RedDirtRoads

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!

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!

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.

I too, have PTSD and I'm going through the VA/Army hospital for my surgery and psych eval. What location are you at?

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.

_{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 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.

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?

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?

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!

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

Here you go:

https://www.realize.com/do-i-qualify/potential-results

You have to enter your info to get the page with potential results.

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.

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.

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?

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.