New POA???

I met with my family doctor today. Being from a SMALL town, this amazing gal does it all! She has seen me threw all of my pregnancies, delivered my babies, takes care of my sniffles, etc.

When I began this journey, she was the first person I set up an appt with. However, being the impatient person I am, I went ahead and scheduled my visits with the surgeon.

We did our annual (well....a few years MORE than annual for me) visit and chit chatted the whole time. I told her that I had went to an initial visit with the surgeon. She looked at me with a solemn face and shook her head "no".

"Really?" I  said.

"No."

Ah, man!!! My plan shot out of the water???

I genuinely trust my doctor. She has been my doc for over 11 years. She looks out for the best interest of my family. She has also referred my family to the best doctors when they have needed specialized care (and trust me.....we've needed it!)


She was concerned about a number of things including experience, skill, etc. She has worked with Dr. L AND has seen his patients post-op (for other laproscopic procedures.) She hasn't been impressed. :(

However, she did have advice. She has worked with another surgeon with tons more experience, a good bedside manner, etc. While he is a much farther drive away, I would only have to make a couple trips out to see him. She talked to me about the plan of getting the required visits in and shared experiences of other patients. She said she could set something up for me to talk to those whom have gone through the process themselves.

One thing she mentioned was that all of her patients that started out wanted to get a lapband had ended up getting a gastric bypass. WHAT? I told her that I didn't think I could live that lifestyle. Honestly, I didn't have a WHOLE lot of points to back up my argument, but a gastric bypass seemed so.....um, permanent! I worried about rerouting my intestines and losing weight so quickly. She assured me that the lapband truly is permanent to be effective. One would have to have another procedure to remove it or to fix it if a problem would occur. While I never hoped to have those issues, in my head, I kinda think that it gave me the option to try something else IF it didn't work. Really, I don't have options! I HAVE to make whatever decision I make work! This IS permanent!

I shared my concern about insurance and she looked at my records and I had been there within 2 years and by bmi was 40 then. (yay!?!) Just a few days before my visit, I came in to get a tetanus shot and the doc put me on high blood pressure meds. (YUCK!) She said that this would also be beneficial in the approval process.

Before I left, we set up a plan for visits within the next few months. I set up a lab appointment for tomorrow and will get a call once the other visits have been set up.