Hey!!

Hey everyone. I had a consultation today with Christian at Vanderbilt. I was also assigned a surgeon--Dr. Melvin. Has anyone had Dr. Melvin. I need to know all about him. Had some lab work also. Now I have to get the psych evaluation and schedule an endoscopy then I'm on my way. Keep praying that my insurance will approve the surgery. Terry

Hi Terry; I am a patient of Dr. Melvins. I had surgery 12/30 & I'm doing great!!! Dr. Melvin & Christian have been wonderful to work with. I email Christian questions all the time. The staff at Vanderbilt has been terrific!!! May I make a suggestion...when you have surgery, take ear plugs. The bariatric floor is close to the helipad. Thank goodness, I was only there 46 hours. . I have United Health, and they covered me almost immediately. Good luck, and let me know if I can answer any more questions. Beth

Hi Beth, Thanks for the response. I will probably have many questions before the date is set. I'll remember the earplugs. I really hope I can come home in that short of time. I have never had any problems with surgery so I don't anticipate any with this surgery. Terry

Congrats, Terry! I didn't have Dr. Melvin, but I did have Dr. Richards and I still e-mail questions to Christian periodically! He's such a sweetheart and is really helpful! I have talked with some of Dr. Melvin's patients who have wonderful things to say about him. I've not heard anything negative about him. I think you are in good hands, but it pays to do your own research! I hope your approval goes off without a hitch and you are on the losing side soon! Take care! Ashleigh

Thanks Ashleigh. Please keep me in your prayers that this will be approved by my insurance. Also thanks for the response about Dr. Melvin. I had not heard anything negative but I haven't been researching this for very long. Terry

That's great Terry. My PCP has told me some great things about Dr. Melvin and I was originally going to go there but other reasons drew me somewhere else. You're in great hands! The psych eval isn't so bad...just a little tedious and I did get a headache during the bubble tests, so you might want to bring some tylenol with you. Good luck with your tests and insurance! *hugs* April

Hi April. Thanks for the info and the encouragement. Terry

Didn't you love Christian? I thought he was just fantastic! Don't know anything about Dr. Melvin. I'm using Torquati. I had my psych done at Athena Consulting in Nashville--they were great. Super quick to get in with and they billed my insurance direct (Christian rec'd them). I had to have an endoscopy, too. I had it in Columbia this week. Glad to have it behind me. I'm now on Nexium, but no major problems. I hopr your insurance will approve. I'm still waiting on my GP to write the stupid letter and send my records. Grrrrrrrrr.

Hi Kim, yes I did love christian. He's so cute and he is very good at what he does. In fact everyone was nice. When I went in I had planned to have the Lapband but he said I should have the RNY. With my weight and morbities he said he would really discourage me from having the LapBand. My BMI is 36.6 but with the comorbities I am still a candidate. He told me I could expect to stop taking my diabetes meds and my hypertensive meds within 6 months of the surgery. Now just to convince to insurance company. I came across a site yesterday that gives you an example of a letter of necessity for weight loss surgery. I'll post it if I can find it again. I have called a few doctors in Columbia for the psych evaluation but none so far do it so I guess I'll call the Athena group Monday. Are you having your endoscopy in Columbia? I think I will ask my PCP to refer me to Dr. Reddy. He has done a colonoscopy for me and I like him. Kim do you live in Columbia? Terry

Dr. Reddy did my endoscopy in Columbia--I live about 2 minutes from the endososcopy center. I love him. I don't think there are any psychs in Columbia who will do the eval and even if they do, I imagine it would be more $$ than Athena. I think they are less than $200.