my grandfather wasn't much older than me when he had kidney cancer and had HIS left kidney removed. And I figure out all of this within 5 minutes, because as a Registered Nurse I already know too much. Still... I keep my **** together and calmly (but unnerved) drive home. I get home, I refill my water, I sit for a minute quitely before I call my husband over to talk. He is a Registered Nurse too... and I told him there is a mass on my Kidney and he made the same assessment I did... only he is much more panicked about it than I am. He wants to rush over to the nurse practitioners office NOW. I told him I want to wait a little bit so she can have time to look at the report first. Then I noticed a missed call from her. How I missed it, is beyond me... but she must have called in the 1 - 1 minute dead zone on my way home. What luck. And BTW, she doesn't make patient phone calls normally DURING her work schedule... she calls after she sees all her patients for the day. I know this because that is when she ALWAYS calls me for results. This was unusual for her. I knew she was worried before I even spoke to her. I called back and got a voicemail. (husband still panicking and wanting to rush over). I called a couple more times and got through to her. Instead of waiting for her to slowly break the news... I let her know I just saw the report and I know I had a mass on my kidney and that my liver and gallbladder were fine. This helped speed up her getting to the point... I needed a CT Scan and a referral to a specialist. She was at the same conclusion I was... it is a tumor and there is a good chance it is cancerous. I don't think she was going to say the "C" word yet... but after I mentioned it, she agreed. Now... my referrals always take a week. ALWAYS take a week to get back so I can schedule an appointment. So, I asked my husband if we can go for a walk somewhere. Well THAT was a disaster lol... because I got several calls from the referral lady and within an hour or so of my phone call to the NP about the results... I was running to the radiology office to pick up barium to drink for my CT scan on FRIDAY. Friday. The day I was supposed to be getting these results back, and now I am going in for a CT Scan already. Talk about FAST RESPONSE! The fact that she rushed this so much and managed to get me in to the radiologist office so soon just confirms how worried my NP really is, so that is totally stressful! Still don't know what specialist I will be seeing, but by the time I get that referral I will have results in hand from the scan, so that is good. On the plus side... I already know the rest of my abdominal organs are fine according to the Ultrasound. The CT scan will look more closely at all of it... but I don't have any reason to believe if it IS cancer that it metastasized. But now I have to gear up to drink a ton of barium (um... no clue how I will get this all in... I am only 6 months post op!). And now I have to deal with a tumor that could be cancerous and I might need a kidney partially or completely removed. Chemo is very unlikely, but radiation or other treatments might be needed. And on top of all that I still need an MRI for my L Knee because I might have a torn meniscus that might need surgery and definitely need physical therapy. And I am SUPPOSED to walk across Spain starting May 25th. Yay me. I thought I was THISCLOSE to being healthy again and all this **** happens! And how much you want to bet the Coronavirus hits my city hard right about the same time I need 1-2 more surgeries! Not afraid of the Coronavirus... except my immune system will be already under attack if I need a kidney removed!

Hello, everyone. My name is Nicole and I just found this forum website from a Google search. This is my first post, my introduction. I am 32 years old, I am a mom of three (12, 9, 7) and I am engaged to an amazing man. We live in Greensboro, NC. I had my RNY on July 30, 2007 and just this past week was the first I'd experienced any type of problems. I will get into that more here in a little bit. I had my RNY, as I stated above, in 2007, and I went into the surgery room weighing 257 lbs. My highest recorded weight was 315 lbs, and my lowest was 128 lbs. Right now I am hovering around 160 lbs. Since my RNY I have gone through a 12 year relationship/10 year marriage that was rather abusive, as well as a separation from that marriage, a new (and amazing) relationship, two moves (from PA to VA and then VA to NC), three knee surgeries, an emergency gall bladder removal surgery and just this past week an emergency perforated stomach ulcer surgery. Like I said above, this last week's incident was the first problem since having my surgery (aside from the occasional "dumping", vomiting, dehydration, etc.) and it was VERY scary. I was admitted to the local hospital, with what I thought was a heart attack because of the symptoms I was displaying, only to find that a ruptured ulcer produced a perforated stomach. I spent 7 days in the hospital, having gotten out just yesterday. My "pouch" was repaired, however I am back on the DYS 1 diet of pureed and soft foods, and I am being set up with a bariatric surgeon and his team (one that works with the surgeons who worked on my stomach last week) in the next 2 weeks because there is a good chance that I will have to have a revision done. I am on some medications right now, to continue the healing process, but the surgeons think that there is going to be no option other than the revision. Um, let's see ..... I truly have strayed from the "RNY way of life" with all of the craziness and stress that has gone on in my life, but after this past week I know that I have to get back in line. As I said above, in 2010 I had gotten down to 128 lbs (around a size 4) and while I really enjoyed it I just crept back up after the first knee surgery. It's going to be a while before I can get back into the gym, but that's my last worry right now. I just want to get better. I hope to meet a lot of nice people here, to offer advice and to get advice. Just because I'm 5 years post-op it doesn't mean I know it all, and I never claim to. I am posting two pictures along with this post - the first is my highest and lowest weights (2006 and then 2010) and then myself and my children, back in August, at my current size. I hope that everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving week and weekend. Nicole

I called MetroPlus and they told me they don't cover Bariatric surgery ='[