Set with a new surgeon!

Yippeee! I'm so happy! I got the call from Dr. Fowlers office today that my insurance okay'ed them to be my surgeon (NOT an authorization yet) There was some confusion as to whether they would be part of my plan, and yes they are! Now, I need to just get the referral to her from my PCP, and send them copies of all the tests I've had done - they will look them over, and MAY want me to get a cardiac stress test depending on how all my other tests look. ALSO... She scheduled me (tenatively until she gets my referral) to see the Dr, and attend a seminar on June 2nd. Now for the best news.... drum roll.... I'm on the list for a June surgery date! JUNE!!! Oh, and may I give HUGE hugs and kudos to Dana P, who told me all about Dr. Fowler. You are my angel girl!! Thank you so very much!

Lol..you need to thank the kind woman that told me about him first. =) If it weren't for her I wouldn't know who Dr. Fowler was either...I'm happy to hear your good news though. I wish a smooth approval for you....*** hugs*** Dana

Hi Katie and Amy, I respect your decisions on getting the RNY, but not the reasons why. I have the lap band and I lost 75 lb. the first 7 months. I had zero complications and I can have my band easily adjusted at any time. I still have great restriction. As far as having another surgery to remove the band, that may never happen, and if it does it will be a fairly simple surgery. Also my surgery was overnight in the hospital with a very quick recovery. Meanwhile, I do not have to worry about malnutrition, anemia, or other vitamin deficiencies, which I have read about from RNY'ers on these boards. If you have the RNY I wish you the best of luck, but for me the band has been perfect. Aloha, Paula

Oh WOW...congrats to you Do you have any idea what day in June your surgery will be on?

Hi Katie, I was at the meeting with Dr. Fowler on Wed. it was an awesome meeting I was very impressed with both Dr. Fowler and Anna. It was a very informative meeting. I think that anyone who is thinking about having WLS should at least go and find out all of the options. I had my consult with both Dr. Fowler and Anna today and they have also set my surgery date in June. Yeah!!!!!!!! maybe we'll be roomies. are you doing the band or RNY? I still havn't decided. I change my mind every day. It was a great experience all the way around. Everyone in the office was wonderfull. I talked to Anna first and we went over my diet, family, and medical history. I took a short test. Just basic stuff to make sure you are on track about why your there. (nothing hard) Then I talked to the Dr. just basic stuff, he answered several questions. He is very well spoken and easy to talk to. I felt very comfortable talking to him. Then I talked to Anna again. We talked about the test and evaluations that I need to get. I can't think of one negative thing about the whole experence. There program is very well put together. Anna is a blessing, she has been so very helpful making sure that everything was in order before my meeting today. I don't know if anyone from Trippler remembers her but she was the original organizer of the program there before she went to Stanford. She has been doing this for quite a while and is very squared away. She gave me a list of labs that I have to have before the surgery. I've had most of them at Trippler in the last year so I just have to get my records. I hope. I'm sure there are a few things that I still need. The Dr. said that I didn't have to have a upper GI since I don't have any history of any acid reflux or anything related. I would like to have a sleep study before the surgery though. I'm not quite sure how sleep apnea affects the surgery, but it's on the list. I'm not sure that I have it but I do snore. Please let me know if you have any questions or if I can help in any way. I'm sure that I will see you there sometime in the future. Amy

Amy, thank you so much for all that information!! You've been wonderful! I love it. I can't think of any questions for you yet.. but I'll let you know how things are working out as I find out. I am sitting here waiting on pins and needles right now though for my packet to come in the mail. It should be here today I think. Do you have a date in June yet? I'm just "in June" have no idea when though yet. Anna is going to try to get me in to the Honolulu office this Thursday if she can. Which would be awesome since that would speed things along nicely. And I may need to do a cardiac stress test - though everything else is done and waiting. We'll see. Can you tell me what the $600 and $40/mo goes for? She told me it was all in the packet.. but that packet is still MIA!! lol... I am wondering if they'll reduce that for me since I won't be able to take advantage of ANY of the support groups/etc.. I wish there was a way to get there cheaply, cause I would so love to take part in those groups! I'm definately doing the RNY, because I want the full benefit of this surgery - and the malabsorption is just that much better.. plus, statistically - bandsters generally take off only 40-50% of their weight and I want a much higher number then that. Not that it can't be done but if I'm gonna do something this drastic, I'm going to go all the way and make SURE I do everything right to make it work! Also - I think in my mind, even though I know it's not supposed to be reveresed, I would possibly fall back on the excuse that it could be if I wanted it to be, much easier. I don't want to allow myself any possible excuses! I would love to be WLS buddies!! Maybe we can be roomies.. lol... it would be so nice to have a friend who's going through this at the same time, with the same Dr's and staff for comparison and encouragement. I think we could spur each other on to a greater success!

I wish that I had a scanner so I could just sent it to you. The 40 per mo is for a wellness fee: "It includes all Wellness Center fitness classes, particularly the Bariatric Surgery Program Fitness Classes, which are offered twice a week." from the way it reads it's classes put together by a physical therapist. The $600 fee is for a lot of things. Support though the bariatric team, evaluations, cooking classes, bimonthly support group. Theres several other things listed also. I would thank you'd be able to get out of the $40 per month maybe if you let them know you want to use it for a gym at home, but I don't know about the other. I had Anna submit approval for the RNY i'm about 90% sure that's what I want to do. But I can't help thinking about all the what-if's with the RNY, it just scares me. But the chance of having to have another surgery with the band is by far greater. The other reason I think the RNY would be better is the amount of weight loss. If I lost 40% I would still be obese and I know that I would cheat the band. That kinda defeates the whole reason for WLS to me. I have a cousin and several friends that have had it done and I remember when my cousin did it I thought that she was crazy, I couldn't believe she would take the "easy" way out. Now I know that this is not the easy way. Now two years later she is doing awesome and I have gained fifty more pounds. I wish I would have listened to her a little more and not judged to quickly. So, do you know how many times you are going to have to come over here before your surgery? Hopefully they can get everything together in one trip. That would be nice. I wonder if insurance will pay for your flights & hotel? That would be awesome. That's more money for new cloths. Let me know if you need anything Amy

Hey Amy... I was at the meeting on Wednesday too! It was a good meeting...what'd ya think? I'm hoping to have the RNY surgery soon, also. Once Anna and I figure out my insurance snafoo, I'll hopefully be in line for surgery in June or the next date after that. *Crosses fingers* Good luck with everything and maybe I'll see you in some of the meetings =) Dana

Oh yea--- I also want to say thanks to Dana. I changed my PCP to Dr. Chang, I really like him and his receptionist is the best.... Thanks so much Amy