I had RNY in December 2002 and did quite well - I lost 115 lbs then stalled at 170 lbs.  I'm tall so I was happy with the way I look though I would have liked to lose another 50.  Now jet ahead to 2008 and by this time I got married, bought a house, and had two children 18 months apart.  Needless to say, I gained about 1/2 the weight back and creeped back up to 250 through poor eating habits and no exercise. 

I was able to get a rose procedure at Monmouth Medical in Long Branch and lost weight while on the liquid diet recovery time.  Over the year though not much changed.  The rose procedure can easily be worked through - the plastic anchors that make your pouch and stoma smaller by gathering in tissue and making them the size back to when you had your surgery easily break off and pass through.

Now I'm happy to say that I've gotten serious again about losing the weight and exercising which helps me stay on track.  I'm down 40 lbs and steadily losing 1-3 lbs a week.

I seriously thought about a revision but realized that I've never resolved the issues that cause me to gain weight in the first place.  So.. I'm working with a therapist and approaching the non-surgical way.  I'm in no way sorry I had an RNY - I just need to use my tool to the best that I can now.

Here are some suggestions (and please don't shoot the messenger)

 

(1) SELF PAY. While I understand you may not have the money now, you can see about getting financial help through a Doctor’s office, or get a loan out and pay that back. YES it could be expensive, but what you need to remember (A) with the money you begin to save with WLS you can pay back the loan (B) your health should be more important that money

 

(2) Go through the company’s Atena plan. You may need to take a 2^nd job, but again you need to decide about your health vs cost

 

(3) I know of a private insurance company that helps patients get bariatric surgery, but (of course) it’s an out of pocket expense

 

(4) Look into becoming a test case patient – Some Doctors (like the ones that I deal with) have clinical trial of various different weight loss procedures. There is no guarantee you will be accepted into the study, and if so there is no guarantee you’ll be success with THAT procedure (and of course you can always be one of the “lucky" one who is picked to be the case patient that does not get the procedure)

 

Those are some off the top of my head. I know it’s not what you want to hear, but that’s the best I can do for now.

 

Hopefully others will have better advice.

 

Just know I am here to help.

OK  I am looking for some advice from you guys. Befor I do I think I should explain my current situation. I'm a jersey native and have been trying to have weight loss surgery for years now. I started the journey about 5 years ago. I was working full time and my company offered my Aetna for $35 a week. So I took it and looked into the surgery. I found some great/nice doctors who most helpful. They then notified me that Aetna required me to jump through a couple of hoops. I would need to get 6 months of supervised nutritional guidance. I would also need to talk to a psychiatrist for a couple of months too. I didnt really mind. I was fine with red tape if it meant getting the surgery. Well around month 4-5 of the 6 month waiting period, my doctors sent me a letter telling me they were no longer going to accept aetna. The letter said something to the effect  of "We know this sucks, but we cant stand them anymore and wont do buisness with them. Sorry for wasting your time."

So it was a big blow. I was very disheartened and depressed over that for a while. About 3 months after that I lost my job and the insurance went with it. So I was unemployed for close to 1 year. I decided at that point that maybe I want to give medicaid a shot. It was a glimmer of hope in a very dark time. So I went through all the hastle to geta it. and let me assure you that it was a GIANT pain in the arse to get that medicaid. But when I finally got it, I put it strait to work. I had to do a couple of months of research befor I could find a doctor that wouldnt laugh and hang up on me when I told him I wanted weightloss surgery and had medicaid. But I found one.

So I go see this doctor. Who was also in a part of jersey I have never heard of or been to ever since lol I go see him and he tells me that since I have medicaid he will do the surgery but there are certain services that it wont cover and I will have to attend to on my own. for example, I would have to find a lab who will take my blood and do all the blood tests they required. I would have to find a psychiatrist who would accept medicaid. I woudl have to find a gym, etc etc. They couldnt do any of that for me cause of the medicaid.  So I had no idea where to start. No clue where to find a lab to do my blood work and that would accept medicaid. Oh and the doctor also told me I would have to raise $2000 for the surgery.

Now I didnt mind having to do all this work or pay the money that I didnt have lol I need the surgery and my health is decliine quickly. So I uinderstoof that sacrifices were going to be made. So I gave my self 1 week of research to find all these "chores" that needed doing. Needless to say I got no where fast lol So I called the doctors office up and asked if they could point me in the rite direction. They told me they coldnt help for some reason or another, But they gave me a fax number so I could fax over said info and not have to drive and drop it off. So now 2 weeks go by and I'm still not having any luck finding anyone who can fulfill the doctors criteria. I then get a letter from the state telling me I need to go in for a six month reevaluation. I go and they figure that I will be getting a very cut down and very reduced "class" of medicaid. which guess what.... Doesnt cover weightloss surgery.

So I got shafted twice. Once by Aetna and once by Uncle Sam. It was at that point that I sort of gave up on the dream. It just wasnt happening.

Fast foreward 3 years (to today) I am working 2 days (14 hours a week). Got a new job. The economy is in the dumps so 14 hours is the most that I can get. They have insurance.... but guess what they carry. If you guess Aetna, you guessed correctly. My luck rite? They have Aetna lol Well, the problem is that Aetna at that company costs around $90/120 a week. I make about $115 a week. (give or take $10 depending on if im 5 minutes late or not).

Now, Heres the part where I ask for advice.

I NEED this surgery guys. I am morbidly obeese. My health is declining faster than I can type. I am very embarrassed to admit this,(even with the anonymity that the internet provides) but I am close to 700lbs. I am looking an ideas or methods that would allow me to get this surgery. Aetna and Medicaid are out of the question. They have burned me so bad that I dont think I would be willing to risk getting burned again. I just can't go through that again.I

How can I get this surgery? What can I do? What are my options?

I need help and am willing to entertain any and all options/ideas.

If you read this post and make a post of your own I thank you whole heartedly. I thank you all in advanced.

 Hey guys, so far we have 3 confirmed people from NJ who've bought their tickets (myself and 2 others). I am staying in Baltimore for the whole weekend, going down on the 11th, so I won't be driving with the carpool. 1 person is in Toms River and one in Clifton. Here's the link to the original post for further details. 

This is the last week to get your tickets at the discounted price, so if you are planning to join us, please let me know so we can finalize the car pool plan. Thanks! 

Tom, Mastoris is pretty big so how do we find you, lol?  Wil there be a reservation name to give?