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I went with Dr. A and couldn't be happier! You have made the best choice in my biased opinion! I am so excited for you! Unfortunately I had two previous abdominal surgeries so I knew what to expect. Being that it is your first make sure you stay in touch with any questions you might have on this site. It is a life saver! I am almost 40 myself and was fed up with the yo yo. I think you have made a great decision to get this done and if there is anything I can help you with let me know!!!

good luck with your ops,,,, i am 6 week post op.. apart from being fed up that despite my first fill i have no restrictions yet - my body is happy. I joined the site yesterday. I am learning that i am no longer alone in the world of lap banding.. hooray !!!!!!!!!! and it may take several fills for restriction to happen... so i have to be patient. now the op.. on the morning i was nervous and excited.. but it went so well.. i was back at work after a week.. i didn't drive for 10 days, and my scars have healed so well... bit of rubbing under my bra on the top scar which took a bit longer to heal.. but honestly i have felt so healthy. also a bit of a numb feeling but that has all but gone too. i get a little discomfort on my right side if i squeeze my body to pick something off the floor or do up my shoe. i guess its the port ? but its minor !!!!! i hope it goes well for you all..

Hi all, My sleeve surgery is scheduled for May 8th. When I met with the surgeon last week to schedule the surgery, the first thing he asked me when he walked in the room was "so why the sleeve?" I answered him and he proceeded to tel me that he thinks bypass would be better for me because on the sleeve, I will most definitely get heartburn for the remainder of my life, also that bc i have a family history of diabetes, that with the sleeve I am more likely in 10 to 15 years to still develop diabetes, and lastly that with my height and weight and getting the sleeve, I will only ly lose about 5 lbs but with the bypass, i will lose around 60 to 80. I have foe a lot of research and found that the sleeve is the best option for me and I stuck to my guns, even as he stared me down waiting for me to change my mind. But now I second guessing my sleeve decision and thinking the bypass would be better for me. Anyone have any experience with this dilemma? Thanks in advance

I was turned down the first time. A week befor I was scheduled for surgery BC/BC standerdized the approvall criteria. Before I only need a referal from my PCP and the phsyc eval and dietician eval then they said I (we all) need a six month supervised weightloss program with in two year prior to surgery, which I did not have a supervised program in the past two years. As soon as iI completed that, we re-applied and was approved within a week. The case worker, at BC/BS were very nice and extremely helpfull. I started with a BMI of 43.5 (286 lbs) after the six months I'm at a BMI of 40 and (264 lbs) If you get the requirements from the insurance co inadvance and be sure that you company doesn't have an exclusion to WLS its easy and doesn't take as long as it sounds. I got a lot of help and encouragement from friends on this site. Talk to people and all will be willing to help. GOOD LUCK

Empire BC/BS covered my gastric sleeve, minus $250 in-patient co-pay. I had surgery on 06 Mar 15 at HMC-Pasack Valley and it was performed by Dr. Amit Triveti from Lap-Associates in Paramus, NJ.

Hello, I'm in IL too, yorkville/sugar grove. I live across the street from the new raging waves Water park. Have you heard that BC/BS IL will reject the first time? I started this process March 08. I had GreatWest health ins and they had me go on a 6 mo eval plan, Since then I have married and now have BC/BS IL. I should find out what they require in the next month or so.

Wow - I've been Banded for a month and just found this journal area. It's really nice because so many questions I have of others are right here. It's nice to see other people who have been though what you are going though. I'll start this jounal with how I got to this point... I was young in college and thin. I could eat anything I wanted it was great. Of course you don't realize it then. I taught aerobics to put myself though college and had a weight lifter boy friend. What a life. Had I know that would be part of my metibolic issue now I might not have tried so hard then. I busted my butt to stay fit and thin but didn't diet. Soon it got harder and harder. I had to workout more and there just wansnt that much time. I started dieting but it seemed to be a downhill slope. Getting worse each time and harder to lose. I finally tried Phen Fen... It worked - Lost it all - felt great Until they took it off the market. Gained it all back. Nothing worked.... My doctors didn't believe me they said I wasn't working out enough or I was eating too much. I kept journals they didn't want to look at. I finally went to my endo for my hypoglcymia and she said most people don't really have hypoglcymia that it's in their head... she sent me home but first wanted to do a blood test. My suger was in the 50's and they wouldn't let me drive until it reached 70... and she thought it was in my head. She send me to a dietian and she said cut your carbs... it was such BS! I've told a lot of people I was having this surgery and they said but you don't need it you're not that heavy. (Just diet) People don't realize I work my butt off just to stay at 220 and not go higher. Well I workout more then anyone I know, I eat less then many people I know. My mom has diabetes and heart disease. She had a massive heart attack at only 45 years old and had to have by-pass surgery. She's thin for the first time in her life and she didn't diet or change her eating at all. I swear it's hormones... why would my mom's body change so fast and now she eats way more then me. Anyway here I am - tired of fighting the fight and not going anywhere. I'll just cry if this doesn't work becuase I don't mind the work as long as I can at least see some results. It's the weeks after weeks that turn into months after months of staying on a strict diet, working out and not losing. My doctor finally said once - You're body is just "used" to your workout - you'll have to workout harder. (There just isnt that much time in a day)

