The Path I took to getting Referred
As I've been reading the board I see where our new comer keep asking, "How do I get started."...I thought it might be fun to share with all you all the tricks I resorted to in trying to get past my PCP.
Well I kinda cheated to get referred.....After struggling with him over and over trying to get a referral for Wls I took a family member with me to my final appointment and introduced Dr. Daughter to Dr PCP.
He got all happy and asked what type of medicine she practiced and she chuckled at him saying, "Don't mind my mom she gets a kick out of calling me Doctor. I hold a doctorate but not in medicine."
He was drawn in like a fish on a hook. He asked her what field her doctorate was in and she replied........"Law" then she smiled that shark grin they issue upon graduation day.
He asked her what type of law she practiced and with those pearly shark whites still glistening she replied, "med-mal." (Medical Malpractice.)
All she had to do after that was sit quietly and listen. I went after him with both barrels pointing out my family history of heart disease again. Handed him a list of diets I had tried, some medically supervised.
Only once did she intervene and that was when he tried to side step current medical issues I was having. She simply asked him what role my weight was playing in the health issue I was dealing with and if losing weight would improve the problem.
The rest is history. I got the referral. I'm not sure if it was her presence or the way she kept him focused on my weight being the underlying culprit for my health problems.
Take a page from this. Those of you still fighting for that referral...Keep your doctor focused....Ask your PCP to explain to what degree your weight might be causing the health issue.
Getting him to admit that my health was being negitively impacted by my weight was the winning factor in the end. At that point you have him on withhold medical treatment if he/she doesn't make the referral.
I'd love to hear how you handled your stubborn PCP...Please share.
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06-17-05 Lap-ROUX-EN-Y
BMI 41.1 / 21.9 /24
224/219/120 /131 -104 lbs ...... 11 lb Below Goal.... Made Goal on April 21. 10 Months and 4 Days post-op!
consultation/pre-op/current/goal
COFFEE, CHOCOLATE, MEN...SOME THINGS ARE JUST BETTER RICH!
Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life, and when it comes, hold your head high. Look it squarely in the eye, and say, "I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me."
Last edited by Peckkale; 03-24-2005 at 11:31 AM..
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Handling my PCP
I have been with the same pcp for 17 years, he has delivered both my kids and even seen me through many tough times, BUT I was not happy. For sometime I have been disapointed in the practice of my pcp, I felt he wasn't aggressive in his practice and just plain to laid back. Well for over a year i started side stepping him and going to the Nurse Practioner (who is all for the wls) every chance I got. The NP knew I was very unhappy with my health status and she also knew I have been fighting for many years this weight issue not to mention my family history of diabetes, stroke, cancer, asthma, weight problems, the list goes on..... So I went to her one day for a "physical" there was no physical it was just a reason I had to give them to schedule my appointment. I told her how I felt, where I am with the whole thing and asked her how she felt...... she gave me a name and number of a doctor just up the road who performs wls ONLY in people he feels is a candidate for the surgery. That was a year and a half ago, since my first visit to DR. R I have not went back to the other Doctor. Dr. R has met all my medical needs and has even helped correct things that has been an issue for years. He got me started on my wls journey and when the insurance company turned me down Dr. R knew exactly who to send me to just so I can live a normal healthy life and get my surgery approved. I ended up driving clear to chicago (3 hour drive) to a top world wide renowened physician of surgery. I have just recently been approved in the first of this month after Dr. A spent 7 months fighting in my behalf. I am now on the cpap (something I should have had many years ago) my sleep apnea is under control, asthma is getting under control, and I am on my way to health and living amongst the living. I don't regret the change I had to make in my physician, I know I am much healthier because of it and my health is watched more closely. I have to see my pcp every three months where before I was only in to see the doctor as needed, well it was a bigger need that we realized. I am very thankful to that Nurse Practioner who sent me up the road to another physician. If the doctor who I used to go to caught wind of the apointment I had that day witht he Np she may have lost her job for giving me such advice, but I thank her always for that.... as I feel she has possibly helped save my life. Sometimes you have just got to take chances and do what you got to do to make it to your destination in life.
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