Starting Program @ Celebration Health

You're very welcome. As I understand from people I have spoken to and the research that I have done, it is extremely important to have a great team to get you through all the changes after surgery. Dr. Kim has the best reviews I have seen for any doctor in central FL.

Good Luck!!

Looks like you got the amounts already, the credit company they use is Care Credit.  I am self pay as well and recently went to Celebration and set up my account and got the prescriptions for the EKG, blood work, and chest x-ray,  there are some additional costs that weren't listed on the cost break down they provide.  The prices they quote include the prescriptions to get your lab work, EKG, chest x-ray, etc.  But do not include paying for the interpretation of your results, that could range from $750-$900.  Luckily my PCP was able to get these done for me so there were no additional costs for me.  Also the $500 fee for the psych exam I was able to submit to my insurance company as well.

I have really enjoyed working with Dr. Kim's team they have been extremely accommodating with my crazy work schedule, and exceptionally pleasant to work with.

I have only heard amazing things about Dr. Kim and his team. I have a PCP appointment soon. I will ask her about the result reading thing. Hopefully, my insurance will take care of all of this.

$24,000.00

I am very anxious about my surgery not because I have any doubts but because I have been going through this process for a year now (other things have gone wrong, like my primary physician not making the appropriate documentation on my 6mos WL followup).  Can anyone tell me how long after your preop clearance was your surgery scheduled?

Well, I had a lot of folks I had to get clearances from once my insurance approved - the one that took the longest was my cardiologist (long, horrible story).  Once I had all the medical clearances and did the pre-op clearance with Dr Ferguson, my surgery was pretty much scheduled immediately - had the op a tad over 2 weeks after I got the last clearance.

Be anxious for nothing because all things work for your good  my surgery date was made before the pre-ops but the time between is about 15 days because it takes a little time to get all your pre-ops done .this is my second time during pre-ops because my first surgeon left town days before i was to have the surgery as i look back now i'm thankful that he did not do me and then leave because another surgeon might not have wanted to take me for f/u and it has taken me 2 mths to find a new one and get my authorzation transfer but now all is finish again thankfully almost a year to the date i begun

Did everyone have to go through the liquid diet prior to surgery and for how many weeks.

I'm pretty sure every last one of Dr Kim's patients has a 2 week pre-op liquid diet.  In RNY patients its to ensure that the liver is small enough that Dr Kim can work around it during the op... if it's too big he has to convert the surgery to open (instead of lap)... so it's really in your own best interest to stick with the diet.

Basically you can have all the clear liquids you want (water, crystal lite, ice tea etc) - but no soda.  If I remember correctly you're also allowed SF jello, SF popsicles and broth (but I could be confusing that with the post-op diet). A few protein shakes a day, and you're allowed 1 cup of raw vegetables.  

It sucks, the first few days are absolutely miserable, but you'd be surprised how quickly you get used to it, and by the end of the second week I could have cared less about food.

Great, I don't think I wil have trouble with postop clearances because I had an echo cardiogram and nuclear stress stress test 4 months ago, and have has a couple of ekg's since.  Not because I have or had any heart conditions, just my primary care physician wanted to be sure I was ok.  

I do feel for my close family and friends, those first few days without carbs will be a killer.  I have warned my coworkers that if I don't sound nice to make me aware of it, I am a Disney reservation center agent.  Going to need alot of pixie dust.