So I was originally going to Dr. Almanza. I was nervous because of the mixed reviews but had some serious financial issues ot work through. I was finally able to get a loan but the company (surgeryloans) would not pay Almanza. They said they had had problems with him in the past but would not elaborate on that statement. Anyway I was left high and dry with no doctor one week before my scheduled date. I was ready to cry I called BeLiteWeight and they were very bad with calling me back when they said they would. When they did they could not do my surgery until later in the month and it would cost quite a lot more. I called alighterme.com though and Sandy Johnston answered. She said I could get the same surgery date with Dr. Ramos-Kelley. I was a bit nervous about what I had read about the INT hospital but she told me they no longer use that facility. I contacted the surgery loans place and within a couple hours had a new doc. I was nervous about telling Sandy I wanted my partner to come (coming out is always tough) but it turned out she has a gay child and she was very supportive in getting any preparations made for him as well. I had heard some about Dr. Kelley but not much. I did as much research as I could over the next few days until I was comfortable and then flew to San Diego where the driver took my significant other and I to Mexico where we met Trish, the doctors coordinator, at the hospital. Trish was a sweetheart and I was impressed by the Oasis Hospital. There is a little age that shows around the place but overall it has been well cared for and well maintained and I was comfortable with it. There were quite a few Amish patients from Wisconsin while I was there too. I was taken to my room, changed, introduced to Alfredo the orderly who wheeled me around to "the cute girl in X-ray" as he put it. Dr, Kelley came in and asked if I had any questions then, when my blood work was done, I was taken to the OR. Within 30 min of that they had me down in the surgery. I was the first person of the day and dont even remember being put out. Next thing I remember are snatches of pain throughout the day and nurses giving me pain meds. The first night was awful. I was sure to get up and walk the first day and night though even though it was painful. Over the next few days our impression of the Oasis Hospital were as follows: It is clean. My room was checked twice per day by the cleaning staff to make sure it was clean. I was NOT worried about leaving things in the room the way I would be at a regular hotel. The staff seemed quite trustworthy and I was confident in their professionalism. Most of the staff speaks english. All but one of the nurses spoke english at least a little. Even when she was my main nurse there was always another person available who spoke it fluently. The staff was caring and happy to help. Never once did I have the impression that I was "intruding" on their time by asking for assistance. When I rang the call bell they were there very quickly and took care of whatever my issue was. The orderly, Alfredo, even come by once and offered to replace the chair in my room with a lazyboy recliner because he thought it would be more comfortable for me (really it was not necessary but it was a nice thing to do). The hospital fed my partner for free. All the food was organic. All the food was good and well prepared although he did not like the vegitarian night tofu too much. They have free wireless access but dont plan on Netflix or Hulu because they wont stream to a Mexican IP. I understand Dr. Kelley has been looking for a new location for a while to replace INT and has just recently settled on this place. I think he as made a good decision. So...Anyway...After my surgery the first day and night were miserable. The second day and night were not too bad. The third day they transferred me from the hospital to a hotel and I was feeling pretty much normal other than the feeling of fullness and occasional nausea. On the third day Dr. Kelley did my leak test at hospital Angeles where he was shown a film of a leaking plication as a point of interest. Afterward they dropped us off at a hotel while they picked up a woman to do a band fill. Following the fill the whole crew (the fill patient, Trish, the Doc, the driver, me and my significant other) all met at a mexican seafood restaraunt where Dr. Kelley bought us a birthday dinner (My birthday is coming up in a week, my partners was on my surgery date). It was great fun and he really turned out to be a great guy in addition to being a wonderful doc. That brings us up to today. I have one more day here in TJ. My partner is being picked up to go to the airport at noon. I will miss him for my last day here. Cheers all! Jason David

I have had two c sections and the sleeved seemed worse, most likely bc didn't have new baby to distract from pain. Also pain is higher than with c section mine were very low and the cuts from sleeve in mid and upper stomach. But nothing you can't handle and within week your feeling more like old self.

