I found out when I was 18 that I had Polycycstic Ovarian Syndrome. I had never heard of it and none of my friends at the time had either. PCOS is an issue in itself along with difficulty losing weight. When I was 22, I got married , was working full time, moved into our new house, and was in College still too. 6 months after I got married, my parents divorced This was extremely stressful on me... so stressful my body developed Hashimoto's disease. What that is, it is an auto immune disease and my body basically recognized my thyroid as a foreign object and killed it off. So I gained 120 pounds over the course of years time. I obviously didn't even realize what was happening to me because I was dealing with so many other situations by the time I realized what was happening, it was too late. So you could say I struggled with weight on and off my whole life. About two years and ago, my dr. suggested something that could most likely help me out tremendously, unlike all the other fad diets I have been on and off and all the weight loss medicine I had tried that only worked for awhile then it would stop and I would gain more weight back than I had lost. He suggested I go see this surgeon named Dr. "S", regarding the Lap Band surgery. I went to a seminar that Dr. S's office held sometime in October of 2006, then a week or two later I went in and saw Dr. "S" personally and he said that the surgery would be perfect for me and that basically by the time I reached my weight goal, I would be half the size I am now. I was shocked that he expected that within a year or two after surgery. I was impressed by his staff, they were nice and friendly. Dr. "S" was very energetic and had a very charismatic personality which I was drawn too. So his office sent me all over the place to get different studies done, like pulmonay, psychological, upper GI, x-rays of this and that and a sleep apnea/oxygen/saturation test. That took place over the course of 2 months. In January of 2007, Dr. S's office finally sent in the request for surgery to my insurance company. 12 days later, I received a denial letter and information on what I was missing. I needed to have 3 months of nutritional counseling done by a licensed nutritionist, along with it being supervised by a physician... even though my dr. had been helping me with nutrition for the past 10 years, it didn't count since he was not a licensed nutritionist. So I called my dr. and told him about that and he referred me to some nutritional classes that would last 3 months and he had given me an incorrect phone number for them... I tried doing my own research and locating this organization on my own for about a week. So about another week went by and I had heard nothing still, so I finally called back and got to speak to my dr. and he said that is the right place. I called to set up something with the licensed nutritionist there- however I was 2 weeks late for the January session that had started!!! 2 weeks was the time period I had spent trying to find out what the correct place was. I was very frustrated... well in April 2007, their next session started and I got signed up for it. By the end of the 3 months of classes I had lost 12 pounds and I had learned a lot. I then called Dr. S's office back to ask them what to do and they were all the sudden very rude to me and not so helpful. It took almost 2 weeks to get their billing person who submits the requests to insurance to call me back. I called 3 or 4 times over that period of time, letting them know I wanted to get the ball rolling. Well she finally called me back and said I needed to get a letter from the nutritionist saying what I had done with their classes and stuff and I, myself, needed to resubmit that information and an appeal letter to my insurance. So I did that. About 2 weeks later, I recieved a letter stating that an appeal would not be done because I was 2 weeks past their 180 day deadline for appeals!! So AGGRAVATING by this time! I could barely stand up as I was reading this letter, my knees were shaky and I was so upset. My husband read the letter and he said that all it meant was that we had to start the process all over again. So I called the same billing lady back at Dr. S's office 3 times in 2 days. I was getting even more determined to get them to work with me. She had the nerve to tell me "It's gonna be a few weeks before I can do anything else to help you, because we just had another seminar and are over whelmed with new patients now that we need to help" I said "well then get my records ready for me". I called my primary care dr. and told him what was going on. He gave me the name of another surgeon, Dr. Brown, who does the same surgeries as well and who was also a good friend of his. I called them on 8/22/07 and spoke to Cheral, their receptionist who also was the one who submits the requests to the insurance company. She was so nice and bewildered by what I had gone through. She said I should of already had the surgery and been on my way to losing weight and recovering. She got me an appt. to come in and see everyone on 8/31/07. She said it