New and lost

[Jifners66 8]

Hi, my name is Jen and I’m new here. I will be 40 years old next month. I have 4 kids (14, 6, 4, & 3). I’ve been thinking about Bariatric surgery for quite awhile. Currently a BMI of 44. I’ve tried so many diets over the past 20 years and even though I have been able to lose some weight it never stays off. Now as a result of being overweight, I am having a lot of knee issues, low back and hip issues. I know that losing weight would help tremendously. I want to exercise but because of my knees losing their articular cartilage, exercising has become so painful. My PCP, orthopedic doctor, gastro doctor and therapist all say that Bariatric surgery would be extremely beneficial for me. It will allow me to start exercising without all the added weight, help my GERD, help my Fibromyalgia and help my self esteem and anxiety. I agree with all of them.

My insurance company (Quartz) does cover the surgery. They gave me 3 places I can go to. 2 of the places are very far from where I live. The 3rd one is at UW in Madison, WI (about 1.5 hours from where I live). The thing is that my youngest is in 1/2 day PreK and I have no family around. I’m wondering how I can make all the appointments needed work while dealing with kids and their school schedules? From what I’ve read UW requires 7 months of appointments. I kind of wanted to get the process started soon so that hopefully by next summer I could get the surgery while my kids are home from school. Has anyone ran into this problem?

Also, has anyone on here gone to UW Madison for their surgery? I’ve been reading that Dr. Garren is amazing. Just curious if anyone has had experience with him or the surgery center there.

[catwoman7 11,285]

yes - I had my surgery there seven years ago - and Dr. Garren IS amazing. I would highly, highly recommend him.

[catwoman7 11,285]

their program is also fantastic - by the time you're rolled into surgery, you'll be very well-prepared. Also, they have fabulous support afterward.

I used to lead one of their pre-op classes before the COVID lockdowns started - I did it for three years, so I'm probably even more familiar with the program than most. I think you'll be very happy you went with them.

P.S. I'm guessing you live in or near Rockford? I can connect you with a former patient who lives there - she did go through UW's program - not sure if she had Dr. Garren or not - but she's very involved in the bariatric community. You'll get to know people on the program's Facebook page, too (they'll add you to it (if you want to be added, that is) once you officially enter the program)

Edited April 19, 2022 by catwoman7

[GradyCat 3,697]

Welcome to these forums. Here you'll find tons of information and advice and real-life experience in the threads and forums. Not all insurance is the same. Mine didn't require 6 months pre-op. I was about 3 months start to finish from applying to pre-surgery appointments to approval to actual surgery date.

[I♡BypassedMyPhatAss♡ 808]

Hi and welcome to the forums!

[Flab-U-Less Forever 140]

Do they offer virtual appointments for those that are not actual tests? I found that all my appointments were virtual unless I was having a test done. A benefit of covid because my doctor was about an hour from met. You should ask if some of the testing can be done locally and the results sent to them.

[Jifners66 8]

6 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

yes - I had my surgery there seven years ago - and Dr. Garren IS amazing. I would highly, highly recommend him.

Thank you! I’ve read such great reviews about him so I was hoping they were true. To answer your other comment, I live in Freeport (about 45 minutes from Rockford). That would be great if you could connect me with the lady you know who was a former patient. I do plan on joining the FB group once I officially enroll. I just need to find a day/time that would work for my first appointment since I’m sure my 3 year old can’t go (unless they have changed Covid protocols but I doubt it). I need to find a sitter first. We just moved to Illinois in December of 2020 so I haven’t made too many friends yet..lol.

[Jifners66 8]

3 hours ago, Flab-U-Less Forever said:

Do they offer virtual appointments for those that are not actual tests? I found that all my appointments were virtual unless I was having a test done. A benefit of covid because my doctor was about an hour from met. You should ask if some of the testing can be done locally and the results sent to them.

I am going to call them and tell them my situation and see if virtual calls would be acceptable for non testing appointments. I have severe anxiety so making the call is hard for me. I literally have to prep myself for a good week or more. Anxiety.. ugh!

[Jifners66 8]

4 hours ago, BypassingMyPhatAss said:

Hi and welcome to the forums!

Thank you!!! 😃

[catwoman7 11,285]

51 minutes ago, Jifners66 said:

Thank you! I’ve read such great reviews about him so I was hoping they were true. To answer your other comment, I live in Freeport (about 45 minutes from Rockford). That would be great if you could connect me with the lady you know who was a former patient. I do plan on joining the FB group once I officially enroll. I just need to find a day/time that would work for my first appointment singee I’m sure my 3 year old can’t go (unless they have changed Covid protocols but I doubt it). I need to find a sitter first. We just moved to Illinois in December of 2020 so I haven’t made too many friends yet..lol.

I'll send you a PM in a sec

I do know they've been doing a lot of appts virtually lately. My follow ups, too, have all been virtual since the pandemic began.

also, you may be able to have some of your pre-op stuff, like bloodwork, done locally. And if not in Freeport, UW Health does have some offices in Rockford (which would be way closer to you than Madison). Swedish American Hospital in Rockford is part of UWHealth, and I believe they have several clinics there as well. I get lab work done every year (blood), and I can go to any UWHealth lab - so I don't know why you couldn't go to one of the labs in Rockford. Or again, if there are no UWHealth labs in Freeport, they may be OK with you have it done by your local PCP. Just ask.

you don't have to call them if you don't want to - you can always email Dawn and ask her. I swear that woman knows everything! I'll see if I can find her email address and I'll PM that to you as well.

[catwoman7 11,285]

Jen - I sent you another message with the contact name (the woman in Rockford who also had surgery there). It's in the messages part of Bariatricpal.

[Jifners66 8]

13 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

I'll send you a PM in a sec

I do know they've been doing a lot of appts virtually lately. My follow ups, too, have all been virtual since the pandemic began.

also, you may be able to have some of your pre-op stuff, like bloodwork, done locally. And if not in Freeport, UW Health does have some offices in Rockford (which would be way closer to you than Madison). Swedish American Hospital in Rockford is part of UWHealth, and I believe they have several clinics there as well. I get lab work done every year (blood), and I can go to any UWHealth lab - so I don't know why you couldn't go to one of the labs in Rockford. Or again, if there are no UWHealth labs in Freeport, they may be OK with you have it done by your local PCP. Just ask.

you don't have to call them if you don't want to - you can always email Dawn and ask her. I swear that woman knows everything! I'll see if I can find her email address and I'll PM that to you as well.

That would be amazing if I could get some of the testing done here in Freeport or Rockford. I definitely will ask them if that’s an option. I’m sure they have to understand that not everyone lives close to Madison and it’s not always an option to drive there a lot. If I didn’t have my little 1/2 day PreK I’d have no problem with going up there. Next fall will be so much easier with all my kids in full day school. I just didn’t want to have to wait until then to get this started. I figured if I could at least get some stuff started over the summer then by fall it will be a lot easier for me.

[blackcatsandbaddecisions 854]

I had my surgery at an office almost 2.5 hours from where I live. They did almost all my pre-op insurance requirements via zoom. It was so convenient, took less than 5 minutes out of my day. Definitely ask if that qualifies for the insurance requirements. For the actual surgery I rented a house for 4 nights in the area. My kids are still excited about the vacation (they were 2 and 5 at the time). I stayed the night before, second night in the hospital, then two more nights before I had my post-op and we left town right afterwards. It was no problem at all.

[Jifners66 8]

Blackcats, thank you, that is actually an awesome idea! I’ll look into renting a house or even just get a hotel room for a few days 😊