Re: More quetions from the new person..

June 15, 2000

I don't know how well you know your doctor .. When I went to mine she was

pretty new to me since I was coming from California. So what I did was I

wrote one page like a letter saying how i felt, how depressed I was .. etc,

etc relating it to the weight.

I wrote a detailed list of every and I mean EVERY diet I tried from the age

of 13 on .. and how nothing but gaining more weight had occured.

I also printed off several pages from the internet about rny surgery which

proved to be good because she really had no clue about it .. remember alot

of these doctors are general pratice .. family stuff, colds, flus, ankle

sprains and chicken pox and don't always keep up or have access like a

surgeon would to new things going on in the field of battling obesity.

Anyway as it turned out I didn't need a referral because of my ppo insurance

but I made it clear to her I wanted this .. she suggested another diet and

even gave me a script for meridia. I went ahead anyway. had it turned out

that I needed one and she had said no I would have changed doctors.

Good luck with your appt!

Lyssa

More quetions from the new person..

I'm sorry if I am bothering anyone with these questions. It's all so new to

me that I want to get it right. I am going to see my pcp in 2 weeks and I

want to be prepared with as much info as possible. My questions are these:

1.What info should I take to my pcp?

2. Where do I get the info?

3. What do I say to my pcp to convince him?

I'm really nervous about " asking " my pcp for a referral. I have Cigna HMO

insurance. Has anyone had good luck getting a referral from them?

Thanks for all of your guidance.

Hugs,

June 15, 2000

Thanks Lyssa,

I have been seeing my pcp since 4th grade so he knows my history very well.

I have been complaining to him the last year and half about my weight and

how I have so many problems with losing. I think I will write the letter so

he knows that I am serious about this. I REALLY want to have this surgery.

Where did you get the info to print off? How did you know which surgery was

best to have? This is where I get confused. I'm not sure which one is the

simplest and easiest to deal with. What kind of things did you write in your

letter? This is my other issue. I know what I want to say, but I have a hard

time putting it into words. I'm sorry to ask so many questions. I just want

to be prepared when I go see my dr.

Thanks again.

Hugs to you!

> More quetions from the new person..

>

> I'm sorry if I am bothering anyone with these questions. It's all so new

> to

> me that I want to get it right. I am going to see my pcp in 2 weeks and I

> want to be prepared with as much info as possible. My questions are these:

> 1.What info should I take to my pcp?

> 2. Where do I get the info?

> 3. What do I say to my pcp to convince him?

>

> I'm really nervous about " asking " my pcp for a referral. I have Cigna HMO

> insurance. Has anyone had good luck getting a referral from them?

>

> Thanks for all of your guidance.

> Hugs,

>

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Failed tests, classes skipped, forgotten locker combinations.

> Remember the good 'ol days

> http://click./1/5531/3/_/675032/_/961094113/

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>

June 15, 2000

, A really good place to pick up a lot of info is http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity they have a ton of info on insurance, dr's, types of surgery etc. I am one of the people that had to actually change my PCP in order to get the approval. My old PCP wouldn't even consider the surgery which I found very upsetting. I would bring in a letter to let your dr know how you feel (I always found that I would forget so much without writing it down when seeing dr's!) and go from there. Print some info off the internet about the surgery so you will have some info in case your PCP isn't familiar with the surgery! Good luck!

"Farris, " wrote:

I'm sorry if I am bothering anyone with these questions. It's all so new tome that I want to get it right. I am going to see my pcp in 2 weeks and Iwant to be prepared with as much info as possible. My questions are these:1.What info should I take to my pcp?2. Where do I get the info?3. What do I say to my pcp to convince him?I'm really nervous about "asking" my pcp for a referral. I have Cigna HMOinsurance. Has anyone had good luck getting a referral from them?Thanks for all of your guidance.Hugs,

June 15, 2000

Don't keep apologizing! lol. You're researching and to do that properly you

need to ask questions.

Well I didn't know my doctor like I said so I wrote a letter it was like

writing in a diary i was open and honest about my feelings how much time I

just actually spent in a day obsessing over my weight ... how I wasn't going

out socially anymore, I was finding myself snapping at my kids and my

husband alot and finding all sorts of excuses to eat and eat and eat ..

I printed some information off that website I gave you. I also went to

http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=wlssring;list which is a web

ring of all sorts of different home pages where people have had surgery. You

can read about different options, experiences, doctors, etc. etc.

I chose the rny. It reduces the capacity of your stomach by having them

create a new smaller pouch .. about the size of an egg. It reduces the

quantity of food you eat. I was told that certain foods you eat after thus

don't eat them like high sugar or very fatty or fried foods (things we

shouldn't be eating anyway) can make you dump. Dumping is getting rapid

heartbeat, or vomiting, or sweats .. diarrhea or for some people it just

makes them tired .. or others don't dump at all .. like me.

I went with rny because I was a sugar eater and a volume eater so the rny

was a good choice for me.

Here are a few links that might help you out.

http://www.asbs.org/ - American Society for Bariatric Surgery (ASBS)

http://village.globaldrum.com/pow/OSSG/ neat site with pictures, bmi

calculator, links,

http://www.draslam.com/ Dr. Aslam's site.