I'll be sending my best vibes your way! It seems a little unfair that they would deny you NOW just bc SHE is new... But then again, after my recent go-round with my PCP, nothing surprises me. Best wishes!!! Keep us posted. 347*294/285/135 (*347HW/294SSW) | @Mwrarr | mwrarr.wordpress.com

Has anyone had PRK eye surgery ( similar to Lasik ) I had it recently and I am worried bc I know when I have the sleeve on the 20th of April they will tape my eyes closed. I won't even be 1 month out from eye surgery and I'm super worried they will mess my eyes up. Anyone else have PRK right before sleeve surgery?

This is another of those "it's anybody's guess" things. There is a different Blue Cross organization for each state, and they will all vary on their coverage details depending upon local market conditions and state laws. Then there is a difference between individual plans, ObamaCare plans and employer provided plans - all of which can vary depending upon what options the employer chooses to buy. Some plans don't cover WLS at all (even if they did in the past) while others limit the benefit to only one WLS per lifetime. Muddying the waters further, if the revision you seek is due to complications of a previously covered surgery, then it is not a WLS procedure but is treating that complication (it sounds like it to me, but it isn't my decision.) There should be policy bulletin for your BC policy online that spells out what applies to your policy - what they cover or exclude as relates to WLS. You can call their number, but don't take their answer as the last word, as the customer service reps have been known to be wrong. When you find a surgeon to handle your case, their insurance coordinator should be able to tell you exactly what your policy covers, as it is their job to know the lingo and understand all of that fine print. I understand that some surgeons are averse to working on other surgeon's patients (fixing others' mistakes...) but that is not an exclusive thing. One of the docs that I associate with (he runs out support group now) does a fair number of RNY to DS conversions, which as he doesn't ordinarily do RNYs, means that he is fixing other's mistakes (as well as fixing wonky sleeves that others have left behind) so they are out there - you just have to look. Thinking about that a bit more, if a surgeon doesn't want to revise other's patients, then he is either making a lot of mistakes himself that need revising, or he isn't very experienced in doing revisions, so you are better off searching for someone else. Good luck,,,,

They had to up my calorie intake Bc I stopped losing weight. So, as long as you're still losing you should be good!

People, people, people. All companies are in the business of money. And insurance companies are the greediest. Their goal is to never pay out a dime. All this pre, pre, pre stuff is to get you to GIVE up or mess up and not provide some BS form or record they make up. Just keep trudging away and eventually they will run outa objections and have no choice but to approve it. Good luck.

On the bus going to my last Dr. supervised weight loss appointment. Tuesday is my pysch eval (hopefully my Dr. will do it) and then I get to send everything to my Dr. for insurance approval. I'm so excited right now and really hoping everything turns out the way I want it to. Fingers crossed that BCBS Fed approves me. :-)

That's very true - I think its really important to avoid notions of a "right" or 'wrong" way to eat. There's pros and cons of everything. The risks of a higher carb fruit and vegie heavy diet include things like diabetes and even heart disease as a result of the work it creates for your body to digest and store all that instant energy to put it in layman's terms. However, if you're like me, with problems in that area, its very very necessary to prevent nasties like bowel cancer. The great things about a hgih Protein diet include great blood sugar control and less fat storage as a result of the lack of huge amounts of sugar hitting your bloodstream quickly and this too can result in less heart disease. However, this sort of diet can be incredibly heavy in saturated fat, which again, might work for some cultures that dont have exposure to all the other elements of our western lifestyle but may not be so safe for those of us living in different circumstances - for example the inuit would have lived on seal blubber and fresh caught oily fish, not grain fed beef full of hormones and unaturally large chickens and dairy products. by the same token other "healthy" cultures live on much more carb based diets - the Japanese traditionally lived on rice and vegetables as well as fish, whislt mediterranean cultures ate more olive oil, fruits and vegetables and there's also been plenty of publicity on how healthy those diets are too, despite how different they all are. Its a matter of working out what works best for you and makes you feel best. There's another huge factor too of course - we live so long now. The anti cancer effects of lots of fruit and veg for example, become important when you live to 80 or more, didnt matter much when you got eaten by a wooly mammoth at 30. Nor did keeping your teeth, or your eyesight. Personally, I think one of the most important things of all is actually exercise. I think we're evolved to MOVE and that's a root cause of all our problems - we dont move enough.

