RE:Needs information/

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

My name is Sandi. I am in Alabama too. I attended a seminar on July

17th (first consult) and had my surgery on August 26th so it took me a

little over a month from seminar to surgery. As for when you will find

out if you are a candidate for the surgery, they told us the day we

attended the seminar. They weighed us, checked blood sugars, checked

your BMI and did a gallbladder/liver sonogram then took a medical

history along with the packet of information we had to fill out before

we came. The looked at all this and told us that day if we were

candidates and if they thought our insurance would pay. Within two days

of the seminar they sent a letter to my insurance company. In the mean

time I had to have a psych evaluation but that is all that I had to

have, no sleep apnea test or anything. My insurance company (BC/BS PPO)

decided in two weeks and sent me a letter. I was very pleased with how

quickly things progressed.

If you don't mind me asking, where are you located in Alabama and what

doctor are you going to see? I live in Sylacauga and used Dr.

Freeman in Anniston.

Sandi Custer

Lap RNY 8-26-03

370/3??/150

Re: Needs information

In a message dated 9/14/2003 10:37:14 AM Eastern Daylight Time,

Barefoot9119@... writes:

I guess what I need to know how long after your first doctor visit did

you

know about the surgery date or if you were a candidate for the surgery.

I

have

read your emails and have questions about the hair loss, how much do you

loose.

I just need some help I don't want to have another stroke. I would

appreciate

any information you all could provide me.

Alabama

Hi

I started my journey to WLS on 04/20/03 of this year. I had to change

my PCP

to a doctor who would give me a referral to a surgeon for WLS. I called

my

Health Insurance Administration office first to see if my policy covered

the

surgery if it was deemed medically necessary and it did I have HIP/HMO.

I also

called the doctors directory for my health insurance program and

received a

list of surgeons that performed the surgery. I then set out to

investigate each

surgeon and settled on which one based on their history, experience with

the

surgery and other types of surgeries and their malpractice suit history.

I

picked the surgeon of my choice Dr Alan White the Chief Medical Director

of the

surgery department at Albert Einstein Hospital here in NYC. I had to

wait for

administration to approve my referral and I lucked out on being able to

go to

the orientation meeting on 04/30/03.

According to my height and weight and BMI I qualified for a WLS

procedure and

at first I had decided on the Lap Band because I did not want to do

anything

to drastic, but upon further research I changed my mind and decided on

the

gold standard the Roux en Y Gastric Bypass. I had to do a series of

tests over

the course of about 2 months: psychological evaluation, sonogram of my

gall

bladder, blood tests, sonogram of my leg veins, history of previous

weight loss

attempts, and a complete physical and medical clearance from my PCP. I

did

not have to have any chest x-rays or stress tests due to my age I am now

35.

After all the results of my tests were sent to my surgeon's office

(believe

me you have to stay on top of everyone and get them to send it all in)

My

entire package was sent for approval by my Health Insurance

Administration. I

received my approval and my surgery date which was originally for

September 2003

but I lucked out again and got bumped up earlier to 8/25/03. So that

was my

journey from 04/30/03 initial consultation to 08/25/03 surgery date not

too bad

if I say so myself

I am a new post op so I take all my vitamins daily I am trying to get in

all

my protein shakes and food. I have not experienced any hair loss yet

and I

don't intend to I take specific hair food vitamins and I am going to

start using

Nioxin products next month to help prevent the problem.

I hope this helps you in some way

Lori Anne

Lap RNY 8/25/03

274/259/135