Well here I am at the beginning....

This is the beginning of my journey. As an obese 30 year old with a wonderful and supportive husband I decided I needed to take control of my weight so that I could spend the rest of my life with the man I love and raise a family together. I was never obese as a teenager, maybe 10 pounds here or there, but then college came. The freshman 15 turned into 30+ and it was mostly uphill from there, mostly caused by Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and Insulin Resistance. Today at my doctor's office I weight in at 281 pounds, way too much for me at 5'5".

I went to my PCP today to try to get a referral to a local Bariatric Surgeon, Dr. William Graber. My PCP was more than willing to give the referral, however my insurance company was not as willing to accept the referral. It all started yesterday when I called my insurance company and asked them about Bariatric Surgeons, they verified that there were no "Bariatric Surgeons" within 100 miles of my zip code. Woo Hoo I thought I was golden, if there were not any surgeons covered I could get a waiver to see Dr. Graber due to a Network Deficiency. What I didn't know is that many doctors that perform WLS are not specifically labeled as a "Bariatric Surgeons" and this is what became a thorn in my side. After speaking with my PCP's office for the 3rd time this afternoon it became apparent that there is absolutely no way that I would end up seeing Dr. Graber for this surgery. My PCPs office believes that there is another local surgeon by the name of Dr. Graniero that will accept my insurance. I'm not sure how I feel about that as most of my friends that have had the surgery have seen Dr. Graber. I guess at this point it doesn't hurt to have a consultation..... I can always say no.