I do not work and am unable to. Right now with all my medical issues I am glad to be able to drop and pick up my son from school and go to the market. I have tried to get disability but they cant find a category to put me in so therefore deny me.

I am also told even if I was covered by some type of insurance it would most likely take over a year to get surgery. I think its awful that something that can save so many lives and help so many people is considered elective where I go to the Drs. They will not do any type of weight loss surgery on anyone without insurance at that hospital. That is why I chose the other hospital.

Is there any special place I can look for financing or assistance for it? I cant find anyone with a payment plan and so far as far as loans and medical type credit cards I havent been able to get financed for anything close to what I need.

Another question in researching Drs has anyone heard good or bad about The Nicholson Clinic in Texas Dr. Nick Nicholson? I am wondering because it is so much cheaper and he seems to have the same credentials as the surgeon I am looking into. My only concern is why is he so much cheaper and why does it look like he promotes WLS on tv and such? I dont know if thats normal as I live in a smaller city and they do not promote it here. Anyhow I dont know if I am allowed to post links but if you search The Nicholson Clinic in Texas or his name you can find the website. Wondering what others think of him. Thanks!

I think I am starting to talk to myself but that is ok =)
I finally got to talk to my grandpa and he is sending me the check for the deposit for my consult. Since I had to reschedule I cant see the Dr for a consult until Oct 21st which seems like a long ways away. Does anyone know who I can talk to, to try and move up that date? My husband is going to have a hard time taking off work in November if everything happens.

Hi Kimberly -

i just re-read all of this thread - it sounds like you've made your decision [and that's fine] and that you want it to happen NOW. And no matter what - self-pay, insured, Medicaid/Medicare, surgeon in the family - there are a whole bunch of reasons that it WILL NOT happen overnight. You've just seen one of them - the scheduling thing. MANY people want the surgery, and surgeons have a backlog, especially for new patients.

their first priorities in the schedule are those last visits before surgery, and patients who might be having post-surgical complications, and patients who are immediately post-op. Doesn't leave a whole lot of time in their day [or surgery schedule or hospital schedule] for new patients, yet they have to make room for them.

soooo, my biggest suggestion to you is to use this time PRODUCTIVELY so that you can have the best chance of success afterwards. things like - starting to change your eating patterns, developing an exercise program, looking at why you eat and see what emotional stuff you should work on.

This way - when the surgery happens, no matter when - you'll be better prepared to WORK YOUR TOOL [sorry if that sounds a little off-color!!].

I wish we could help you get funding for this, but we simply don't know - but we do sympathise!!

Thanks so much. I have come to see it as a blessing. I have started walking and eating better. I figure the best shape I can be in pre surgery can only help. My mom is going through some medical issues so it all did work out. I understand I will have to be patient with this process before during and after.

I did get some of the answers via email back from him. He has done 136 Gastric Bypass operations. He has had 0 deaths, 3 leaks, 2 pulmonary embolisms, and 11 readmissions. He started preforming WLS in 2004. He does not have a pre op diet and the support group is ongoing (no matter how far out you are) and run by their dietitians. He said that fatty liver is common enough that he had to back out of a band once due to the size of the liver, but not any gastric bypass surgeries.

Please let me know if you think the above sounds good or not so good. I dont really have anything to base this off of and dont know if 136 is a normal number or not.

Thanks for all your help ladies!

Yes he said he is also a general surgeon and he does that and WLS 50-50. Can you PM me your surgeons name?

Jill: Do you happen to know if he has a website?

I am hard of hearing and wish there was a site where I could see a list of Drs, their self pay price and how many operations they have preformed.

I don't know if I'm allowed to post another forum on here, but there is a ton of information about WLS at www.obesityhelp.com. They have message boards for every kind of WLS plus information about hundreds of surgeons.

I had a vertical sleeve gastrectomy back in March and have had no complications and am 2.1 pounds away from being in the "normal" weight range. I would make the same choice again in a red-hot second!!

obesity help has surgeons who place SOME of their data on the site - i haven't seen anyonen post complications. and no one posts their prices - you'll have to contact the office for that.

as for the data your doc gave you - i'm with Jilly on this - he's a general surgeon who also does WLS. and he gave you stats only for gastric bypass, and none for the band. can you find out why there were 11 readmissions? we know that the folks with the pulmonary emboli and the leaks were readmitted, but what about the others?

while you're looking/waiting, how about going to the support group - hear what people are saying, how they're doing, ask them some questions [just don't take over the group - the folks who've had surgery are genuinely there to get some help, so it's not polite to monopolize the conversation - i've seen it happen. but it's perfectly OK to ask a couple of Qs and to chat with a few folks before and after the meeting]

I am so confused with the DS and the sleeve it seems like there are a few surgeries that they can combine in one. It wasnt until today when I saw something that said gastric bypass vs DS that I looked into DS.

According to the Dr he said those procedures were rarely done anymore. I have now looked up some information and I see a lot of people choose to revise their gastric bypass to DS. So now that gives me one more thing to research.

Jill: I just saw the name of your Dr and I emailed him. His website made him sound incredible, but I will email the other Dr you mentioned as well. Do you happen to know if DS is more or less than Gastric Bypass?

ML: Is that the same thing as the DS or added with the DS? I am on that site too and just started posting and reading through information there.

Jiffy: Thanks for the suggestions. After reading a lot of people say that was extremely low and seeing other doctors have numbers high into the hundreds and even thousands I think I should probably look else where. Maybe having to reschedule was a really big blessing in disguise. I now have a chance to look into DS and other surgeons.