Ready, Set, WAIT!

We had our initial consultation with the surgeon's office. This "quick" appointment took about two hours and it went about how I expected it to go. We met with the nurse first who weighed and measured us. Apparently I am 3 lbs heavier and 1 inch shorter in their office than I am in the rest of the world. We really like the surgeon...he was very nice, direct, explained things very clearly and answered all of our questions. They took my husband and I as a joint consultation so if I forgot to ask anything, he remembered.

Then we met with the "bariatric coordinator" which is basically the insurance lady, Jennifer. She's going to call United Health Care and confirm exactly what we need to do in order to be approved. I was a little disappointed that neither she, nor the doc for that matter, were concerned that I had no comorbidities. Jenn (because I just feel that I know her that well...LOL) said let's wait and see what they say about that before we schedule appointments for sleep studies, etc. Apparently, what she has written down for UHC is different than what we have. She's also going to doublecheck about the 6 month diet and whether we can do it with them or if it has to be through our PCP. I hope it's through the surgeon's office because I really dislike my PCP.

6 month diet! So if I can do the 6 month diet through the surgeon's office (which I think we can) it started yesterday! Jenn basically said that all I have to do during these six months is NOT GAIN WEIGHT. I asked about what weight the insurance accepts and she's going to doublecheck but she says they usually go by the starting weight so even if you fall below the BMI during your 6 month diet you'll still get approved but I'm going to wait on confirmation before I lose too much ('cause we all know that we don't want to get too thin. LMAO!). Of course my biggest concern isn't even so much about the diet or surgery itself, it's the darn insurance.

My poor hubby though...

He has to basically be on the preop liquid diet for 6 MONTHS!!!! My husband is a big guy with a BMI of 72. Doc says he has to get the BMI down to 50 before he'll operate on him. My hubby has done liquid diets before (lost 190 pounds on one and of course gained it all back). Doc says that he won't gain it all back because when he's done with the liquid diet, he'll have the band which will help with the appetite and all that. I'm still skeptical but my hubby is committed. So for all new bandsters struggling with the pre or post op diet, take heart. At least you don't have to do it for 6 months!! To get his BMI to 50, he has to lose almost 150 lbs exactly. Doc seems to think this is very do-able but I have my doubts. It's going to make eating around him a horribly guilty experience so I'm not quite sure how we're going to work this out. I told my hubby that the last place we had looked at only required him to get to a BMI of 60 before they'd operate so wouldn't he rather do that but he said no. Said he likes this doc and since he's really scared of something going wrong during the surgery itself, he'll feel better if he's as healthy as possible before it. So right after Thanksgiving, he's starting his very long liquid diet.

One nice and not-so-nice surprise is about the program fee. It's $1200 per person when I thought it was only supposed to $1000 so that wasn't so great. BUT it's not due until the 5th month or so of the preop diet. That's when we start the psych consults, etc. This is nice because most places want it at the initial consultation before they even do anything for you. Anyhoo...that's about it. So we're officially on the trail to Bandland. Yippee-Ki-Yay!

Have a great weekend everybody!