Dilema...and Question...

May 1, 2001

Hi everyone!

OK...here's the situation (I'll try to make a long and complicated story short).

As I've posted before, I'm getting married in December. Now, neither my or my fiance's family are Rockerfellers, so, though we are getting some help, we are paying for a good portion of the wedding ourselves. No big deal...doesn't bother me at all. Due to the size of our families, we are having a pretty good sized wedding, though...about 215 people (yikes!).

Every summer, I work a part-time job as a Paramedic for the Town of Provincetown. They hire extra people just for the summer, because of the influx of tourists, etc. I make some decent money with that part time job. When we got engaged, we decided that the extra money from this job this summer would go to pay for the wedding. Then I started looking into WLS...

I've done all of my pre-op stuff through the Beth Israel, met with Dr. Mun last week, and now we're awaiting insurance approval, and then I'll get my surgery date. Right now they're scheduling for the beginning of July. So...that takes me out of my summer job for 2 months. 2 months of money that we were planning on to pay for the wedding.

So, I started thinking, and my fiance and I discussed it, and I reluctantly decided that I'd wait until the beginning of September for the surgery. Yes, it's putting it off 2 months, but it's a means to an end. The wedding is a complicated story, but basically, we can't tone it down any further and still have what we both want for a wedding. We're both very close to our own and each other's families, and our guest list at 215 is pretty much set in stone. Her mom is one of 13, her dad is one of 7, etc., etc., etc...

So, I'm finally getting to my question! (I'm not looking for anyone to tell me what to do about putting off the wedding. I'm certainly not putting it off out of fear, or being unsure that this is what I want...it's more out of financial necessity).

When I met with Dr. Mun last week, I explained my situation, and told him that I may need to wait until the very beginning of September before I can have surgery. He said that if that was the case, I'd have to re-do all of my pre-op tests and consults, as too much time would have passed from when they were first done.

I've been reading on here that some people are getting surgery dates in August. Do you have to redo pre-op stuff because of the time-frame? One of the members of this list, for very similar financial reasons (well, not the wedding part)...had to post-pone her surgery until after the summer, and has never been told that she'd have to redo her stuff. I'm really in a dilema as to what to do.

So, that is my question...I know some of you have received surgery dates that were months from when you had your pre-op testing done...did anyone ever have to redo their tests/consults because too much time had lapsed? Basically, we're talking about 5 months time if I did it in September, rather than 3 months time if it was in July.

Sorry this was so long. Hope everyone gets to enjoy this awesome weather we're having this week. :-)

Jeff

~The things that come to those that wait may be the things left by those

who got there first. ~

May 1, 2001

Jeff,

Dr. Reines is my doctor and when I went to my first appointment and

we were talking about the surgery I told him that I wanted to wait till

after my wedding in July, so he scheduled me for August 14th. Since my

first visit I have had one other check-up appointment, I will have

another check-up appointment at the begining of June and then again the

week before my surgery. (He wants me to come and see him the day of my

pre-op testing.) So my whole point is, Dr. Reines doesn't make you do

everything all over again he just does check-ups to see how you are

doing and if you are trying to loose weight and get prepared for the

surgery every 6 to 8 weeks. I am not sure if Dr. Mun would do this, but

it is worth a shot!

I hope everything works out for you and your fiancee. I know what you

mean about have 200+ people and not knowing if you can financially

afford it! My wedding is July 21st and between now and then my fiancee

and I need to come up with close to $4,000. And that is just for the

reception that we are paying for. My parents are paying for the wedding

and his parents are paying for the rehersal dinner! Jeeez getting

married soooooo much more expensive then I ever imagined!!! But anyway

Good luck with everything Jeff!

Hugs,

Kim in Methuen

> Fleetion Medic wrote:

>

> Hi everyone!

>

> OK...here's the situation (I'll try to make a long and complicated

> story short).

>

> As I've posted before, I'm getting married in December. Now, neither

> my or my fiance's family are Rockerfellers, so, though we are getting

> some help, we are paying for a good portion of the wedding ourselves.

> No big deal...doesn't bother me at all. Due to the size of our

> families, we are having a pretty good sized wedding, though...about

> 215 people (yikes!).

