anna_bandana

Hey guys, I am trying to start my journey to getting a sleeve. I've struggled with my weight all my life. I am now 22 years old. I am 172cm (about 5 foot 7). And here comes the hard part. I weigh 150kg (330lbs). Which means I have a BMI of 50. I have desperately been trying to change my life, and I do so well for a short time, and then something happens and I slip up and pile on more than before. After a fair bit of research into the procedure and the results others have had (good and bad) I have decided that this is the course I want to travel down, the benefits for me far outweigh the risks. I live in Melbourne, Australia, and this afternoon I am heading to my local GP to see for some kind of referral to a doctor that can help me achieve this. I have a couple questions for Melbourne Sleevers and sleevers in general. How did you get the ball rolling? And once the ball was rolling, how long did it take you to get booked in for surgery? In Melbourne, who did you see? How much was the gap? Did your private cover any part of it? From what I have been reading I think I may be looking at a gap of approximately $5,000? I have Medibank private (although won't be able to do anything until end of Feb '14 because of the 1 year waiting period), and I have e-mailed them to get a general idea if they cover a portion and they want me to pretty much fill out a questionnaire and have my surgery booked before they say yes or no. I have no doubt I will have more questions, but for now I'll start with that. Thanks

Thank you! I have just booked in for Friday 15th Nov. I have read that this doctor does try to push for the Lap Band over anything else, so I am just going to stick to my guns. Just because this is the first doctor I see doesn't mean I have to go with him. I want to be comfortable with who does my surgery. I'm really excited and nervous!

Thank you. I finally managed to get to the doctors today for the referral. I thought I would need to beg for the referral but nope! He gave me the referral without hesitation! I now have my first referral for professor nottle in sydenham Victoria which is 20 mins from me! So now I'm on my way home to do my research on him and see how other people's experiences have been with him. One step in the right direction!

Western Suburbs. 45 mins from Melbourne

That sounds great, I will definitely get on to that. It would be nice to have someone to talk to about this. I don't intend on telling anyone except my partner and my mum. Both who are very supportive about what I want. I know others won't be as supportive so I would rather not give them an opportunity to express their opinions. Thank you Momonanomo Thanks k8ee, I will google them today and look them up. I've been very cautious about all these pop up websites I am finding so it makes it a bit difficult to sort through genuine from fake. I will be looking them up and see what they can help me with, and start doing my research on the doctors. Hi Jen, I was supposed to go to the doctors yesterday to discuss a referral, however, things got in the way and I will be going this morning instead. Unfortunately I don't think the GP will be that willing to hand over a referral, much less do any research for me, so I'll have to do the research myself. This is a bulk bill walk in clinic and I have never seen one doctor twice in a row, they rotate the doctors around that much. It's hard to find just one GP to stick to because they don't last that long, and the ones that have are all private and cost an arm and a few legs. It took me a year to get a referral to get my tonsils removed and a grommet that has been in my ear over 5 years removed as well. I suspect the doctor will want me to go down the dietitian path, again. This is why I'm taking my mum, back up to make sure I don't get rolled so easily. Haha. I'm currently reading The Big Book on the Gastric Sleeve and I'm finding it very insightful. Thank you very much for your advice. I have a few things to go off now on this post, hopefully I can get this big ball rolling!

Thanks, I'm in Melbourne, Australia I've read heaps of things on what those in America need to do to get the surgery, but not so much for Australians. I have to do research on my mobile so that does limit me. Hopefully seeing the doctor today helps point me in the direction. I just don't trust all these websites that are promising surgery.