Nanci H.
I have been overweight my whole life, never able to keep weight off even with lots of exercise. I started weight watchers at age 12, but even before that I remember begging my mother for help to lose weight. I was over 100 lbs by age 9. I have a chronic back injury and can't exercise now, so this surgery is my best bet. I will go with the Gastric Bypass.
Well this is my first entry into this profile. I am hoping to have surgery with Dr. Donald Waldrep. I have heard he is the best. My insurance is Medicare, so that means I'll be paying for it myself unless a miracle happens and the doctor decides to accept Medicare. At least the hospital will be covered. I am SO happy Sutter Roseville is now a Medicare Center of Excellence. I feel I will be in much better hands than with the other doctor and hospital I was going to use.
I may not have a really high BMI but I have about 6 co-morbidities ("pre"-diabetic-A1C is high, degenerative disk disease, obstructive sleep apnea, very high blood lipids not controlled by meds, incontinence, family history of heart disease and stroke) and refuse to grow old and die like I watched my mother do earlier this year. She had diabetes and died of kidney failure and COPD. It was just too sad and she was just too young. So I am going to take control and live to be really old and hopefully have lots of grandkids and even GREAT grandkids.
So right now I've sent in my new patient info to the SALSA office and am waiting for Brandy to contact me. I already see a therapist and she already knows what she needs to do for the surgery approval, my PCP is on board....so I'll just wait and see what I am to do next!
Oh and I added this later about insurance. Since I am disabled due to my back problems, my primary insurance is Medicare which does cover the surgery. However, my SURGEON does not take Medicare, even though he practices at a COE and is actually the person who got the COE label given to the hospital. So I did have to fork over a bundle of cash to him and his assistant. I love both of them dearly, but I think the system stinks since I guess Medicare will not pay him anywhere near his asking price but other insurance companies will. This is something that needs to be changed but I don't know how to do it. Thank God my hospital was covered!
