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I don't have Aetna, but with my surgical group, "supervised" means returning to my surgeon's office monthly for a weigh-in. Their program is a non-program; those of us with insurance companies requiring 3 months' supervision were required to lose 6 pounds in that time frame, and those with a 6-month period had to lose 10 in 6 months. The documented loss, combined with whatever magic they do in the office (with the questionnaires we fill out, their nutrition seminar) got approval nearly immediately after all the info was in the hands of the insurer. Re: exercise--again, we were told to choose something and do it. What we did did not matter, as long as we progressively upped our activity. The doctor's documentation of our oral description sufficed.

Did squats today and mine was more like 20, 30 and 30. That last set did me in. I'm used to doing 4-10 reps per set...so my legs feel like jello.

I'm in! I am gonna start at like 10 or 15

Goodbye Food..hello great new life. The pre-diet is toughest the first 4 days. I am NOT saying it's a walk in the park after, either, but it's much more tolerable. I was sleeved 8/20 and with the 2 week pre-op I am down 72 pounds. I assure, this is worth it. I had my own doubts, but at 10 weeks, I am such the believer.

I was sleeved 4/10 and I thought I was feeling a lot better. Yesterday I got out of the house and ran errands. Felt good, slept 8 hours and felt like crap today. Barely sipping and dry heaves. Can't get my energy up. Today is one week, don't know if I need additional vitamin or something. Anyone have this? Protein first then water? I dry heave and I feel like I am back on day 4....

OK, for the past three years, my Band has pretty much been unfilled due to pregnancies. I had a small fill in March... but it bothered me, so had it removed. Everything did look fine under fluoroscopy, though So... fast forward to today. I'm pregnant... and for those of you who have never been preggers and Banded (unfilled or filled)... it's kind of like having your period in that your hormone fluctuations can cause your Band to become tight. Anyways... today, for a snack, I had 1/2 of a beef hotdog. Didn't chew well enough (not something I've had to deal with in a long time, so out of habit)... and things got stuck. No biggie... went to the bathroom... and PBed. Then went again. And again. I think the hotdog was all gone by then, but I still had to stop my car on the way home to vomit some stomach snot and saliva. Being stupid, I did not stick to liquids for dinner... and had a few bites when I started vomiting again. I've been PBing all night now... can't keep even Water down. I just had some real true vomiting about 10 minutes ago... y'know... gut renching type... so I'm hoping that's the end. But I'm worried. I'm assuming if I can't keep liquids down tomorrow, I'll have to go get things checked out as dehydration and pregnancy don't mix. Thing is... I'm preggers... so... x-rays/fluoroscopy is out (only 10 weeks)... not sure if they could diagnose slippage with ultrasound... and being pregnant, what if I need Band removal?? Just freaking a bit... so send some good wishes my way. Thanks

Can you kind of walk me through the first day? Check in, tests, etc? My flight arrived in San Diego at 10:30 am. Ernesto the driver picked me up at the airport and we drove about 3 hours to Mexicali. He stopped once at a convenience store so that you could buy a cold drink or a snack and use the restroom if you needed it. After we arrived at the hospital at about 1:30, I gave a urine sample, a blood sample, had a chest X-ray and an EKG. The coordinator gave me an antibiotic and an Ativan to take that evening, and if you have not already paid she will collect the balance of the money due for surgery. Ernesto drove me to the hotel. Pickup the next morning was at 7:00 a.m. Catheter? If so, before you are asleep or after and when does it come out? No catheter, but I had a surgical drain that came out on the 3rd day.. How long are you hooked up to an IV? I was on an IV the day of surgery, the day after, and part of the 3rd day. It was taken out before my contrast study. Are you feeling well enough to walk to the pharmacy by yourself the day before you leave? Is there an opportunity on the pre-op day? Yes, I felt well enough to walk to the pharmacy on the 3rd day, and depending on what time you get to Mexicali on the pre-op day there is time after your testing. Are you allowed to eat whatever you want for dinner on pre-op day? Is there a decent place to eat at or very near the hotel? Yes, I could eat anything I wanted on pre-op day. I ate at the hotel, I didn't think it was expensive--I had a glass of wine and rib-eye tacos for $14 including tip. Do they really not have wash cloths at the hospital? I don't know, I don't use wash cloths. Did you have diarrhea on going home day? No. I had diarrhea 4 days after coming home when I tried my first Protein shake. If anyone had a revision: On me, Dr. Aceves plans on doing a barium swallow test and an endoscope under heavy sedation on pre-op day. If you had this done, how groggy were you after? I didn't have a revision.

