I'm a Newbie

Hi, I'm new to this site and to the WLS process. I've been reading everyone's posts and have found all of your experiences so informational. Yesterday was my consultation with my surgeon. I'll be working with Dr. Villares at the Bridges Center in St. Lukes. He's very nice and I loved his bedside manner. I had completed the psych test, my hand was numb by the end, and had met with Dr. Maxwell on Monday. She will not clear me for surgery until I work with my therapist on Behavior Modification and apparently she feels I'm showing enough sever signs of depression to want me to work with a psychiatrist for meds. I'm more than happy to work on behavior mod. as this is a lifelong commitment. And I'm okay with the meds, but I'm a little disappointed that I have to wait. Has anyone had the same situation, and how long did you have to wait for the surgery? And I'm still trying to figure all this posting stuff, so bear with me if I don't get it right. I'll get it eventually.

Hi Dac. Welcome! I had DR. Juarez at St. Lukes. Is Dr. Villares a new doctor there? I had most of my pre-op done outside of St. Lukes so I can't help you with the behaviour modifications. I just wanted to let you know alot of the wait is the insurance approval. Ask your insurance what there requirments are. Make sure you have all the requirements they want completed. Get all the backup the surgeons office needs. Let me put it like this. I went to see DR. Juarez in August 2004 and by the time I completed Dr. Maxwells sessions, testing, and insurance approval. I had my surgery in November 2004. Sounds like you are on your way. Good luck with the next few steps. I hope they will go smothly and quickly. Don't stress to much, it all just takes time. Hope this helps Cynthia

Welcome to the site. I had surgery on 5/5/05 with Dr. Juarez. I went to his new patient seminar in October 2004 and my consultation with Dr. Juarez in January, 2005. I didn't have to do any behavior modification but it was 7 months to get thru the entire process. Have patience is the best recommendation I can give you. I agree you need to find out exactly what your insurance requires so Dr Vallares has what is needed before you send anything. If you submit everything you have a much better chance of getting the approval you need. Good Luck and we are all here for you. Gretchen

i know i am a rarity (spelling??)...i think that i have really sailed through the process quickly. but just to give you a timeline i started with a visit to my pcp at the end of february and i DID have to behavior modification therapy and i just got my approval last week and my surgery date is July 8th. so my entire process has been a total of 5 months. (those that have tried for a year or 2 please don't throw anything at me when you see me!) my biggest suggestion would be to get into the behavior mod therapist as soon as you can to expedite the process. the behavior mod should take about 4-6 weeks. you can be scheduling anything else you might need to do as you are doing your behavior mod stuff. and just to let you know i actually enjoyed my behavior mod sessions. i learned alot about myself. keep us updated! good luck.

Welcome to the journey Dac B. Wishing you the best. I had moderate depression at the time of my psych eval 10/02 (Dr Maxwell). Who wouldn't 303 lbs and 40 years old.... went on depression meds for the months before surgery lost 25 lbs. Had my consult with Dr Juarez 1/03 (played the insurance game and got the psych eval before I could get the consult appt) and had surgery in 7/03. Some times the effort seems extreme but I would not change if for the world now. Find peace with your decision and I think it all falls into place. God Bless Terri 303/137

Hi, I had Dr Villares, and he was great. I started my process around March of last year with Dr Zahn and he was like 7 mo out. When I went to Dr Maxwell she said i was depressed and had to go on med for a month and go back and take a mini test and passed. My surgery was set for Nov 30 but when i had all the lab work done they said my suger levels were at 10.? and if they tried to do the surgery i would probably have a stroke. I didn't like Dr Zahns beside manner as i felt he was very rude. So i decided i would get my blook sugars down and speak to Nicole in Dr Zahns office and see if i could trsf my files. She suggested Dr Villares. It took me to the end of Jan to get my sugars down to 8.1 thanks to my PCP, I called Nicole faxed her the paperwork showing my levels and my surgery was scheduled for the next Mon. My insurance approved my surgery within one week of receiveing the paper work, and when i couldn't have the surgery in Nov. Nicole just had to call them and let them know i was ready and off i went. I feel Nicole is very effeciant in ensuring the insurance gets what they need the first time. She usually tells you what they want and as long as you get it to her it will be taken care of. I have heard that some of the Dr offices will sent only 2 yrs of dr records instead of the 3 to 5 yrs and then it is rejected and then it is up to you to file a appeal- which isn't right. I really had a good experience with the staff at Dr Villares and knew if I called Nicole and she couldn't get to the phone right then she would call back before the end of the day. Good luck and I am sure you will be on your way after the behavior modification is completed. I really liked Dr Villares and am sure you will too.

Wow. Thank you all for the support and words of encouragement. I guess the key word here is PATIENCE! I met with my therapist on Saturday and she had some wonderful insights and I'm on my way with some steps on the behavior mod. Thank you all, and I'll keep you updated!!!