meeg

Hi all! I've been trolling around in this forum for about a week now... It's the best on I've found online... everyone is so supportive and friendly! I'm glad to be a part of it. I'm in Michigan and just got back from a bariatric seminar at Beaumont Hospital in the Detroit area. I knew this already but they told me again that you need a BMI of 40+ if you want the band. (Or 35+ with complications, but I have no complications.) Anyway I really want to be banded but my BMI is 39. It would only take about 10 more pounds to qualify... Should I just eat more so I can gain the weight by the time I meet with the doctor lol?? Seems kind of like cheating, but heck, I'll probably gain the weight anyway in the next year or so, if I continue at my current pace.

I went to a seminar yesterday at the Beaumont Health Center in Royal Oak (Michigan.) The 2 bariatric surgeons they have are Dr. Kevin Krause and Dr. David Chengelis. Only Dr. Chengelis attended the seminar, and he mentioned that he doesn't do the LapBand surgery. He wouldn't go into details about why not, but it was clear he had reservations about it. Anyway, that means that the only surgeon at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak who does the LapBand in Dr. Krause. It's a pretty big & well-known hospital, and I'm just surprised that no one else on this forum has mentioned being banded there. I'd like to hear some feedback on Dr. Krause because I haven't been banded yet, and am not sure where I'm going to go if I do...

Faith thank you for all of the great advice, and for the links as well. :welldoneclap: I haven't ruled out Hurley, and in fact I think that's where my best friend had her bypass done in 2001. I was there for the surgery and it's a huge, beautiful place. I don't really remember much about the care she received, good or bad, but she came through it ok. I haven't looked into it much, though, because Beaumont is a lot closer. The thing is, I am really not able to make any decisions yet, since my insurance company is going to change soon. So Mcare had you do a 12 month diet, huh? Yikes! That's brutal! I think I'm glad they got bought out by BCN LOL. But then again, maybe they're just as bad! Guess I'll find out soon.

Thanks for the responses ladies. Faithmd, I take it you have MCare? That's what I have too, but as you know they got bought out by Blue Care Network. My employer's contract renews on May 1, so we'll be making the switch to BCN very soon. But I understand a lot of others won't be making the switch for another year or so, and so will remain covered by MCare for a lot longer than me. Anyway, I'm kind of in a tough position because it's no use to call MCare right now, because they will no longer be my insurance company as of May 1. But I can't call BCN yet either, because I'm not a member yet - not until May 1!! Sue, glad to hear some good feedback about Dr. Krause! So he's young, huh? How young is young? Oh, faith, btw, did MCare make you do a 6 - 12 month medically supervised diet? Just curious.

Well I definitely need to check with my insurance, but the problem is my insurance company just got bought out by Blue Care Network. The change takes effect May 1, so I'm not sure my current company can tell me what the new one is going to do. I'm really tempted to go to Mexico... I've heard so many good things about it. And I don't like the idea of having to jump through an insurance company's hoops. Which leads me to another question: Can anyone tell me WHY in the world some of them make you go on a 6 - 12 month diet before they will approve you?? I mean, what good does that do? Of course it's good to lose weight, but obviously if we could do it by dieting alone we wouldn't be seeking the surgery, right? And what if you actually follow the 6 - 12 month diet and end up dropping below their cut-off for allowing the surgery? Do they then deny it because you lost enough weight that you no longer qualify? (Maybe I should be starting a new thread with these questions, or maybe they've already been asked & answered...) Thank you everybody for your words of encouragement. I plan to stay active on this forum during my entire experience. I just finished looking at like 20 pages of Before & After photos.... WOW! SO inspiring!!! If I ever had any doubt about getting the surgery, it's gone now!

Thank you everybody for your advice! I like faithmd's suggestion the best: start eating some good sundaes and cookies! That's what I was secretly hoping everybody would tell me. Eat eat eat! :hungry: But I had also considered the roll of quarter/drinking a lot of Water thing, too. I suppose that's the healthier thing to do. I'm just paranoid that they will find out. Then again, what are they gonna do, kick me out and ban me for life? I doubt it... they've probably seen it before. I guess I shouldn't worry too much. Poodles, you're right, it's a nice problem to have, needing to gain weight. Faithmd, I didn't see any of the doctors you've mentioned, I was at Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan. Not the one in Troy - I didn't even know they had one there until reading about Dr. Deol on this forum. I'm going to start another thread about Beaumont because it worries me that no one here has mentioned them.

Oh, so Dr. Ortiz will do the surgery for people using different criteria than U.S. surgeons have? I'm definitely not into having the surgery in Mexico, especially since I'm up in Michigan. It's so far to travel, but they just told me at my hospital that the surgery is $25,000 - $30,000 if you want to pay for it out of pocket. So I either need to get my insurance to cover it (in other words, I need to gain some weight first) or I may consider going to Dr. Ortiz.