Post-op Update #2

I'm feeling pretty good - perhaps a bit on the weak side but overall not bad. Marilyn, to answer your question, since Thursday of last week, I've had nothing but 3 protein shakes a day and 1-2 SF popsicles. Other than that, jus****er. I am not hungry, although I do experience some head hunger when I'm around the smell of food. I received the report from my surgeon yesterday with regard to the surgery - he reduced the size of my stoma opening from 31mm to 4mm !!! His intent was to allow sufficient room for expansion not to exceed 8-10mm, where it should be. He said that so long as the liquid diet satisfies me and I am not experiencing real physical hunger during this phase, that indicates the sutures are holding and I'm healing well. So, I think things are going well. I am in absolutely no pain or discomfort, I am very physically active, and I'm losing. This a.m., I weighed 146, down from 158. If you all want to research what I've had done, google the RestorE trial - it's the same procedure (although not quite the same as the Stomaphyx) - success rates vary widely for this, depending on how well the patient adheres to the rules. Many people regain the modest amounts of what they lose because they start abusing themselves with food way too soon - I do NOT intend to blow this! Have a great day, all. Maureen

I'm so proud of you. I'm going to look into this and see if this would help me. On what grounds did you win your insurance appeal? I know I'm going to have a battle on my hands. Hugs, Connie

Your support means so much to me. I appealed with a letter from the surgeon (not my PCP) citing medical necessity based on weight regain and malabsorption due to very large stoma opening. My PCP was not involved. I also submitted a letter that included all my blood work results for the past 4 years, showing serious malabsorption of calcium (mainly). In that letter, I said that I was physically active, a SG group leader, and that I continue to embrace physical and emotional behavioral change and that I did not wish to ever become a burden on the medical industry by becoming diabetic and hypertensive, two serious medical issues that I suffered for years as a super morbidly obese person. I don't know specifically why BCBS overturned the appeal, but these were the two primary pieces of the appeal. The procedure itself costs approximately $10K out-of-pocket. There are two clinical trials going on nationwide, though, that if you get in either one of them, you won't have to pay anything out-of-pocket: RosE (reduces the size of your stoma AND pouch) and RestorE (reduces the size of your stoma only) - I gained a lot of very valuable information from the Revision Forum on this site. I just knew I was in real trouble, Connie, and I didn't want to wait through another 20 lbs. of weight gain before I decided to get some answers and turn this around. Hope this helps, sweetheart. Love, Maureen

See, that's the whole thing.....there has to be a physical reason for these kinds of procedures. When I asked my surgeon if I would be a candidate for this type of procedure, he all but laughed at me. All my blood work has been perfect. He told me a 12 pound weight gain in 4 years time is normal. He told me, due to my blood work and my ability to keep off the weight, there was no reason for him to even do an endoscopy to check it. I'd love to take off the 12 pounds, but I guess this is just going to be me! But as I've stated in previous posts, I wonder how many people are going through a weight gain and have this enlarged stoma problem and it goes unchecked...and I wonder how this would affect the total sucess rate of the original surgery.... I'm glad you're doing so well with this, took the bull by the horns, and got what you needed. Love ya! Joanie

I will be checking with my WLS office soon to see if any of this might have been caused by something gone wrong with the WLS. Thsi New Doc is very young & don't think she has a clue about WLS. With the weight gain that I have had recently, need to see what is up? Even though my Doc has retire their is still very good one in the office or might have to come to Phoenix for a new Doc being that my insurance won't cover Nevada, but might pay for Phoenix. Glad you are feeling good & thing have gone so well. Keep us posted. Ladybug Marilyn