Forward: I'm at the Library to type this all out and give my profile a little flare... I have the worst Laptop EVer...and NO internet connection at home(except thru my awesome iPhone). So hopefully I won't lose the connection before I finish typing b/c it will be the biggest pain in the ass to start over!!
Lets See... Sometime around May this year (2011) my husband approached me with the idea of getting a consult for WLS. we talked about our options for financing and could we afford it, etc.. the truth is No, we definitely could spend this money onn home improvements, paying off our pos chevy malibu, or a thousand other things could be done with this money. BUT the truth is, what's te point of all those "other things" if we are both sitting here in our unhealthy Obese states...
So that week I scheduled an appointment with a well known WLS doc here in DFW metro area and had my first consult that Wednesday (May 4). I began the process of 'researching' the different options and went to that consult with the idea that I was going to get the Lap Band. Well the doctor gave me a different perspective and I'm glad he did! He explained to me that being w/out medical insurance it would be more beneficial for me to have the Sleeve over the band due to the risks of complications and future surgeries b/c of those complications being greater with the Band... okay doc, sounds good... what next? well he shoo'd me into the scheduling office to get a surgery date... I became overwhelmed, the reality of ME getting this LIFE CHANGING surgery was hitting me very hard, very fast.... i got emotional right there in the schedulers office. Since at that point we had not secured our finiancing i went ahead and gathered contact info and left their office without a surgery date (which btw, could have been as early as the first week of June).
After what felt like FOREVER we secured partial financing for my surgery. We opted to borrow funds from my husbands 401k. I say borrow loosely b/c you don't return the funds, but technically it's borrowed money. Money which a mere 6 weeks later wasn't worth the same as it was when we got it! something about the stock market crashing a couple weeks ago that I don't understand and wouldn't began to know how to explain. all I know is we got the money while the gettin was good!
Somewhere during that waiting period I began Shopping around for other surgeons, mainly for pricing. I had searched the diff docs in Mexico and when I mentioned it to my husband he said "Absolutely NOT" especially the doc just across the border from Eagle Pass, TX b/c the news had just been reporting that week about drug wars and killings, etc. Scary stuff!! I looked into our surrounding States LA, & OK...called a few offices, and that's when I discovered Dr. Broussard at Weight Wise Bariatrics. I immediately was drawn to the $9995 price ($2500 less the the first I had gone to) for Sleeve listed on the home page. (www.weightwise.com) Then I began reading about the program. I signed up online for the next availible saturday info meeting. Got a confirmation call only to be told that the website had not stopped registering ppl at it's limit and could I come to the next. well I work every other wknd so I had to wait another 2 weeks for the info meeting! At this point I felt like I had been waiting forever! BTW, the meeting is held in Edmond, OK which is 3.5 hour drive from Fort Worth (where I live) and it started at 9AM! I drug my sister out with me before the crack of dawn and we made it with 30 mins to spare!
I felt so good after hearing from Dr. Broussard himself the details of their program and was absolutely sure he was going to be my surgeon! I scheduled my consult before I left that day!
Since then I have endured a laundry list of appointments and todo's!
June 25: Info meeting at Weight Wise
July 7: first WLS support group meeting (required pre-op)
July 11: Consult with Dr Broussard, Diet & Excercise, & EKG
August 1: updated Anual PAP with OBGYNO (required pre-op)
August 2: Sleep Study in OKC (required pre-op)
August 3: initial Labs, Consult with Psych (required pre-op)
August 4: second monthly WLS group meeting (required by Dr. B)
August 10: follow up with D/E, Post op Diet class (required pre-op)
Sept 1: PRE-OP!! and CPAP prep with Respiratory Therapist
Sept 8: monthly support group meeting
Sept 13: Surgery day!
I have been on a Pre-op weight loss diet since my initial visit with D/E on July 11th. I have a goal to lose 27 pounds by Sept 1st. My startig weight was 274 (in their office) and right now, today I'm 253... I keep hovering between 253-256... but I'm sure I'll meet my pre-op goal of 247 by then! I'm hoping not to have to do any of the liquid diet before my surgery date, but we'll see!
My initial consult with the doc here in TX left me feeling rushed and panicky... where as with Dr. B I felt informed and held accountable for my actions! When I told him I wanted to try and have surgery by the end of August, he said well you've got a lot of work to do before then and from a long distance! Are you sure? and I told him I'm determined! so here it is approaching, and yeah we pushed it into the 2nd week of Sept but that was for financial reasons and nothing more!
