First Fill

TENGAL · August 31, 2007

:rain:

Hi Folks,

Went for my first fill in the Dr.'s office, fifty miles away, this past Wednesday and guess what? He couldn't get the needle into the port after two sticks and lots of probing. So, I ended up having to go to the O.P. Surgical unit of the hospital today (another 100 miles round trip) to have it done under X-Ray, which cost me $100.00 co-pay. Ouch!! I can't afford this! I don't know what I'll do if each fill has to be done this way. My Dr. says I'm only the second patient of his who has had to go to the Hosp. for a fill.

Did anyone else have this experience?

TenGal

musicalmomma · August 31, 2007

my DH was 438 at his pre-op appt (banded 8/6 and down 43 lbs!). The doc told him that he may have to have his fills done under x-ray (fluro) because at his size, it may be hard to feel the port. At his 1 week post op appt, we talked to the surgeon about it again and he said he's had to do x-ray fills less and less as the years pass and felt DH wouldn't need x-ray fills. We shall see...

TENGAL · September 1, 2007

Thanks for your reply. The irony of it is, I only have a total of 75 lbs. to lose, of which I have already lost 22. The Dr. said his other "stubborn fill" case was a lady much, much larger than I. So, go figure. Anyway, that's behind me and I'm looking forward to losing more weight.

Since I was only 75 lbs. overweight, the Dr. didn't give me much hope that my insurance was going to pay for the Band, but wonder of all wonders, they did. For one thing, I have had high blood pressure for years (untreated most of that time) and it was beginning to affect my kidneys, plus I am diabetic. I had tried dieting off and on for years and always gained the weight back plus some. That's probably why they approved it. I'm just glad they did.

Nice hearing from you.

TenGal

kacee · September 1, 2007

That's great you got covered! I needed to lose 70 pounds and although I had co-morbidities, they were being treated medically so I figured I wouldn't be covered. Also didn't have the patience to go through the six months required weight program. Figured by that time I would have spent a fortune and then lost a little weight and they would have just said I didn't need to lose enough weight to qualify for the band. Catch-22. So I just opted for self-pay and got it done asap. I had to get stuck twice once on one of my first fills. The nurse said because I have lost so much weight my port is very wobbley. At least it hasn't flipped on me.