raptor62
I started to consider WLS in January of 2012 when my wife told me about a friend of her's having lap-band surgery. I wasn't feeling that great physically and decided that I should do something about it.
I met with my primary care doctor in January in order to discuss my options. At weigh in I was 332 lbs and that was an all time high for me. He referred me to a bariatric surgeon in our group for a consultation. I actually met with his nurse practitioner prior to meeting with the surgeon. The nurse practitioner gathered all of my info including health conditions, medications, and diet history. She then presented me with a LOT of information for what I would need to do in order to be approved for WLS. It was pretty overwhelming but she gave me a SOLID piece of advice to follow. She stated that even if I decided to not go through with WLS that I should try to meet all of the requirements regardless and go for the approval. I guess the approval is good for two years!
I was surprised that one of the requirements for approval is to lose weight. I thought that this was pretty ironic! Anyway, we picked a goal weight of 210 lbs which equates to approx 120 lbs of weight loss. She said the Insurance Company wanted to see me lose 10% of those 120 lbs (12 lbs) prior to submitting for approval. I guess this demonstrates that you are serious enough about the weigh loss and that you are committed to losing weight.
I went home armed with all of this information and decided to meet the requirements needed for approval. I took the EMMI education programs and researched the pros and cons of the various surgeries. I started dieting and I also started attending bariatric support groups so I can listen and talk with others in order to help me choose which surgery that I thought was right for me. I ended up deciding to go with the Gastric Bypass surgery.
My company has been advertising a benefit available to employees that are going to have major surgery. They partnered with a third party call Bridgehealth Medical to assist employees in finding top rated surgeons and hospitals for your surgery. If we decide to pick one of the surgeons and hospitals that they recommend then the employee would have ZERO out-of-pocket expenses, NO co-pay.! They pay for the medical bills and also pay for airfare and hotel accommodations for you and your travel companion should you have to fly. We will aso receive $100 per day for other expenses. I had about six doctors/hospitals to choose from and I chose Dr. Umbach in Las Vegas for my surgery. My stay in Las Vegas will be 9 days; 2 days pre-op and 7 days post-op.
The insurance company approval was actually much less stringent that the nurse practitioner led me to believe. There were only 4 requirements that I needed to meet; BMI >35 for four years, over 21 years of age, co-morbidity, and previous weigh loss attempts. I was approved on the first submission!
I took my commitment to losing weigh seriously and began changing my eating habits and lifestyle. So far I lost 51 lbs pre-surgery and my surgery is scheduled for July 27th 2012.
