Dr. Cowan's staff told me, "Do Not eat or drink until after your test are completed." This is a good point to bring out, when you go to your doctor's office for an appointment: Remember, DO NOT EAT OR DRINK ANYTHING until you have checked and boubled checked that it is permitted.

A tip for you, the reader, is to take time long before your scheduled appointment to make notes about your past weight loss history as well as your past medical history. Remember tis is most likely the doctor that will be writting the letter to your insurance company asking for approval for you to have the operation as a covered event. This doctor most likely does not know your past and if you give him a complete description of yourself and your hardships he will be able to write a more complete letter.

There are Five classes of problems associated with Morbid Obesity:
1. Medical
2. Social
3. Psycological
4. Physical
5. Economical

A good description of you for insurance approval should cover a complete description in each of the above topics.

Have your notes ready.

The friendly staff of Dr. Cowan's office greeted me when I came in. One of his staff members took the time to tell me just exactly what to expect on this full day of processing. The nurses then took turns with me, each completing a specific task. This day I was taken through a number of physical exams and inspections. Vital Signs and physical appearance and measurements, as well as Psychological evaluations which were noted in the chart.

Shortly after my arrival, one of the nursing staff members began to process me with some papperwork and aquainted me with some of the hospital services and rules. A registered Nurse also talked with me. At that time a health history was obtained and more instructions given.

Blood was drawn to check the status of my kidneys, liver, nutrition, blood, cholesterol and other important things. The results were available and discussed with me by the surgeon, Dr. Cowan, later that day. Before surgery many of the tests may be repeated.

Many patients will be having a glucose tolerance test. This is a test for diabetes where you drink a sweet (glucose sugar) solution, before and after which blood and urine samples are taken. This is a very important test, as many obese patients have diabetes without being aware of it.

Note: if you have diabetes, bring this to the nurse's attention, as this will test may have to be modified or canceled. Remember you are still not to eat or drink anything until all studies are done for the day.

After all these tasks were completed, late that afternoon, I went back to Dr. Cowan's office again. This is when I actually got to meet the doctor himself one on one. He is quite a character. A very happy and warm person who leaves you in awe. Dr. Cowan goes over everything that had happened to me on this very long day. In this discussion he assured me that the next step is done completely by his staff. The long and arduous task of getting your Insurance to commit to pay for this surgery and related fees.

I was instructed to have a visit with a Psychiatrist to evaluated mental status. I think it was basically to see if emotionally I could handle the stress of surgery. This I did and which resulted in a letter back to Dr. Cowan saying that I could handle the situation. What I could not handle would be denial of surgical intervention. That would really mess up my day! Basically I feel this surgical intervention is like a second chance at life.

Next I was to be seen at a Sleep Lab to evaluate my level of Sleep Apnea...

As a rough estimate the Hospital charges $20,000.00 and the doctor charges $7,000.00 - that makes it very important to get the go ahead from your insurance company First!

After the response from my insurance company was recieved at Dr. Cowan's office: I received a call from one of his staff and told that the approval was in and another appointment was set up for me to come back into the office. This appointment is used to go over your chart and address any questions you might have. A brief discussion ensues to lay out what will happen next.

My Insurance approval took only 30 days from Blue Cross / Blue Shield PPO.