Kayla B.

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I've been putting off calling insurance to ask questions because it's just plain NOT FUN, plus I'm totally shy and hate talking to strangers on the phone.  It's a good thing done, and I'm sure it's the first of several phone calls I'll be making to my insurance company.

Well, so far I've found out that they cover 100% of bariatric surgeries as long as I stay in my network and as long as I meet the specifications.  I called to ask what they'll need from me before getting accepted and here's my list:

-BMI
-List of comorbidities
-Blood test
-5 year diet history
-psych evaluation
-statement from my Doctor saying my heart & lungs are healthy enough
-physical

Sounds pretty harmless to me!  I didn't hear a mention of a 6-month diet (yet?), and I'd love to dodge that bullet because I've been on plenty of those pesky diets, though I haven't had a doctor-monitored diet before, so I'm sure that request is on the way.

So far, I'm kind of torn between RNY and DS.  At first I had completely written off the DS because I knew nothing about it and had hardly heard anything about it, and the picture totally confused me...lol.  But I got completely scared from reading the posts in the failed weight loss forum about people with RNY surgeries going completely back to their original weight.  I don't know if I could deal with that.  I've read that DS is great for people with higher BMIs and has a great success rate, so now I'm kinda leaning towards a lap-DS.

Now I'm just trying to find out what my insurance covers.  I called and asked about the DS, but the girl I spoke to had never heard of it and even asked around, so that kind of scares me.  Maybe I'll try back in a couple of days to see if anyone else knows of it.  Otherwise, they just said my surgeon should send a pre-determination letter to them about the surgery and they'll see.  If the lap-DS doesn't work out, I'd like to at least aim for a distal RNY...

Ooh, more good news, I looked to find out who in my state has lap-DS, and there is someone that offers it (Dr. Ganta) and their office is practically a hop, skip, and a jump away from my address at school (in Austin, TX).  Then I crossed my fingers and checked for his name on the list of providers that my insurance covers, and he's on it!  Woo hoo!  I felt so relieved because some of my second choices were not on there, and my first choice was.  I really hope everything falls into place - my Dad always says "If it's meant to be, it'll be."  I absolutely HATE it when it says that after something awful has just happened, but hopefully this is meant to be and I won't have to hear that awful saying one more time.

Alright, this was a pretty long for my first blog entry, and hopefully it will be one of many with good news.