bripilot

Hello all... I'm from the Kansas City area and have recently decided to start the process to get banded. My wife was banded in 2002, her two sisters after that and between the three of them, have lost almost 500 lbs. I swore I would never get fat. In high school and when I was in the military, I was never more than 210 lbs. I'm 5'10, but was athletic and physically fit. About the time I turned 25, I had gotten out of the military and started working for a local police department as a dispatcher. Sitting for 8-12 hours a day, talking on the phone and radios. It didn't help much that our office was right next to the break room and the vending machines. By the time I was 30, I was weighing in at 260. I got married to a wonderful cook and here I am, almost 40, and topping at 365. If I had held true to my word as a young man, I would have killed myself when I hit 300. Luckily I didn't and here I am. Eating for me has rarely been psychological. Or at least I don't think it has been. I enjoy food. I enjoy the tastes, the textures, and I enjoy a good meal. I guess I enjoy it too much. The only time emotion has ever come into play is every once in a while, when I get down on myself and down on life, I will order a pizza and finish the whole thing in one sitting. That happens about once every 3-4 months. So that's brought me to where I am now. I currently travel alot for my job and every time I board a plane and have to ask for an extension, part of me dies inside. It's not pleasant to watch people when they realize they have to sit next to the fat guy. Most people try to hide it, but many times I've gotten that "You've got to be kidding me!" look. I used to love flying. I decided to call my insurance company, Anthem / BCBS. I wanted to find out if they even covered bariatric surgery. Turns out that the plan my employer has with them does NOT cover any kind of weightloss surgery. Not the bypass, not the band, not a thing... So now, I wonder... do I self-pay or do I go thru the initial process and see if my Doctor can get them to approve the surgery? I went in for my initial consult with my local family doctor and he referred me to Tallgrass Surgical in Topeka, KS. They have a rule that before they will even see you, they require you to attend a monthly seminar for the lap-band. This is not uncommon from what I've seen. So, one Saturday morning, my wife and I packed up, drove over an hour to Topeka in the middle of a rainstorm, and got there 10 minutes late. I was turned away at the door, being told that they don't allow late arrivals. I will not do business with someone who is not only rude, but has no compassion for prospective clients. There are many other local doctors I can go to for my procedure. Anyway... has anyone had the same block with their insurance? What did you do? My credit is not the best, otherwise I would just finance it. I know I need to lose the weight, I just don't know how to overcome this $10,000+ hurdle. My name is Brian and I'm a fat guy... *sigh*:biggrin:

Abbie... Nice to meet you... I graduated from Harrisonville HS many moons ago... Nice to talk to a home-town girl... hehe... Anyway... I've decided that if I do have to self-pay, I will most likely go to Mexico. My sister-in-law went down there to have hers done and she was thrilled with the doc, the service, everything... I'm just overwhelmed at the cost. You would think that more insurance companies would pay for this rather than the alternative of high-blood pressure medications, Nexium, arthritis meds, etc... all the co-morbidities I have will, I'm sure, cost them far more than the surgery today. Brownskin - What insurance do you have? What are you going to do if they decline payment?

Lois - Funny you should mention Dr. Malley. My wife also highly recommends him and I had all but made the decision that he was going to do my surgery. I don't have much in savings, and I don't use credit cards... I'm just praying that somehow the funds will arise to pay for this. I may be able to sell-back some of my vacation time to my employer and get some money that way, but that could take a few months at least. Anyway... Thanks for the reply... =)