Hi folks - new and nervous!

Hi everyone. I'm new to this board and have read some of your posts. Congrats to all of you who have lost weight and who are still losing. I've needed to do this surgery for ages and have put it off because my insurance does not cover it - specific exclusion to the policy. I sort of hoped my company would get rid of the exclusion or change insurance companies, but no such luck. Well, I finally decided to bite the bullet and take out a loan (oy!) and have the surgery done. Has anyone else paid for the surgery themselves? Any thoughts on financing other than through a home equity loan or something? I met with the surgeon yesterday. I will have the gastric bypass. I have all of my pre-op work-ups already scheduled with surgery possible in only a month or so! This is fantastic. Now that I have made the leap, I want to get it done as soon as possible. This is not a light decision, this is something I have been researching and considering for years. I am excited and I am scared. I have read lots of positives about the surgery, know some people who have had it and feel overall very good about it. I know I need this tool. I am hopeless to lose weight on my own and I will no longer feel like a failure! This is the strongest and seemingly safest tool I could find in this massive reconstruction of myself! But - I also read a lot about all sorts of problems associated with the surgery. And biggest of all - what if, after all of the money, all of the effort and all of the danger - it doesn't work for me or I lose weight only to gain it back again (as with every diet I have ever been on?)! Did any of you have these arguments with yourself? I live in the Newburgh area. My surgery will be in Dobbs Ferry. Has anyone else been there? By the way - I'm 5'7" and about 380. Thanks for listening to my rant folks! Robin

Hey there Robin and welcome to the OH Family we are so happy to have you as a member of the family!!!!!!! Congratulations to you on making the choice for a healthier and happier lifestyle! As for me I felt the same way and to be honest I believe we all go through the emotional rollercoaster ride one time or another before and after the surgery. Keep your chin up and look foward don't look back because from here on in that is not the way to go. ONLY FOWARD is the way and you can do it I know you can and we are all here for you to help you through what you need help with!!!!!!! If there is anything you need just away and we will come a runn'n Please keep us posted on how you are doing!!!!!!! Once again WELCOME TO THE FAMILY!!!!!!!{{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}} Evelyn 247/132-134 Past goal and feeling GREAT!!!!!!!

Thanks for the warm welcome Evelyn! I hope to be a good "poster"! Although I'm nervous, I am really more excited than anything else. When my insurance company confirmed that WLS was excluded I called the doctor and said let's schedule everything for asap since I don't have to wait for anything from the ins. co. So it's upward and onward and hopefully DOWNward very soon! Robin

Please keep us all posted on how your journey is going and remember we are here for you if you need us!!!!!!! {{{{{{{HUGS}}}}}}} Evelyn

Hi, if you are self-paying, I wonder if you know about duodenal switch, the other weight loss surgery. There is a community on OH. You can read profiles at duodenalswitch.com or check out this personal page that answers a lot of questions. www.weightloss-surgery.com. We have a number of people who have paid for it themselves in Mexico, Spain, Brazil and the US. Some of them get the whole thing for $11K or so. The best thing about DS is the long-term success rates, which are better than any of the other operations. There is usually very little regain at a few years out and people maintain a 75% average loss of excess weight. People at your weight do great with this surgery. Just a thought. Congrats on taking a big step towards health. I know Newburgh and a good friend moved up there and loves it. Good luck! Nancy

Hi Nancy, Thanks for the welcome. What is the duadenal switch? I checked your site and am still not real sure. Is this the lap band rather than gastric bypass? I'll look more closely at the link you gave me and try to do some other research, but the terminology of all of these procedures confuses me! Robin