>

> Every summer, I work a part-time job as a Paramedic for the Town of

> Provincetown. They hire extra people just for the summer, because of

> the influx of tourists, etc. I make some decent money with that part

> time job. When we got engaged, we decided that the extra money from

> this job this summer would go to pay for the wedding. Then I started

> looking into WLS...

>

> I've done all of my pre-op stuff through the Beth Israel, met with Dr.

> Mun last week, and now we're awaiting insurance approval, and then

> I'll get my surgery date. Right now they're scheduling for the

> beginning of July. So...that takes me out of my summer job for 2

> months. 2 months of money that we were planning on to pay for the

> wedding.

>

> So, I started thinking, and my fiance and I discussed it, and I

> reluctantly decided that I'd wait until the beginning of September for

> the surgery. Yes, it's putting it off 2 months, but it's a means to

> an end. The wedding is a complicated story, but basically, we can't

> tone it down any further and still have what we both want for a

> wedding. We're both very close to our own and each other's families,

> and our guest list at 215 is pretty much set in stone. Her mom is one

> of 13, her dad is one of 7, etc., etc., etc...

>

> So, I'm finally getting to my question! (I'm not looking for anyone

> to tell me what to do about putting off the wedding. I'm certainly

> not putting it off out of fear, or being unsure that this is what I

> want...it's more out of financial necessity).

>

> When I met with Dr. Mun last week, I explained my situation, and told

> him that I may need to wait until the very beginning of September

> before I can have surgery. He said that if that was the case, I'd

> have to re-do all of my pre-op tests and consults, as too much time

> would have passed from when they were first done.

>

> I've been reading on here that some people are getting surgery dates

> in August. Do you have to redo pre-op stuff because of the

> time-frame? One of the members of this list, for very similar

> financial reasons (well, not the wedding part)...had to post-pone her

> surgery until after the summer, and has never been told that she'd

> have to redo her stuff. I'm really in a dilema as to what to do.

>

> So, that is my question...I know some of you have received surgery

> dates that were months from when you had your pre-op testing

> done...did anyone ever have to redo their tests/consults because too

> much time had lapsed? Basically, we're talking about 5 months time if

> I did it in September, rather than 3 months time if it was in July.

>

> Sorry this was so long. Hope everyone gets to enjoy this awesome

> weather we're having this week. :-)

>

> Jeff

> ~The things that come to those that wait may be the things left by

> those

> who got there first. ~

>

May 1, 2001

Hi Jeff,

I'm not sure about other hospitals, but in my experience with NWH

you don't even do your preop until a week or 2 before surgery...So

that's not an issue. But I could definitely see them wanting to

redo your preop testing before surgery to make sure everything is

ok. It doesn't sound unreasonable or strange to me...and probably in

your best interest. I'd just go with the flow the Dr. gives ya.

-- S.

> Hi everyone!

>

> OK...here's the situation (I'll try to make a long and complicated

story short).

May 1, 2001

Hi Jeff.....

I'm one of those scheduled for late August, but my pre-op testing isn't

scheduled until July. It seems that's the way they works it -- they

scheduled the tests within a suitable time frame to the scheduled

surgery.

Best wished in whatever you decide to do, and best wishes on your

marriage!

Peg

May 2, 2001

Hi Jeff,

I assume every surgeon has different criteria when it comes to preop

testing. At NWH they do your preop testing a week to 10 days prior to

surgery. It sounds like your decision to delay for 2 months is well

thought out, and necessary. You have to do what is right for you, and

your life.

If the surgeon requires you to have your preop testing done again in

July, then so be it. It does not make a lot of sense to me, but you are

kind of at his mercy. I would suggest you bite the bullet, and say fine

" let's get it scheduled again " , and proceed with your plans for your

wedding. Who knows maybe the surgeon is just ticked off about the delay,

and threw that in so that you would change your mind???

Not sure how helpful this has been,

Joni - Dr. Thayer 11/27/00

Dilema...and Question...

Hi everyone!

OK...here's the situation (I'll try to make a long and complicated story

short).

As I've posted before, I'm getting married in December. Now, neither my

or my fiance's family are Rockerfellers, so, though we are getting some

help, we are paying for a good portion of the wedding ourselves. No big

deal...doesn't bother me at all. Due to the size of our families, we

are having a pretty good sized wedding, though...about 215 people

(yikes!).

