Shanelle S.
Hello, My name is S. Robinson and I am currently looking into into Lap Band surgery with Dr. Von Rueden at GBMC in Baltimore Maryland.
I started this journey in August 2004. I had my 1st consultation for RNY on October 19,2004. I have been approved by Aetna on the 1st try in less than 24 hours. My surgery date was December 14, 2004. As my surgery date was approaching, I decided that I would try to lose weight one more time on my own(due to lack of support from DH and being scared to death) and I postponed my surgery to March 15, 2005. I had never joined any weight loss program that I had to pay a lot of money for, so I decided to look in the phone book and find one with guaranteed results. I found Extreme Weight Loss and a few others but I was mostly impressed with Extreme. My first visit was December 6, 2004 and I weighed in at 248 1/4 pounds. I had to pay $473 to lose 30 pounds in 3 months. I did not want to go with more than 3 months because if I found that it did not work, I would go with the surgery (at least I thought).
Well it is March 16th (1 day after surgery date) and I have chickened out for sure. I did not have weight loss surgery, I decided to stick to a diet program and have a tummy tuck. I am now 217 pounds and I feel a whole lot better about myself. I hope to get to 190 before my tummy tuck and no less than 170 afterwards. I have a consult March 30th for a tummy tuck but I will not be scheduling it until late July or August. Well the consult that I received in March was $15,000 for a tummy tuck, lipo, and musle tightening, a breast reduction from d to c and a breast lift. That was too rich for my blood so here I am still trying to lose more weight.
7/11/05 I weigh 207. 7 more pounds to onederland. I have another consult for tummy tuck with Dr. Soto on July 21st and Dr. Burton on August 9th. Hopefully by August 9, 2005. I will be in onederland. I wish to keep up with obesity help because everyone hear is so nice and supportive. A lot of great info is here and I will keep all of you posted on my progress.
8/7/07 It has been a couple of years since my post. I am back to 251 pounds and am trying for Lap Band Surgery. I am having most of my testing done next week and hope to have surgery in October 2007. I don't think with all the yo-yo dieting I do that I have 6 consecutive months of supervised attempted weight loss in the last 2 years but I will let you know. I met with the nutritionist yesterday which counts towards my 6 months.
8/24/07 Well all of my pre-op testing is done and I convinced the financial coordinator at the office to sumbit for insurance approval based on my LA weight loss for 5 months, my prescription list of phentermine (on and off for at least 3 years), other doctor's that I have tried for 3 months at a time and on and of at Extreme again for consecutive months. Well she put it through and I was authorized in 3 days, now I must go and get clearance from the doctor and wait for them to call me with a date.
To all pre-ops - Make your dreams come true. Only you have the power!
To all post-ops - Congratulations and good luck in your future goals!
9/21/07 I got clearance from the surgeon and my surgery date. It is 10/30/07. I weighed in today at 255 pounds. I will try to get everything out of my system and start a pre-op way of eating on October 1st. I feel that I should be able to lose at least 5 pounds and clear my liver up for the doc to have easier access.
It is now December 2011 and I am looking to have the band remove and have my tummy sleeved. I am waiting for insurance approval. I totally failed the band and I am so at peace with it. I am moving on now, it has been long enough.