Hi, Robin: Duodenal switch is a combined restrictive/ malabsorptive procedure (your stomach is made smaller, the part that makes the hunger hormone gherlin is removed, and your intestines are switched so don't absorb all the food you eat which is great when you want to eat ice cream now and then!). You don't dump on sugar like with RNY, but you do absorb sugar calories, so you have to be a little careful. After 8 months of living with it, I have to say it is great. I don't throw up. I eat what I want more or less, with an eye to keeping my protein grams above 75. I don't worry about fat because I don't absorb most of the fat I eat, so I can use butter and sour cream. I've lost 119 pounds at just 8 months and I'm starting to eat more (as my doctor told me to) because I'm about 20 pounds from goal and I still have 6-8 more months of weight loss. My diabetes is gone. My cholesterol is perfect. My high blood pressure is gone. I'm wearing a size 14. I eat in restaraunts and no one knows that I've had surgery. I want to shout from the rooftops about this surgery because my lifestyle is so great. DS sometimes gets a bad rap (usually from surgeons who can't do the procedure) that it causes stinky gas, diarrhea, etc. I know some people have problems with that, but I find it's totally controllable by making food choices. I don't eat sugar substitutes because they give me gas (no big loss for me). Milk gives me diarrhea, but I can eat yoghurt and cottage cheese (go figure). Please go to the websites I pointed you to and please google 'duodenal switch' before you make any decisions. E-mail me if you have more questions. Nancy

Hi Robin! Welcome to OH If you are interested in learning more about the DS procedure there are many ways to do it. (And I recommend learning all your options Before you have surgery.) Regularly, at least 3 or more times a week I speak over the phone with weight loss surgery hopefuls. Many are hoping to have surgery as quickly as possible, just like you! I would be glad to talk with you, answer any questions you might have and just be a support/contact person for you. Us New Yorkers need to stick together, right?! Once you learn about the DS, you'll be quoting the surgeons as well as the rest of us. Please use the little email button at the end of this post. I'll respond with my home number and we can be talking as early as 7pm. LeeAnn May God Bless every path you put your feet to P.S. Please check out my profile page for wonderful DS resources. Also visit www.duodenalswitch.com For medical research studies, email me and I will be glad to supply them.

Hello Robin , Welcome , welcome, welcome--I am recently post -op and new to these boards too. I found a warm group of people --*****ally want to be of help! Stick with these boards and I don't think that you will have a problem losing weight or keeping it off. You can always come here for advice and assistance. When you applied to your insurance company --did you include any health problems that you might have--that's how I got approved. and I know that lots of us got approval based on mitagating health problems. It couldn't hurt to try! Be blessed and keep us posted! Marian S.C.

"Has anyone else paid for the surgery themselves? Any thoughts on financing other than through a home equity loan or something?" Someone emailed me about your post, and asked me to reply since I'm a recent self-pay. The surgery I had was the Duodenal Switch, which I highly recommend. Possible options for self-pay - equity loan is, of course, one option. You can also look at getting a 401k loan depending on how much you have available. And you may be able to simply put some of it on low interest rate credit cards. My surgery ran me about $13k, including travel & hotel for 18 days, but - I had mine done in Brazil - see www.drmarchesini.com. (And yes, he's an excellent surgeon - I've had numerous people check him out independently of each other, and all came back the same way). He's done over 400 DS, and never lost a patient. He's also done over 800 RNY, as well. I'm four weeks post-op right now, and if you'd like to read about my experiences, I have put links in my profile. Here is the breakdown of my costs: $5000 Flat fee for Hospital - includes use of the OR, all nursing staff, private room for up to two weeks if needed. Can be paid by credit card if desired, but hospital charges an extra 5% ($250) if you do. $4000 Surgeon, his staff, and all follow-up care. This fee must be paid in cash. $300 Private nurse - not optional, but he was a godsend! Literally spent the entire night in my room the first night after surgery, in case I needed anything. Also included use of his services for entire stay in Brazil - with his cell and home phone #'s. $2004 Plane tickets for two people to Brazil $1000 Hotel for 18 days (next door to Dr's office & two blocks from hospital) $110 Brazilian visa $100 Passport (if you don't already have one) $1000 Food, taxi rides, and souvenirs. Mostly souvenirs. (It's Brazil - you gotta buy SOMETHING, right??) Total about $13.5k, and all but the souvenirs is tax-deductible under medical expenses. About $4500 must be paid in cash - the rest can be subsidized with credit. I know that Dr Marchesini is currently scheduling for December, which happens to be *summertime* in Brazil. Curitiba is a beautiful city - I loved being there, and would have stayed if I'd had means. If you have any other questions, feel free to email me directly or reply directly to my post (so that OH will email me your response). Hope that helps! --BT