would be a 3 hour appt. and in that 3 hours I got to see the psychologist, the nutritionist, the nurse practitioner, the surgeon and the insurance billing lady. That day they gave me my surgery date of 9/27/07. Before the appt. I called Dr. S's office and told the front end office ladies who were still really rude, that my records needed to be ready in one week, they said they didn't know if they could do it. I told them, they only have 2 or 3 days to usually get records ready for patients according to the State Law, and I was giving them a week and they better have them ready or we would have some major issues. They had the records ready for me the day before I went to meet the new surgeon. With all their information and my nutritionist's letter and my appeal letter... I was finally approved on 9/12/07. Amazing that all it takes was an office full of wonderful staff members to make it really happen! So finally the day of surgery came and went, 09/27/07. I had to start a 3 day clear liquid diet the Monday before. Which included, any kind of broth, boullion cubes, surgar free popsicles and jello which by Tuesday I was sick of Jello and clear broth. So we decided to get some wonton soup, and strain the wontons out of it so I could just have the broth, which got me through Tuesday. On Wednesday I didn't feel like "Drinking" much, so I stuck with water all day and green tea. My Husbandand I had been trying to clean our house all week because we knew we would have some visitors coming and going through out the next few days. I was really blown away by all the love and support I had received (and still do) from my family and friends. The staff at the surgery center were amazing, very nice and helpful. My mother in law, my husband and my dad came with me to the Surgery Center and they all stayed until I was in the recovery room. When the surgeon came out to talk to them and tell them everything went well, my dad left to go to work but came back over after he was off with some flowers and a balloon saying "Hoping you feel better soon!" The surgery took about an hour from 9am to 10 am approximately, but I had a hard time waking up and staying conscious. I was very uncomfortable after they woke me up, but it was from a lot of things, not just the band they put around my stomach. But they brought my husband and mother in law back to see me at about 11:30. I kept feeling pretty nausious and they said it was from the anestheasia and not having any sugar in my system from being on the clear liquid diet. At that point they gave me a sugar drip in my IV and my husband said as soon as that hit, I relaxed and slept for about 20 minutes straight. After that I remember waking up and feeling better and more alert. About a half hour later, they asked me if I was ready to be discharged and I was. So we were home by 1 or 130 and I slept until about 5pm.
It's been about 6 months post op. Now I am on my way to be able to use this tool I have been given and become healthy again and happy, and in a year or so, I was told we can start our family! I have lost 48 pounds since surgery, plus the 26 pounds I lost prior to surgery. That makes for a total of 74 pounds in the last year!! I have had 3 fills since surgery and am starting to exercise a lot more as well. Which is helping me to lose inches and tone my body some. I will continue to do that and every day I try to find something healthier to eat than what I used to eat in the past. It is hard at times, but I have to remember "Nothing Tastes As Good As Thin Feels!!!" It does get easier every day.
Thank you for sharing your story. My "journey" was much like yours as far as insurance and such. I had my surgery almost 2 weeks ago so its great to hear that I will look back at this period and say it was worth it. Good luck to you!
Thank you for your reply! I have heard a few others that have been in "our" situations during their process too and even though it was hard to get there, myself and they are very glad it happened finally! How are you doing with your weigh loss after two years? I had mine done about 6 months ago and am just wondering how well things go after 2 years. Is it easier to maintain the weight loss after that long? Good luck to you as well!!
I also have PCOS. That presents its own unique set of struggles. I just started a diet from the book, The Natural Diet Solution to PCOS and INfertility. It is really good. I feel sooo much better. Thank you so much for sharing your story.
, was working full time, moved into our new house, and was in College still too. 6 months after I got married, my parents divorced 
This was extremely stressful on me... so stressful my body developed Hashimoto's disease. What that is, it is an auto immune disease and my body basically recognized my thyroid as a foreign object and killed it off. 
So I gained 120 pounds over the course of years time. I obviously didn't even realize what was happening to me because I was dealing with so many other situations by the time I realized what was happening, it was too late. So you could say I struggled with weight on and off my whole life. 
