where do i start???

hi all! i am new to the site, but have been thinking about lap band for a while now. i have 2 insurance companies... humana (i am a teacher), and tricare (i am a new army wife). my questions are: 1. what docs are good around louisville? 2. wonder which insurance i should use, i am clueless about this stuff! (like who is my primary, who is my secondary???) 3. what if i move, who will do my refills??? 4. if i smoke, when should i quit, dumb question i know NOW is an appropriate answer, but as far as surgery? 5. i am signed up to go to a seminar monday in louisville, KY, but should i go to more than one (like after i hear about some docs?) any information or stories would be helpful! thanks so much! i love this site! karly

If you're having the lap band, I would highly recommend Dr. Jeffrey Allen. As far as I know, he's been doing it the longest in this area and is a wonderful surgeon! His office number is (502) 583-8303. As far as insurance, I would check each policy and see if either of them have written exclusions. Humana will usually pay for WLS, but my policy didn't cover it b/c of an exclusion. I have no idea about the quitting smoking thing, except to say the sooner you quit the better. Good luck with everything!!!!

Hi Karly I had my lapband done on March-03-06 and Dr.Rodriguez did mine and he great.I have lost 57lbs already he carung and very understanding.He not afraid to answer all your question.I think Dr,Allen is also good they are all in the same sugical group.He did the seminar that I went to at Nortons.You need your primary doctor to send you or a specialist my heart doctor sent me to Dr.Rod.There are plenty of nice folks on here that will help you as much as they can......but the choice is yours.This is a wonderful journey you are about to start. 290 March-06 233 May-10-06 Kathy Lancaster

I would first quit smoking. Regardless of wether or not you have lapband or not, you should quit. And most surgeons want you to be smoke free for at least 3 months or so. Second, I would contact both insurnace companies and see what they will cover and what you have to do in order to get approved. Some requrie speical diet programs, some requie lab or diagnostic studies to be done. They are all different. Third, definatley go to as many seminars as you feel comfortable going to. The more information you obtain about WLS the better. And for the other stuff--they are question you would need to address your surgeon when you decide on one. Good luck on your journey, and remember there are no dumb questions. We all started out not knowing any of this. Asking questions is how you learn things. Plus is gives all of us stuff to talk about. --Angela

thank you all for your responses! so, if i go to one seminar on monday, then a different one on tuesday (the norton one) i think i will have at least a few surgeons to compare, which is good. i will call my insurance companies and get more info. really soon! should i just call the numbers on the backs of the cards? hmmm. i will try that unless you all say otherwise! i am still thinking lap band, even after the call from the barix (sp?) lady... she was more for GB, but i am not, so... i will continue to research lap band! i am so excited! just want to make good choices (for one-hey we gotta start sometime!) LOL. thanks! karly

Karly: Go ahead and stop smoking now, that way you will be ready when it's time for surgery. Most surgeons require a pulmonary function test if you are a smoker, and you would have to pass that test to proceed to surgery. Smoking increases your chance of respiratory complications, infection and ulcer formation. Humana state insurance pays for lap band with the following: 6 months doctor supervised dieting (documented), A BMI of 40.1 or greater, one life threatening condition such as: diabetes, sleep apnea or high blood pressure and on 3 medications to control this. Primary insurance is tricky... If you both have family coverage, then primary insurance would be whomever is older...there insurance would be primary. If you both have single coverage, then your insurance would be primary. Whichever center you choose to go with should have an insurance coordinator who will give you all this information. Lap band fills are tricky if you should have to move. Some surgeons won't touch a lap band unless they put it in, and if they do offer fills it can be very expensive. Certainly a consideration. We have had patients who had their lap bands in other states move to Kentucky and have had difficulty finding someone to do the fill. We do them in our office, but again, it is an expensive out of pocket expense. You should look at all your options when considering WLS. Go to all the seminars you can, and don't be afraid to ask questions. You want to know their death rate, complication rates with band slips, band erosion, infection, and they should be able to provide this information to you. Ask what percentage they have had to do as open or convert to open. A lap band should never have to be done as an open procedure. Your risk of complication increases with open procedure. Good luck! Cathi Roskind, RN Education/Support Coordinator The Bariatric Center at Georgetown

Hi Karly, I am a little biased about my surgeon cause all of us think our surgeons are the best, lol. To me Mark Shina is the best, he and David Geller both do Lap Band. Dr Geller I think does more Lap Bands than Dr Shina. I chose the RNY and felt that Dr Shina was the best for me and he has been. He is truly a wonderful surgeon, dr, and person. Some people say that he isn't as friendly as he should be and I have no idea where they get that. He has always been friendly. He is serious about the surgery, risk, aftercare, but he is also very friendly. All of his staff are just wonderful. If u want to email for info on Dr Shina or Dr Geller u can email [email protected] (Right weigh is in with the Dr's there at Suburban but I haven't had much to do with riteweigh) they can send u info on seminars and the drs. Good luck.

Hye, you are in e-town, me too! i am going to see dr. shina on may 30th and it can't get here fast enough! i am going to another seminar tonight with dr. lusco and others. i want all the info. i can get before i do this! i am determined! thanks! karly

I think its great that u r checking out different docs. I did some research before I picked Dr Shina too. U have to go with who u think u can trust your life with, whether its Dr Shina for u, or someone else. I just felt in my heart he was the best there was for me and I have never thought otherwise. Good luck in your hunt and keep me posted. Hey, since we are both from Etown maybe we can be workout buddies sometime or something..

Angela, thanks for the comments. However, there have been some changes. RIGHTWEIGH has been terminated by the hospital and no longer represents the surgeons at the hospital. The NORTON BARIATRIC CENTER is taking over all of the functions that RightWeigh had performed. I am excited with this change as we will be able to provide an even more comprehensive service to patients than we could when associated with RightWeigh. I have been performing the Lap-Band for 2 years now and in recent review of my data, it makes up about 50% of my practice and the rest are laparoscopic gastic bypasses. Dr. Shina is getting ready to start doing bands. The first step in the process is to come to a free seminar. This is a little different than the way it was done last year. But the new process is much better and more efficient. Call or email my office and we can refer you to register for the free informational seminar. David Geller, MD 502-893-7151 [email protected]