I can say that my thighs are definitely feeling tight all day long, lol. This going up 10 squats a day is killer. Sent from my iPhone using VST

Hi.... I am having difficulty and I wanted to see if any of you are expereincing the same thing.....I am 11 days post-op so still have 19 more days of mushies food! I am bored!!! It seems that everything revolves around food. My family says "Do you want to go to the movies?" Nope...popcorn! "Dave and Busters to play games?" Nope....drinks (which I miss tons). "Sports bar to watch the Cowboys....(loose...waaaaaa)?" Nope....too many temptations there. "Out to lunch or dinner?" You get my drift! I feel like I am stuck at home. I am not sure I can stand it for 19 more days....I am going CRAZY!!!!! Any suggestions??

drmeow, I have to lose 10 pounds by a certain date to show them I can follow a regular eating plan after the surgery. I lost 6.5 pounds the first two weeks then gained back 5 the next two weeks. :::sigh::: I am also doing what you are doing - cutting out the grazing and giving up sweets. I am trying really hard to only eat three meals a day but I get really hungry in the late morning and in the evening and last night I went to bed at 7:30pm because I couldn't stand it. On the sweets my rule is "no sweet binge sneaks" so if I'm with people and they are sharing a dessert I will have a bite or two because it's not sneaking and it's not a binge. I'm thinking this is more difficult than just going cold turkey but I'm trying it for now. Today was a good day on the scale so I'm hopeful for the next two appointments that I will reach the 10 pound goal. Then I need my psychiatrist to be convinced that I'm ready and we can schedule the surgery. Fhew. It will be a year since I started this whole thing before those two things are done. The weight loss clinic mistakenly had me in the "no surgery" category for months before it was found out to be a mistake in their records so that really screwed me up. But maybe I needed that time after all. Doing well on the eating now and feeling good about it.

Good for you :crying: I'm still on my journey I have my sleep Apnea test wed & my 1st Nutrition class the same night also. My Ins gave a green light in the beggining as long as this process takes 6 mos. I'm trying things to adjust my weight ahead of time like reducing carbs, eliminating soda & Not drinking during meals. It was suggested by the Dr. I loose 26 lbs before surgery. :ohmy: :confused:I'm concerned on how I'm going to do it since 10 has always been the max!!!. I'm so excited an ready for this change in my life there are so many things i want to do with my girls!!! please keep me posted and am willing to take tips from someone who has been through this recently. Good luck on the Liquid I heard it can be difficult but there is that liht at the end of the tunnel to keep you on track!! my personal email address is heather.vasquez@yahoo.com

I am pretty new to this forum. I've been doing a lot of reading but this is my first post! My surgery was tentatively scheduled for 3/23/10, but my insurance authorization came back very fast (like 8 days) so I got anxious about doing it sooner. Talked to my surgeons office this morning and it's scheduled for Friday 2/5! I am so ready and so excited. Like others on this site, I went to the dr and told him I wanted the Lap Band. He went through everything about the band, but also went into the sleeve and told me a lot of people are now choosing the sleeve, but left it totally up to me without trying to influence me either way. I found this site and made my decision within 2 days. Looking forward to updating with many good posts in the weeks to come!

Hello Everyone! I have been snooping around here for a little while and figured I should post something! I went to the informational seminar in September, had my first meeting with the Doc on 10/31, and finished most of my pre-op testing in one week! I scheduled my surgery for Dec. 10, and I just got the confirmation from insurance that I have been approved. (Only 70% though). I have a blood test today, and the pre-op seminar Weds, and I'm done! I was very nervous in the beginging, but now I'm only excited. I'm worried about missing work and I'm hoping I'll be back in the office on Thurs. (Surgery is Monday) 12/10. What are your thoughts? Does this seem possible? I'm trying not to tell too many people I work with either. Anyways, I look forward to getting to know you all! -Michelle:clap2:

I had surgery 8/15 and had been doing great until the last 2 days. I am on full liquids and I haven't eaten anything that I am not supposed to. I have been walking quite a bit and have pushed myself into walking 2 miles at once at least twice a day. I have been having this sharp pain on the left side of my abdomen which is no where near the incision. It is pretty sharp and I have had to take pain killers today, which I had stopped taking at 5 days post op. is this normal? Or did I pull or tear something with all the walking? I will be calling my surgeon tomorrow morning, but wanted to see if anyone here had any ideas. Thanks!

I have the exact experience as yours... I went to my first post-op appointment (10 days post-op) with 13 lbs down. 3 weeks later i'm still only 15 lbs down. Buuuuut, I've noticed a change in my body, I can see that my neck and shoulders look slimmer, my upper belly has gotten smaller, so have my thighs. So, don't worry about the weight, just keep focused on your protein and water intake and really do make an effort and get some walking into your day, it made all the difference for me. Good luck!

