Hi all

Hi there! My name is Annie and I live in Spokane, WA. I have been looking into gastric bypass for approximately two years. My husband and I decided to have another baby before I pursued it, and that has happened. I have been overweight since...hmmm....2nd grade I believe. It was probably before that, but I think that my mom passed it off as baby fat! Now, I am on the road to taking care of this long standing problem. I went into my PCP on July 22nd, and he was extremely supportive and told me to do it before my insurance decided not to pay for it anymore. I wasn't scheduled for my consult until 10/5/2004, but an appointment opened and I went into Dr. Schrock's office on 8/18/2004. After a little prodding my paperwork was sent to insurance and I was approved in 16 days. I am now just waiting to have the approval letter in my hot little hands so that I can get a date. I find myself questioning why everything went so quickly and smoothly for me when a lot of people have a really turbulent time with this process. I didn't need a nutrition consult, psych eval or any of those things, and while I realize that it is insurance that requires some of those things I get a little nervous that mine does not. Of course I will have the regular pre-op testing with labs, EKG, etc. I know that I am very fortunate...just having some thoughts. If anyone has insight please respond. Thanks and I look forward to chatting with some of you soon!

Hi Annie! I got approval very quickly as well. I was told that even if my insurance didn't require a psych eval I would still have to do it for the hospital because they wouldn't allow the surgery without it. I hope all goes well. Julia RNY distal 9/23/04

My approval came very quickly. I guess it depends on what your insurance requires. Some states have much more stringent requirements than ours. Glad to read that you have started your journey. I will be having my surgery on Oct 8 at Sacred Heart. I am going with Dr Bright.

Annie, I never did get insurance approval so you are very lucky. I had to self pay which wasn't fun, but so worth it. I just wanted to chime in here and tell you what a great doctor you chose. Schrock did my surgery about a year and a half ago and he did such a great job. If you ever have questions from a fellow patient let me know and good luck. Calvin