The last week has been an interesting one. With "Interesting" NOT meaning GOOD.

Sunday June 11, 2006

The last week has been an interesting one.

I called Dr. Smith's office a number of times beginning the day after Memorial Day to see if they had yet scheduled a date. I finally got a response after a week of leaving messages and it was not what I wanted to hear.

Surgery date- Not the week of June 19, probably not the week of June 26th. Dr. Smith was still waiting to schedule everything. They again asked me if I wanted to switch to a Bypass- NO WAY!

The second unpleasant part was that Dr. Smith's office said that Blue Cross DENIED my claim. After many Blue Cross calls, I spoke to a human and was informed that NO SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS were sent. THUS FLAT DENY. Apparently they don't always approve, but with nothing you get a DENIAL. I called the doctor's office back and was told that the documents were to be sent. They again asked me if I wanted to switch to a Bypass- NO WAY!

I then began research on a backup plan of paying for this, as INAMED has a financing plan for LapBands. I just wanted to see what my options would be. Well, INAMED informed me that Dr. Smith was NOT APPROVED to do LapBands. NOT ON THE LIST. THEREFORE THEY WOULD NOT ALLOW ME TO DISCUSS FINANCING.

I called Dr. Smith's office back and was told that he hoped to be APPROVED SOON, and that it might be August or maybe September. They again asked me if I wanted to switch to a Bypass- NO WAY!

Well, there is NO WAY IN HELL I AM HAVING A BYPASS.

I relayed the above info to someone I know that has had a LapBand since Thanksgiving (Miss AKF) and who has told me straightforwardly that I needed to switch to Dr. Curry. "It's YOUR BODY, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO HAVE A DOCTOR WHO IS GREAT AT THIS!" She pointed out.

Miss AKF then sent an email to Dr. Curry around midnight after our phone call about this. By 8AM she had a response from Dr. Curry and by 10 AM he had begun discussing the change with the staff. Miss AKF got done in ONE EMAIL more than I had in three weeks of phone calls.

So, hopefully Dr. Curry (who I originally thought I was to be seeing when I first did my research) will be my doctor and we can get this working and give me a chance to get off the sidelines and return to LIVING LIFE, not JUST SITTING ON THE SIDELINE.

My regular doctor in KY says that Dr. Smith is a fine surgeon, which I believe to be true. However when I began this I was told he had done over 400 surgeries. I found out the day that I took my sponsor to the office that HE HAD DONE NO LAPBANDS. Knowing that he was having one of the first surgeons (a doctor in Louisville) to come up and proctor him calmed me, but after finding out that he is not even on the INAMED list, I must choose to switch.

As Miss AKF adamanently said- "Dr. Curry is an artist, you don't want to be some new guy's guinea pig."

So, we now see where the switch takes us.

Wish me luck

JC