Congrats!! My date is April 8th. At first it feels like forever away but it seems to be getting here more quickly than I thought.  I didn't know BCBS (my ins. too) doesn't cover the sleeve, I considered it briefly before deciding on RNY.  I'm surprised they don't cover it.

Good luck!!

Received approval from insurance.  Now waiting for date.

Can't believe it's almost time.

I think they do require the 6 month nutritional counseling whether your insurance requires it or not.  Actually, the 6 month thing is a Maryland law for insurance companies.  I"m not sure why UHC has told you they don't require it. 

I would not have gotten as far as I have without the 6 months.  It taught me how to eat both before and after surgery.  It taught me how to read labels, how to find high protein foods and much much more important information.  The 6 months also gave me time to attend the support group and get to know some of the people there and learn from them.   If I had rushed into it any sooner, I don't think my surgery would have been successful.  

As far as Dr. LoMenzo...he's wonderful.  The entire team there is excellent, especially Noel.

I actually had my surgery with Dr. Pinnar (Eric the son not the dad).  I've always been happy with the practice and their support but the not taking any insurance-being out of network and the distance to VA was all too much for me. 

He however did my gall bladder removal for me and took the assignment of what the insurance paid him which was nothing.  I think he is a great Dr. and I never had any of that with the money - matter of fact due to what little my insurance paid him for my band surgery they wrote off alot of costs for me - thankfully! 

Dr,  Singh said something like Dr. Pinnar was relocating to FL.  I didn't believe him LOL!   I was just there in the end of October so not THAT long ago.

Needless to say Dr. Singh will be my new Dr. either for revision or band maintenance whatever happens to me! 

Well I went to Dr. Singh yesterday regarding my reflux.  He did a complete unfill!  Now I am very worried.  I haven't had an empty band since I had surgery.  

He was optimistic about wanting to do a revision - he said for sure if there is a slip I can either revise to another surgery or fix the band.  He asked me if I liked the band and was I happy and I told him no that the band has not exactly been ideal for me having battled fill, unfill, fill, unfill for the past year and never being able to get in a good zone etc and his exact words were "Ok, then will just take the damn thing out and revise" haha.  He is quite jokster with his patients but also seems very experienced.  His practice is a Bariatric Center of Excellence which is a good thing I guess.

The recommendation was that revising to another resitrctive procedre was not the best choice for me to get to goal and he was rather adamant about revising to RNY.  He also said that if there is not a slip and the reflux was that severe with only 4cc in the band then the band mechanics is just not ideal for my body and I can't keep having such severe reflux and in that case it should still come and be revised. 
 
I'm currently on meds for reflux and scheduled for a barium swallow and blood work. 

He is hoping to be able to use the last year of medical history and visits to my previous surgeon as "attempted" weight loss for insurance purposes.  The issue with the insurance may be that regardless if there is a problem with the band, they may require another 6 months of presurgery diet/weightloss history attempts. The office in fact told me that if the band has to come out for medical reasons, potentially based on the insurance that I would FIRST have to have it removed and then wait the six months and go through nutrition counseling AGAIN and then have to get approved AGAIN from my insurance. I don't even have the same insurance policy as I had when my first surgery was approved.  I'm already frustrated.

I've asked some other OH'ers who have had revisions if they experienced this so I'm waiting for some feedback.

Trying to take one day at a time but that is easier said than done especially with the fear of weight starting to come back on while things are figured out. I told him I cannot go back to wear I was before.  So I am hoping once he gets the tests results back we have an answer and can move foward.