Re: Goal weight, BMI calc, and Hi Joe

[Guest guest]

Elle:

Understand that a BMI of 27 is totally arbitrary. Dr. Welker said he thought an ideal weight of around 170 to 175 would be appropriate for me. The old Metropolitan tables suggest 155. Dr. K's table says 188. So anything under 200 would be fine with me with 175 being about right in my mind. But as I say, that is subjective and you have to set your own goal based on your experience. Two years ago I'd have said anything under 250 would be a miracle but times and things change, don't they?

I had my surgery lap. And then came the complications which were open. I'm leaving in a few minutes to see a plastic surgeon to see about closing the 8" round hole in my gut covered by a skin graft. So after the complications the lapriscopic surgery became moot. Intuitively it seems that the surgeon can see better and there ought to be fewer complications with open surgery. But that doesn't seem to be born out with those lap surgeons who have been doing the procedure for a while. Were I to be doing it over again my first concern would be how I felt about the surgeon and lap versus open would be fairly well down the list of concerns.

I don't know much about UHC's plans. I have PPO Options. When presented with good letters of medical necessity by Dr. Welker they approved both me and Joy with no problems whatever. And they didn't even question that I was planning to travel from San to Oregon to get the surgery done. I have lots of faith in the company but am not familiar with your particular policy.

Good luck on getting your surgery done quickly and smoothly.

Regards.

Joe Frost, old gentleman, not old fartSan , TX, 60 years oldSurgery 11/29/00 by Dr. Welker Lateral Gastrectomy with Duodenal Switch340 starting weight, currently 244http://www.duodenalswitch.com/Patients/Joe/joe.html

Goal weight, BMI calc, and Hi Joe

> Thanks Joe for the link to Dr. K's site where it is located. It seems> like the calculator figures out a 'reasonable' goal for us to consider> but wonder about the *BMI of 27* being the 'gold standard' post surgery> patients would strive for.> > With a starting BMI of 37, I can remember back when 25 years ago when I> was the 185 that Dr. K's calc-o-meter said I should be. I was very> physical then and that 185 was lots of lean muscle mass. I suspect> there will be lots of exercising before *that 185* and my future 185> bear any resemblance to each other.> > With that in mind it is not such a surprise that Dr. selected> 170 or 85 lbs loss as my goal weight. Of course right now that is low> fat pie in the sky as I am still in the qualifying stages with UHC. > > And I see also that you have dealt with UHC on this. My plan is the> Select Plus POS whatever the he** that means but it seems that wls is> covered at 100% for an in network doc (which dr P is not) and 80% out of> network. I called to ask if there were any exclusions on type of> surgery covered and was told no, just must be medically necessary.> I plan on following thru with the Medical Management people so see if> they have restrictions for type of surgery.> > I am hoping for a lap DS. I was one of Dr. Welkers future patients> prior to his deciding to take a sabbatical, and I still have a Sept appt> date the earliest I could get in Feb) with DR. Mc Connell that I am> holding on to on case falls thru for some reason. Mc Connell> does only open surgery I understand.> Did you have open or lap? I appreciate your 'old gentleman' P-O-V by> the way.> I, OTOH am an old crone, tho Sandy G insists on calling me her angel> tour guide, as I am picking her up today after her visit to the> dietitian here in sunny Portland and giving her a quick tour of the city> and visit to my favorite Thai restaurant.> Looking for more of your educated posts> elle (the crone) in oregon> BMI 37, 255#, 5'9", 58YO. Doing the tests pre surgery.> > Below is the URL for the calculator used in this post> http://www.gr-ds.com/BMI_Calculator.htm.> > ---------------------------------------------------------------------->