Pre-Op Journey

[Linda Cooney 34]

I just got insurance approval on Friday; hoping to get a date this week. My only health issues are two failing knees that need replacing. Supposed to start that in the spring, if I can make it that long. Sux to get old. Bariatric surgery is my birthday present to me

[Jenwill630 119]

On 10/26/2018 at 10:37 AM, armartin98 said:

Hello! I had my doctor consultation October 12. I'm still undecided about what I want but leaning toward Lap-Band. However, many people told me, including Nurse friends, that Lap-Band doesn't work and less and less doctors are performing it. Even my doctor was down playing the Lap-Band and encouraging me to pick Sleeve or Bi-Pass. Still thinking the band is right for me.

I'm scared about my GERD getting worse. I control it very well with a herb. Anyone else have issues with lap-band and GERD? My doctor says he takes out more lap-bands than he puts in. I don't want to have to take it out. Another thing I'm afraid of is extreme excess skin. I'd rather be a overweight than to have skin hanging and I don't have the money to do excess skin surgery.

Our insurance pays for it but we have very high deductible and will probably end up paying for most of it. My insurance won't let me have the surgery for 6 months. I have to see a dietitian every month, see psychologist and get an upper GI. I've been trying to lose weight since I was 13. I have a private trainer at my gym for 8 years and I've been going to a weight loss clinic for 25 years off and on. I'm very frustrated. Any suggestions or opinions would be much appreciated.

At my first appointment with my surgeon last week, he said his group no longer does lapbands because there are too many problems and for me, my best bet is RNY because of my GERD. Which, I am glad he said that. I would rather have one surgery and be done.

[Frustr8 7,886]

Sounds like. Sensible Dude, Keep Him, too many Ring A Ding Doofuses practicing Medicine these days, ask Orchids and Dragons and the rest, I have encountered my share end talked about it!

[FlyAwayFree 58]

Hey! I just had my sleeve on 10/29 at Bailey with Dr. Brandon Varnell! It was an awesome experience and I had no issues at all with the medical part of it. No pain, not even the infamous gas pain. I live in Tulsa and I would totally message ya with my phone number if you want to ask any questions or anything! Good luck and it seems to take forever and then it comes so quickly lol. The hospital and all the care was really super. I am glad I didnt end up just flying down to Mexico as 100 percent of my surgery was covered and it really was excellent care.

[hwequestrian 38]

I haven’t been on in a while. My navigator said that they can’t use hypertension for my comorbidity since it hasn’t been officially diagnosed, even though I have medical records with high blood pressure for 2 years. They said we’re basically relying on a sleep apnea diagnosis.

So I had my sleep study on Friday night. I slept for 5-6 hours. It was supposed to be a split night study “if there was a need”. Well I wasn’t woken up partway through the night for the cpap titration, so I don’t have a lot of hope that’ll pan out.

If not, I will pursue the hypertension diagnosis. Not sure why we can’t diagnose hypertension now and be set, but we can diagnose sleep apnea if it’s present and be set. 🧐

I have some tests scheduled for Thursday, but I don’t think they want me to go through with that testing until we have results for a comorbidity. Aside from those tests, I have my next monthly appointment on Monday the 19th, so I assume we’ll be discussing my options then.

I’m praying for peace with any bit of news. If the surgery isn’t in the cards for me, I’m planning some big moves into endurance racing with my horse.

[FlyAwayFree 58]

1 minute ago, hwequestrian said:

I haven’t been on in a while. My navigator said that they can’t use hypertension for my comorbidity since it hasn’t been officially diagnosed, even though I have medical records with high blood pressure for 2 years. They said we’re basically relying on a sleep apnea diagnosis.

So I had my sleep study on Friday night. I slept for 5-6 hours. It was supposed to be a split night study “if there was a need”. Well I wasn’t woken up partway through the night for the cpap titration, so I don’t have a lot of hope that’ll pan out.

If not, I will pursue the hypertension diagnosis. Not sure why we can’t diagnose hypertension now and be set, but we can diagnose sleep apnea if it’s present and be set. 🧐

I have some tests scheduled for Thursday, but I don’t think they want me to go through with that testing until we have results for a comorbidity. Aside from those tests, I have my next monthly appointment on Monday the 19th, so I assume we’ll be discussing my options then.

