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I know the cost of the surgery varies widely in the U.S., and Alaska seems to be among the highest. So you might be able to get the surgery for a lot less if you go to, say, Nevada or Florida. Even with the cost of the plane flights and some time in a hotel to recover, you might come out way ahead.
I found this page that has lots of advice:
https://www.bariatric-surgery-source.com/cost-bariatric-surg ery.html
I hope you can find a way to get the surgery!
I do think you're progressing your diet too quickly. Stick to things that you know you tolerate well for the moment. When you've had a couple of days without digestive problems, try one new food. If you tolerate that well, you can continue to eat it, but don't add anything new to your diet for a couple more days. Repeat this for each new food. Also, one thing I've learned on the forum is that each person is different, and a food that most people can handle at week 4 may cause someone else trouble until they are several months out.
I had lactose intolerance before surgery, but I was OK with cheese and yoghurt. After surgery I was doing well, but then I drank an Actimel and the pain was bad! Much worse than when I tried some other food my stomach wasn't ready for. So I do think it would be a good idea for you to avoid all dairy until you've had several days with no stomach trouble.
Good luck to you, and please keep us posted on how you're doing.
Thank you for your answers. It's reassuring to know that I'm not alone in this!
Thank you so much!!! Unfortunately my insurance will only cover half no matter if I meet my deductible or not. I work at a hospital and the insurance they have for us is about the worst in the state. My husband and I make enough to pay the bills but to much for Medicaid.
thank you for sharing your story with me??
Thank you for the Response! yea my cpap mask is full face around the nose and mouth it is the airfit f20 to be exact. i have the F30 as well but that one i have to take back cuz it causes me a ton of problems the corners of my nose got all messed up the 2 times ive used it and hurt my nostrils. and just as the other one gave me REALLY dry mouth.
I know the pain first started when i had that little bit of hamburger. witch i ate at the beginning of week 3 and im beginning to think it was way to soon. i looked at my paper and i might have miss understood its recommendations it says its acceptable during weeks 3-6 but i wasn't sure if that ment after 3 weeks or the start of week 3.
I had really bad lactose intolerance prior. cheese never really affected me much some yogurt greek not so much but the others usually did. and milk the more milk fat in it the worse it was for me.
Im not sure if the heaving might have pulled something slightly earlier and then yesterday i was walking my dog and she pulled pretty hard when i was holding the leash on the left side. and im not sure if something was pulled again or more or whatever. I had very little pain most of last week i even stopped taking my pain medicine for almost a week. now when i try to take it it makes me SUPER nauseous. I tried to call my surgeons office today and sadly they closed early today so i wasn't able to get in with them my PCP is out on some kinda vacation she takes more vacations then any one i know so i might have to wait till Monday. I don't trust the ER here in my town to do anything so i wont go threre unless there's blood or something happening.
the incisions are all healing nicely. Had the mrs feel them to see if they were hot. The big one felt a little warm to me but then again my hands are cold. She said they all felt fine not hot just the same temp as my belly. We also took my temp and its at 96.3 so im not running a fever thankfully. Sadly right now it hurts to lean forward it hurts to stand up and stretch it out, or leaning to the side to far. i don't really understand. if it progresses way worse i might have to head to reno and go to the hospital there. cuz i wont here. they will probably kill me haha only slightly joking
as the water i dunno you might be right i might not be getting enough water thru the day even though it feels like its all i do. I am not sure if its cuz of my dry mouth woke up this morning and it was crazy dry twice. but everything all waters propel everything has tasted ick to me. and my mouth feels like ti has a film on it. Bought some biotene mouth wash small bottle to see if it will help a little bit. will diffidently bring it up to my doctor and will probly be seeing him before my next scheduled apt. with is the 27th with surgeons office and 25th for my PCP
on a side note I might have tried something else i should have had. i cut up a mushroom and put it in the toaster oven sprinkled with a little bit of garlic salt. ended up tossing half of it cuz i felt full. its a little uncomfortable but not like it was with the stuffed pepper bite. i think i just need to cut it out and go back to my liquid **** for a couple weeks and stop trying to push ahead.
Thanks again for all the advice and everything it has really made me stop and think about whats going on. and re affirmed my need to call the hospital right away Monday morning. i know its not what i should be doing but the pain is there with every step if my tummy isnt supported and it caused me to not go for my walk with the dogs this afternoon. But i did go to the Walmart with the MRs for house stuff and got almost the same amount of steps in just slightly less.
the cost for me was one of the biggest reasons that i didn't have it done many years ago. back when i was only 350-385 or something like that. Sadly i ended up going to the ER in june-ish and got an ambulance ride 2 hrs away to a better hospital where i spent 2 nights getting tested to make sure i didn t have a heart attack or anything else. that weekend alone ended up taking all my co pay and out of pocket and just shoved it in my face. since then the rest of the year has been 100% covered from the insurance. If that hospital trip would not have happened id still be sitting here 465 lbs wondering when my heart will give out. If my out of pocket wasn't met the surgery was about 17k here. witch was very discouraging. I understand living remote in alaska i know there is cities and everything up there but most o fhte state is pretty remote the town i live in is 2hrs + from anything else and the hospital here takes advantage of that to the Nth degree health care here is expensive as all get out and half our doc are not competent in the field they are fulfilling.
It also sounds like your insurance is .. sorry for the language... pretty ****ty. hopefully your not paying too much for it. Does your state have a state wide insurance or anything? Like here in Nevada we have the Nevada health link depending on your income you can qualify for different plans at different prices. some cover more then others of course. and there are a ton of hoops to jump thru when it comes to qualifying thru government insurance but might give you the ability to look into this a bit more seriously. just a thought. I know how discouraging it is to be in that situation. Hopefully you can find something that allows you to do this for your health and your family and the betterment of your life in the long term! GL AlaskaLass ill be rooting for you!
Six months?! Was your surgery open or laparoscopic? My wounds were basically healed in a few weeks.
To answer the OP's question, I wasn't told to put anything on my wounds.
I will look into it, but I barely make enough to pay bills, so even that would take quite a while. I appreciate your help!!
My insurance (through a hospital no less) will cover 50% even after my out of pocket maximum is met. And since I'm in Alaska our healthcare expenses are outrageous. Just the surgeon fee is $12,000. I'm getting discouraged even thinking about it.
It's been a long time since I lived in the U.S. so I'm not up-to-date with the tax situation, but you may find that your medical expense deduction helps significantly.
Also, there used to be some sort of arrangement where you could make pre-tax contributions to a medical fund, which you would have to use during the calendar year or lose it. If that's still a thing, it could be a big help depending on your tax bracket.