2 weeks was the time period I had spent trying to find out what the correct place was. I was very frustrated... well in April 2007, their next session started and I got signed up for it. By the end of the 3 months of classes I had lost 12 pounds and I had learned a lot. I then called Dr. S's office back to ask them what to do and they were all the sudden very rude to me and not so helpful. It took almost 2 weeks to get their billing person who submits the requests to insurance to call me back. I called 3 or 4 times over that period of time, letting them know I wanted to get the ball rolling. Well she finally called me back and said I needed to get a letter from the nutritionist saying what I had done with their classes and stuff and I, myself, needed to resubmit that information and an appeal letter to my insurance. So I did that. About 2 weeks later, I recieved a letter stating that an appeal would not be done because I was 2 weeks past their 180 day deadline for appeals!! So AGGRAVATING by this time! I could barely stand up as I was reading this letter, my knees were shaky and I was so upset. 
My husband read the letter and he said that all it meant was that we had to start the process all over again. So I called the same billing lady back at Dr. S's office 3 times in 2 days. I was getting even more determined to get them to work with me. 
She had the nerve to tell me "It's gonna be a few weeks before I can do anything else to help you, because we just had another seminar and are over whelmed with new patients now that we need to help" I said "well then get my records ready for me". I called my primary care dr. and told him what was going on. He gave me the name of another surgeon, Dr. Brown, who does the same surgeries as well and who was also a good friend of his. I called them on 8/22/07 and spoke to Cheral, their receptionist who also was the one who submits the requests to the insurance company. She was so nice and bewildered by what I had gone through. She said I should of already had the surgery and been on my way to losing weight and recovering. She got me an appt. to come in and see everyone on 8/31/07. She said it would be a 3 hour appt. and in that 3 hours I got to see the psychologist, the nutritionist, the nurse practitioner, the surgeon and the insurance billing lady. That day they gave me my surgery date of 9/27/07. 
Before the appt. I called Dr. S's office and told the front end office ladies who were still really rude, that my records needed to be ready in one week, they said they didn't know if they could do it. I told them, they only have 2 or 3 days to usually get records ready for patients according to the State Law, and I was giving them a week and they better have them ready or we would have some major issues. They had the records ready for me the day before I went to meet the new surgeon. With all their information and my nutritionist's letter and my appeal letter... I was finally approved on 9/12/07. Amazing that all it takes was an office full of wonderful staff members to make it really happen! So finally the day of surgery came and went, 09/27/07. I had to start a 3 day clear liquid diet the Monday before. Which included, any kind of broth, boullion cubes, surgar free popsicles and jello which by Tuesday I was sick of Jello and clear broth. So we decided to get some wonton soup, and strain the wontons out of it so I could just have the broth, which got me through Tuesday. On Wednesday I didn't feel like "Drinking" much, so I stuck with water all day and green tea. My Husbandand I had been trying to clean our house all week because we knew we would have some visitors coming and going through out the next few days. I was really blown away by all the love and support I had received (and still do) from my family and friends. The staff at the surgery center were amazing, very nice and helpful. My mother in law, my husband and my dad came with me to the Surgery Center and they all stayed until I was in the recovery room. When the surgeon came out to talk to them and tell them everything went well, my dad left to go to work but came back over after he was off with some flowers and a balloon saying "Hoping you feel better soon!" The surgery took about an hour from 9am to 10 am approximately, but I had a hard time waking up and staying conscious. I was very uncomfortable after they woke me up, but it was from a lot of things, not just the band they put around my stomach. But they brought my husband and mother in law back to see me at about 11:30. I kept feeling pretty nausious and they said it was from the anestheasia and not having any sugar in my system from being on the clear liquid diet. At that point they gave me a sugar drip in my IV and my husband said as soon as that hit, I relaxed and slept for about 20 minutes straight. After that I remember waking up and feeling better and more alert. About a half hour later, they asked me if I was ready to be discharged and I was. So we were home by 1 or 130 and I slept until about 5pm. 
I have had 3 fills since surgery and am starting to exercise a lot more as well. Which is helping me to lose inches and tone my body some. I will continue to do that and every day I try to find something healthier to eat than what I used to eat in the past. It is hard at times, but I have to remember "Nothing Tastes As Good As Thin Feels!!!" It does get easier every day.
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