I’m praying for peace with any bit of news. If the surgery isn’t in the cards for me, I’m planning some big moves into endurance racing with my horse.

The tech may have not needed to titrate your cpap because they had already seen significant apnea! Thats probably good news. Lol not the apnea, but the lack of titration. I dont snore so I never even knew I had apnea... but after my test I found I had severe sleep apnea at around 65 apnea events an hour. No wonder I was so tired all the time. My cpap has helped my quality of rest soooooo much too. Try not to worry over anything, it goes by so fast when you get approval you feel nearly startled at how easy it was lol. Hang in there, YOU are worth it!

[hwequestrian 38]

Thank you, FlyAwayFree. I didn’t think of it that way at all. I’m a pessimist, surprise 😂 I do have sleep issues and take meds to help me fall asleep and stay asleep.

I’m about to go into my appointment at Bailey. Pretty nervous and hoping for some answers today. I’m a high anxiety person with the unknown. I thought going into this that my 2 year recorded history of high bp automatically qualified me. According to my navigator that’s not the case. I’m really hoping we’ve just had a misunderstanding or she’s misinformed. Anyway, I’ll post after my appointment. I just wanted to pop in and update so I can have a log of all my feelings through the process.

[Tinainjax 17]

4 hours ago, hwequestrian said:

Thank you, FlyAwayFree. I didn’t think of it that way at all. I’m a pessimist, surprise 😂 I do have sleep issues and take meds to help me fall asleep and stay asleep.

I’m about to go into my appointment at Bailey. Pretty nervous and hoping for some answers today. I’m a high anxiety person with the unknown. I thought going into this that my 2 year recorded history of high bp automatically qualified me. According to my navigator that’s not the case. I’m really hoping we’ve just had a misunderstanding or she’s misinformed. Anyway, I’ll post after my appointment. I just wanted to pop in and update so I can have a log of all my feelings through the process.

The same thing happened to me where I wasn't woken up during my sleep test but I still had mild/moderate sleep apnea which counts so you should still be okay.

[hwequestrian 38]

On 11/19/2018 at 18:07, Tinainjax said:

The same thing happened to me where I wasn't woken up during my sleep test but I still had mild/moderate sleep apnea which counts so you should still be okay.

Did you need a CPAP machine afterwards? I got an email from the doctor who looked at my sleep study results and he said “you do not have a significant amount of obstructive sleep apnea and CPAP is not needed”. I assume that means I won’t qualify on that, but I’ll wait until I get a call from the center to cry about it LOL

I’ve officially been diagnosed with hypertension and prescribed medication for it. They’re saying that won’t qualify me, but in the same breath they say hypertension is one of the top 3 comorbidities they use. I’m not sure what to think just yet.

[Tinainjax 17]

27 minutes ago, hwequestrian said:

Did you need a CPAP machine afterwards? I got an email from the doctor who looked at my sleep study results and he said “you do not have a significant amount of obstructive sleep apnea and CPAP is not needed”. I assume that means I won’t qualify on that, but I’ll wait until I get a call from the center to cry about it LOL

I’ve officially been diagnosed with hypertension and prescribed medication for it. They’re saying that won’t qualify me, but in the same breath they say hypertension is one of the top 3 comorbidities they use. I’m not sure what to think just yet.

They did give me one on a low setting if need be go to another sleep doctor because the first one I went to had the same response that I didn't really need it. I also have hypertension as well.

[hwequestrian 38]

Okay, so I got a call from my doctor yesterday. I missed her call because my baby was sleeping and I didn’t want to wake him. She left a message that my sleep study came back negative and she’ll see me next month. But at our appointment she wrote in her note that I had to have sleep apnea to qualify for surgery.. then she diagnosed me with hypertension and prescribed meds.

So I called back and didn’t get an answer. Called my navigator and she said the doctor decides if hypertension can be used and she or the doctor will let me know something by Monday.

Then I got an email from the navigator today that I needed a different form of medical records for my weight history. I’ll attach that email with this post. I took it as I needed a 2 year recorded history of weight loss specific visits. Also, I went over a 35 BMI in January or February of 2017, so I was thinking we’d be good if the surgery was in 2019, but she said 2016 and 2017 records....

Sorry, I swear there’s a point. I called insurance, and they confirmed that:
1. The two year history can be ANY physicians visit notes whether they’re weight loss visits or not.
2. The two year history is the two years prior to the actual surgery.
3. The doctor decides what comorbidity qualifies you for the surgery.

