I'm new here from Smyrna, TN

I'm new and roughly 265 lbs at 5'4". I would desperately love to get the lapbad surgery, as I have major neurological and weight related health problems. I'm in a lot of pain due to being this overweight after having broken both legs in a bad auto accident a few years back. Any help and information, not to mention encouragement would be very helpful. Are there any people that have BCBS PPO (mine is from FL) and have gotten this procedure? What are the after effects of the surgery? Out of pocket costs? Finally, what are the best hospitals in Middle TN that people have gone to...not to mention doctors? Whew! Really, any information people want me to know up front and would like to share, I'd really appreciate! Lisa

Lisa. I can't help with your questions, but I did want to say WELCOME to the TN. board. I am sure someone can help with the question part. If not, we will at least try. Best of luck in your quest for a healthier, happier life. Sara.

Hi Lisa, Welcome!! I have just started my journey to a new me myself, but I can tell you that you have some good options as far as surgeons. In Chattanooga, we have Dr. Rutledge, who is an awesome doctor. In Nashville I have heard that Dr. Husted is one of the best also. I have seen Dr. Husted on the Discovery channel with 2 of his patients journeys being filmed. Since you are in middle Tennessee, I guess it would be about 2 hours either way you wanted to go. As far as the insurance, I don't know about that. I have BCBS of TN but since this isn't a covered benefit, I'm having to pay for the surgery myself. Take care and good luck. Email me if you ever need anything. Chris

Hi Lisa, Welcome! I have BCBS of TN PPO and it covers most weight loss surgery procedures. I had the gastric bypass almost 2 weeks ago. I initially looked into lapband because of the less risks and such, but after considerable research and going to two different weight loss surgery seminars, I decided that the bypass would be a better solution for me personally. Anyways, there are certain requirements that have to be met. BCBS of FL requirements are probably different than TN. You'll have to call your customer service. Anyways, there are many options in middle TN. I went with Centennial because of the aftercare support programs they provide. Their website is www.cmcwls.com Vanderbilt also has a program as well as Baptist hospital. All of which offer the lapband procedure. If you type in weight loss surgery nashville into any search engine (google, yahoo, etc.) you'll come up with all of the corresponding website addresses. Dr. Husted is the top notch dr. in the area but he is relocating to TX. Keep us posted on how things are going! Good luck! April

Lisa, Welcome to Tennessee. There are several great doctors very close to you. Personally, I would recommend Dr. Spaw at Metabolic Surgery Center at Baptist in Nashville. The only problem is that he is not taking new patients until July. (Dr. Spaw has recently ended his partnership with Dr. Husted and neither of them are taking new patients at this time.) There are 2 other surgeons in the office with him now but I don't know anything about either of them. I can tell you that Dr. Spaw is a highly skilled and caring surgeon and person. He is very easy to talk to and he takes the time to really listen to you and answer any and all questions, both pre and post-op. He even put my husband at ease the day of my surgery. Hubby was more nervous than I was. AND he loves the lap band! I would suggest you go to some of the seminars offered at the hospitals you would consider for surgery and see what kind of feeling you get about the surgeon. The seminar should be done by the actual surgeon (or one of the surgeons if it's a group practice). If it isn't...run! I went to 2 other seminars before I found Dr. Spaw. As for insurance, have you called your insurance carrier to see what is covered and what they require for authorization? I have BCBS of MN and I just called them and asked what I need to submit for approval. That way, when I went to see Dr. Spaw for my initial consult, I already had pulled together what documentation I could provide and all that was needed was a letter from my PCP and a psych eval. The surgeon's office gave me the letter to send to my PCP asking him to write a letter of medical necessity and telling him what kind of info it needed to have in it. They also made the appt with the psycologist for the evaluation.

I just wanted to wish you luck!! I hope everything works out for you! Julie