I, too, had lapband, and all I had to do was show I had tried everything under the sun, as you have, for the last 5 years. Your doc should be able to show your weight changes on your charts, which can help some. Good luck!

I too have BCBS of ND and my approval took 2 week but that was because i had missed on of the sheets that i needed to fill out...with my plan i have to have a bmi of 35+ for 3 years with 2 comob...or bmi 40+ for 3 years...I was just at BMI of 40 when i applied for the surgery...I also had 2 comob to go with the weight...I just keep on calling the insurance to check the status of my application... As for the self pay i can't help you out there..

Hospital stay...nope i went in for surgery at 8:30am was out by 9am and by 1:30 i was on the road home (2hr Drive)...each person is different for the recovery but my was very easy...I was on the pain meds the day i got home and then i took it the next 2 night just to make sure i could sleep...I did have the gas pains but with the help of my heating pad they weren't too bad...I think each dr is different with the length of stay...

I was banded just over 8 weeks ago and have lost over 50lbs (including preop diet)  I haven't done my measurements again yet so i'm not sure how many inches i've lost but i've lost 3 pant sizes...If you have any questions please feel free to ask :-)

  Ok I am on metformin for my PCOS. For all of u who dont know what this is. Its Polysictic Ovarian Syndrom. Anyway ok so they put me on this and its about the 9th time they have. Well, everytime I crave SUAR LIKE NO OTHER and I GAIN WEIGHT!!!! I have gained around 25lbs or more this last time and I dunno what to do about it. I am going threw the wls procedures and I am with the dietion right now. IF any of u are having the same problem or are taking the same medication please respond. I need to talk to someone who knows what I am going threw!!!                                      Thank You!

Dr. Schmidt at Middakota has only been doing the VSG since this year. The first I heard about it was in March, and by that time he'd only done two. I'm still planning on having this procedure; I too, have lots of reservations about the band and the RNY is way out of my reach financially as I am self-pay. Regardless, every bit of research I've done points me directly to the sleeve anyway for numerous reasons. It stinks that BCBS has that kind of control over what type of surgery a person decides to get. But as far as they're concerned the VSG is still "experimental" so for now I suppose you're stuck with what they'll cover. As more studies come out about the effectiveness of the sleeve, eventually maybe they'll start to cover it. But how long really do you want to wait, you know? From what I've read on the VSG boards, a lot of people have had luck getting their BCBS policies to cover it, but only after lots of appeals and such. If the VSG is still your "first choice" and you're only doing the RNY so that you can be covered under BCBS... I'd recommend heading over to the VSG boards and post a question there about how to push the issue with BCBS, get the lowdown on the appeals process. I don't know a lot about it myself, since like I said earlier, I don't have insurance so it's a moot point anyway for me. But there are some really nice people over there on the VSG forum who have TONS of good information and would be happy to help. Good luck to you on whatever your decision!

I am from fargo as well. My names ashlie and I am 20