In closing, I’m at the mercy of the clinic. In my opinion, I do qualify without question. I just need the doctor to agree with me that although my blood pressure isn’t “very high” that it is clinically high.

[FlyAwayFree 58]

10 hours ago, hwequestrian said:

Okay, so I got a call from my doctor yesterday. I missed her call because my baby was sleeping and I didn’t want to wake him. She left a message that my sleep study came back negative and she’ll see me next month. But at our appointment she wrote in her note that I had to have sleep apnea to qualify for surgery.. then she diagnosed me with hypertension and prescribed meds.

So I called back and didn’t get an answer. Called my navigator and she said the doctor decides if hypertension can be used and she or the doctor will let me know something by Monday.

Then I got an email from the navigator today that I needed a different form of medical records for my weight history. I’ll attach that email with this post. I took it as I needed a 2 year recorded history of weight loss specific visits. Also, I went over a 35 BMI in January or February of 2017, so I was thinking we’d be good if the surgery was in 2019, but she said 2016 and 2017 records....

Sorry, I swear there’s a point. I called insurance, and they confirmed that:
1. The two year history can be ANY physicians visit notes whether they’re weight loss visits or not.
2. The two year history is the two years prior to the actual surgery.
3. The doctor decides what comorbidity qualifies you for the surgery.

In closing, I’m at the mercy of the clinic. In my opinion, I do qualify without question. I just need the doctor to agree with me that although my blood pressure isn’t “very high” that it is clinically high.

Man, my process went so smoothly that I feel terrible for you that yours is being so finicky! Who is your doctor? O'Meara was mine, then Ruby was my nurse practicioner. I would just call their office, or email them, directly. My navigator usually helped me figure out who to call when I had those kinds of questions, but had me contact them not her. If you have your business cards in your binder, they have all the numbers and emails of everyone you have seen so far. Well if you have been putting them in your binder.

For my weight loss history, I quite literally filled out their paper with all the crap I have tried or done over the years and it sufficed along with my primary doc outside of Bailey sending over 2 years worth of weights. I had hypertension also, however mine is gone now at 3 weeks postop... my diabetes has disappeared already (in hospital they took me off the metformin) and I am off my bp med after my 2 week followup. I am sure they will qualify you, I just can't imagine that they won't with your doc records showing you DO have a comorbidity. Though I have known people who have actually gained weight just to get their BMI up to qualify at the 45 mark instead of 35.

If you need any help or wanna chat, I am here! This WILL happen for you. They always qualify you if you do the work you need to do. I am on your side and cheering you on girly!!!!

[hwequestrian 38]

Well, the surgery won’t be an option for me, so I’ll be moving to non-surgical threads. I will be continuing to go to Bailey Medical Center in Owasso as a non-surgical patient. Good luck to everyone pursuing surgery!

[Frustr8 7,886]

We still love you, hang around if you want cause Girl you really tried, We honor you for that and you'll be a part of US no matter what!

[FlyAwayFree 58]

On 12/1/2018 at 2:14 PM, hwequestrian said:

Well, the surgery won’t be an option for me, so I’ll be moving to non-surgical threads. I will be continuing to go to Bailey Medical Center in Owasso as a non-surgical patient. Good luck to everyone pursuing surgery!

Oh man this is awful!!! Have you tried Surgical Associates? They have the same surgeons that Bailey does, except they do the surgery at Saint Francis and they have different qualifiers. Dr. Varnell is there too even. I chose Bailey as I worked there awhile back, not because of any other reason. https://www.satulsa.com/main/services/bariatric-surgery/ also, surgery in Mexico is pretty affordable and can be financed. If it doesnt include the flight... Tulsa has Allegiant flights to San Diego for next to nothing... 120 bucks or so round trip with no layovers. You could totally do that too... it was one of the options I also looked into... but for me, since Bailey was free and I had worked there, its just the direction I went.

Girl I would recommend this surgery to anyone. I am losing weight awesomely, its pretty easy so far, and I never had a bit of problems with the surgery, pain, tummy issues, nothing. I am not even close to goal weight but I would do this again for sure. Even if I had to go to Mexico to get it done lol. Thats what my exhusband and baby son have done btw and it worked wonderfully for them! No issues at all either. Good luck and I sure do hope you stick around!