1/25/11 on January 25, 2011 12:00 am
Well, here I am again, well I've been here a lot, just never had anything to post about. But now I'm a little older, a little wiser, and much heavier! I'm sorry to say that I'm not married anymore. I'm working on me. I went back to school. I got a new job, at a health insurance company, no less! So now I have an insurance that will cover surgery. I'm back on the wagon with getting this surgery.
I've been reevaluating my options for surgery. I had pretty much given up hopes of getting the DS when Kaiser said they would only do RNY. One of my friends that had been banded a couple years ago had to have hers removed when it slipped. She immediately had a revision to the VSG. I havent talked to her in a while but she hasnt complained (on facebook anyway lol). Another friend has a band and has only lost like 50 lbs in the 4 or 5 years she's had it. I dont want to worry about slipping, erosion or it just not working. So I was getting excited about the RNY, looking at all the before and afters and reading the profiles of people that actually write!! But I decided to look at the complication forum. THAT scared me! My biggest fear is vomiting... I know that with this surgery, I need to expect it... but strictures, internal hernias and intussuseption, OH MY! Those things are scaring me! I know some are rare, but they're happening! And then the thought of those are only the ones I am hearing about because of the few people posting about them. What about the people who arent posting!?
Then, I started reading about Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy. Even done in a 2 stage process with the DS for very high BMI patients. It's very appealing. No intestinal rearranging, Purely restrictive - no malabsorption, no commitment to daily suppliments (Calcium, B12 etc), Can be easily converted (to DS or RNY) if the absorption is still a problem with not losing weight. I just dont know if my insurance will cover it. If not, I am not opposed to RNY. However I am more interested in VSG.
Well, I did talk to my insurance... They will cover surgery, this I know. I know for sure they'll cover RNY or LapBand... but no documentation specifically states which surgeries they will cover. I have to go through their program, called TurningPoint. They told me that I can meet their requirements by using the surgery centers physicans, dieticians, etc while meeting the surgery centers requirements. Should take about 6 months or so if I stay focused and committed.
So I think I've chosen OHSU. I went to their orientation last night. It was pretty informative. Not much different than the others I've been to. Some people had some really good questions. Dr Deveney was there and seems very knowlegable. He seemed nice. I've heard people say he wasnt the easiest to talk to. So we'll see what my opinion is after a consult. They gave us a packet of papers and said they couldnt go forward or know that we were interested if we didnt send back the full medical history paper back. So I got that faxed in today. I think they will be requesting my medical records from my physican, which leads me to a problem.... since I've had the insurance change, I'm no longer with Kaiser. My physican has also just recently left Kaiser and moved to California. He was the most wonderful doctor and I know I'm going to have a hell of a time finding another excellent doctor like he was. So needless to say, I'm in between doctors right now. And OHSU says I need to have a PCP for them to keep in contact with. I think thats what I'll be trying to do this week on my lunch breaks. I'm also getting started with my program with the insurance company. I'm getting excited. I know I'll need to lose 5%, but need to wait to start that until I can have my inital consult with the nurse practitioner. I guess thats the weight they document as a starting point.
Well, I've got some homework to for the rest of the week and hope that this can all get started ASAP!
I'll keep you updated!
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