DS'er with Dr. Inman

I'm going to go see Doctor Inman on the 5th. I'm really wanting to do the DS procedure. I hear she is a great surgeon and all. I was wondering a couple of things: 

1. I had to admit, but i'm horrible at the insurance stuff. My insurance covers DS and bariatrics but it's under an 80/20 coverage. My out of pocket will be $2500 + copay of $500. Do surgeons offices offer payment plan for this? is it due upfront or post precedure? 

2. My insurance BSCS of Illinois requires 6 medically supervised diet. Will that be supervised by Dr. Inman or my internist? I really don't have a "PCP"...also...is there a specific diet she uses? 

3. What is her after care recomendations as far as supplements are concerned? I know vitalady and things like that are good resources AND I know my body, my health and I need to do what is right for me...HOWEVER :) - I'm curious to what Dr. Inmans recomendations are for post-op care.

Dr. Inman isn't my surgeon but most of the St. V's surgeons require about the same thing. So..this is only a best guess and you'll learn much more on the 5th.

1. I don't know about the payment plan stuff but you could try going to www.carecredit.com and see if you can get a credit card to cover it. Care Credit is for medical expenses. If Dr. Inman's office will work with Care Credit, you can get free financing for 12-18 months (depending on how they set it up) provided you pay it off in that allotted time. That is how I paid for my portion of plastics & my bridges.

2. A medically supervised diet is any medical doctor or dietician. Usually the insurance required fod journals from you and a copy of the doctors notes from when they saw you & discussed your diet with you. That can be an internist. It usually is not the WLS surgeon.

3.  Any good WLS surgeon will require you to take supplements. If you don't, you are going to be one sick puppy. It will be a given that you will need to take (3) chewable multi-vitamins. I recommend the one a day chewable gummies for adults. WAY better than the chalky Flintstones. You'll also be required to do (3) chewable Calcium, B12 sublingual (or monthly injections), and B1. I would recommend you start doing Biotin at least 6 weeks prior to surgery. Many post-ops have issues with the condition of their hair & nails shortly after surgery. Biotin helps to lessen those. Post-op, you will also be required to drink protein drinks. It is the only way you are going to get in enough protein to support your body. Remember, you aren't going to be eating the food it is use to. I know you think you know your body now but trust me, your body changes post-op and it's needs changes rapidly. Follow as closely as you can to your surgeons post-op requirements. The better you do at this, the healthier your outcome will be.

Best of luck...

n    

 I don't think I classify as a lightweight...

5'11 356lbs :(

 I have no clue on the cost side.  My wife and I had our surgeries in the same year, and we'd already met our deductible by that point due to another surgery I had earlier in the year.  

Dr. Inman likely won't be the one to supervise your diet.  It will need to be your PCP/internist or they have a doctor at St. V's that does non-surgical weight loss (used for those who don't want surgery or those who have had surgery and just need help getting rid of the last of their weight).  I was able to use a medically supervised diet I had from a doctor a couple of years prior.  Most companies want a doctor's note showing that you were there every month for six months, that the purpose of the visit was to talk about your weight loss/diet, and that you were compliant with whatever program they had you on.  It doesn't have to be anything fancy - you just have to have documentation that a doctor supervised diet was attempted and it didn't work.

St. V's recommendations are woefully inadequate for after surgery supplementation.  Dr. Inman and her staff don't manage that as much as St. V's dieticians do.  The dieticians are starting to take a more active role in ordering and monitoring labs (or so I've been told).  I've been on Vitalady's plan since about a month out, and for the most part the dieticians haven't given me too much grief.  They question why I would take 30 pills a day instead of the 8-12 they recommend, but when I explain that I'd likley get to 30 after adjusting for my labs anyway, they seemed to understand that.  That being said, they don't order labs as often as I'd like and depending on who you see they try to give RNY eating advice instead of DS advice.  

 Great information everyone. 

I go to the initial onsult the 5th. I need to also speak with my internist for other things anyway - hopefully we get get a diet plan started. Don't get me wrong, if I can sucessfully lose w/o surgrey I'm VERY happy. Though, I have never been able to lose, maintain the losing streak enough to make a huge difference AND maintain what I had lost. If a 6 month medical supervised diet works so be it :).

At 5:13pm EST LyndiaIN said:  I am over 4 years out from my revision to DS by Dr. Inman.  She is a fantastic surgeon and I have absolutley nothing but praise for her.  As a matter of fact, when my first WLS failed and I needed a revision, I immediately knew she is who I wanted to go to.

The majority of her office staff is excellent, but the surgery coordinator does have a rep for taking her good old sweet time with scheduling.  Her office is not that great at vitamins/supplementation, but pretty much anything else they are spot on.

The dieticians at St. V's are a joke from the DS perspective.  They expect us to eat like RNYers, which would be a death sentence for us.  They recommend low-fat (sure, if you want dry skin and constipation) and lots of fruit and veggies (that is if you want your protein to tank.)  They also recommend "skinny" meats.  Don't get me wrong, I like chicken and fish, but I love my marbled steaks and juicy hamburgers more.  They also like to hand out the old dieting tricks - take a walk before eating to make sure you're hungry, "nothing tastes as good as being thin feels" BS.  And yes, they have taken over the lab portion of our care, which I really don't like at all.  I have a full list of labs and codes that we need and I may just start having my PCP start ordering them instead of having to deal with "professionals" who know nothing about my surgery or my care.

We have a local support group that meets every month for a DS dinner and would love to have you join us.  That way you can see first hand how we DSers live.  My friend Jessica puts the calendar together and if you'd like to be included please let me know.

Also, you might want to check out www.dsfacts.com for more info on the DS lifestyle.  Great source of information there.

Good luck, and you'll love Dr. Inman.

I'm beginning each of my posts with LyndiaIN said so you'll still know who said this if I decide to ever deactivate my account.

Lyndia, I had my RNY with Dr Inman 2 years ago.  Can I ask how you started the revision  process?  Thanks,Terry

On 1/22/12 at 5:43PM LyndiaIN said:

I started my revision process by first checking with my insurance company to see what they cover, then went to Dr. Inman's seminar and talked with her there about the revision.  She had me undergo an endoscope and some other tests to see why my old surgery failed so she'd know what she's up against. But I will tell you, Dr. Inman no longer performs revisions to the DS.  (I was her last one.)  That is unless she changed her policy recently.  Contact her office to find out.  If she doesn't, then not all hope is lost as there are a few really well known revision surgeons out there that can help.  Yes you will have to travel but trust me, it is SOOOOOOO worth it.

Good luck, and if I can be of further help, please let me know.

I'm beginning all of my posts with LyndiaIN said in the event my account is deactivated, then you'll still know who said this.

Do you know why Dr. Inman will no longer revise from RNY to DS?