I had my band removed, it had attached itself to my liver and I couldn't eat. Yes, I'm hungry a lot. Like I said every week it gets worse. I know what ur saying bc the first 3 weeks I wasn't hungry. The more I do the hungrier I get. I just went to the doc. He says its fine. Everybody is different. I don't get dumping w sugar either.

I had two insurance/doctor office screw-ups/delays, but barring those, 10 months initial information session to surgery with all the BS appointments, CPAP stuff, lab work done, NUT appointments, surgeon appointments, psych eval.

I wish I had ur appetite. M so jealous. I really have to track my cals. I cap it at 1200 a day bc that's what my doc says. And I'm good with that. I'm 7 weeks out and every week I get hungrier. Actual hunger. I get in 60 to 100 g of Protein, I measure, I eat so slowly and chew the sit out stuff. And 2 hrs later I really am hungry again. I just want to b like u!!! I'm so scared its not gonna work. Congrats. I'm really happy for u tho. U look and sound like u r doing amazing. Any tips would b much appreciated. :-). Ali

It's been hard to do any outdoor exercise due to heavy snow and weather where we live but since spring is finally coming around every night I've been strapping him in to the back carrier and going to collect sap for our maple syrup and hiking back from the woods w him through the field Bc there is at least 6 inches of tough crust to fight through. I've also pulled back out my elliptical and have been trying to do it in the evenings. I was worried I lost my pouch but I've literally have been eating 3/4 or an egg and maybe a half of a sausage link for Breakfast but am starving by 10. So iv had a shake to hold me over until lunch. I'm happy to know my pouch tolerance is only my fault but now to get over the stupid food addiction again. So I've been starting to keep a good log to keep me accountable

My low bs episodes feel different now than they did when I had a normal stomach FYI

To be honest I have had my surgery June 5 th I am not gonna say its easy bc none of this easy it is though a great way to see who loves ad supports u no matter what u do in ur life .. I have had many conversations with my husband before deciding this surgery and he has tried to feed me things I can't eat before surgery .. I did confront him and tell him how I felt since he was so stuck I don't need it.. But in the end it was my decision to b alive to see me children grow and I made that very clear .. I am now 5 days post-op and he has be wonderful he has helped me in any ways he possibly can I am truly grateful .. But to the point is that u have to do this always for yourself it is the most important thing and friends honestly I've lost many only bc as one of u ladies say I was doing good things for myself I lost 38 lbs before surgery in 2 1/2 mths but cutting all bad food out n water and fuze slenderized as my only beverage .. You all can do this and be very proud of yourselves bc only strong women and men can truly do this surgery and be happy and successful xoxo

It's much easier as time passes. No one comments to me anymore now that I'm near goal. I guess it just seems normal... Although I do still get questions from waitstaff which makes me a little self conscious. The other day I left a rather large tip and wrote "thanks for not making me feel crazy" on the ticket bc I was so happy to not have my wants questioned. Lol.

@TXMissy You probably could have gotten another visit with NUT covered if you asked your doc. I went to doc for my first free consult April 17 and then did my psych eval, endoscopy, heart stress test, NUT apt, and pulmonary function test. Having Surgery June 1st. It all went much faster than I anticipated. I didn't have to do any supervised diet etc. I have BC/BS of Texas

I'm only just over 3 months post-op but already with 80;bs of loss, can notice a lot of skin. So far the only skin really bothering me is the half skin/fat of my double chin that is still lurking. Otherwise at this point, I am actually excited for the excess skin- because it's not fat. This might sound silly- but right now, it's soft and squishy and is fun to touch. However having said that, depending on insurance coverage when I am ready and have lost most of my weight I might consider my arms (THEY ARE MASSIVE) and POSSIBLY my stomach (but that depends on how bad it is) and I would LOVE a boob job. The one part of my body I used to love (my big ample breasts) are now just saggy gross things that don't even look good in a bra. lol I am single, in my 30's and am done having kids- so this also plays a factor in my decision to move ahead with plastics.