HI!

Just yesterday I said it out loud to myself. I'm ready! And now, I can't stop thinking about it. As of yesterday, I have called Dr. Boru's office and Thursday I have to go to a siminar to learn more before they will allow me to make an appointment. I called my ins. company today to make sure Dr. Bour is in my network, and to see what their requirements are and they said:BMI 40 or greater or BMI 35 or greater w/medical problems. I have BCBS PPO ins. I'm afraid to get my hopes up. I can't stop hoping everything will just fall into place. God truly knows that I have been trying year after year to lose weight and to keep it off. But almost 3 years ago I have a total Hysterectomy and now I have to take hormone replacement which has caused me to gain so much weight. Which in return brought on depression, GERD, High blood pressure, border line high chloresterol, needing knee replacements and I'm just 38 years old. I'm 5'10 and I weigh anywhere from 265-275. It's a daily fight not to reach 300#. I see this battle only getting worse unless I do something now. I would love to talk with someone who can tell me what to expect as far as how fast things go. Who may have a realistic view of the months ahead might bring. I guess another thing I need to know is will I be expected to pay alot of $ up front? THANKS for your help!

Dawn, I wish you good luck. I am two yrs out. Had RNY 3/6/03. I have lost 120 lbs. I weighed 313 lbs the day of surgery. I had no problems at all. I had consultation, dr. wrote letter to Insurance company and I was approved within about 30 days. THen I had to wait 3 months for surgery. My Dr. was very busy he does 150 of these surgeries a month. I had surgery in Indiana as that is where I lived at the time. The main thing is to do exactly what your Dr. says. The main thing my Dr said (after surgery) was drink lots of water, follow diet instructions, and walk, walk, walk. I still have 40 lbs to loose but have gone thorough and divorce, and other problems to slow me down. But I will succeed!!!! Good luck. Hope everything goes quit and well for you. Carol [email protected] 3-6-03 -120 lbs

Hello. I had my surgery on 12-31-02. I started the process in October and had surgery in December. I had already had one knee replacement and was hurting in the other one. The first time, my insurance company said they needed more information. My orthopedist wrote them a very good letter. I also had my PCP and Gynecologist write letters. My surgery was approved upon receiving the letter from the Ortho. Good luck. I am not too far from you; about an hour and a half. Let me hear from you. If you want to talk, email me at [email protected] and I'll give you my number. I am 5' and started out at 265. I have lost 160 pounds; from a size 24 to a 6.

I know what you mean about being ready, I was there my self. I weighed 306 pounds when I had my surgery 2 1/2 years ago. Dr Bour did my surgery and I really like him. There is some up front money that you have to pay at his office, I am not sure what it is now. The program at Dr Bours has changed since my surgery so I can't really tell you what to expect, the only thing I can tell you is I would let anyone else do a RNY on me other than him. He has a partner now and I have met him a couple of times and he is also very nice. Good Luck.

Thanks ladies for your responces. Do you know if Dr. Bour makes you wait 6 months before the surgery? I think I read somewhere that he does that now. I sure hope not! I'm ready now. lol

I don't know if he makes you wait six months but I know for sure you have to put up 2,700.00 as a program fee. That is the only reason I did not want to use him. I am using Dr. Strickland in Columbia there is also a doctor in Anderson I know somebody who used him but I have a lot of friends who used Dr. Strickland.

wow that's a lot of money. Can you make payments? Do you think it's based on how much your ins. covers. I know when my husband got braces we had to pay a lot up front but then the ins. paid us back. I hope that this is the same way.

The fee is standard for anybody who wants to use Dr. Bour for their surgery. It is not based on your insurance the paper work I have says you can make payments but I believe it all has to be paid before you can actually get an appointment and he says that he will reimburse you for anything that insurance pays like your mandatory visits to his physch doctor he has on staff and the nutritionist he also requires you to go on some diet two weeks before surgery I cant remember the details but it does involve some type of liquid diet and you have to buy the products from him and I want to say it is like $100.00 per week for the drinks I will try and look for his paperwork at home I may have thrown it all away but he holds his seminars at the Holiday Inn on Augusta Road. He also said that he was the only bariatric program in the state that would qualify to be a center for excellence by the Surgical Review Corp. When I went to Dr. Stricklands seminar I found that he already runs a center for excellence it is a rating given to them by a national surgical review board. You can find out if you doctor is running a center for excellence at www.asbs.org

I went to the site you gave me and the only name that came up was Dr. Bours' name under Regular Member in all of SC. When I looked for any name to come up in each catagory for all of SC there was only one other name which came up as an associate but she was a lady.

I typed in Dr. Stricklands name too this time and it came up as reg. member too only after I typed his name. I'm wondering now if my ins. approves it and I start to make payments would they then start to pay for stuff I began paying for, if so then maybe I wouldn't have to pay out too much before ins. takes over. That's what happened when my dh paid for his braces, we paid up front but then the ins. sent us a check back. But no way could we come up with $2,700.