DTZackus
Hello, my wife and I went thru the consultation thru Barixs in Langhorne, PA. They sent us a letter stating what all our health insurance requires for us to have before this operation. Our BMI has to be atleast 40 (no problem), we have to be over the age of 18 (no problem), we have to tried to lose weight at least once (go figure I am 351 lbs.), we have to have a six month supervised visits with our family doctor, nuti/dietician where we have to do a low calorie diet, exercise program where we have to meet with our doctor once a month to discuss how we are doing. And the last part is a psy evaulation, already have this scheduled.
I feel like a mouse trying to get to the cheese, should I just sit on my cough and gain even more weight and wait till high blood pressure, diabetes and other know issues come to me, so I can just get the weight loss?
Ugh, already lost 7 pounds. Keep your fingers crossed for us.
UPDATE (9/3/2006)
I have done the six months with my family doctor, the two sessions with the nuti/dietician and Psy evaluation (and I am not crazy, lol). I had faxed all the information to the Forest, the insurance people for Barixs. I called the day after and they told me that I was approved, but they were awaiting for the hard copy of the approval to be sent to them. I am guessing I will get a phone call from Barixs about my Pre-Admission Testing and then a date for my surgery. I cannot wait!!
During my six months, my weight went up and down. At my 2nd visit to Barix, I weighed 358 (with no shoes). As of yesterday, I am 351. The funny thing was, my family doctor cannot weigh me since I am over the 350 limit of his scale, UGH! On his report, it states, "unable to weigh." Where I work, we have a big scales to weight gaylord boxes on pallets, since we send stuff overseas, I have to convert my weight from Kilograms.
My wife has one more appointment with our Family Doctor and then she will be done and on her way to be approved. YEAH!
(11/2006)
Both of us finally got pre-approved from Barix's and were waiting and waiting for the appointment to be set with Dr. Brader's office. I got impatient since two of our friends only had to wait two months from their approval to surgery date. I was approved in begining of Sept. and my wife at the end of Sept.
I called the person who schedule the surgery and her boss on a near daily basis. I am sure they both hate me, but oh well.
I finally got the call to have the surgery on Nov. 28th, my wife was more delayed till Jan. 22.
(UPDATE 3/2007)
A good friend gave me a book called Before and After by Susan Maria Leach. I would recommend this book to anyone who is considering gastric bypass. The 1st 100 pages is her account of what she went thru with the operation. The rest of the book are her recipes "for a healthier, Happier and Slimmer You." Her main point in the book is that "nothing taste better than being thin." I must admit, she is correct.
I waited and waited and fianlly got the call for my date of November 28th. I wasn't nervous the day of the operation, but I did leave Tammy instructions of what do if something happens to me and I wrote the kids my final good byes, just in case. Luckly, no one had to read them.
The operation only took 1 hour and 40 minutes, the people in the recovery room were nice, I had a hard time focusing on what time it was on the clock since my vision was blurrly at 1st. I also thought I heard my daughter Leah, but she was with my father and Tammy in my room awaiting me.
I can still remember how dry I was, my mouth was dry. Thank goodness for such good friends giving me water so I can talk to them. The poor breathing ladies, kept coming in every 15 minutes to have me breath into my breathing device to help my lungs, then it was every two hours, then every four hours. Only four hours after my operation, they had me up and walking around. They were impressed on my willingness to walk as much as I did. The nurses were very nice, always were glad to help. They called their clinic a "wellness clinic, " not a hospital wing.
It was a lot to go thru, but in the end it was well worth it, as I am 87 pounds lighter and only a little over two months from surgery.
If anyone would like to talk to me more about this, feel free to contact me.
3/2007 (update) My wife's surgery was shorter than mine, but her 1st day was hell. She seemed to press the pain medicine everytime she looked at me. I on the other hand, didn't use any pain meds.
Both of us are doing well. As of 3/14/2007, I am weighing at 248, I am 96 pounds lost from 344, or 110 pounds from last March at 358.
My wife has a slower approach at 30 pounds thus far.
