Kourtney Richards

My name is Kourtney and I have been overweight a majority of my life. I have never been happy with my weight and I am doing something about now! I have been thinking about weight loss surgery for about 2 years now and doing research. It is definitely a chore trying to find answers through all the advertisements and information out there on the internet. Bariatric Pal has been very helpful in sorting through all the hype and getting down to the real stories; the patient's stories.
 
What is just as frustrating is trying to figure out how to pay for this surgery! In the two years that I have been checking into weight loss surgery, I have NEVER had insurance that would cover it! Why would any insurance company in their right mind not cover the surgery for someone who has health concerns that are expensive and life threatening that would be reversed with sustained weight loss? You think about the expenses associated with weight induced health issues and any company would be a fool not to cover the surgery. According to the American Diabetes Association, "The total estimated cost of diagnosed diabetes in 2012 is $245 billion, including $176 billion in direct medical costs and $69 billion in reduced productivity." Wow! What a statistic! ARE YOU LISTENING INSURANCE GIANTS? Bariatric surgery for those individuals suffering from debilitating conditions that could otherwise be reversed or lessened by receiving the surgery is a no brainer!
 
Ok, now off my soapbox and on to my story. After two years of research (and a horrific divorce that made me realize how much I had neglected me for 11 years), I have decided to do something for myself and for my kids. I decided to bariatric surgery. How did I come to this conclusion. I would like to say that I finally realized that it was time, or that my insurance covered it. But simply put, it is now a necessity for my life! I found out in 7/2014 that I have Lupus. I have probably had Lupus for many years (possibly all the way back to when I was in my early 20s). Lupus was not only causing me to be in constant pain, but it was also putting strain on my kidneys. Between the Lupus and my other comorbidities (high blood pressure, sleep apnea, stress urinary incontinence), it was time to do something to save my life!
 
So the first step is to figure out what type of bariatric surgery I should get. After talking to a bariatric surgeon, I discovered that the only choice for me is the vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG). The reason this is my only option is that the other bariatric surgeries are not compatible with my Lupus. Lupus would attack the gastric band much the same as it does my body. The full gastric bypass surgery is too much for my fragile system to cope with. So VSG it is!!
 
So the next step is to figure out how much it costs as I will be paying for it on my own (damn insurance companies!!) The internet research shows that the average cost for VSG in the US is between $14,000 and $25,000 depending on the part of the country it is performed. Yup, I will just whip out my checkbook and write that check right now! YEA RIGHT!! So I looked up my options for financing my surgery. Although there are several financing companies out there that will lend the money needed to get the surgery, they won't lend it to me. Remember that horrific divorce I talked about earlier? Yea, well, my credit is as horrific as the divorce. My ex-husband figured out it was hard to pay the bills without my help and brought down my credit while figuring out how to be a grown-up! So no financing for me... at least not $15,000 worth! So where to go from here? Well, being an RN I meet a lot of people who share their stories with me. What do a lot of post-bariatric surgery patients have in common? Well, many of them didn't get their surgery in America! That's right, many of them have gone over the border to Mexico to have it done. Scary, right? That is what I thought too, until I heard more stories from patients and did some research. Bariatric surgery in Mexico is not only 1/3 of the cost of the US, but you don't have to wait as long and not as much red tape to get through. What a deal! Which brings me to the next step in this journey.
 
Step three is to find a good and reputable surgeon in Mexico that I can trust to do my surgery. After hours and hours on the internet on blogs, discussion boards, etc., I had my search narrowed down to Dr. Ortiz at the Obesity Control Center and Dr. Lopez at Specialized Bariatrics. Dr. Ortiz has done many thousands of bariatric surgeries and has received many recognitions, awards, etc. Dr. Lopez has also performed many thousands of bariatric surgeries and was trained by the world-renowned bariatric surgeon Dr. Juan Corvala. After all the research, I decided to go with Dr. Lopez.
 
I first filled out the contact form on their website. Within a couple of hours, I was sent an email from a representative by the name of Cathy Zimmerman. She gave me the health history questionnaire and said to fill it out, submit it and the doctor would go over it, assess, and decide if more information was needed. I filled out the questionnaire that day and was contacted a day later saying I had been approved for weight loss surgery. They sent me the pre-op and post-op diet information and stated I need to reply with some dates I would like to look at for the surgery. I replied back and forth several times with Ms. Zimmerman with many questions and she would quickly (usually within an hour or two) reply back with the answers.
 
Upon hearing of my decision and what I was planning, my mom decided she wanted to do it as well (yup, obesity runs in my family). So she started the process as well. Unfortunately, her approval wasn't as quick (she is 63). They requested she get a clearance letter from her primary physician before being cleared for surgery in Mexico. This actually made my mom and myself feel a lot better as it showed they were not in it just for money, but had our best interests for our health at the forefront. Mom has an appointment with her primary doctor on Monday.
 
This brings us up-to-date with where I am in the process right now. My next step is to get my passport card (I only need a passport card and not a passport book for travel by land to Canada or Mexico). I next have to ensure financing is in place (my personal bank is willing to do a personal loan for the amount it would cost). Once my mom is cleared by her doctor, we will set our date. We have already been informed that our date we are hoping for (3/20/14) is open and available. Once we set that date we have to have our deposit sent within 3 days to save our date. This is a refundable deposit and is easy to get to them (I do not have to give them any credit card or bank account information).
 
So as this process goes, I will update everyone with what I have done, what surprises I have found, and anything else that may be interesting about this process. My weight as of this very day of writing this first blog post (1/30/15) is 366 and a BMI of 55.6.