RE: [MiniGastricBypass My date & how long it took

[Guest guest]

Hi Guys:

My surgery will be May 31 (clinic on May 30). For your information, here is my

time line. I

don't think that any medical practice could respond any more quickly than this.

I have always

been treated with kindness and courtesy when I called Dr. R's office and even

with a slight

delay in sending my papers to the insurance company, I think response time is

incredible.

Most of the time it takes me longer to get a Dr. appt. than this whole process

took.

April 13 - My personal information transmitted on line to Dr. R. Receipt was

confirmed a

short time later that same evening.

April 25 - After not hearing from Dr. R's office I called Debbie. She was going

to fax it

today.

April 25 - My information was faxed to my insurance co. (BCBS, Federal)

April 27 - In the mail I received a hard copy of what Debbie sent to my

insurance company.

May 3 - I got written notice from insurance that they would pay.

May 5 - I sent my packet to Dr. Rutledge's office. I called and they confirmed

that it had

arrived.

May 8 - I spoke with Barbara who said Dr. R would review it and they would be in

touch.

May 9 - Barbara called and I missed her.

May 10 - I returned Barbara's call and she gave me my surgery date and

transferred me to

get my clinic date.

All of this has come about in less than a month. I found the packet a pain in

the butt but I

think that a lot of thought was put into making this a requirement. It made me

think, consider,

ponder, ruminate, and in general make a strong and firm decision about whether I

really

wanted to have this surgery. It would have been all too easy to send my form on

line then

chicken out or to seek scheduling and then chicken out. I'm glad the packet was

required.

While I was careful to check my grammar and to spell correctly, I'm sure I made

some

mistakes...no big deal..and I did not get hung up on what needed to be done..I

just did it. I

knew it wasn't going to be graded and no one was correcting my spelling or

grammar. I

found the contacts very easy to do and the post ops very anxious and willing to

talk with me

and answer questions. I feel that I could have gotten many more contacts and in

fact have.

Because so many post ops made it easy for me, I plan to pass it on and when I am

a post-op

I plan to make it easy for pre-ops to talk with me.

So far this has been a very positive experience for me personally. It has given

me an

opportunity to really think about whether or not I want this surgery and it's

associated life

changes. Putting in writing my many attempts at losing weight was good for

me...I'm not a

lazy slug who did nothing about this problem. I know that words come easy to me

and that to

some folks they don't but committing to paper one's thoughts and feelings can

never be a bad

thing in the end.

My best to all of you who cheered me on this far. Please continue to be in the

bleachers

cheering me as I move toward surgery. I'll be in your bleachers cheering for you

wherever

you are in the process.

Flo in land

Florence Ballengee

Hollywood, land

florence@...

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