Brand new here....nervous/anxious/excited/impatient!

Hey everyone, this is my very first post! I have been thinking about LapBand for about a year and am finally doing it. There's so many things going through my mind at once so I thought maybe some of you guys would be willing to calm some of my thoughts since the posts I've read seem like everyone here is helpful!
I'm in Maryland and have BCBS. They cover the Lapband and require 6 months supervised weight loss effort. I've already got a letter from WW saying I was a member for 3 months and a dietician I work with is signing off on the other 3 months. She's helped me alot with my food choices, etc. I also have an appointment with my surgeon's dietician, it's his requirement that I see his dietician as well for one visit pre-op. That should easily satisfy the supervised weight loss requirement, right? I also have seen the psychologist and have my psych clearance. My appointment with the surgeon is August 4th and they will submit my stuff to my insurance after that. I know it can greatly vary, but what is an estimated time frame for getting approval? Is it days? Weeks? I am hoping to have surgery maybe late September and wondering if that's feasible.
My only other real concern is the excess skin after weight loss. Again, I know this can greatly vary from person to person. After I thought about it I decided that it's not like I'm running around in a bikini now anyway. I'd rather be healthy with extra skin than fat and unhealthy. I'm just trying to get an idea of how much to expect. Is it usually everywhere? I know I'll have it on my abdomen but what about my arms? If it helps, I'm 31 years old. Right now I weigh about 320 and am 5"4". I've been overweight my whole life. I have had some dieting success in the past such as losing about 40 lbs on Atkins only to gain it all plus more when going off the diets.
Thanks in advance for any info and advice. I've done ALOT of research but nothing substitutes for personal experience from those who have been through it. I have a feeling that I will be spending alot of time on this site throughout this adventure.

 Just going to hop into bed but wanted to say "hello!"

Welcome AJ to the boards !!

I cant  help you with any of the  insurance questions , I was self pay for the band so I didn't have to do alot fo things that insurance requires you folks to do .

Some insurance companies move fast and can get you in within a month or two after meeting requirements and then there is others that can take up to six months to a yr .  It really depends on them each of them are different :o)

As far as the skin it all depends on the person really.  There is a girl I know that had gastric and she looks dang good and she lost over 200 pounds .

The only thing I can tell you is when you can start to exercise after your surgery i**** the toning and weights to help with the skin. It wont cure the problem but it will help some.

I do Zumba with weights and he really works our arms and abs in that class, I do that class two times a week .

Hubby told me he would get me plastic surgery after my weight loss but to be honest I have no desire to do it.    I'm 40 yrs old, I  will not be running around in a two piece. If I was in my 20 or early 30's I would highly consider it but plastic surgery is not on my high priority list after my weight loss :o)   Like you said just being healthy is good enough for me

Thanks ladies! My insurance company will cover plastic surgery after I have reached my goal weight and showed that I can maintain it AND if there are medical problems associated with the extra skin such as rashes or irritation. So that's something I can look into down the road but if I can avoid another surgery obviously that would be better. Also, I plan to return to work in about a week. So far most of my research shows that is reasonable time frame. I'm a nurse but I do case management so I don't have a very physical job. What has you guys experience been? Oh, and anyone here have surgery by Dr. Averbach out of St. Agnes? I'd love to hear about your experience with him.

Hi, I'm 3 days post op.  I used Dr Singh who is affiliated with St Agnes also.  I have BCBS and once i completed my diet and psych eval.  I got approval almost immediately.  My date was schedukked about 2 weeks after I got the approval.   The whole thing moved really quickly.  I cant tell you about Dr Averbach but Dr Singh and the staff at ST Agnes were really helpful.

Hey ladyzara! Congrats! How is it going post-op so far? I heard Dr. Singh is a good doctor too. How long did they keep you at St Agnes? And by approval almost immediately do you mean like within a few days? So if I see the Dr. Aug 4 and they submit my stuff within a couple days, I could potentially be looking at surgery beginning of September? That would be great. My diet and psych stuff is already done...

Yep,  i would say within a day or two after they submitted.    I was at St Agnes for 2 days the 19th and 20th in the new hospital wing, it was really nice.  You could probably be looking at surgery much earlier than that so be prepared

OMG this is so exciting! I really hope everything goes as smooth as yours! How long will you be out of work? And how's the pain? Are you feeling hungry? I read that it's usually liquid diet for 2 weeks before and 2 weeks after, how's that going? Sorry for the million questions! I don't know anybody personally that has ever had WLS and I just want to know as many details as I can!

I'll be out of work for 4 weeks, thats howl long my short term disability has given mw.  I'm not hungry at all, I have to remember to drink to my fluids, i had to be on the liquid diet two weeks before, two weeks after and then on purees two weeks after that.  Being on it before surgery really prepared me for it now.  I am in a little pain around my incision sites, when getting up or sitting down, other than that it's fine.  I hope everything goes smoothly for you as well