3 month checkup

Well, I had my 3 month checkup with Bret today. I am officially down by 68.2 pounds!!! my BP was nearly perfect 118/70. and I haven't had any major complications. I am feeling GREAT!!! I did ask Bret about when they are moving and about the support groups at PMRI. Bret said that they are moving to their new office 'just around the corner' at Rt. 7 & 4 on August 1. There was a notice on the wall that they have added a new doctor to the practice, but I forgot to ask Bret about him. Bret had 2 interesting comments. First: I asked him why there seem to be fewer PMRI support meetings. His response was that "that will all be changing once we move." They will be having more support meetings IN the new office. Bret of course, encouraged me to attend the PMRI support meeting on Sept. 28 that he is giving. Second: Bret asked me if I had my next appt scheduled for PMRI. I told him that Dr. Baag had told me I could follow up with my PCP. Bret replied that 'that is part of the reason he (Dr.Baag) isn't with us any more.' and that Dr. Wynn and Irgua would like for us to follow up with PMRI for the first year. After the first year, we can follow up with our PCP.

Hi Ken!!!!! Great, great ,great!!!!!! Gail burke

That's great, Ken. Your progress is awesome. About Brett's talk at PMRI, he told me that it was 8/21/04 but then I thought I read it in the PMRI schedule as 8/28/04 and now you say he told you Sept 28th. We definitely need to clarify beforehand. I can tell you that Dr Baag didn't feel it was OK for people to not follow up with him. When he was working with me May - July, he repeatedly told me how annoying it is that people don't keep their follow up appts. He stated that they think they're doing well, but are not getting proper follow up. Maybe he just trusted that you were keeping on top of your medical care, but all in all he was VERY upset that people were skipping appts with him. Keep up the excellent work. Dianne

Well, Dianne... It may be (in my case) that BC/BS wouldn't pay for any of it. There's only so much pre and post-of visits I can do out of my own pocket at PMRI, when my PCP is 100% covered. THAT's where the break in the chain is, ya know? And maybe that's being looked at? Just my 2 cents... (((hugs))) -Karen

Karen, I agree with you! Even though I have great insurance, I am still working with them to see if I can get my pre-op PMRI visits covered. I think some but not all will be (covered). While I think it's good to go to a specialty doc, like those at PMRI, especially in the beginning, I wouldn't mind following up with my PCP afterwards, since you're right, he's covered. I make sure to send copies of every piece of paperwork I get concerning my upcoming WLS to my PCP so I am confident he could help me! Plus, I found when he sends me to a dietician, it's also covered -- even multiple visits whereas, PMRI and their misc. classes weren't! My two cents -- now we have four...anyone wanna go for a dime? KIt

Oh I know! I'm not saying it's wrong or right or there are valid or invalid reasons. I'm just saying that he didn't encourage people to not keep those appts, in fact he stated it was "annoying" to him. That's all. I don't think he left because he was undermining the whole set up. We all have to do what we need to do for ourselves as we are all pretty educated about this matter. I hope no one thinks I'm judging them, clearly not the case.

Hey Dianne, I found the same thing. I found that Dr. Baag was extremely upset when patients decided not to keep appointments. I actually enjoyed going to Dr. Baag, even though I was paying out of pocket, and having the blood tests also sent to my PCP. That way I got to hear two opinions. Also some of the tests that Dr. Baag ordered were not normally ordered by my PCP, so she actually started to add them to her blood test orders. If people are not going to see Dr. Baag, they ought to make sure that they have blood tests routinely routed to their PCP with copies going to Dr. Wynn/Irgaau.

Oh I know! I'm not saying it's wrong or right or there are valid or invalid reasons. I'm just saying that he didn't encourage people to not keep those appts, in fact he stated it was "annoying" to him. That's all. I don't think he left because he was undermining the whole set up. We all have to do what we need to do for ourselves as we are all pretty educated about this matter. I hope no one thinks I'm judging them, clearly not the case.

Oooops! Don't know why two posts, same thing.

Oh, I didn't take it that way at all, sweetie. I was just stating how frustrating the process was. But, as Rob mentioned, the blood work that I have done is sent to both docs each time, so everybody knows what's going on. (((hugs))) -Karen