Well I got a ton of emails and a few phone calls already from Dr. Kims office.. which is a huge plus to them!  I like being responded to.  And they are quick with silly question responses - Im sure this means they will be even quicker for the big stuff.  I also like the fact that there isnt a call-center I have to go thru to get them.  I go right to their office and the phone is picked up by their staff!  I am also being given direct line numbers for different people (insurance girl, bariatric care coordinator etc) - this makes me very happy!  

So anyway - they called again and gave me the list of what was needed for my insurance.  And of course I had it all done already and then some lol.  I emailed her the items and the only possible "hitch" in this would be that Dr Kim "prefers" his patients to get psych eval from the psych on his staff - I guess this is so that she already has a repor with you should problems arise.  While that is understandable - there is no way Im driving 2 hrs for therapy lol - so I prefer local head drs when needed.  Besides - If a patient is depressed - do they really think driving 2 + hrs is a good idea?!??! Bottom line is his ins girl is gonna show him my eval that I emailed her today (which shows the plan for continued treatment should it be needed) and if he does ok it - then Im off to the nurse part of the process.  If not - I need to make appt asap to get in and see his shrink.  

If/ when we have the psych thing sorted (one way or the other) - I got an email from the coordinator of the "steps" thru-out.  The next one would be his head nurse calls me to go over my medical history etc - she then gives me (based on my history) a list of things she needs for clearance. (ie: EKG, CXR etc )  Again - they are all done - including my sleep study.  So I will just email her those things and then move on ..

Once his nurse has all the items she needs - she then passes me on to the appointment person and my pre-op appts are set.  This includes seeing the Dr - also his exercise person, nutritionist, and going to a support group (they claim they can usually set this all up for same day - just a looooong day ;-)  Then - if all goes good with that - I get scheduled for my surgery 7-14 days later.  Due to me having everything done (with the possible exception of the shrink redo if needed) - there  should be no problems with getting the March 19th date thru Dr, Kim.  So at this point I want to meet this dr and make sure all is good on that end - but as far as his staff is concerned - I am WAY more impressed already!

Fingers crossed... (o and did I mention - he is in Orlando vs Gainesville - there is next to nothing to do in Gainesville and a TON to do in Orlando - and he has a bariatric chef come in once a month for cooking classes (it only cost us patients $10 and thats really just for the food).  There just seems to be alot more pros on the Dr kim side then cons!

We shall see....

Well I havent blogged for a little while as things were very hectic here with everyone home on Holiday Vacation (argh) - but.,. they are back to school/work today.. YEAAAAA lol.

My husband was nice enough to get almost the entire house spotless during his vacation - it came out awesome.  He even carpet cleaned more then half of the house! :-D  So I am enjoying my clean EMPTY (expect for me and Peanut that is) home!

I have GAINED weight over the holiday - so of course that certainly hits the emotional aspect pretty hard - so now I have written eating into my "to do" list so that I make sure I eat breakfast n lunch  etc so that I am not "starving" at night and eat everything in sight.  The nutritionist claims this is why I keep gaining weight cause my body is storing it - ok - but Im sure it doesnt help that I cant do much without causing major pain in my hips, knees and lower back.  I tried to do the exercise bike just a few min a day and caused so much pain in my hips that I had to pull my wheelchair out to get around.  Thank God family was home as I dont have strength in upper body to propel myself around the carpet areas of the house or up ramps outside of the home!  I tried to get Dr to approve a scooter a bit ago and he wouldnt since its not "most of the time".  Nice huh!? O well - after this surgery and the weight starts coming off - that will be one more thing that wont be an issue any longer :D.

Im done with the H. Pylori meds finally.  Didnt have all the "bad" issues people talk about with taking them - but there are FOUR large capsules every morning and again at night.  One of them is NOT coated and tastes so bad I have to FORCE it down - and quickly lol.  I did a ton of research on it though and found out that 50% of the WORLD has this - they just dont get tested / treated for it unless they start having issues from it.  According to the research I did - only 5% of the 50% have issues.. so VERY small amt.  Appearently it "can" cause ulcers - so my dr tests and treats it so to avoid any additional causes for ulcers then the surgery itself.  Makes sense to me.  

Got my sleep study results - dont have sleep apnea - instead I have disturbed sleep disorder.  According to their test results - I woke myself up snoring more times than there were minutes in the test lol.  Due to this - I was only in REM total of about an hour out of the whole night - so.. guess this explains why I am so damn tired every day!  but they arent going to do anything about it - Dr claims that the weight loss will help the snoring which will help my sleep - but its not considered a co-morbidity.  Not that I need one - insurance only requires them IF your BMI is under 40 and mine is 46.  O - and I am SHRINKING!!!!!!! How the hell does THAT happen at under 40 yrs old!?!?!?!  I have always been 5'3 3/4" - Dr measured me and I am now 5' 3 1/2"!!!  Very upsetting.  

Finally - last new news so to speak... 
I went to a NEW Dr seminar last week.  Dr Kim here in Orlando, FL.  Read lots of awesome reviews about him and wanted to check it out.  Liked what I saw/heard - even learned something new (didnt know that the malabsorbtion stopped after first yr with RNY and your body started absorbing again..... not that that changes anything in my decision - just interesting to know.  Only problem I have with his office so far is the $600 up front "administration fee" that they cant/wont bill to insurance companies.  Thats alot (not that I cant find it somehow .. my life is worth more then $600! If I go with Kim instead - I will have it - just saying it is alot for those of us on disability with families.)  So at this point Im just measuring the two out - I like Dr Kim better so far - but havent met him in person.  The other thing is their staff - while I like the Nurse Coordinator and PA at Ben-Davids - I dont like that fact that I cant get in touch with an actual PERSON from his office and have to leave a message (which takes 24-48 hrs to be returned) - and thats BEFORE the surgery - what happens AFTER when they have already gotten the "bulk of the money"!?!?  So that is my main concern and why I am researching other Drs... Want to know I will have good AFTER care as well.

Well - time to get kids to school etc - hope all had a great NEW YEARS!! 

Hugs, love & prayers to ya all :-)
Liz