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I gotta wait 6 months to. Hoping it flies by. BC I'm feeling impatient.

My fave food at this stage was making my own chicken Soup. My bought pre roasted chicken from Safeway ( because it was easy. Fed my family, plus saved some breast for me.I Boiled the bones with a bunch of veggies and strained it, making my own chicken stock. It's actually better Protein than the tetra packs you can buy ( and taste better). I pureed the stock with roasted veggies, chicken breast, and milk. Then I would add spices depending on my craving..... Taco seasoning for Mexican, butter chicken sauce for Indian, etc. If I felt I needed more protein, I added a half scoop of chicken unjury to it. Yummy!! If you need more calories or fat, use cream instead of milk. This was definately my go to meal. Please remember to strain if you don't have a really good blender though!!!

Would like to know the following things from TX teachers stuck with the TRS Activecare from BC/BS: 1. How long did it take to get approval? If not approved how long have you been working to get approved? 2. Did they require a psyche eval? Nutritionist consult? sleep Study? 3. How many months supervised weight loss did you have before approval? 4. Did you have to call them constantly? 5. Were you denied the first time? Did you have to appeal? 6. Any recommendations for people trying to get approved? 7. What plan are you on (1, 2, or 3) and what was your total out of pocket? Thank you for your input! This will help greatly! Know there are a lot of teachers out there trying to get approved and a little hope will help! Here are my answers: 1. How long did it take to get approval? If not approved how long have you been working to get approved? Not approved. Working on it since Oct '05 2. Did they require a psyche eval? Yes Nutritionist consult? Yes Sleep Study? Yes 3. How many months supervised weight loss did you have before approval? They want 12, submitted with 6 but not approved yet. 4. Did you have to call them constantly? 5. Were you denied the first time? Did you have to appeal? 6. Any recommendations for people trying to get approved? 7. What plan are you on (1, 2, or 3) and what was your total out of pocket? Activecare 2, about $910.00 out of pocket so far.

I am a Texas Teacher, but I opted to stay under my husbands insurance - it was actually cheaper for me at the time. I have a teacher friend that checked on having bypass done. Her doc told her that to qualify under the plan that she had to do a year of supervised Optifast and that NO doc in the area was doing it, so might as well kiss it goodby - she would not get approval. I'm going self-pay. My husbands insurance which is also BC/BS of Texas, but through the city, not school district, won't even talk to anyone about anything Obesity related. WHEN WILL THESE PEOPLE GET IT! Terry

My name is Angie and I am new at this so bear with me.:wink_smile: I am 5 1/2 months into my 6 month supervised diet and Dr phase.:thumbup: I have had my group introduction, RN visit, Group Dietician visit, Individual Dietician Visit, Psychologist testing and on Thursday I meet my surgeon Dr. Christopherson. I am having my surgery at the Genesis for Beriatric Surgery Center in Davenport Iowa. I have BC/BS IL and hope that my approval is quick. Well, I will continue to read the post and I will let you all know how my visit with the surgeon goes.

I had several visits and I disliked him from day one. No sense of humor, and his last comment was, "well, what am I going to do with you?" :w00t: Ah, what? :laugh: If he didn't know what to do with me, he doesn't belong doing what he is doing. I got fed up and walked out of his office. :frown: So now I am starting over with another clinic. :crying: I know now what to say and what not to say. Beware of giving to much information to these "super god docs"...:huh2: Be honest, but be careful or they will think you are something that you are not.:confused:

