So i had an appointment today for my intial consultation at AIGB in Richardson. After finally finding the place and making my way in, the girl asks for my DL, insurance and info packet from the seminar.

:faint: :faint: :faint:

I had completely forgotten about that stupid info packet I was supposed to bring. She 'claims' it takes 30 min to fill all of it out and because of the current time (appt was for 3:30pm and it takes hr and a half for the consultation), they made me reschedule...despite having drove 30+miles to get there :) :mad: . I'm a little angry that they wouldn't just see me then and let me fax the paper work over the next day but I knew from past experience arguing about it wouldn't have done any good.

So barring anymore hiccups on my part, i'll get it this Monday. So my question is what exactly is done at these initial consultations?? I thought it was just blood work done and maybe talk to you a little about the surgery...??

Bloodwork came way after my initial consultation. When I had mine, it went: weigh > vitals > wait in this room for surgeon > surgeon comes in > surgeon asks questions > I ask questions > general chit-chat > surgeon leaves >coordinator arrives and says, "Pick a date".

For me the bloodwork came when I was getting my admittance stuff done, between the consultation and the surgery.

I did my consult over the phone, since my surgeon was in a different state.

It lasted about an hour.

He asked a bunch of questions... weight, height, bmi, current medical conditions, family histories, current meds etc. Then, he went through the procedure, very detailed and thorough, but not over my head. He talked in general about pre-op, post-op and mature band diet (Explained that nutritionist will go into more detail)

I asked a bunch of questions and he answered them fully. Very conversational. He made sure I had a good understanding of what I was getting myself into.

I already had a date set, so basically it was "see ya the day before, and call me if you have ANY questions"

I felt very good about everything.

Yeah.. my doc office is STRICT about having the packet filled out... they tell you over the phone, they tell you at the seminar, and she even reminded me when she called to confirm the consult appointment....

It was some vitals, and a simple conversation with the dr...... and then it was all about the insurance....

Well I had my initial consultant today at AIGB (remembered to bring the packet this time :heh: ) took my weight, BP, measured around muh gut and took me to talk to Dr. Cindi Marsden about the procedure and went over my packet I filled out.

It was good to talk to someone who tells you what's going to happen, what's needs to happen on your part and be positive and encouraging at the same time. She really gave me the impression that they do care about helping you reach your weight loss goals.

So now here comes the fun part , gotta get a sleep study done, psych clearance and stress test done there in the next couple of weeks; Along with getting a chest xray and blood work done at two other spots that I can hopefully knock out this week. I was hoping I could've skipped some of this but whatever it takes ... :biggrin1:

So now the ball is officially rolling and will hopefully snowball on it's own as it rolls down the pre-op hill :clap2:

Sorry this happened to you. I know how anxious you must feel. I felt the same way. Nothing was fast enough for me. Take it one day at a time and get back in there as soon as you can. You will still feel excited even if its a week away. Good luck.

Sorry about the initial hiccup... I have to tell you that while I felt just "ok" about the folks at AIGB - the people at the actual Surgery Center are incredible. All AIGB really does is get the package together to submit to your insurance - then you don't have much contact with them unless you use the Aftercare program.

My doc wants me to go - since he thinks I might benefit from more constant attention and accountability. Apparently, he thinks losing just under 3 pounds a month is less than optimal... *sigh*

Maybe he's right. I will let you know.

Oh - and don't count on much help from AIGB if your initial request for precertification is denied... I pretty much had to fight the insurance battle on my own. But it was well worth it. My surgery went off without a hitch and the people were sooooo nice.

:]