Into/ problems.

Hi all, im mike a 20 year old college student. I have a bmi over 48 and pretty much gave up weight loss attempts in high school, as a freshmen I was on a 0 fat (as recommended by my skin doc(odd story), low calorie diet and for exercise I played HS football, 0 weight lost, another time I worked at my hospitals physical fitness center with a trainer for 2hrs 3 times a week, no weight lost. My doctor of 20 years has been recommending weight loss surgery since I've come of age and now i want to do it. Met with my medical doctor and he's for it 100%, gave me a surgeons name. I hope to get this done in june/july, so I'm not going to mess around and made an appointment. After the fact someone who i know is a nurse has heard about this surgeon, regardless of having positive reviews on this site he has been kick out of 2 hospitals and is know has the hatchet surgeon and has done things such as freaking out and walking away during surgery... time for a new doctor. I decided to make an appointment with a different doctor, also on this website, found out he messed up in one of his surgeries, nicked an organ and the women was in the hospital for a year... no luck for me X_X. Now tomorrow I will attempt to make an appointment with a 3rd, and im dead set with getting this done.. Called my HMO which is Empire BC/BS and i told them my BMI and that i have sleep apnea and got an "Oh yea!" that I'm covered and that all I need is for my surgeon to get medical clearance ( last year I had endoscope sinus surgery and it was no issue in clearance). So here I am... do you all think i will be able to get a operation date for June?, and any advice for me? Thanks for listening to my rant.

Good news and bas news... Good news is that it sounds like your ready to make that step in getting WLS, thats always the first step. Your going to hear alot of time to stay possitive and keep looking at the prize....Thats all the "Good News" Bad news, yeah you might be able to get your WLS in june or july, but it's not going to be this year. I have BC/BS and that person you talk to is Customer Service the person your going to talk to is a case worker for BC. The first thing you need to do is get the Requrrements for WLS from BC, you can get them online or they can e-mail them to you. The Wait to get into a center that handles WLS is long, you might be able to get in to have your first visit by may-june. There's alot of work your going to have to do and alot of test and paper work your going to have to get, its going to take a 8-12 months to do everything and to get a date. Here in syracuse were i'm going there really good and know what they have to have for BC and they did all the work. i just had to make sure i was there for every appointment and took every test, they did all the leg work. The cool thing is that it only took me 3 days to get approved, they send my paper work in a Thursday and i was approved by friday afternoon (but i didn't find out till Monday when i called) so BC is good, if your missing anything or they need some more stuff the case worker will call the Office and get way they need ASAP to get you aproved so there really good at BC/BS. so get ready to jump thru alot of hops, your going to want to quit but just keep thinking how smooth you going to look after. Us guys have to stick together so e-mail me if you got any ?. the ladies in this Forum are great they know alot so post anything and they will be able to tell you what you need to know, and when your freaking out (and you will) they can give you that kick in the butt you need

Hi Mike, I have horizon blue cross blue shield of NJ and got approved within a month. I had my first introduction meeting on January 21 and had my surgery on March 15th. I had the lap band and i'm five days out and feel great with no pain medecine!Good luck Mike! I hope it works out for you.

hi mike im stacy and i live in selden i used a surgeon in nassau and i truly love him... there are really good surgeons in suffolk as well if your interested we have a suffolk support group you can email me for info you can meet all different post ops and hear about our surgeons...good luck it will all come together for you Stacy

Please Help Me!!! I have been trying to find a surgeon that accepts my insurance Health First through Family Health Plus a NY state program for low-mod income families. I found th cori center with MD Prichep and have heard very bad things from a friend who works at Brookhaven Please help with any info Michelle 6319495197

Hi mike I had my surgery with dr collin braithwaite in smithtown 265-7000. He is right across the street from St Catherines Hospital he is in the medical building thats where I also had the surgery. I also have bc/bs the only thing they gave me hard time is with the diet history thats all you needed. I went for my first class In August I could of had my surgery in October. But I wanted to wait until after the new year. It depends on how fast you finish all your tests. Dr braithwaite is a wonderful docter and you also does in lap rny. I had no pain was in the hospital tuesday came out on thursday my husband went back to work on friday. I didnt need him. I had little discomfort.

Michael, Hello hun and welcome... ~hugs~ Congrats on making the choice ot have this surgery, it sure can change lives. I wish you all the best and I am very glad you are researching your surgeons, that is the best way to learn and take your time to find one that is RIGHT for YOU! I do not know about having it in June/July, it does take some time to get through the pretesting and getting the Ins Approval but keep your fingers crossed and know every step you take forward is closer to getting your date. Keep us posted! I wish you all the best! Debra P

Hi Mike, I had lapband surgery in Feb.2006 and I am down 25 lbs and going for my 1st fill tomarrow. I live in NY and had the surgery in Danbury CT. Dr Choi was GREAT!!! I started the hole prosses in September of 05 and done in Feb.06 , so keep all your apointments and keep your fingers crossed. Beth

Hi Mike. First congrats on making the decision to do this for yourself. Second its great you are doing your homework on surgeons, i feel that is prob the most important thing you can do. I tell people all the time they spend more time researching a car before buying it then they do the doc they are going to let cut them open. I have Empire BCBS and i was approved in 3 days. Go to their website www.empireblue.com and find the requirements you need. Make all the appts for your primary, psych, nutrionist, etc . Get the ball rolling because you will most likely need these for approval. Call medical records and get all documentation of office visits you have had over the last 5 years, anything that documents any discussions you have had about loosing weight, about weight related issues etc. Get all your diets together, letters from weigh****chers, coaches, trainers ....The faster you get all of these things done the faster you can have your surgery. I started my process in August and had my surgery on Halloween. The more documentation you have the better your chances of getting approval. Best of luck to you . Email me any time if like. LisaMarie

Thanks for all the responces... From what the guy on the phone said and what i found for requirments, unless they really give me a hard time i shouldnt have an issue i hope. "has failed to lose weight significantly or has gained weight despite compliance with a multidisciplinary medically supervised non-surgical weight-loss program including prescription obesity medication, a very low calorie diet, supervised exercise, behavior modification and suppor" This is their only un clear requrement, as in my first post ive had things such a blood work done bi-weekly during my prvious stated weight loss attempt (these tests showing things like my chlorestorol and other things botteming out. though no weight loss). I guess this and records from my doctor about me having a trainer at exercise/rehabilitation center which is owned by south hampton hospital should fill there requirements, i have more but it will be more diffucult to "prove". After tese failures was when my medical doctor started recomending me WLS.