No worries, this won't be a full recap of my life. I just feel that my story is one that should be shared because of how the band changed my life and then unfortunately had to be removed 4 years later. Before I jump into the story I will say that if you are feeling ANY unusual pain - not necessarily in your port area or stomach - see your surgeon. We have a foreign object in our bodies and it's not unusual for our bodies to try and reject it... Before the band: I've been overweight my entire life. Like many others I couldn't latch onto the right tools to lose that unwanted weight. My level of discipline is something that I continuously struggle to build up - especially when it comes to food. I was an anxious kid who turned to food in times when I needed comfort or was under stress. Although I was always active - playing multiple sports throughout life - I couldn't seem to maintain a healthy weight. My junior year of college was spent abroad in Italy. It was there that I gained a new confidence in myself and my abilities. I've always been an outgoing and confident person but it took experiencing another culture to make me feel like I had the control to make a change in myself. When I got home I went to the initial lap band seminar to get an overview. From there on it was a whirlwind of appointments and all that pre-op stuff we all had to go through. Four months after that seminar I was in for surgery - November 2009. At the time I was one of the youngest to get the band - only 21 years old. Life with the band: It felt like the weight was melting off of my body. I barely worked out the first year with the band and had lost the first 40 pounds with almost no physical effort. I changed the way I was eating, that's for sure. The band did its job - it restricted how much I could eat, how quickly I was eating and just made me more conscious of the choices I made. I noticed that every time I was getting a fill, I could barely eat for the following days. Looking back, I don't think that's the right way to do it but in my mind I was thinking, "great, here's an easy 3-4 pounds gone." I became a better me. As the weight fell off, I became even more confident in all areas of my life. I had my first serious relationship, I was fiercely going after my career goals and just felt happier and healthier of course. It became harder to lose weight as I got closer to my goal weight (which by the way, I'm still not quite there). I added in exercise and it helped me shed more pounds. As of summer 2010 (year and a half post-surgery), I wasn't able to get anymore fills. I had a fill where almost immediately after the solution was injected I started to feel back pain. They sent me home anyway and told me to come back if it worsened. Oh boy did it ever... it turned into radiating pain throughout my entire body. My jaw, neck, legs, everything. I couldn't even drink water. So, they took the last fill out and I returned to normal state. They couldn't really explain why the pain was occurring other than maybe my band was at its max capacity at 10cc's. So needless to say after that experience, I stayed away for a year. I didn't want to go through that pain and felt that my band was telling me that it has done its job and now its my turn. After a year of unsuccessful weight loss, I went back for another fill but had the same experience. The doctor took even more solution out this time just to see how my body would react. It was around summer of 2012 when this back pain really began. It was the same pain I was feeling when I had the fills that needed to be removed. It's pain that starts in the mid to upper back and then radiates throughout my lower back and through my sides...almost always coinciding with nausea and after I ate something. In the back of my mind, I knew it had to be from my band. I was only 24 years old and shouldn't be feeling that kind of pain. But of course, like many of us do, I dealt with the pain for months hoping it would go away. I altered my desk and computer at work thinking it was my posture. I tried changing how I was sleeping. And by this point, I was on a serious workout regiment - a lot of weight lifting and hard cardio so I thought it could be from that. The turning point: During Fall and winter of 2012 I had back pain every single day. Some days it was so debilitating that I'd have to leave work. The only remedies were laying down on my back and wait for the pain to subside or occasionally ib profeun. The pain and frustration brought me to tears. It was affecting my life at work and my social life (not fun having an episode while you're out to dinner with friends). So in April 2013 I decided it was time to just make a call to my primary care doctor. I needed to start somewhere. I was in the middle of an "attack" at work and walked outside to call my doctor because I was so fed up. They couldn't see me that day so they sent me to the night clinic the next day. I explained my situation and also happened to mention that many of the women in my family have had their gallbladders removed. While he didn't seem to think it was my gallbladder (because of my young age) he decided to "rule it out" by scheduling an ultrasound for me the following day. I had the ultrasound. The tech was awfully quiet and wouldn't share my results with me. They had me wait as the results were sent to the referring physician. Then, they told me the doctor was on the phone and needed to speak with me. "You have huge stones!" he said. "And we need to remove your gallbladder immediately." I couldn't believe it. At that moment, I was relieved that I knew something was wrong and that I followed through to find the solution but I was scared too. So I thought that the gallstones were the cause of all my pain. But then, I scheduled a pre-op consult with my bariatric surgeon so he could perform the gallbladder surgery. He wanted to remove my gallbladder the next day. "No problem, see ya then" type of conversation. But before he walked out of the room he happened to ask how my band was doing and I said, "eh." I told him my suspicions for the cause of back pain were initially due to the band. Because of that he insisted that while I was there they should just see how much fluid is in the band. Thank goodness he did! What went wrong: The doctor pulled out brown fluid from my band. "Hmmm..." he said. He tried again just to be sure he made it into the port and didn't collect fluid from stomach cavity instead. I've never seen him lost for words or for explanation. He sat down and stared at the brown fluid and said he had never seen anything like it. The brown fluid suggested that there may be an infection somewhere but that would mean that somehow there was a puncture in the band itself and therefore stomach fluid was leaking inside the band creating a bacteria. He sent the fluid for culture testing immediately and shipped me down to radiology for a CT scan so he could see a full picture of the band. Hours later, he came in the room and said that the band looked unharmed. Therefore, he had no idea what was causing the bad fluid. We discussed taking the band out. And since I felt like it wasn't working for me anymore anyway, he was most comfortable with taking the whole thing out. Back in the OR: So 10 days from my first call to my primary care, I was back in the OR. And not only was my gallbladder being removed, we were also taking out my band in the same surgery. I was scared of course but also praying for pain relief. And it was unnerving that the doctor wasn't even sure what he was going to find when he got in there. When I came to, I was in the exact same recovery room that I was in just 4 years ago! Itching like crazy again because apparently I'm allergic to morphine and a little more uncomfortable than when I got my band in. The doctor came to explain what he found and how he removed the band. Gallbladder was no issue, he removed it and moved onto the band. He found that the band part that is wrapped around the stomach (the part that restricts your intake), had eroded into my stomach lining. The CT scan didn't show him this part of my body so he was surprised to find this. In his thousands of patients, I was the first he had seen this happen to. There was no research to back up his findings. We're still not sure how this happened or why. Even better, the way he took the band out... he cut it into pieces and then removed it through my mouth. Yuck! Needless to say, the recovery process was more difficult because of the two surgeries and complications with removing the band. They had me there for almost 2 full days because of all the follow-up tests they needed to provide to be sure my esophagus and stomach weren't leaking. Another CT scan, a barium swallow a JP drain and 2 days of itching from pain meds later...they let me go home. Life after the band: I can't believe it's no longer part of me. For so long I felt like it was my safety blanket. I'm disappointed that it didn't get me further and that it caused me so much pain. The gallstones were just a coincidental find that led to finding the real issue with my band. I'm almost 4 months out from surgery and have adjusted fine to life without a band. It's what I learned while I had the band that is making me maintain weight. My discipline is stronger than it's ever been but needs to be even stronger when it comes to nutrition. The back pain has subsided and I no longer anticipate feeling like that on a daily basis. I'm still working toward my goal weight and almost there! Moral of the story: LISTEN TO YOUR BODY! I waited too long to see my doctor about the pain. I suffered for months and months because part of me didn't want to know the truth. I was scared that it was the band's fault because the band had given me so much and I didn't want to believe it. So if you're feeling any unusual pain, anywhere, just talk to your doctor. And tell them everything. If I hadn't mentioned family history of gallstones then I might never have had the ultrasound and therefore never have gone back to bariatric surgeon when I did.

