Faithoftheheart

Do you have a YMCA in your area? I am on a fixed income as well and went to the Y and filled out a form for reduced membership all YMCA have it. You fill out the form and submit a copy of your income verification and then you receive a letter stating what your monthly fee is. Mine came to $11 a month for a family of 3 its worth a shot.

I did have to dress down for the eeg the tech said just take off your shirt and leave the bra on. No gown lol but the surgeon didn't exam me the first visit. My next visit will be my two pre op appt. Not sure what to expect that visit expect another weigh in I know they give you a bottle of antiseptic soap to wash with the night before and morning off surgery.

I had my first appt June 4th. I live about 3 hours from the Bariatric center of Kansas city. The way it worked there is you submit your health history and insurance information and attend the seminar then once they had all my paperwork they assigned me a case manager. The case manager arranged for all my required appts in one day it was a long day lol. This was how that day went. At 8am I checked in for my pysch evaluation which involved filling out about 5 pages of bubble questions that took about 40 mins then I saw the psych Dr (his office works in conjunction with their office) I met with him for about 40 mins answered his questions and he reviewed my forms and by the end of the session he said I was clear on the psych portion. After that I had to attend a class from 10:30 to 1pm it is a patient education and guideline session they go over in detail the type of surgery what to expect information regarding preop diet vitamins protein shakes guidelines on what to eat at each phase of recovery and more. The class is a requirement for everyone at our clinic and is extremely informative and I learned a whole lot. Then my next appt was after 1 I had weight and height done then they gave me an ekg. After that was done I went to a room and waited for the dietian appt where we went over the diet portion of the program. After that appt around 2 I saw the surgeon. He asked a bunch of questions and said he thought my choice for the RNY was the most appropriate for me and said I had to have an EGD to look at my stomach and test for h pylori which he has all patients do. When that appt was over I met with my case manager who gave me an order for the EGD to be done by a local gastroentologist and we went over the checklist provided and they also gave me the consent and request for my actual medical records from my primary care physician. Then I was finally done I had all my appointments completed in one day. I was able to get my EGD done the week after and my Dr faxed my medical records to the clinic. I then paid my program fee and now all I have to do is have the surgeon review my medical records and make sure I had the previous failed diet documented then we submit to insurance. It seems almost to easy lol but it has been a realitivly painless process so far.