First appt. w/ Dr. Bour next week...

I finally got the program fee together and made my first appt. Now I'm all a-flutter with questions! What will happen at the first appt? I know I'll have to do three months Dr. supervised dieting...what kind of diet am I gonna have to do? Will I have to buy all kinds of stuff from their store? How much extra money on top of this $2000 am I going to need (Insurance pays 100% if I'm approved for surgery)? Sooooooooooo nervous now! I spent so much energy gathering money that I forgot to worry and now I'm free to worry!

Well things are different now, before we paid 2,500 and this included optifast for our liquid diet phase we had to do before surgery, which was normally 2-4 weeks.. now I don't think the 2k covers the optifast you will do beforehand.. I could be wrong.. The first appt you will see Dr. Bour, he will go over everything with you, decide which surgery you want to have (band or rny) he usually recommends RNY.. Talk about your medical history and all that fun stuff.. He will tell you if you need to have other test done like by the pulmonologist, heart doctor, sleep study, etc.. Dont be nervous hes a great guy! The 3 mth diet must be needed by your insurance company? Dr B didnt require that before i know, and you dont HAVE to buy anything from their store . its just there in case you need it.. Which its convienent for me to buy from there because everything i need is right there! vitamins, protein shakes, etc. Good luck with everything!! youll be fine just calm down and enjoy your last supper! (although you can eat those "fav" foods again later on sometime, but not as much or often!) jen

Don't worry - just write down all your questions as you think of them and bring them to your appt. I'm only 8 weeks out, but I've learned so much from the women and men on this board. I love that no topic on here is "off-limits" and if you look at past posts you'll see I mean NOTHING. These people are a wealth of information and are so willing to share their own experiences, both good and bad. I "lurked" for quite a while prior to my surgery just gathering info. THIS BOARD AND THESE PEOPLE ARE AWESOME. Colleen

Congratulations on getting the fee, I know you have been worried about it for a long while now. Don't worry about anything now, just follow what they tell you and soon you will be on your way down the weight loss highway. I'm sure you will like Dr. Bour. He is kind and understanding and will do what it takes to get you approved. I still hope I will get to meet you soon since you live so close to me. Maybe we can get together sometime just to talk. I can hopefully answer some of your questions since I have "been there and done that", lol. I'm still a newbee being just 5 months out, but I can share some of the things that I have experienced so far. Keep in touch on here or email me if you like. No one that I know from our support group lives in Laurens county, so it would be great having another "loser" to talk towho is in my neck of the woods. Mary

Jen, you're right. My insurance requires the 3 month physician supervised weight loss. I gave up on that stuff years ago and they're going to make me try again, now. Kind of puts a kink in my hopes of getting surgery over the summer while school is out. I'm a teacher so that would have been ideal. Colleen, I agree. The people on this board have already helped me an awful lot. One thing I've learned is that no matter how their bodies shrink, their hearts don't lose a bit! Mary, I'd love to get together and talk and I fully plan on taking you up on your offer to go to support group together!

Hey Billie, I had to do a six month diet history for my insurance so I know how you feel, LOL. You will just have to go in twice a month and weigh in. You do this yourself and keep up with it and then turn it into Katie after your three months. You will have to go to support groups also. So I weighed when I went to these. They know more about insurance and how to deal with it. I didn't want to pay and then my ins. not approve. They weren't worried at all about it and seemed to just bru**** off but they deal with the ins. companies all the time so they know. I will have surgery 4-24-07 and now I'm worried about that, LOL. I have faith in Dr. Bour though. It really makes a statement when people that work with him let him operate on them. The ins. co. shouldn't make us wait, LOL, I had six months of last suppers. I only weighed 2 lbs less than when I started, LOL. Good Luck, Tammy P.