Dr Simon

Betsy, Sorry I didn't answer sooner. My e-mail has been down. After my consult I started gathering letters from my doctors showing medical need. It sounds like you already have that done. Do go ahead and get the MMPI2 and eval done. Make sure you check the dollar amount charged. It veries with each doctor. Keep copies of everything you give to send in. Sometimes things get misplaced. It took approx. 1 week for my ins. company to contact me with approval. I new before the doctors. Michelle called me a week later with the surgery date, three weeks from the day of the phone call. Not alot of time to get too frazzled. On the day of the surgery you will have alot of consent forms to sign and a few shots to prepare you for the surgery and of course pay any $$ due to the hospital. You will meet with the anesthesiologist (sp?) and Dr. Simon prior to surgery. You will have time to ask last minute questions as well as your family. I felt very comfortable going into surgery, could have been the drugs. The surgery team actually whistled a lullaby to me while being wheeled into the operating room. Next thing I remember is the nurses in the recovery room telling me everything went great and was I having any pain? I had very minimal pain afterward and did not need pain medication after going home. You will feel discomfort like a very hard abdominal workout at the gym. You will need to remember to get in your fluids, walk and protein, protein, protein. I felt so good in the hospital that I went room hopping. They used to put the name of the surgeon on the outside of the doors. I went around the halls and looked for Dr. Simons patients and chatted. I met one of my closest bariatric buddies that way. There are 4 of us that had surgery within 2 weeks of each other and Debbie that had her surgery exactly 1 month prior to me. We keep in touch through e-mail and occasionally meet for dinner before support group meeting. The toughest part now is the waiting. We tend to want things now, but the wait is worth it. I am experiencing the NOW thing with plastic surgery. I have told myself that Dr. Simon is the final word as to when it would be best for me to have work done. Hope he sees it my way as I would like to be totally healed by my sons wedding in March of 05. Let the Dr. Simon fan club know if you need further assistance!!!! Vicky

I had my surgery with Dr Simon on November 22 2002 one of his first patients after he joined with Newhoff. They called me in late october and asked if i wanted to have surgery in Novmember. They gave me the list of things i had to complete prior to surgery i had those all done within the week. was a very smooth process for me. He is a very good surgeon in my eyes. I have only had one problem since surgery and that was that i had a piece of food the size of a kernal of corn stuck and i couldnt eat or drink for days i went to see Dr simon he had me an appointment the next day for an endoscope and have not had any trouble since. Hope this helps Shell

Hi Shell, So you were contacted in october for your surgery in nov...when did you have your initial consultation? I'm trying to figure dates out is all=) Thanks,' Betsy

I had attended a seminar in July of 2002 filed paperwork in late august. was approved two weeks later but i never called for a date. ( figured the waiting list was so long i had time) lol Then when Simon came on board they sent me a letter in early october and said his waiting list was way shorter like less than 30 days and if i would like to use him. I met with him in late october had surgery Nov 22nd. Would have been super fast had i not been dragging my feet about the whole thing. Good luck to you Shell

Thanks Shell, appreciate your input. I called them yesterday and Michelle said she had my file on her desk and that i met the criteria now they were just gonna start the leg work on getting me approved....so now we wait, but actually i am going to work on getting my psyc eval appt. Not sure who to go to, i was thinking someone in Vegas since its closer to me..we will see. Again thank you, betsy

Hi Betsy, Dr. Simon was my surgeon for the Lap RNY that I had on 2/24/03 and he was fantastic! I couldn't have been happier with him or the outcome. I have lost 148 out of the 200 that I had to lose and I feel fantastic. He gets an A+++ in my book. I was approved in January and given the Feb 24th date after I had insurance approval. You may as well get started with the psych evaluation because it will be necessary. Additionally, I had to keep after the people at Good Sam and do all of the legwork to get my Dr. recommendations and letters in in order to have it reviewed for the insurance. Keep after them. I know how frustrating it is to call the office and be put on hold. Tell them you are long distance and they'll give you an 800# to call. I had made gobs of calls before I knew that one! Don't worry about calling back and asking all of the questions that you need answered. It is very important for you to know what is going to be required etc.. Oh another thing, I live in Bisbee about four hours the other way from Phoenix. After I got out of the hospital, my husband and I stayed in Scottsdale with his Aunt for a few more days to make sure everything was okay. I didn't really need to do that as it turns out, but we thought it was a good idea since we live so far away. You won't have to go to as many follow-up appointments since you're not in the area either. I had to go back at six weeks, 12 weeks and six months. I will be going again at one year in a few more weeks and I hope I lose a few more pounds by then! Feel free to contact me if you need any more support or have questions. Best of luck to you! Debbie W Lap RNY 2-24-03 370/222/170

Hi Debbie! Thank you, I am going to see about having the psyc eval soon, need to find a Dr. I'm going to try Vegas, but we will see, I am going ot call my ins and see who is in my network. Yes, me and my husband were palnning on staying in a hotel for a few days afterwards. Michelle from simons office toldme yesterday that she had my file in front of her and there were getting ready to start leg work on getting me approved! Anyways thanks for your info, you and shell have been great! Betsy