I'm New and have questions

Hi, I'm a 27yr old male that have struggle with weight my whole life, I started considering this surgery about 3 yrs ago when a co-worker had it done and she is now 158lbs lighter. In 2004 when my employer was BCBS for our health insurance i decided to make the "BIG trip tp Dr. Roye's office and 9/2004 to be exsact. I met with the nurse and she gave me 2 options, the open surgery or laparoscopy, if I wanted to have laparoscopy I needed to loose close to 100lbs and we all know how hard it is to loose 10 lbs never mind 100. Well i told her that I wanted some time to think about it but I wanted to put the request through my insurance company and get started with my testing. Two Weeks later I called Dr. Roye's office and spoke with Annette and she informed me that the surgery was approved and she will be sending all the paper work. I received all of my referrals forms and started doing all the testing. Most of them were don before the year end of 2004. In 2005 my employer decided to switch health insurance carrier, so it was official that as of 1/1/2005 our new provider was going to be First Health (worst insurance) then we needed to submit all of the paperwork all over again and they asked me for additional test and had them done. When I met all of their requirements with the exception of going under a Monitor diet for 6-9 months then Declined me for the surgery. 2005 went by and in the month of 12/2005 we got an e-mail from our CEO that the company was switching back to BCBS, I think I was the first employee to request the switch and not even 3 weeks into 1/2006 I was approved by BCBS again. I Just completed my sleep test, Chest X-ray and EKG and still waiting for ECHO and bloodwork, then I get to call Annette and make an appt with Dr. Roye and maybe I can get my surgery date. My question to all of those who had the surgery is, After all the test is done, How long do I still have to wait to have the surgery? I know that this may vary depending on the patient. Also if there is any questions form others that are just starting, I can anwer some questions about the testing. Thanks! Al - ""I'm glad this website exists""

Well congrats! Seems like its been a long long road for you! Hopefully only great things to come now. OK to your question- Dr Roye is booking like 3 months out right now. I have Dr Harrington , who is Dr Roye's partner, and I am lucky because I ended up getting a sugery date within a couple of weeks. I believe at the end of February, Dr Roye was already booking surgeries for the end of May. SO he is a wait. But good luck, Im sure it will fly by! Kerry

Hi Al, Well i glad things are going well for you. Seems like quite a few of us will be having surgery around the same time. I have Dr Harrington. I just wanted to welcome you here and to say hi. Claudia

wow, it sounds like we've had the same insurance hassles. what a pain in the butt, eh? anyway - you made it! i'm pretty sure Dr. Roye is scheduling into May and June right now. totally sucks, but it's better than never! kristen

Hi, I am so happy that you got approved and that you are nearly ready. I got lucky when I got my surgery date. He asked me when I wanted to have the surgery and I said tomorrow. He just laughed and them told me he was booking for June. Now this was in Feb. , but I got lucky and got a March 30th date. I wish you luck. Cheryl