Help! Don't know where to start

Hello ladies & Gents. I am a 23 year old mom and student. I have been over weight for almost 11 years now. I am trying to find out ANY info i need to start my surgery process. My PCP gave me Dr O'Connelys name and I called them. The lady there told me she would send me out a packet. I hav eno idea what that means. If anyone has dealt with this office please email me. Would love to talk to other ppl my age who have had suegery there.. Thanks so much, Loooking forward to my new life.

Hello I will have my surgery on the 1st of July in Shreveport. There are a lot of nice people on this site that will be glad to help you.

You made the first step by calling a doctor's office. Dr. O'Connely's name was on my recommended list, but I chose the Weight Management Center at St. Chas Gen Hospital because they do all the paperwork for you. You can have all the tests done there too. Look in the phone book (if your insurance covers them) and call for the date of an orientation. That starts the process with them. Basically, for any surgeon, you have to be at least 100 pounds overweight and have 'co-morbidities' which means other things that could cause you to die. Diabetes, heart problems, sleep apnea are some of the ones I heard. Wherever you go, check out the number of surgeries the doc has done. This is not minor surgery, but worth it if you qualify. I had my surgery on Monday June 16th and here I sit on the 20th typing on my computer! Keep in touch. I am at [email protected] Bev Watts

Hi Heather, Dr. OConnel is threw the Renew clinic. I had surgery with them on June 10th. Everything went great and I am now down 25 lbs. The person you spoke to is Leslie at the Renew clinic. Once you receive your packet just call her back and schedule a consultation. Then they will let you know what's next. They will send off your letter to your insurance company and then things will progress from there. I also saw that you will be getting BC/BS of La in July, they won't cover this surgery no matter what. Its not done on a case by case basis. They just won't do it. If you have insurance now that willcover it, consider doing COBRA. PLease I can't stress this enough but check this out before dropping an insurance that will cover this. I fought with BC/BS of La for 2 years and they wouldn't budge. I got new insurance threw my employer and they covered it. Good Luck and email me if you have any questions.