So, since my husband has a few days off before leaving on his partial deployment I wanted to try & squeeze in some of the appointments on Dr. Oh's list.

Not so fast.

I called the office today & spoke with Karen. (I think that was her name.) She told me that I was only partially approved by the insurance. Super. I thought I was good to go for the whole dealy-o.

I take it that they only requested approval for the first few things - consultation, endoscopy & follow-up, and a couple extra office visits.

None of the other things can be scheduled until I have insurance approval for the actual surgery.

I think Karen might have thought I was wanting to schedule the surgery pdq. Well, I do, but... :thumbup: She asked when I expected to have surgery & I said I was hoping for mid/end of July. She said "ok, we're scheduled out that far" (like she was looking at a calendar & thinking out loud).

She said she'd fax the request over to my insurance company today. I kinda got the feeling that I was bothering Karen. I hate being a problem child. I strive to be as low-maintenance as possible, really I do!

Great. If that's not the normal evolution of things I don't want to rock the boat & risk getting kicked out of this exclusive club.

Since I'm already approved for the first few things, they'll most likely approve the surgery too, right? This is all messing with my head!

I really wish there was another surgeon on this side of the state who would accept my insurance.

Pac Surgical is a heck of a lot closer to me & I recall from the seminar I attended a while back, they don't have nearly as many pre-op requirements. Unfortunately they don't want to deal w/ my insurance. Not many do...

I'm so frustrated. If my husband's boss wouldn't have waited until two days before the start of the leave period to approve the plans, I might have actually been able to get the ball rolling much earlier & schedule stuff while my husband is available to take care of our son.

I'm thankful that I have a friend who said she'd help me by watching my son, but I'm one of a dying breed who doesn't like to impose on other people by dumping my child on them... I'd rather that my husband try to take care of these sorts of things ourselves.

I do appreciate her offer of help, and I will need it now that things aren't going as smoothly as I'd hoped.

I feel like I could cry from frustration. :tt1: Definitely can't revert to my habit of eating out of frustration, because one of the many pre-op requirements is losing 10% of my body weight. I've been told that Dr. Oh YELLS at patients who aren't losing appropriately.

As a side note, if anyone from Dr. Oh's office is listening (I know, not likely)... It would be extremely helpful for patients (probably staff too) if a timeline or list of appointments, events, and expectations was handed out at the consultation.

A lot of my questions would've been answered by something like that, and I wouldn't have bothered the staff with my phone calls.

Once I have a handle on things, I think I'll post one here on my blog so it might be of help to someone else.