hopeliveshere

Hello friends, Well i had my first meeting with the surgeon this passed thursday and everything went well. He made me feel at ease as did the coordinator of the bariatric dept. (she almost made me cry when she told me ill never be in this spot again ---totally normal to get emotional right?). The surgeon answered all the questions i had. I keep thinking that its going to be so long to have this 6months to wait ( i have to weigh in with my PCP for 6 consecutive months) but i think now its going to go really fast. I have so much to do. i want to try to get all my testing and evaluations done before i go back for my 2nd cosultation in 3 months which will be in aug. Come august ill be on my 5th of 6 weigh ins. I have to have blood work, see a pulmonologist, cardiologist, gastroenterologist, nutritionist, psych evaluation etc etc. I think im putting off the gastro til last. im s**t scared of getting an endoscopy. The surgeon wants me to avoid or limit my intake of cake bread rice and Pasta. so right now i practicing eating on smaller dinner plates and trying to strecth my meals out. Hope everyone is doing well!

i did indeed meet with dr castro on may 2nd. i liked him very much and he answered all the questions and soothed the fears i had thus far. as of now im proceeding with the sleeve with dr castro. thank you so much for your input and good luck to you!

good luck. post later if you can. mine is tomrrow! so excited

welcome. looking forward to getting to know you. I started the process several weeks ago. i went to a seminar and got a referral and 1 of the 6 weigh ins i need with my pcp. (6 months of weigh ins stink). i have my first surgical consult tomrrow. glad to have other newbies to be around

sounds like you are writing my story here. My insurance covers the suregery and the anesthesia but i have to do 6 months of weigh in as well with my pcp. I just had my first on 4/29. 5 more weigh in's to go! my first consultation is with the surgeon tomorrow. My pcp also wants me to keep a food diary of everything i eat. its been a day and i already cheated yesterday. Boo, hiss! good luck to you

Any advice on what kinds of questions i should ask at my intial surgical consultation on may 2nd? I have a few questions in mind like asking how many sleeves the doctor/hospital has performed and has there been any complications/death under their care but thats about all i got. any help would be appreciated.

Thanks all so much i will def add the questions to my list! so excited to be taking this step!

Ive been dieting since i was 15 years old (i am now 30). I have tried everything from south beach, weight watchers, slim fast, master cleanse, dexatrim, stacker 2, hydroxycut, and a few more. I had my greatest success when alli (the otc version of xenical) came out. i lost 40lbs with it but eventually put it back on and more. I never had a problem pooping my pants on it lol. as long as you stay within the guidelines you are pretty much good with that. But i recently gave alli another try in january of this year. I lost 6pounds in 1 month and that was it. Now ive put 8 pounds back on. Its time for me to get off the diet rollercoaster.

I attended the weight loss seminar this past thursday. got great information and met one of the surgeons. Finally got thorugh to my insurance company this morning and they do cover the surgery and 3 nutrtional visits.what are the nutritional visits? I have a surgical consultation on May 2nd. very excited for that. My insurance company requires that i have a 6month drs note detailing my weight and i have to attend to bariatric support groups but that is about it. The surgeon said i need to bring a referral from my pcp when i come to the consultation. What is the referral supposed to say? If i complete the insurance reqirements and all the testing needed how long does the whole process take?

wow thank for that info. i did meet dr merola at the seminar i went to on thursday. He did talk about the lap band and how it takes numerous modifications, which is why i was leaning toward the sleeve. i am supposed to have a surgical consultation on may 2. Did you happen to meet dr castro as well?

Congrats! glad to hear everything went well. wishing you much success.

Good Luck! cant wait to hear your progress! wishing you a speedy recovery

Does anyone know anything about magancare insurance. I have it throught my exhusbands job. I believe it is local 888 union. I cannot do much research online b/c i do not have a home computer and many sites at my job are blocked. i cant find anything on the magancare site about bariatric surgery, the 800 number is like talking to the wall i cant seem to get a live person. The only thing that i was able to find on the website was that the surgeon i am looking into is "in network". Anyone know the requirements for this company? TIA!

I just booked a space at a weight loss seminar for april 18 (im very excited). I mentioned this to my bff and she basically attacked me. She started saying how i dont need it and im only doing it to improve my looks ( which is way off base) and that i havent been dieting seriously. and i have. true i do not have any other comorbidities but i have many reasons why i want to do this which im sure you all could understand. she starts saying how im gonna have so much recovery time and im gonna have to do this this and this. How do you deal when someone is totally unsupportive of your decision? She thinks she knows everything about the world. should i just cut her out of the loop of this decision?

well i just started checking out hospitals. My bf's neice just got sleeved about a month ago at Lenox HIll. I looked that up and its says that my insurance is out of network there. So i looked at new york hospital queens and the dr there is in the magancare network. So now i am going to see about going to the seminar. Self pay is out of the question for me. I can no where near afford it unfortunately.

Thanks everyone for your helpful responses. I tried to call Magnacare yesterday and just could not get through to anyone. I was on their automated system for a half an hour at least and could not find what i was looking for nor could i get through to a live person. im going to try to visit their website. and i did locate some seminars in my are. Ill just keep pressing forward

i live in queens, new york.