I had your insurance and your surgeon.  The dietician can be substituted for your regular pcp. But you have to go religiously. You canNOT miss one month. For example if you saw the doctor on April 30, and the next time they get you in is June 1... whoops.. you missed May! Start all over!  So be sure to hit every single month.  I was denied and appealed.... your insurance can be a stickler. Don't let them discourage you.  Feel free to PM me with any questions.  Like CC says.. you will go through a lot of bull**** but you gotta do what you gotta do.. they have us by the gonads!

 YAYYYYYYYYYYYYY CINDY!!!!!

I had neither your insurance or your surgeon...but I can tell you that my insurance required a LOT of stuff...but covered none of it.  Dietitian, psych, blood work, 3 months worth of Dr. visits...etc etc etc.  They covered the surgery....but none of the pre-ops that THEY required.  It was complete bull**** and I spent well over $1000 dollars before I even had surgery...and don't even get me started on the crap they spanked me with AFTER surgery. They can require it and not pay for it...sad to say.

I cannot stress enough the importance of having a GOOD, EXPERIENCED, QUALIFIED, HONEST, CARING surgeon do your Lap-Band Surgery.  I did NOT.  As the previous person posted, I also cannot tell you how much my life changed since that surgery - also for the WORSE.  I also have had other surgeons (one local bariatric surgeon) corrobrate that my problems stemmed mainly from surgeon error in the placement of the band.  I also had someone on this website contact me in private indicating that she has had similar problems with the same surgeon as I had when she had her surgery in 2006.  I had my surgery in 2004, so if he was "inexperienced" in 2006, what was he in 2004 when I had surgery?  DO NOT TAKE this issue lightly, as I did.  I thought I was invincible and nothing could happen to me.  I was wrong.  When it was discovered in August of 2006 that my band had slipped, my stomach had prolapsed over my band, and that the band was beginning to errode through my stomach I had to have the band removed  by emergency surgery.  Things were OK for awhile after that, and on 11/6/06 I had to have additional surgery in which a blood clot was removed from between the stomach/liver area, and additional adhesions were also removed.  I have never been well since.  I continued my care with  this surgeon because prior to my emergency surgery in August of 2006 his partner expressed absolute disbelief that I had gone to see someone other than a bariatric surgeon when I first began having pain (he drove this point home so much that it was all my husband could remember - he didn't want me change Dr's after that).  So I put up with this surgeon's flippant attitude, his lies, his arrogance  all because we believed he was going  to fix everything and  because he told my family members and I constantly "that he stands behind his work" (like he was talking about a used car).  Then when I kept getting worse instead of better I and other family members really kept putting the pressure on him (afterall he told us he knew exactly what to do to fix it - he described the surgery in great detail to us).  He said he wasn't doing the surgery or moving forward because of my attitude (this taken exactly from his own notes).  I am sure I was less than pleasant, but I wonder how his attitude would be if he were in my shoes.  Finally, after feeling so pressured, he discharged me as a patient.  I thought at the time that it would be difficult to find a physician who would know what to do, but I was wrong.  He actually did me a favor.  It didn't  take long for other, more experienced and more caring physicians, to get some of the problems under control.  Granted I  traveled  across the country to get what I believe is the best care money can buy, but it has been well worth it.  I currently have a feeding tube, I am having a major surgery on May 27th, I have lost about 86 pounds since the removal of the band and the list goes on and on.  I have also been notified that even after all the surgery is done, I still may never eat solids again.  So choose your surgeon carefully, and by all means DON'T CHOOSE KEVIN WASCO IN NEENAH, WISCONSIN .  He is the poorest excuse for a physician I have ever encountered.  All I ever wanted was the truth, and possibly an apology for the way I was treated.  We all know I will never get either from this physician.  I also love the other posts out their about the same physcian and the same office staff where the writer indicates "just keep calling and bugging them - the squeaky wheel gets the oil".  That's what my family and I thought, but when the heat  got to be too  much for him he made sure he got rid of me.  DO YOUR RESEARCH.  If you want to read any of my information, such as how this physician spoke about me, how he spoke about me to other physicians, etc. I would be happy to share that with you.  So, yes, the Lap Band is REMOVEABLE, but its damages are not always REVERSIBLE.  A experienced, professional surgeon will see you through this process to end - for better or for worse.  Let me know if I can help in any way.  If I save one person from going through what I did, I will feel like I accomplished something.  Good Luck to you.  

I am nearly approved for Gastric Bypass, but I've been wondering if I should put more consideration into Biliopancreatic Diversion. Has anyone here had that surgery? What has been your experience with it? I've read that it's much more effective, but also much more risky. I do want to have children down the road, so that does factor into my decision process. Plus...the waiting is killing me. The process has been so long, and I'm nearly there. I don't want to start all over by choosing a different surgery and surgeon. However... if it will be better for me in the long run... Any suggestions?