Witht the sleep study and CPAP requirements, and some of the other testing costs and stuff our final cost is going to be around $12,500. Even the distance is worth driving for the confidence I have in Dr. B and his staff providing me with the tools to succeed!
Lets See... Sometime around May this year (2011) my husband approached me with the idea of getting a consult for WLS. we talked about our options for financing and could we afford it, etc.. the truth is No, we definitely could spend this money onn home improvements, paying off our pos chevy malibu, or a thousand other things could be done with this money. BUT the truth is, what's te point of all those "other things" if we are both sitting here in our unhealthy Obese states...
So that week I scheduled an appointment with a well known WLS doc here in DFW metro area and had my first consult that Wednesday (May 4). I began the process of 'researching' the different options and went to that consult with the idea that I was going to get the Lap Band. Well the doctor gave me a different perspective and I'm glad he did! He explained to me that being w/out medical insurance it would be more beneficial for me to have the Sleeve over the band due to the risks of complications and future surgeries b/c of those complications being greater with the Band... okay doc, sounds good... what next? well he shoo'd me into the scheduling office to get a surgery date... I became overwhelmed, the reality of ME getting this LIFE CHANGING surgery was hitting me very hard, very fast.... i got emotional right there in the schedulers office. Since at that point we had not secured our finiancing i went ahead and gathered contact info and left their office without a surgery date (which btw, could have been as early as the first week of June).
After what felt like FOREVER we secured partial financing for my surgery. We opted to borrow funds from my husbands 401k. I say borrow loosely b/c you don't return the funds, but technically it's borrowed money. Money which a mere 6 weeks later wasn't worth the same as it was when we got it! something about the stock market crashing a couple weeks ago that I don't understand and wouldn't began to know how to explain. all I know is we got the money while the gettin was good!
Somewhere during that waiting period I began Shopping around for other surgeons, mainly for pricing. I had searched the diff docs in Mexico and when I mentioned it to my husband he said "Absolutely NOT" especially the doc just across the border from Eagle Pass, TX b/c the news had just been reporting that week about drug wars and killings, etc. Scary stuff!! I looked into our surrounding States LA, & OK...called a few offices, and that's when I discovered Dr. Broussard at Weight Wise Bariatrics. I immediately was drawn to the $9995 price ($2500 less the the first I had gone to) for Sleeve listed on the home page. (www.weightwise.com) Then I began reading about the program. I signed up online for the next availible saturday info meeting. Got a confirmation call only to be told that the website had not stopped registering ppl at it's limit and could I come to the next. well I work every other wknd so I had to wait another 2 weeks for the info meeting! At this point I felt like I had been waiting forever! BTW, the meeting is held in Edmond, OK which is 3.5 hour drive from Fort Worth (where I live) and it started at 9AM! I drug my sister out with me before the crack of dawn and we made it with 30 mins to spare!
I felt so good after hearing from Dr. Broussard himself the details of their program and was absolutely sure he was going to be my surgeon! I scheduled my consult before I left that day!
Since then I have endured a laundry list of appointments and todo's!
June 25: Info meeting at Weight Wise
July 7: first WLS support group meeting (required pre-op)
July 11: Consult with Dr Broussard, Diet & Excercise, & EKG
August 1: updated Anual PAP with OBGYNO (required pre-op)
August 2: Sleep Study in OKC (required pre-op)
August 3: initial Labs, Consult with Psych (required pre-op)
August 4: second monthly WLS group meeting (required by Dr. B)
August 10: follow up with D/E, Post op Diet class (required pre-op)
Sept 1: PRE-OP!! and CPAP prep with Respiratory Therapist
Sept 8: monthly support group meeting
Sept 13: Surgery day!
I have been on a Pre-op weight loss diet since my initial visit with D/E on July 11th. I have a goal to lose 27 pounds by Sept 1st. My startig weight was 274 (in their office) and right now, today I'm 253... I keep hovering between 253-256... but I'm sure I'll meet my pre-op goal of 247 by then! I'm hoping not to have to do any of the liquid diet before my surgery date, but we'll see!
My initial consult with the doc here in TX left me feeling rushed and panicky... where as with Dr. B I felt informed and held accountable for my actions! When I told him I wanted to try and have surgery by the end of August, he said well you've got a lot of work to do before then and from a long distance! Are you sure? and I told him I'm determined! so here it is approaching, and yeah we pushed it into the 2nd week of Sept but that was for financial reasons and nothing more!
Witht the sleep study and CPAP requirements, and some of the other testing costs and stuff our final cost is going to be around $12,500. Even the distance is worth driving for the confidence I have in Dr. B and his staff providing me with the tools to succeed!
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