YAY - I have made ALOT of progress

gabi311b · January 23, 2009

I am so excited and nervous all at the same time. I met with my surgeon, Dr. Nazarian, on Sunday and filled out my 25+ pages of paperwork. He only is in that office on Sundays and does consults and surgery on Sundays. He was really impressed with how much knowledge I had regarding the pre-op process, the surgery and the post surgery support and he told me he loves operating on people that are so well informed. It makes his life so much easier.

I was really happy with his bedside manner this time around...he didn't yawn! The first time I met with him, at a different practice, he yawned and didn't seem engaged at all. I almost wrote him off but decided to give him one more chance and I was much more impressed and comfortable. I also love the nursing staff there, they seem so caring and sweet.

I was told I only need an upper GI and some lab work so I will be doing those next week. I have a second consultation with the surgeon on Feb 1st and at that appointment I will meet with the nutritionist and set my surgery date. :thumbup:

Insurance didn't work out and it was way too much stress to fight a battle I knew I wasn't going to win so I am now self-pay. My total surgery quote including anesthesia and 6 adjustments is $14,200. The nervous part is now coming up with that kind of money (it has to be paid in full 7 days prior to surgery). I have been having bad dreams about it and everything. I would hate to get this far and not be able to piece it all togehter.

I am hoping that my surgery will be 3/1/09 but it might have to be 3/8/09. My birthday is on 3/11 so what I birthday present that will be! I can't wait!

Please pray for me that I can come up with the money and if anyone has any suggestions about anything please let me know.

I am being so impatient but I know that my day will come and it's coming sooner rather than later! :biggrin:

OneHotMama · January 23, 2009

HAHAHA, that is sooo funny! I had a consult with him too. He was yawning and seemed disinterested, kept sweeping his comb over, LOL Even with that I made a date For December 23. It's hard to believe not even a month ago I was going to be charged $17,000!!!! Plus $300 for the pro-op tests. After reading some stories on this board I began to worry "what if something happens and it ends up more $$ because of complications?" Anyway, I ended up cancelling and went down to Dr. Aceves in Mexicali, very happy by the way. As for payment, did you try and get approved for CareCredit? It's a credit card they offer for things like this. I ended up using my 401k (figured with the economy the way it is, I'm better off paying myself interest then letting it sit there to dwindle away!) Good luck!!!

gabi311b · January 23, 2009

I actually figured it all out last night and I will be using my 401K for a little more than half of it. My parents are going to help me out and I have some commission money coming from my job. So I am way less stressed out about it now and will not need to have any kind of long term financing which I'm very happy about. I am going to call the office today and schedule my appointment. My mom is actually going to come down from Sacramento to help me so I will schedule it for March 8th since that date is better for her.

I think it's amazing that with Dr. Nazarian he was charging $18,000 to have the surgery in Beverly Hills and he is charging $14,000 to have the same surgery in San Dimas. I know it's the location location location but seriously...

OneHotMama - how are you liking banded life? What should I be prepared for?

OneHotMama · January 24, 2009

I've been doing great so far. My surgery was on a Saturday and I could have gone back to work on Monday but being that it was New Year's week I just took the week off. Tomorrow will be 4 weeks post-surgery for me and I really feel good. I've been working out this week on my elliptical machine. The worst part I think is trying to keep my Protein up, I'm just not hungry. The protein bullets are lifesavers, 42g of protein in 3 oz. Taste like melted Jello and really sweet but it's over quick. My gas pain wasn't too bad, I would feel it rise into my chest and not have anywhere to go. The shoulder pain from the gas only hit me during the second week and tylenol helped me more with the pain the gas-x. I've been able to sleep on my side since about day 3. I guess I'm just overall truly happy with the experience so far. On Tuesday I will be able to try whole foods so I'm kind of scared about that, I've been married to my magic bullet for the past few weeks!:scared2: If I were to give advice I would have to say get moving, keep walking, even if it's sloooooow. You really will start to feel better faster. Good luck!! Keep me posted!!