Every summer, I work a part-time job as a Paramedic for the Town of

Provincetown. They hire extra people just for the summer, because of

the influx of tourists, etc. I make some decent money with that part

time job. When we got engaged, we decided that the extra money from

this job this summer would go to pay for the wedding. Then I started

looking into WLS...

I've done all of my pre-op stuff through the Beth Israel, met with Dr.

Mun last week, and now we're awaiting insurance approval, and then I'll

get my surgery date. Right now they're scheduling for the beginning of

July. So...that takes me out of my summer job for 2 months. 2 months

of money that we were planning on to pay for the wedding.

So, I started thinking, and my fiance and I discussed it, and I

reluctantly decided that I'd wait until the beginning of September for

the surgery. Yes, it's putting it off 2 months, but it's a means to an

end. The wedding is a complicated story, but basically, we can't tone

it down any further and still have what we both want for a wedding.

We're both very close to our own and each other's families, and our

guest list at 215 is pretty much set in stone. Her mom is one of 13,

her dad is one of 7, etc., etc., etc...

So, I'm finally getting to my question! (I'm not looking for anyone to

tell me what to do about putting off the wedding. I'm certainly not

putting it off out of fear, or being unsure that this is what I

want...it's more out of financial necessity).

When I met with Dr. Mun last week, I explained my situation, and told

him that I may need to wait until the very beginning of September before

I can have surgery. He said that if that was the case, I'd have to

re-do all of my pre-op tests and consults, as too much time would have

passed from when they were first done.

I've been reading on here that some people are getting surgery dates in

August. Do you have to redo pre-op stuff because of the time-frame?

One of the members of this list, for very similar financial reasons

(well, not the wedding part)...had to post-pone her surgery until after

the summer, and has never been told that she'd have to redo her stuff.

I'm really in a dilema as to what to do.

So, that is my question...I know some of you have received surgery dates

that were months from when you had your pre-op testing done...did anyone

ever have to redo their tests/consults because too much time had lapsed?

Basically, we're talking about 5 months time if I did it in September,

rather than 3 months time if it was in July.

Sorry this was so long. Hope everyone gets to enjoy this awesome

weather we're having this week. :-)

Jeff

~The things that come to those that wait may be the things left by those

who got there first. ~

May 2, 2001

First, let me thank everyone that replied to this original email.

Second, let me say that either Yahoo is VERY slow, or my email is all messed up, since it seems that I'm getting emails extremely slowly, so, you will all also read that I have a date now and that it all worked out.

I will explain something that I didn't before. When I said that Dr. Mun wanted me to redo my pre-op testing/consults...I didn't mean that ones that you do a week before. I'm not sure if other surgeons are the same, but before I met with Dr. Mun himself, I had a complete set of labs done, the abdominal ultrasound, an echocardiogram of my heart (I don't believe everyone gets this, but I had taken Phen-Phen in the past), and had met with his Nutritionist, Pshycologist, and Internist. It was all of these things that I was referring to about having to do over again...not the pre-op stuff that you get done a week in advance.

Anyway...it's all a moot point now, because it's a go for June 29th! So, that means I'll stop babbling!!! :-)

Jeff

~If you choose between two evils, pick one you've never tried before.~

May 2, 2001

Hi Jeff,

I can completely understand your thoughts on this, as I just recently got married and know what having money to pay for it meant to us.

I had my consult in March of 99, pre-op one week before surgery, my surgery was August 9, 1999. I think I remember (think...lol), that the psyche testing could be done anytime, but the other health tests needed to be done one week to ten days prior to surgery. This included (for me), blood work, EKG, etc...I'm not sure what Dr. Mun requires, but I'd check with your Dr's office to see if they could postpone your actual surgery date, making it look as though that's when it's available. I wouldn't get insurance approval until closer to the date if this was me.

Make any sense?

One thing I can tell you about the wedding that saves LOTS of money, is (if you chose), we elected not to have wedding favors for our guests, instead we chose to make a charitable contribution to an organization in which we strongly believe in. We did this not for the money end of things, but for personal reasons to remember those we loved in our lives.

Lastly, if you need anything in regards to cakes, toppers, etc., and looking to save some money, mail me privately, I can give you some instances I used as alternatives, yet still had the wedding of my dreams.

Dawn

-----Original Message-----From: Fleetion Medic Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2001 7:24 AMTo: OSSG-NewEngland Subject: Dilema...and Question...