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

So I had my surgery a week from tomorrow and I am still in the hospital. 6 days I'm going crazy! I can't get anything liquid down and they can't send me home bc then ill just get dehydrated. But I'm nauseous 24-7 and dry heaving. Has this ever happened to anyone? Id really like some advice. Thanks! Also the videogram said everything was flowing fine. They even tried taking some Fluid out of the band but still feeling gross.

Don't fall for that crap... the only thing that will fix sagging skin or wrinkles is a face lift or some type of surgery. All the claims are just BS. !!!

I have logged into this website at first on my laptop and just used to connect through fb link. Now when I use my iphone app I cannot get logged in bc I don't have a user name/password. I tried to register using my info but it says that my email is already in use as is my name. Does anyone know how I can fix this?

You have to remember Formal dress sizes are different... I litterally just ordered my Maid of Honor dress for my sister's wedding this past Tuesday. I only needed to lose about a inch to fit in a size 18... My regular sizes are 16 pants xL top 16 dress... We ordered the size 18 and the seamstress told me most dresses can be altered 2-3 sizes down and for formal wear a size down is approx 20-25lbs... I have about the same stats as you. I am 5' 5.5" I weighed 258lbs my DOS(12/12/12) I am not 219... My sisters wedding is May 25th and I am hoping to lose another 20-25lbs before then but I dont know so I ordered this one to be cautious... Is this a special order dress? I am asking bc the lady at David's Bridal told me if I ordered Tues the latest it would be in would be 4 weeks... Then I would get sized by the seamstress at the begining of may to have my dress done for the wedding on May 25. You said your sister's wedding is in Oct right? Why are you ordering dresses now? Check with the store you are buying your dress from... They were so helpful and have already helped plenty of people with my situation... The girls that helped me were so knowlegable and I waited to order my dress, I am sure the store can accomodate you!

Hi! A very valid question. Statistically, the evidence shows that WLS is the most effective way to lose a significant amount of weight and to reach a more healthy BMI. Yes, you have to make lifestyle changes. It is not a quick fix. What its been for me is a very effective tool that is helping me to have a new relationship with food. I'll have to work at this for the rest of my life. This tool (I had the sleeve) helps me in a way that a the diets I've done in the past did not - i think partly bc for me, I feel like this is my last, best chance to be healthy. You will likely still be hungry or crave things - some people don't, but I for sure do. But this tool helps me with that. My only regret is that I didn't do this sooner. I've lost 140 lbs since December and am healthier than I've been in years. Good luck on your decision! Sent from my SM-G975U using BariatricPal mobile app

My surgeon required a month without hormonal bc. It's because you are more likely to develope blood clots. I had to stop my depo two months ago. My date is Feb 2nd.

