Just getting started...new here

Hi I'm Denise. My husband and I are both wanting wls and about to get the ball started rolling. We have both always been severely overweight - I've been MO for the last 25 years, except for a couple years out with phen-fen. Our last co., BC/BS of MS, had a written exclusion for wls in the policy. New job now, new ins as of June 1. This one is with Christus and I can't find them on any of the insurance boards. I know our PCPs are behind this, and am very anxious to see what happens. Reading those ins boards is scary. My BMI is 48; DH's is about 45 but his blood sugar is starting to be a problem and he has pretty bad sleep apnea. Actually we've both been really healthy and strong and active too for the most part despite everything. Reading those boards makes me wonder what kinds of hoops we'll have to jump through. I guess we'll just wait to see. I'm looking forward to this and am praying so hard. The weight just keeps packing on and I don't see any end in sight so something is going to have to change drastically. Anyway, that's about it for us. I'm 44 (for a few more weeks) and he's 50, our kids have flown and one just came back. We want our lives back. Up to now we havent' known real suffering with our weight - not the kind like people who have health problems have. At our ages, we're getting to our last shot at fixing this before we fall apart. I hope this board is fairly active. I'm on a wls support group for AR at yahoo but almost nobody every posts. It would be good to be able to keep track of other people and what's going on with them. We can learn so much from each other! Denise

Hey Denese! Congrats on getting started! I feel like a beginner too. Things have moved pretty quickly for me. I maybe started really looking into having the surgery about a month or month and a half ago. I really thought it would take me a long time to make it work. I was prepared to do research and fight the system in order to get my surgery. But I got approved right away. I still have to pay $5000.00 myself. (which I am having to charge) I already had my lab work done and I am going next Friday to have my consult and surgery on June 1st. Wow! I still can't belive it is true! Anyway, what I am trying to say is.....don't give up. It may happen sooner than you know! Good luck, Christina

hi denise, my name is jill... i'm from ozark, ar... i recently had the surgery 2 weeks ago.. and if there is anything i can do to help you..just let me know. good luck with your insurance. jill

Thanks Jill and Christina for the welcome. Just to let y'all know, there's a new guy around for those of us on the western side of the state. His name is Dr. Coleman and he's at St. Edward Mercy in Fort Smith. I don't know a lot about him. What I do know is that the hospital staff that knows him likes him and respects his work. My husband works up there and has worked with him at bedside with patients before. I have dietician friends who work up there too - they're working on finding out his rep on follow-up for us. While Dr. Baker has the very best reputation in state, and Cary Ozment actually did a procedure on a friend over 25 years ago ( so yep, he's been in this a looong time), I still have a thing about not wanting to travel too much. My aunt had hers a year ago last Jan and has to drive an hour and a half for follow-ups. She was in the hospital for 5 days and of course that was a little tough on the family with the back and forth. The trip home wasn't fun at ALL! LR is a 2.5 hr drive for us each way, (every time too - imagine that LOL) so I'm VERY inclined to want to stay as close to home as possible, even though the doc with the best rep for hundreds of miles around is within feasible driving distance. And of course, there's always the thing about insurance being WAY better when you can stay in-network. I'm really excited to read this forum, and was so glad to see the nice long digest in the mail this morning. The nice welcome was wonderful. Keeping up the prayers for all of us on the road to recovery from MO. Denise

HI Ladies, I'm in Conway, AR. I had my surgery on March 10 by Dr. Wellborn in Little Rock. I was really pleased with him and the surgery. The paperwork part was really easy for me, and approval took only a week with my INS. I'm down 30lbs already, but only had 107 to lose, so my weight loss is a little slower than some. Remember, the more you weight the faster it comes off in the beginning. But I'm happy to be rid of that 30. Drop me an email if you have any questions. Good Luck! Cathi