RedDirtRoads

Congratulations!

I agree! You look fabulous and I love seeing pictures, they are so encouraging. I really can't wait to be on the other side!

I am considering Dr. Kureshi in Durant, OK. Also, thinking about going to Dr. Castro in Dallas. I have my nutrition consult and psych eval scheduled- just have to decide which surgeon to take the results to . . .

Awesome! Congratulations!

My husband and I have our first appointment at the bariatric clinic tomorrow. I have talked to the staff over the phone and I cannot get even approximate cost . . . I am hoping I can get better answers tomorrow in person. My dilemma is that I am enrolling in my employer's cafeteria plan to help cover out of pocket cost and I want to know how much I should set aside in the plan to cover both of us. The personnel at the office told me "your cost will be 10% of whatever he charges you for the visit tomorrow" but they cannot tell me what the cost of an initial visit is. "Your insurance pays 90% of the surgery cost after your deductible is met". What is the normal cost of the sleeve so I can figure out what will be left for me? They don't know! Is this normal? Sounds unorganized to me . . . I know they are a fairly new clinic but I haven't even been there and I already think I want to go some where else. Am I over reacting or not asking the questions correctly?

Congrats and thanks for sharing . . . I have BCBS (PPO) my BMI is almost 38 with one documented co-morbidity and I have my doubts about getting approval. I'm glad you did and it gives me a bit more hope!

My husband and I are both hoping to have VSG. We agreed that we would consult with a few different surgeons to see who was a good fit for us. My husband really likes the first one that we have visited and wants to stick with him. He is new to our area and I want to see his stats! How do I find out if his numbers are good and if he has a safe history?

How awesome that your doctor's office has to it all together like that! You get all of that done in one day! I have to take off of work several days to go to the nut, then the psych, go weigh in, go have lab . . . rather ridiculous! Good luck.

Well, I have had an Amazon credit toward a Kindle purchase since March, so guess what I just used it on? I can't wait to start reading!

He is not really using the VA for anything anymore. Nothing against the VA, we are in a rural location in Oklahoma and it is a hassle to get to them. They offered tele-psychiatry but he wasn't really pleased with that and a new face every few sessions. We have very good private insurance so he is now seeing outside mental health providers.

Thank you for posting this topic, I'm not so worried about my own psych eval as I am starting to stress about my husband's! He is stressing out and that is stressing me out. He already sees a counselor and psychiatrist for PTSD related to the military and he is so worried he will not pass the eval for the sleeve. It's a good thing to know that we are not alone. I hope it is a breeze for us all.

I apologize for starting a thread for this but when I first started poking around this site, I found an example letter for the patient to send to their insurance. I want to use it and now I cannot locate it. If someone has easy access to this, will you please share? TIA.

No, I found it on this site, I thought it was part of the website itself, not something that someone posted. I also thought it was a letter to be sent with your original application to insurance . . . . so I guess I might be wrong all the way around. Can you tell I am anxious?

I like the surgeon just fine but I still want to know what his stats look like, I was wondering if there is a more independent resource than his clinic. I can find his education and experience online very easily but where would I locate a complication rate?

I find this post interesting because our surgeon told my husband and I that we SHOULD go all out and have a wonderful meal of our favorite food before surgery. I was surprised. He said the week before surgery that we would have one meal a day and liquids the rest of the day, but to make sure those meals were delicious foods that we liked. My husband was sitting there saying "Yeah!" and I was floored!

Hello all, I have been excitedly looking through this website and a few days ago I saw a link to an outside website that projects your probable weight loss based on information you supply. I want to show it to my husband but I cannot find it now. Please help. TIA.

Thank you all, this is the one I was looking for!

HMMMM, I have BCBS of Ok. I just read mine and it doesn't say that either. I just went to my first dr appointment on Friday, they told me there was a 6 month supervised weight loss required. Now I am curious because I looked at my policy's requirements and it was just revised in June. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for that suggestion. I have to email my insurance company anyway, I am reading on here that BCBS of Illinois requires you to have their insurance for a year before they will approve you. When my supervised weight loss is over, I will have only had coverage through them for 9 months. *pout.

Shell, please follow up here. I have BCBS of OK and I believe we are under the same rules. I didn't know that I couldn't gain weight, I just went to my first appointment on Friday. I was 10 lbs under having a 40 BMI and honestly was thinking about just trying to gain the 10 so I would meet insurance requirements BECAUSE my doctor said he doesn't send anyone for sleep studies or anything besides psych and nut evals. I am nervous about being denied! Good luck.

Hello ladies, I am so glad I found this forum! I have my first appointment to get started toward a sleeve Friday. I have to have 6 months of supervised weight loss visits, probably another sleep study and EGD. I started this process about 4 years ago but I backed out when I finally started having appointments with the surgeon. I did not like him at all. :-( Through the whole process I had been seeing his nurse practitioner and at the end I started seeing him and we totally clashed. Presently, I have a new job that is very sedentary and I am packing on more weight. Almost 20 lbs in the 6 months that I have been here. I've had PCOS since I was a teen and I am 35 now. I battled infertility and WON. I have a 6 year old and a 1 year old. We started the whole drug/tracking/ surgery process again when our daughter was 6 months and it took us 5 years to get pregnant again. It was a long, frustrating process and pray that each of you that want to have children will! Anyway, I wanted to introduce myself and stay involved with the progress on this thread. Best of luck to all of us.