That's exactly how I feel! If you're serious (ie willing to comply with Vitamin and Protein requirements) and meet the weight requirements then the Duodenal Switch really does seem to have excellent long term results. There are people over on obesityhelp doing well 10 years out from DS surgery. Bypass proves to be only short term for many as you only malabsorb calories for a couple of years and then your intestines adapt and go back to absorbing 100%, that's why many look to revise to the DS (not easy from bypass though). I'm sure DS surgery for just the intestines has to be possible for GPSers. They have been known to do just the intestinal part for diabetics in Spain, as this surgery has a 99% resolution rate for diabetes (and a significant improvement for the remaining 1%).

I agree. I'd love to find just one band patient that has had their band for 10 years without complications, another surgery, a 2nd band, or the ever popular "band issues". I was able to find 1 band patient on OH that had her band for almost 9 years, she is on her 2nd band, and now is going in for a revision to the sleeve. She just "lived" with the band issues because she thought it was a fair trade off to lose the majority of her weight. For me, it's not about doing well, or losing _____% of my excess weight. It boils down to quality of life. Not being able to eat a good, healthy balanced diet because certain foods would not go down, or the ever lovely puking on the same food I ate the day before without issue. For me, that is not a high and pleasurable quality of life. Not to mention all of the maintenance, in and out for fills and unfills trying to find the sweet spot. The stats on revisions for sleeve patients that have been documented at 5-7 years out is between 3-5% vs. 25% with the band. For me, that speaks volumes. We all know someone or several that have done well with each WLS option. Unfortunately, I know way more people that have complications or "band issues" than I know true success stories. It is a personal choice. You have to weigh all the pros and cons. Look at the big picture, and then proceed. My mom has a band, and is almost 3 years out. She pukes 2-4 times weekly. Lives on mushy, soft solids, can't eat lettuce or bread, and forget chicken. She's had over 20 fills/unfills trying to find the sweet spot, and still at almost 3 years out she has 40 pounds to goal. BUT, per the stats, she's considered a success. I just hope she doesn't screw up her stomach tissue along the way by just "dealing/living" with band issues. On the other hand, my younger brother has a band also and is about 15 months out, he's lost over 100lbs and doesn't have any of the band issues with the exception of eating certain foods. Unfortunately, he hates getting the fills at this point so he's on a forced diet because they can't get the fill right on him either. If I wanted to diet, I wouldn't have gone through WLS to begin with. Think twice, cut once.

WOW, I didn't start having those kinds of issues until about a year and 1/2 after my band was placed and then we finally found that my hiatal hernia had ripped out (worse than originally). It took so long mainly because I kept dragging my feet because I was afraid I'd lose my band, but unfilled it might as well have been gone anyway. My husband can count on one hand how many times he's puked since his surgery. My mother and sister don't either. Can't speak for the other people I know because I'm not that close. I assumed when they say they don't have problems they mean it. We've all accidently swallowed something not properly chewed and had some discomfort until it finally settled. There are foods that make my relatives and I uncomfortable like dry meat and white breads, white rice and other sticky things like that. But I was hoping that would continue to be a "problem" with the sleeve because I considered it a great tool to keep me on track eating healthier nutrition packed foods rather than calorie/carbs with little else of value. I only know personally one person (who I forgot in my original count, so I guess that makes 10 now) who went out of state. Ohio many facilities that are reputable and have a lot of experience. The person who went out of state actually went out of the country about 4 years ago. Her port flipped and she's never had a fill because she could barely afford the first trip and has not had the money to go back to have it fixed and it will cost more to do it locally. I don't know who she went to in Mexico, but doctor in Ohio who tried to fill it didn't bad mouth her surgeon. I guess that's something that can happen anywhere, though it's rare. I'm glad I'm sleeved, I don't have anything bad to say about it so far. But I hate to be overly praising it because I just don't feel we have the numbers of patients long term yet to know what the risks will be in a few years. I've seen the very people on another board who two years ago were practically "selling bands." Now because they had issues and they've been sleeved are acting as if ALL bands WILL fail and ALL sleeves will be successful. Heaven forbid if they have issues with their sleeves they will probably be badmouthing sleeves and "selling" whatever salvage surgery they end up with... until that has problems... I just don't think we know enough yet to think any weightloss surgery is THE one. It might be THE one for me, but not someone else. In weighing the pros and cons, I will say that if someone were going a good distance for WLS surgery I would probably recommend the sleeve over the band simply because the follow up is less and it's often difficult to find someone who is willing to take over fills if your surgery wasn't done with them. My surgeon used to, but he has so many patients now he feels it's unfair for his patients to have to wait longer for fills. I learned yesterday that I will have to take B-12 weekly because that is mainly absorbed in the stomach not the intestines. I just don't know if we know enough about what else the removed potion of the stomach does longterm. Time will tell.

