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HI all, I hope you all have had a good Christmas holiday. I am in the process of beginning this journey of researching weight loss surgery. I am a bit frightened, sad, angry, etc. I am interested in the lap band procedure. I have not decided on a surgeon, hospital etc. My employer is in the process of switching insurance companies. I am not too worried that the new insurer will cover this procedure. I am in the process of trying to determine if AFLAC is a good option to have now-before I give 100% into this process as I want to make sure I still have wages/money coming in while I recover. Any thoughts, support, advise, recommendations, positive events that have occured, negative affects of the surgery etc etc would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Well, I posted on the main board to your post. I just wanted to add that you want to make sure that any surgeon you're looking at having surgery with is well-researched. Its up to you to do some digging. There are some excellent surgeons in Washington and then there are the others. Unfortunately they change fairly often, too, because doctors can move from state to state. Be sure to really check out the surgeon you're looking at using. Ask questions of the people who did their surgeries, etc. I had Dr. Jan at Oregon Weight Loss Surgery (out of Legacy Good Sam in Portland) and his office was incredible. But I know PDX is quite the drive from Everett. Lori

Hi Beckie and welcome! I had lap RNY on Nov 11th with Dr Joseph Chebli at Northwest Hospital (which is by Northgate) and I HIGHLY recommend not only him but the hospital as well. As well as researching the surgeon you will want to do research on the hospital that surgeon performs proceedures at. Some hospitals are completely equipped and have well trained staff some don't. NW hospital's bariatric program is fairly new so they have all of the top of the line equipement and training for their staff. I couldn't have had a better experience overall. I recommend going to several different surgeon's seminars (they all have them and they are free) so you'll get the feeling of the Dr's themselves, plus lots of information about the different surgery options. I went to three before I settled on Dr Chebli and they were all very informative. As for AFLAC I looked into that before surgery because I was a self pay patient and thought anything would help. What I was told is that if it has ever been recommended by a Dr that you have WLS then they won't cover it. So if you're going to do it I'd get it right now before you get too far into the process. Also there is a waiting period of 6 months to a year before you can access benefits. You also might want to speak with whoever is responsible for the insurance choice at your company because MANY insurance policies in the state of Washington do NOT cover any kind of WLS. But often if you let your HR person know that you want insurance that does cover it (also some cover only RNY and not lap band) they might be able to find something that will. But do it sooner rather than later because once they switch you might be in trouble. Okay after all of that...I am totally thrilled with my decision to do this and wouldn't change it for anything. I LOVE my new life. I wish you the best of luck on your journey and please feel free to e-mail me anytime with any other questions you might have. Corinna Q

hi had lap band 10/26 and have lost about 35 lbs. I feel great. Just had my second 'fill' (more fluid put in band) and that was easy. I would recommend checking out Dr. Oh in Federal Way. He has a web site (www.ohtobethin.com) and has regular information meetings. In the beginning I thought I wanted gastric bypass but decided on lap band. I felt it was safer and had less opportunity for serious complications. The one thing to remember is surgery is a tool, not a magic bullet. Follow up and group support is really important. There is a whole 'mental' issue to resolve too. I realize how much of my eating was 'emotional', over anger, frustration etc. So I now have to deal with those feelings instead of 'stuff' them! Others have talked about addiction problems, food being the only thing that fills the void...etc. So even though I am SO happy to be two months out from surgery and feeling very good... I still keep a journal to record food/protein, feelings, changes and concerns. I have learned to cultivate Patience.... very hard for me. I truly believe for me, lap band is probably going to save my life and worth every effort it takes, on a daily basis. Anything is so much easier than the sad road I was on! good luck

St. Francis in Federal Way is a Certified Center of Excellence in Bariatric Surgery. They are one of few, if not the only one in Washington with this certification. They do a large number of surgeries with a low amount of complications and meet a lot of other criteria for this title. If you go to: https://www.fhshealth.org/Bariatric/default.asp you can get a lot of information, info on the 2 doctors (who are also Certified by the Center of Excellence) that do the surgery there (I have Dr. Srikanth and prefer him to Dr. Oh but it's a personal decision). Also, It's close! Good Luck! It's a big decision to make! Tina

Beckie, Ok.. I did not have lapband (my inusreance only covered rny), but my Doctor Hatcher from the Everett Clinic - whom I trust with my life, recommended Northwest Weight Loss Surgery, she used to work with one of the doctors there and held him in high regard - now to me that is a recommendation! Northwest Weight Loss Surgery Phone: 425-385-2263 good luck on your journey. If you want to come to a support group - ours meets in Marysville Library on the 6th at 3 pm. Take good care, Pam