5BeautifulDays

I had to change surgeons because I am self-pay. The surgeon I had started with is a general surgeon who does other colo-rectal and oncological surgeries, but he has never had a self-pay bariatric patient. So his colleague who is associated with BLIS will do my surgery instead. So I guess it is like the doctor is insured as much as the patient.

My surgeon requires this insurance for self-pay patients. Since my insurance probably wouldn't cover follow-up surgery due to a leak or other problem, it just makes sense to protect my family from massive bills if I have a complication. Even if my surgeon didn't charge me for surgery to fix a problem, the hospital and anesthesiologist sure would. I'm still waiting to see the costs associated with it, but I understand the basic plan is about 2000. I'm not sure if that's 30 or 60 days.

Have your doctor write you a "medically necessary" letter and keep it in your wallet. Bring what you need (don't try to cheat for others in your party). And if they give you any trouble mention discrimination and your lawyer.

I had my first consult last week and my hands were shaking I was so nervous! The nurse was like "what are you afraid of? We're not going to poke you with a needle or anything!" I'm not worried about needles or even that crazy alligator-stapler thing they use to make the sleeve! It's hard to explain that I've developed such a phobia of going to the doctor's and getting scolded for my weight that it's hard to do anything medical at all. And going to the consult was both scary and a relief--that maybe this thing will really happen and I won't have to be morbidly obese anymore.

I told my husband that it was about the cost of a small car...but I'm paying to lose it, not gain it!

I just had my first visit last week and I'm scheduled to be sleeved at the end of August. So excited! I was going to use Dr. Pourshojae, but he doesn't do self-pay (because of the BLIS insurance--he isn't certified with them yet), so Dr. Moazzez will do my surgery. I haven't met him yet, but I've heard good things.