Hi Everyone! Introductig Me! :)

My surgeon has switched to Dr. Hoehn now also!  Small world :o)  I hear they are the best tho.

Sweet!  Have you been to their seminar yet?  I just went to mine yesterday, and I love that place!  I was really impressed with their professionalism and knowledge.  Good stuff!

Yep, I went to the seminar a few weeks ago and have my appt scheduled with Dr Hoehn on May 7th.  My sister-in-law had the sleeve done by Dr. Kawalski (sp?) and is very happy with him and the office.  I have talked to Connie a few times and think she is awesome. My case worker is Jackie and she is great also.  I'm looking at September for surgery because I need some time to build up my PTO !

I totally LOVE Connie!  I don't know yet who my case manager will be.  Just waiting for them to call me back with my appointment date.  My insurance requires a 6-month diet before surgery, so I have to wait until at least October or November for surgery,  which puts me right in the middle of a PTO blackout at my job, so I'm looking at January at the earliest.  But at least I'm doing SOMETHING!!

They have two case managers. Jackie is the one for last names starting with letters L thru Z.  Obviously, I have no idea who the other one is! LOL  I *think* my insurance requires a 6 month diet also. Im not sure tho... I was told that my comorbidities may exclued me from that. I feel like I'm a little ahead of the game cause I started the 6 month diet with my PCP before I even knew where I was going to have the surgery done.  January IS a long time but it gives you plenty of time to get things in order, do your research, get your testing done and build up your PTO!!!

I'm hoping, since I've been journaling everything I eat for several months now, that my PCP will review my journals and consider that enough supervision to call it a doc-supervised diet.  But I don't see her until next week, so only time will tell.

My last name starts with a W if you go by my legal name, or a D if you go by the name I go by (hyphenated last name, of which I only formally use the second half), so Jackie may or may not be my case manager.

Either way, whether I have to wait until January, or I can have it done sooner, I feel pretty good about everything.  I couldn't be more thrilled with my chosen surgeon(s), and I'm really enjoying learning things I never knew about myself  and my capabilites along the way.  Sure, I'm anxious as hell to get the ball rolling already, but I've made my peace with the fact that it will happen when it's meant to happen, and not a second sooner!

Can't wait to hear all about your progress and celebrate the victories along with you!   It's good to have allies along for the ride on this crazy journey!

I'm sure that your Dr will consider your journaling but I don't know if the insurance will :(  They are the sticklers!  so, did the seminar increase your interest in the lap band or make you want to try one of the others?  They had patient speakers at my seminar and it was neat to see their progress.  I see the surgeon on Monday and I will let you know how it goes! It will be great to have someone to go through this process with!  Where do you live again?

I live in Independence.

Actually, I had been reconsidering the band and thinking about VSG (the sleeve), and the seminar pretty much confirmed that for me.  It just seems like a bit less modification, and since my insurance won't cover more than a certain number of fills or any revision, I don't want to wind up having to spend a lot out of pocket.

The patients at the seminar were my favorite part.  The RNY patient they had at the one I attended had lost 225 lbs!    I was amazed!