Surgery Date

Hello Everyone I was in Seattle today. My surgery date is January 15 2008. I can not wait. I talked to Stephan today also. He asked if I wanted in before Christmas? I said that would depend on what they mean before Christmas ? I don`t care about the food, I can deal with that. I would like to feel some what normal on Christmas day. I said if you were to call and give me something in the next 2 weeks I`m ready for that. Stephan said that might be a maybe. So for now I know I`ll be having it in the New Year and thats ok to. For all you who are trying to get to Seattle , just a bit of information. SEE DR. HUNTER ONLY. I saw his assistant for the pre op appointment. Only to find out I`m going to have to pay $300.00 for talking to her. In the letter you get from MSP confirming the funding for Out Of Country it tells you what they won`t cover. It does state that they will not cover physicians assistant services. I`m going to see if they will anyways. From what I can gather it`s the same thing that would have happened if I saw Dr Hunter, in fact I meet him today and he looked it all over and approved the surgery. I`ll try to get them to pay ,if not it was still worth it. I will keep you posted if I go in early. I also went the Super Walmart for sugar free stuff, whar I found was, No Sugar Carnation Instant Breakfast $4.68 for 8 packets Sugar free Jello .56 and sugar free pudding $1.00 Talk later Sharon

That's awesome news Sharon, I am soooooo happy for you! Not sure about the extra costs though, I did not have to pay anything and I saw Dr. Hunter and his staff for my pre -op appt. I found out from the billing dept at Virginia Mason that all follow up appts with Dr. Hunter after the WLS are free to the patient. There is no charge. This does NOT INCLUDE THE DIETICIAN though for follow ups. It is prudent to obtain all the info from the dietician in your 2 week follow up up front so you will not be charged if and when you need to go back. They did not charge for the 2 week follow up and MSP told me that the first 42 days after WLS all appts that are done are covered. The billing dept at Virginia Mason told me that they cover for all follow up appts with Dr. Hunter but the dietician after the 2 week follow up does have an extra cost which is anywhere from $95-$160 or so, it is best to call and ask the billing part. I hope that makes sense? I finally got a run down of all the charges that were billed to MSP and what each one was for for my records. Give me a call and I can fill you in on them. There is one charge for $195 that has not been paid by MSP, I am going to try and see if that will be paid or not if not I will pay it next month when I go in for my follow up on Dec. 5th. Take care and I will try giving you a call this weekend. You can always call me too. Cheers, Sim

Woo Hoo!!! I am so happy for you! I will be watching your case closely. Ruby