I first heard of the lap band procedure two years ago, when I was watching a Discovery Health special on a morbidly obese teenage boy. He was over 400 lbs., and opted for the gastric bypass surgery. At the end of the show, they made mention of the lap band. At the time, I was pregnant, so looking into the procedure right then was out of the question.
Between then and now, life has kept me pretty busy, and while I have been aware of my weight and fighting to lose at least some of it, I haven’t been very successful. Now, with a birthday approaching, and being in my mid-twenties, I am very aware of the fact that I am running out of time. Five years ago I had plenty of time to get this weight off. Now, not so much.
Hence my decision to have the lap band surgery. It is a safe, reversible procedure, and unlike other types of weight loss surgery, does not alter the arrangement of any of my internal organs, such as my stomach, small intestine and larger intestine. Better still, I can control how much weight I lose by having the band that is placed around the top of my stomach tightened (done by injecting it with saline) or loosened (done by removing saline) as needed.
I called my health insurance company in October, and they assured me that they covered the lap band surgery, so long as I had a BMI of 40 or above, a written submission from a doctor, and followed a six month nutrition/wellness plan. Well, my BMI is currently 47, so I definitely meet the weight/BMI requirements. The surgical weight loss program I am going through is at a major hospital in the state, and is backed by several very well qualified doctors and a staff. They will submit whatever paperwork my insurance company requests. And finally part of the program involves being on a six to nine month nutrition program, where I will work at making lifestyle changes, and hopefully lose a few pounds in the process.
That said, the steps I am looking at are as follows:
- Attend an hour and a half information session, where the lap band procedure will be discussed thoroughly, and I can submit the preliminary paperwork, data and health insurance information
- Meet with a nutritionist who will go over my current health, any health issues (so far, thank goodness, there are none!), goals, and of course, health insurance information
- Enroll in a six month weight loss management program, which meets for two hours each month
- Take care of pre-op requirements: blood tests, sleep apnea test, psychological examination
- Meet with surgeon
- Take care of pre-admission testing (not sure what this is)
- Surgery
- Follow ups for assessment, monitoring of weight loss and band adjustments (as needed)
I plan on using this blog as a way to keep careful track of my progress through everything – making my way to the lap band surgery itself, and then my weight loss afterwards.
So far, I am on step 1. My information session is scheduled for April 1st, from 8:30-10am.
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