Hi Folks, I have a long tale of woe to tell, but I'm a bit rattled and emotional right now. So if I'm not making sense, please forgive me Went to the O-band center who shares an office in manhattan with new life, new look surgery. My first visit was in July, with 3 subsequent visits for diet, Seotemeber, October and November. In between I had blood tests, a psyche consult, endoscopy, and two sleep studies. The studies yielded me a cpap machine.. To make a long story short, I was approved for sleeve surgery on December 6. That's the good news. The bad news is that I was never told why I needed the above procedures, just "show up for a endo, now a sleep study, now another sleep study, etc". The communication was terrible and when I questioned them they were somewhat elusive about answering me. I understand now, that I needed these tests in order to get an approval. The process did discover sleep apnea, and diabetes. They knew what they were doing and they knew the set way to obtain an approval.Ok, fine. I began to suspect the only reasons for most of these visits was to bilk my insurance company for as much as they could. That the surgery would be icing on the cake, but that they were going to get as much $ as they could in the process. Now let me preface this to say that I was assured on more than one occasion that they would accept insurance as full payment (which I "think" they have.) I'll clarify that later on. So back to approval. Once I was approved they immediately tried to convince me to have the surgery done robotically. I was fine with that until they wanted to fly me to California. I live in NY. They were persistent saying they would fly myself and my wife, put me up in a hotel, then to ambulatory surgery, and finally back to hotel with a nurse to take care of me at no cost to me??. REALLY WTH is that? Anyway, I declined and insisted on having it done here in Brooklyn at the Verbukh medical center. That was a month ago and I haven't heard anything from them since. They will not return my calls. Further the receptionist is curt and difficult. Fed up, I contacted a local surgeon and asked if they would take the case. They will and I'm signing a release for them so they can get the records from Verbukh; who btw, were not thrilled about giving them up. I foresee problems obtain them Now, back to insurance payments I mentioned earlier. I decided to look at my insurance claims today and surprise surprise, Verbukh has billed Aetna over 40K!. Oh but that's not the best art. According to my Aetna, they have only paid about 25K leaving 15K owed ( my co-pay) Now, I have not gotten a bill from Verbukh and I may be wrong, they may simply have billed Aetna, and accepted that as full payment, but 40K?? For three visits, 2 sleep studies, a cpap mating and endo? Are they serious? On the other hand, I may be right and will eventually get a whopper bill. Anyway, thanks for listening. B

I had a friend ask me to join her in doing "Virtual Lap Band" Apparently they hypnotize you into thinking you've had WLS and you magically eat like you do as if you had it. Needless to say I did not opt in for my BS Detector 9000 was screaming at me...

I have BC/BS... in other words, I am self-pay.

I have BC/BS and was approved in 1 hour. NO JOKE. I am having surgery June 21st. I think that it has alot to do with your doctors office. They had all of my paper work done. They already knew what I needed to send in. I would stay on them. Find out who is handling your case with your insurance. Call them up and befriend them. It worked for me.

Hi everyone! I'm in need of a few good friends right now. I've been researching lap-band for 1 1/2 years. Had BC/BS of Ne. They refused to cover for ANY reason. Iowa medicaid only covers bypass after three years of documented physician assisted dieting. Now I have United Health care-the top "premier"-THEY said it was EXCLUDED, but would take it on a Case-by-case basis with a surgeon's predetermination letter. Needless to say I'm so depressed because I was denied-the co. said"You have a policy exclusion for obesity surgery" DUH!!!!! I feel hoodwinked too since we could have changed our coverage by June 28 and not paid out $300/mo. for insurance we can't use!!! any good advice? Does anyone have United Health care-Overture Premier?(Tier 3)

I'm out looking for 0% Nicotine cartridges for my e-cigarette bc I'm really wanting one but refuse to smoke a real cigarette or an e cigarette with nicotine. Today at 3 pm will be 6 days! For some reason I've been wanting one SO BADLY! Hope they have them since they carry my brand and I don't have to order them online! Thanks for listening yall!

Had to get rebanded on Oct 4,13 bc my band had slipped! The signs were vomiting, acid reflux, couldn't hold nothing down even water r Gatorade!! So the trick is chew chew chew your food & don't drink while eating!! I've learned hard way!!

How far out are you? I am 5 weeks out and honestly I haven't kept a strict count on anything bc I know I'm not eating near enough to do any damage. I am pretty much living on protein drink and water. :/ Sorry I couldn't be of much help,I would ask your nutritionist how many carbs you should be having.

Hi!! I have the EXACT same situation going on! I have BCBS FEd and scince my bmi is less than 40 i have to do a 3 month supervised diet. I was pretty bummed ..but after reading on here that my DR. can start it from the initial weigh-in..( is this really true??) that makes thinks so much better. I have been waiting 2 weeks to hear from insurance and i just did today. So actually in 2 and a half months i could be having surgery.!!! I am so excited and thankful for all the help and support i get on these forums.

You would probably be mad at me if one showed up on your doorstep fed ex overnight. Might not even be stale by the time you get it!!

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,,,,