"I had my initial consult with Dr. DiMarco on May 24. As I've heard, he was running behind as usual, about an hour. But the time went quickly as I chatted with others in the waiting room who had already had this done and were more than willing to chat about it. The initial consult lasted about 30 minutes. He was very nice and described everything to me very completely and answered all my questions. He really emphasizes being seen back there in a timely fashion after your surgery for your post-op visits to avoid/detect any complications (I was hoping to be able to follow up closer to home since this is a 2 hour drive for me, but that's a No-No). The office staff is very nice, but I had one major problem with their lack of information. They assured me a few times that all I would need was my office copay (BC/BS) but when I got there and was in the back waiting for the doctor to come in a girl came in to tell me that BC/BS hasn't been paying for initial consult visits for obesity the past few weeks, so I would need to have the money that day or I'd have to reschedule (another 4 months out!). I was fit to be tied since I didn't have an extra $200 with me! Luckily my Mom was with me and put it on her credit card or I would have been in trouble. But I felt that was something they DEFINITELY should have informed me of ahead of time if there was even a chance I could have had to pay that then. But otherwise the visit went well. Now I just have to wait for insurance approval (probably 1-2 weeks for BC/BS) then I get to do all the pre-op stuff and schedule my surgery! Unfortunately it won't be as soon as I was expecting. I was hoping for late July but they tell me they're out 'till Sept already. I'm really hoping to get a cancellation earlier. I was a little disappointed that they only have Sat hours one Sat a month, though, as it's VERY difficult for me to take time off from work for this (they're not very supportive). But I'll do what I have to do to make this work. This is my priority now."
