Friday, December 12, 2008

Jumping Through Hoops

So many people don't really understand what's involved with gastric bypass surgery. I think that as much as I will be using this blog as a place for my own catharsis I will also be spending a good amount of energy educating friends and family about gastric bypass surgery - what it actually is, how it works, and how it will affect me.

So we'll start with Weight Loss Surgery, or more commonly referred to online as WLS. There are several different types of WLS. You can have gastric bypass, lap-band, duodenal switch, vertical gastric sleeve, and the list goes on and on. I chose gastric bypass surgery, or Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. Gastric bypass surgery makes the stomach smaller and allows food to bypass part of the small intestine. You will feel full more quickly than when your stomach was its original size, which reduces the amount of food you eat and thus the calories consumed. Bypassing part of the intestine also results in fewer calories being absorbed. This leads to weight loss. I am having the surgery laparascopically. I will be in the hospital for 2 days and I plan to only take a week off of work.

I choose gastric bypass over the lap-band (which has grown in popularity a lot over the past few years) for several reasons. Lap-band can be easily cheated and I knew that if I could cheat it I would. The gastric bypass has immediate measures built into it to kind of give you a "hand-slap" when you eat wrong. If you eat too much sugar or carbs or fat you will get what is lovingly referred to as "Dumping Syndrome". I won't go into too much detail here (I may at a later time), but I think you get the idea. I also don't have a good history with having foreign object in my body. My body usually rejects foreign objects - pushing them out of my body. Don't ask me how or why I know this about my body - I just do. Also, the lap-band would require a lot of follow up visits with the surgeon to adjust the band and to do "fills". From past experience I know that I may not always have the incredibly great insurance I have now - so I can't be guaranteed that I would have the financial means to continue in that manner.

And so my official journey towards WLS began in July. I had reached the height of feeling sick of myself. I had been feeling for quite some time that I was almost ready to make some changes in my life. But now I was finally ready and I did my first ever search on weight loss surgery. I researched surgeons in my area and accepted by my insurance. I was very impressed by Dr. Paul Enochs reviews and his internet presence. So I called his office to schedule an initial consultation. I was instructed to attend one of his weekly seminars on Weight Loss Surgery and I signed up for the first available seminar. I had broached the subject with my husband (who I shall refer to on this blog as D) and asked him if he would attend the seminar with me. We went and it was very informative. Dr. Enochs' insurance specialist spoke and gave a lot of information on what the various insurance companies would require before approving the surgery. I found out that my insurance, Cigna, would require a 6 month doctor supervised weight loss program in addition to all of the other tests and sign offs from various doctors. Then Dr. Enochs did a 2 hour presentation on weight loss surgery, the various types, as well as some information on him and his experience. He was incredibly easy to listen to. His voice was soft and gentle and comforting. He was very patient and gracious. He listened and responded to every question that was posed and never made anyone feel as though their question was stupid (and believe me - some of those questions were stupid!). By the time D and I left the seminar I felt that I had a good idea of which surgery I was going to have. I remember asking D what his thoughts were on which surgery I should have and his exact words were "You're Pam! Go big or stay home!" Allrighty then!

So I quickly moved into attack mode. The insurance specialist had said that the more involved I was in the process the faster it would get done. So I scheduled an appointment with my Primary Care Physician (the astounding Dr. Bloom) and got to working on everything. To make a long story shorter here is a list of all the things I have had to ensure happen in the last 6 months so that Dr. Enochs office could submit a package to my insurance company requesting approval for my gastric bypass surgery:

  • 6 month Dr. supervised weight loss program
  • 5 year weight history
  • Chest X-Ray
  • EKG
  • Upper GI
  • Endoscopy
  • Sign off from GI doc on my fitness for surgery
  • Nutritionist appointments and approval
  • Psychiatrist appointments and approval
  • Labwork requiring 6 vials of blood

So after all of those doctors appointments (not all of them covered by insurance), an enrollment fee of $400 with Dr. Enochs office (to ensure that I am serious about committing to this life change and to cover a lot of the work of those in the office that can't bill insurance companies like the doctor does), and all of the poking and proding we had a package to submit to insurance requesting approval. I was approved pretty quickly and on the first try (did I mention I have great insurance right now?) and then was able to schedule my surgery. It is scheduled for Monday, December 29 at 5pm.

I will go into all of the changes that I have ahead of me immediately following surgery and beyond in another post.

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