Update

Feb 14, 2011

Well it's been a while since I posted anything about my journey, and a lot has happened over the last few months! I originally signed up with Dr. Keith of Norman, OK to do my sleeve.

Let me just say, I was already a little put off that Dr. Keith was not the one who did his seminar - a nurse did it. I put those concerns aside and went anyway. I met with him once for about ten minutes, then I met with my patient coordinator. He told me at that time that he would see me again on my surgery date. This made me very uncomfortable as there were a lot of questions and concerns that I had, but it looked like I would not be able to speak to him about those. The patient coordinator was very nice but seemed very distracted. My insurance requires 6 months of diet supervision, so they told me to continue doing that through my PCP. My insurance also required that I undergo some psychiatric testing called an MMPI. This was new to the PC and she said that the psych that they used did not perform the MMPI. I said that my insurance already recommended me to someone who could do the MMPI and the consult and that the insurance would pay for it. She was very unsure of this and kept telling me that I would need to see their psych additionally at the cost of $200.00. I didn't say much of anything about that, I was not happy about it but let it go.

On my own I scheduled a psych visit and had my MMPI done, and continued visiting my PCP monthly. I did my PT consult. Two months went by and I hadn't heard from the surgeons office. Finally they called one day to schedule my dietician visit ($200) and my psych consult ($200). I explained that I had had a psych consult and that my insurance already had all of the information and said I was good to go. Turns out my PC was no longer with the office so this was all news to them. She told me that I would have to see their psych anyway. At this point I was frustrated. Not about the money, but about the fact that I had been getting ZERO support from this office and the only time I heard from them was when they wanted more money from me.

Around this same time I heard from a friend of mine who had gotten the VSG with Dr Walton around November '10. She had so many great things to say about Weightwise. I decided to attend a seminar there just to see what I thought. I am someone who HATES to drive. I like, never leave my town. I live in Norman, where Dr. Keith's offices are, and Weightwise is about 45 min away from me. But I wanted to feel comfortable with my decision so I decided it was worth the trip. I am SO glad I went. Dr. Walton gave his seminar personally and was wonderful. You could really tell that he cares about bariatric surgery and his patients. I scheduled a follow up visit and went in that week. Dr. Walton is such a nice man. He spent more time with me and got to know me better on that first visit than anyone at Dr. Keith's office had ever bothered to do.

The program at Weightwise is amazing. Everyone that you have to work with is right there in the same office, including psych, exercise, dietician, and doctor. And the hospital is right downstairs. I love that! I was able to meet for the psych consult and use my previous consult and testing, so I just had a short visit with Dr. Keller. I really liked him, he is a straight shooter. I look forward to attending a support group with him. I will continue to see the dietician and exercise specialist once a month until my surgery. I am so happy in my decision to switch. It is definitely worth checking out a few seminars and see who is the best fit for you personally!

I am seeing my PCP on 2/22 for my 5th month visit. Then I only have one last month to go until we can submit for insurance approval! The doctor is asking that I try to lose 30 pounds before then so I have my work cut out for me if I want to have surgery in late April/early May! It's been a journey for sure, and I have a long way to go. Luckily so far my insurance is going really smoothly. I have private insurance so I can check on the progress of my case as new things are submitted to them. They are very nice and I don't think that I will have any problems being approved. Next week I will have to break the news to my bosses that I am planning for surgery and that I will need a week (or so) off in the spring!

Wish me luck!

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