Good luck!

Lyssa

236/137/130

open rny 6/22/99

Dr. Bruce Thayer Newton Wellesley Hospital

Newton MA

June 15, 2000

Thanks for the info Lyssa and . It has helped. I think I will write

the letter like you said Lyssa. I think we are a lot a alike in that I do

some of the same things you describe. I constantly think about my weight. It

drives me crazy. I will check out the websites.

Thanks again!

Hugs,

> RE: More quetions from the new person..

>

> Don't keep apologizing! lol. You're researching and to do that properly

> you

> need to ask questions.

> Well I didn't know my doctor like I said so I wrote a letter it was like

> writing in a diary i was open and honest about my feelings how much time I

> just actually spent in a day obsessing over my weight ... how I wasn't

> going

> out socially anymore, I was finding myself snapping at my kids and my

> husband alot and finding all sorts of excuses to eat and eat and eat ..

> I printed some information off that website I gave you. I also went to

> http://www.webring.org/cgi-bin/webring?ring=wlssring;list which is a web

> ring of all sorts of different home pages where people have had surgery.

> You

> can read about different options, experiences, doctors, etc. etc.

>

> I chose the rny. It reduces the capacity of your stomach by having them

> create a new smaller pouch .. about the size of an egg. It reduces the

> quantity of food you eat. I was told that certain foods you eat after thus

> don't eat them like high sugar or very fatty or fried foods (things we

> shouldn't be eating anyway) can make you dump. Dumping is getting rapid

> heartbeat, or vomiting, or sweats .. diarrhea or for some people it just

> makes them tired .. or others don't dump at all .. like me.

> I went with rny because I was a sugar eater and a volume eater so the rny

> was a good choice for me.

>

> Here are a few links that might help you out.

>

> http://www.asbs.org/ - American Society for Bariatric Surgery (ASBS)

> http://village.globaldrum.com/pow/OSSG/ neat site with pictures, bmi

> calculator, links,

> http://www.draslam.com/ Dr. Aslam's site.

>

> Good luck!

> Lyssa

> 236/137/130

> open rny 6/22/99

> Dr. Bruce Thayer Newton Wellesley Hospital

> Newton MA

>

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Old school buds here:

> http://click./1/5536/3/_/675032/_/961103098/

> ------------------------------------------------------------------------

>

June 16, 2000

:

First of all, you are not bothering anyone with your questions. That's the

whole idea of a support group; we support each other. So, ask away!

As far as your PCP goes, it probably depends how long you have been going to

him. With me, my PCP knew about my past efforts to lose weight, all my

current medical problems, etc. She is an internist and not at all

pro-surgery, but she has a good understanding of the difficulty in being

morbidly obese and gave me a referral with no questions asked. In fact, she

has several other patients who have undergone this procedure and she said

they have all done very well. In my opinion, if your PCP knows you and has

any understanding of obesity, you should not have a problem.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Lois

June 16, 2000

Hi Lois,

Thanks! I appreciate it. My PCP has been my dr. since 4th grade and I'm 32.

He knows me pretty well. He also know of my attempts the past 2 yrs with

weight loss. My problem is that he is an old fashioned kind of dr. I'm

thinking he's not going to refer me. But, like someone said here, he works

for me and if he won't recommend me then I'll switch to a dr. that will. Has

anyone said that to their dr? What kind of response did you get? Also, How

did you all tell your families about what you wanted to do? My dh knows of

my attempts to lose, but I think he might be against the surgery. He has

this thinking that you can do it if you try hard enough. We have " butted "

heads with this idea. I really feel in my heart and sole that this is the

right choice for me.

Thanks again for sharing,

June 16, 2000

Hi

Just a quickie .. when I first told my husband about the surgery he thought

I was looking for yet another quick fix .. and said eat less exercise more

well as you know from 3fc I was working out alot and had been doing Atkins

and doing well BUT if I cheated, I kept cheating and volume eating and I

regained 30 lbs from a Oct to a January .. which really freaked me out.

Anyway he said I love you fat or thin if you truly want to look into this do

it but I'm not sure I like the idea. Well just that was enough for me to go

to my surgeon and just check it out .. when I came back and gave him more

info, I also started making him look at all the personal home pages with the

before/after pics. He saw a few was enough to say go for it He was still

shaky in terms of support up until surgery because I truly think he was

worried I was going to die or something bad would happen .. but let me tell

you ... almost a 100 lbs later he is my biggest supporter LOL and totally

thinks that the rny is a life saving/changing operation if you use the tool

as its given to you. So in time I think most everyone would come around

anyway .. its hard to be against it when its working

I personally didn't have to lay it on the line with my pcp but some said

look I'm determined and I'll go elsewhere if you won't do it .. just be

honest hopefully you don't have to be brutal. Maybe having had him your

entire life he will go for it easier .. or not .. but you won't know till

you try! Good luck with it ..

Start showing your hubby the before/after pics .. lol

Lyssa

RE: More quetions from the new person..