Updates and Waiting

Feb 01, 2011

Thurs 1/26/11 the day after my appointment with Dr. Keshishian I went to my PCP Dr. Asher to talk to him about WLS. Dr. Asher is a great guy with an office in Anaheim, CA. He is very "obesity sensitive" as he runs an Optifast clinic/weight loss group and has also perscribed me Phentermine in the past and helped me with a nutritionist and dr. supervised very low calorie diet.

I know this is backwards, but I decided on WLS without first talking to Dr. Asher about it. I just somehow knew that he would support me in it. This is how it went. I told Dr. Asher "I have decided to have WLS". I then explained I would be having DS and showed him Dr. Keshishan's anatomical drawings. I asked Dr. Asher what he thought. He said it is not the usual type of WLS, and he would support me. I gave him our list of "homework" (first I need medical records from his office, then approval I need an EKG, Chest XRay and panel of bloodwork. Dr. Asher said "no problem, we can do that". He also said he is concerned about the emotional part of weight loss and wants to make sure I have support there. He offered for me to re-join his Saturday Optifast group if I would like (they talk about nutrition and social issues - really its the only weight loss group out of dozens I have joined that I did not hate). It was a nice offer and I might do it... that remains to be seen.

Overall, it was a sucessful PCP visit.

I also wrote my "personal letter" explaining why I feel I need this surgery. This is one of the insurance hurdles. I used some ideas from other letters I found on this site adding my own details and flare to get the point across. When I shared it with my husband, he said "The letter was a compelling and moving call to action.  Well written and very concise.  Made me scared for you but I suppose that was the point". I will post it in the "my story" section.

Now I need to find records of my weight loss attempts. This will be challenging since I just moved and threw tons of stuff away. Wish me luck! I am also waiting for the surgeon's nutritionist and psychologist to call me. It has been almost a week, so I think I will call the surgeon to check on this right now!

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