jdmcappo

Don’t be afraid to meet with a few, and pick which one makes you feel comfortable. Make sure it is a complete and comprehensive program, center of excellence. They won’t send you all over the place for evaluations etc. I did have some trouble with my first hospital, as the BMI criteria was under a range that I would reach... so I had to switch. I started my journey needing to lose 300 lbs. & after meeting with my surgeon, learning their program, I had to lose over 100 lbs to have surgery. So with my insurance having a mandatory 6 month wait, I hoped I could meet the criteria and have surgery. I lost 100 lbs in 6 months! BEFORE SURGERY! Then the doctor said that I needed to lose another 40 before they would operate. Of which, 20-25lbs will come off in the pre-op diet, so I really needed to lose another 20lbs before the pre-op diet. WTF?!? That would have been almost half my weight loss goal & without surgery! So I decided at that point, I would just do it all on my own. I then pushed harder at the gym and tightened the diet and still couldn’t make the needle move on the scale. Then I started having knee pain. A sports medicine doctor diagnosed me with arthritis at the age of 35 and strongly recommended I cease the running and weight lifting, just swim. So now if I wanted to lose weight it was time to find another Bariatric program. I did some looking, called around and would ask the criteria for BMI and insurance. I found one and started all over again. I drive 1.5 hrs each way for the new office. They offered more surgery options and were passionate about me having the right surgery for me. There were tons of differences between both programs & hospitals. I still visit the first one to use the scale, I feel hospital scales are more Accurate than home, etc.

I had a Loop-DS performed in Raleigh NC Wake-Med by Dr. Bovard - I had a similar BMI and I’ve lost 100 lbs with pre-op diet and post-op results. I am only 4 months post-op. It has not been an easy road travelled but I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I’m 4 months post-op on a Loop DS - feel free to ask questions, I don’t mind sharing