Finally, insurance for band revision to RNY

Hello, I've always been too shy to post an introductory post any online group. But this time is different because I know now how vitally critically important to my succeeding.

I have a band that slipped then eroded. I had no insurance (self pay Mexico 2800 miles away, no airport), so I went to only enough liquids to stay hydrated & monitored for infections (no, never thought about adhesions).

Finally, 65 with Medicare & top-notch Supplement (no months of pcp shopping to look for a supportive doc). I started the first of November & have the psych, sleep & cardiac assessments behind me already.

I've been learning here all I can about what the long-timers have to teach us about the only way to be successful. I've been mentally letting go of the dysfunctional eating behaviors that I let a formally slim woman into a abysmally lonely & isolated depressed couch-living vegetable. May I note that I don't like vegetables anymore than I liked myself - limited & selectively... no arms wide-open in love.

I bought a Nutribullet for myself for xmas. I am not fond (enough) of raw veggies. I am not at all friends with dark green veggies. I also dislike watery soups, love rich thick ones. My idea is to use it mostly as a way to get to know all sorts of herbs & spices, using the soups as a vehicle for meats.

I realize that the bullet leans heavily on fruit, so I plan to use V-fusion, crystal lite, unsweetened koolaid & extracts for rich disguising flavors so I can also use only minimal alliwed fruit for cold smoothies, too.

I have taken supplements for over ten years (and still will), but I know real colorful veggies are full of antioxidants - and I want a Long & very healthy life... not mere existence.

I'm glad to be meeting so many of you. I hope I can help you on your journeys & I hope I can always ask you for support whenever I stumble or fall.

Teri

Welcome to OH. I just had my revision from band to rny back dec 18th. I had my band aug 2008 and had issues but not as bad as urs, then i didnt have insurance, but due to being medically retired (my fancy way of saying disabled) I hve medicare now also, I didnt have to go through the psych, sleep and stuff u are having to, but then again I do see a pysch every other month due to my bipolar and other issues, and my cardioligist had cleared me fine when i had my baby dec 18 2012. I just had to do a ekg. I wish you luck with it all and it sounds like you got your head in the right mindset and are ready to make it work. Good luck.

Dear Moons&Stars..

We've got a lot in common. I was on disability - PTSD

Loist all my insurance when I was forced to switch to SS... No insurance unless I spent down a huge sum - but every cent within a 6 month window - to get help with medical. Anyway, now, with insurance, I feel rich.

I'm so happy that you've a new little ine. You'll have to post a photo once in awhile. I lost all my coniderable baby werght while breast feeding. Protein & supplements! Sweet memories of cuddling her in the middle of the night.

I'll have to find out how many months of supervised dieting I need for Medicare. I'd hoped to have this surgery before summer. My doc said there is no pre-approval with Medicare. They do the surgery, bill then defend with all my labs & test results & wight history. So they will do what they know as necessary to get that approval.

I now know enough to suspect that with the adhesions & stomach scarring I may face 2 surgeries or an open procedure.

I hope we can stay in touch on OH.

Teri

I am also on SSDI for PTSD/depression.  Medicare paid for my RNY and at that time, they did not require a six month supervised diet.  I'm not sure if they require it now or not.  And they don't pre-approve, if you meet the criteria you just have surgery and they pay.  Super easy.

Unfortunately, your experience with the band is pretty typical.  Things will go much better with RNY.

Glad you made it to this point are looking forweard to following your journey.  I'm 65 also but had my GB last year before Medi Care.  You might want to check out a couple websites that have helped me.  First is MyFitnessPal.com.  It's pretty easy to use to track your food intake and exersise. The other is eggface.com.  It has really good recipies for post bariactric peps.  Nice to try or make some up and put in the freezer.   You can even use the search button here to search for recipies.  I remember there was a  good thread about mixing different protien shakes so there is a nice variety when you are at that stage.

yea i didnt have to do the 6 mth thing with medicare, i think its also because we had the band so we was already on a limited diet anyways. I hope you dont have to have multiple surgeries but i knwo if the erosion is to bad they may have to put the rny off for a couple months to heal. i know when they was removing my port they said your suppose to press down on it and twist and the hooks come undone from your stomach muscles mine would not move at all so they had to cut my muscles around each hook to get it off, he told me today im still not allowed to do any ab exercises. Yea my ssdi is cause I have bipolar/depression/ptsd/agoraphobia (whic im getting better)/panic attacks and some other stuff i cant think of, and then i have to have both knees replaced and atleast my right hip and eventually back surgery (but we are putting all of these off till after i lose weight to see if it helps with the pain, that and im only 32 (fixing to be 33 in feb). I think my right knee is gonna have to have replacement by this time next year though, i dont think i can wait past that on it.  and yes eggface is a member on here she is super awesome her site is  theworldaccordingtoeggface.com  she has alot of good recipes. last night i made a protein shake with  8 oz unsweetened almond milk, 7 or 8 marschino cherries, about 2 T of the juice and then some ice, and it was really good....  (i had originally planned on making her cherry vanilla one but add the cherry juice instead of the sf torani cause i forgot).  Anyways good luck and Im sending u a friend reqd if u would like to keep in touch.