I know this is going to sound really crazy, but I was so nervous about my first meeting with the surgeon this morning. I thought for sure he was going to tell me that I was crazy or something and wouldn't go forward with it. Yeah, I know - I was being really stupid. Anyway, I met with Dr. Northup and he thought that the sleeve was the right surgery for me and that I would be a good candidate for it. I had a few questions and he answered them all very openly. A couple of questions I had asked him I knew the answers from the discussions on here, but wanted to see what he would tell me. He gave me the same answers as I was finding here on the boards - so that's a good thing. With their program/package they include 6 months membership at their fitness facility (which is a really nice facility with special areas just for the weight loss patients) and 2 meetings with a personal trainer. The doctor told me that would start about 5 or 6 weeks after surgery to give me time to heal before starting it. Of course, I'm going to attempt to get in a few minutes walking daily starting next week as I really do need to start exercising (I am extremely sedentary). I also got to meet with the dietician who had some preliminary questions for me, as I did for her. She told me that it would be a 2 week liquids diet (with some real food - get to choose 6 foods from a list they will provide) before the surgery, and then it's 2 weeks of liquids after surgery before moving to mushies/soft foods and eventually real food again. I had anticipated that from these boards, but it's nice to have her tell me that too. She also took my measurements and said they would be repeated 3 months after surgery too. Since I am self-pay, the doctor wants me to have a number of lab tests done through my PCP, as well as a referral letter / letter of medical necessity from him to try to get my insurance to pay for those. So, since that office is closed today, I'll be making that phone call tomorrow. I travel a LOT for work - but been in Cincinnati, OH for the majority of the last 9 years. So, I decided to have the surgery in Ohio, but my PCP is still in Michigan. Needless to say, I have a bit of a drive to plan and will need to take a day off of work now to try to get the labs scheduled/done before I see him again. There is one test he wanted me to do there and that is scheduled for June 10. I see the psychologist on June 21. The dietician did give me some diet "tips" to follow until I actually start the pre-op diet: Discontinue Caffeine consumption, Discontinue Soda consumption (reg & diet), use a 9-inch plate to control portion sizes, eat 4-5 times a day, include Protein at meals and Snacks, avoid fried foods. Well, I already have done the first two - I cut out my diet coke a week ago. Eating 4-5 times a day will be tougher with my work schedule, but I will make that change since I need to for the after surgery diet (might as well start now). Avoiding fried foods will be slightly difficult - but I will definitely make the effort there too. I can't believe the journey is starting!

You are def not alone... I was banded 9/28 and at that time they filled it with 4ccs i had my first fill on 10/20 and the first few days i could tell there was restriction, but now I feel that i may need another fill...im at 5 now but dont think I am in the "green zone" just yet...but I am sticking to the diet and hoping that with each day it will get better!

Sounds like you are right on track to me... You can still have ad Jello, pudding, or Popsicles if you want. I wouldn't say I had pain 19 days out but def uncomfortableness.... At about 4 wls out I started to feel half normal and at about 6 wks out I started to get more energy back and the depression began to go away when I had more energy. Rest as much as you can! It will help!

well I'm going to be completely honest with you my surgery dates is December 17th I was supposed to start my liquid diet November 25th the first week I screwed up I only have two weeks left to do the right thing and continue my liquid diet so I can shrink my liver the first week I totally screwed up I ate McDonald's french fries chicken and whatever else and said forget it I'm not going to get the surgery but then I said I need to try I want this also I went through this whole process for 7 months why give up now I have two weeks to make this right I need to lose 10 lb so tomorrow I'm going to start and just try my best this is going to be very hard for me but I say just keep pushing and keep going and keep trying even if you did mess up you still have time Sent from my moto e5 go using BariatricPal mobile app

Ok your surgery is 2 days away and you didn’t lose. Are you saying that you did or did not stick to the liquid diet? If you did not, you may want to think about coming clean with your dr. Thing is that diet is to shrink your liver making surgery easier for dr and safer for you. Your profile is blank so no clue what size you are now. Your dr will decide whether safe to move forward of if needs to postpone. This would be your safest bet. If you did stick to diet you should feel that your stomach has shrunk. If you truly did the diet and no weight loss than don’t worry about it. I only lost 8 pounds on my liquid diet and was concerned. My dr told me that he only expects 5-10 pounds loss on the diet. Hiwever, my stomach had gone down quite a bit and I was told afterwards my liver was nice and small. Good luck to you.

before surgery I was a slow looser at best. diet, exercise. I could get down to a certain point, maybe 230 and then I would put that same 30 pounds back on again. rinse. repeat. x 10 years almost. Now, I am finally breaking through that point and onwards lower. It *feels* both too slow (30 pounds down since surgery almost) and too fast (my mind keeps thinking where is the rest of me?) but honestly 30 pounds in 2 months is NOT slow! it is also 1/3 of my excess weight. So, I keep going with the plan and I'll see where it takes me. Diabetes is gone, and I weigh less than my wonderful husband, so it's all good from this point on!