"Haven't even been to the office yet. This office takes your paperwork and makes sure you are approved before setting any appointments or doing any pre-op work. It took almost two months for Janet to write up the letter for the insurance co. Most times when I call, I get an answering machine. With the office only open on Tues, Wed, and Thurs, it's difficult to get through to Janet. She did not always call me back right away, sometimes I had to leave a message for several days. I had to ask her four times to fax a copy of my pre-determination letter to me so I could follow up with the insurance company. Once I finally received the fax, it only took me a week to get approved.
Update **June 21st**
Met with Dr. de la Torre today. He had an emergency appendectomy to attend to and a room full of patients when he came back. I think I was the last on the list and finally he came to talk with me at 5:15PM. He smiled, shook my hand, looked me straight in the eyes. I had heard so much about him, he wasn’t anything like I expected. He tape recorded the part where he goes through all of the possible complications. We joked about how I wanted to bring my own tape recorder to put on the web and he said that would steal his thunder. He mentioned all the statistics and complications I’ve heard before, again nothing I didn’t already know. It’s really nice to be so prepared! At the end he asked if he had been able to talk me out of this, I said no way! I feel like I know exactly what to expect and have heard the worst and am still ready to go through with it. He then turned the tape recorder off and asked me some questions I had already answered about previous surgeries, co-morbidities, and family history. I asked him a few questions about getting a binder and how much he would bypass. He said I’d get a binder in the hospital and it depended on my height and weight on how much to bypass. According to my height and weight, he said he would bypass 100cm to 150cm. I told him the more the better, and he said ‘well up to a point’ and I agreed. I don’t want too much bypassed because of vitamin deficiencies, etc. but that I wanted to be on the high end if possible. He wouldn’t guarantee a laparoscopic procedure, but said that he only had to convert to an open a couple of times when the intention was laparoscopic. I feel really comfortable with him and his abilities. I thought he was very honest and direct, but was still very personable. Even though it was after 5:00, he didn’t rush through and gave me time to ask all the questions I wanted."
