Anyone who says Gastric is the easy way out has never met someone who has gone through it before! Sure it sounds easy, get your stomach altered and then you eat less, absorb less, and thus lose mass amounts of weight.
Well starting with the actual processing and approval it is quite an ordeal. First things first, if you are thinking about getting either the LAP-Band or having Gastric Bypass you have to find someone who specializes in those surgeries in your area and then attend some form of introduction meeting. Some places also make you attend a support meeting with people in various stages of surgery (pre and post).
Then the fun begins. You must check with your insurance to even see if they cover the surgery, at all. Some people I know who had the surgery have even hanged just so they can be covered. We are fortunate to have an understanding insurance company. Aetna HMO.
After that you see your Primary Care Physician (PCP) and start a documentation process of a supervised diet. You can be doing that before you even do any other step and it will greatly speed up your processing time. Our surgery center (Sarasota Memorial Hospital) http://www.smh.com/sections/services-procedures/weight_loss_surgery/meet-the-team.html asks that you attend a course offered by the hospital called Eating Healthy for Life. I know other places have similar programs. It is run by Dieticians and offers weekly weigh ins, food log evaluation and suggestions, and has guest speakers such as psychologists, nutritionists, physical therapists and other health related topics.
All the while you are still meeting with your PCP. You have blood work done. You meet with a Psychotherapist (PhD) for a minimum of three visits. On that note I would like to say that this is really beneficial, here you can talk to someone about how scared you may be and they can help you understand your “after life”. I now see that there will be things that come up, especially in a marriage, when someone has surgery. I think we are lucky to go through it together, so we have each other as a support group. It also minimizes the potential jealousy issues of only one person having it, etc.
You will at some point meet one-on-one with a certified Dietician who will give you your pre and post surgery diets. The real important thing they seem to be stressing is to keep the binging and gorging to minimum, especially when it gets close to surgery time. Seriously, minimizing the carbs help keep the liver smaller which means the more likely you can have laparoscopic surgery vs. open surgery. No question it is worth the extra effort to contain yourself and your eating habits.
As your surgery date draws closer, you meet with the surgeon, get all the appropriate paperwork filled out and turned in (and there is a lot, especially those – like most – who have extensive medical issues), continue (uninterrupted) visits with your PCP, and schedule appointments with a Cardiologist and a Pulmonologist. In my husband’s case he also had to undergo a Neurologist appointment and have a sleep study as well.
That is pretty much where we are at this point now. From here we await final approval and then get an actual date. Our plans are to have surgery about 8-10 weeks apart (as we have children). This should allow for Grant to heal enough by the time I have mine.
It seems so short on paper, but it is actually months (and for some years) of work to just get approved. Keep your fingers crossed, we are near the finish line!!! From here, we will keep you posted!
-Michelle
