Casco Bay Surgery

Be sure you have a current annual health evaluation sent to us from your Primary Care Provider (PCP), accompanied by a letter of referral. That's what starts the process. If you're considering surgery and haven't seen your PCP in a year, make an appointment for a comprehensive annual exam. 

Fill out the paperwork.  We'll review your  referral letter and annual health evaluation to be sure weight-loss surgery is a reasonable treatment option. We'll then ask you to fill out online or mail in some standard forms. Once we have that information we'll contact you with a date for your first appointment. 

Prepare in advance. Carefully read all the material we send you. There's more still on our web site for you to read. Visit other web sites. Learn all you can about obesity and bariatric surgery. It will help you achieve your goals. Come up with questions for the bariatric team and think about whether you prefer a Gastric Bypass or Lap-Band operation. 

Continue to diet and exercise. More and more insurance companies require that you show documentation of recent physician-supervised or organized weight-loss efforts of at least six months in a row. We are beginning to require this even of those people whose insurance companies don't, because it is the recommendation of the National Institutes of Health and because it's a good way to get into the best shape you can before having a big operation. At a minimum, meet with your primary care provider monthly to record your weight and document ongoing efforts to control it. 

Stop using tobacco. We can't operate on people who smoke cigarettes or pipes or who chew tobacco. We won't even give an appointment until three months after they've quit. Read our Tobacco Policy for more details. We know it's hard to quit, but it's important for the safety of the operation and for your long-term health. 

Recruit a support person. We require everybody considering a gastric bypass to have at least one person come to a class and agree to help you before and after surgery. It is very important to have the support of family and friends in order to achieve success. This can be awkward for some people. Get started. Open up and share your plans with a spouse, friend, coworker, minister. 

Address eating behaviors before meeting us. Many people seeking bariatric surgery have emotional issues around food and eating. One of the more common reasons we delay surgery is to allow a patient to begin therapy to better understand and control these behaviors beforehand. Unfortunately, it can add six months or more to your evaluation when we're the ones who detect the problem. Although our psychological assessment is more in depth, please make your own self-assessment now and consider therapy if you see any of these patterns. Read  Psychological Evaluation & Support for more information.

Check your insurance coverage. We accept self-paying patients, but most people hope their health insurance will cover most of the costs. Some insurance companies require you to be morbidly obese and have an obesity-related illness (high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.); others don't cover bariatric surgery at all. Some businesses save money on their employee health insurance by dropping bariatric surgery coverage, similar to saving on auto insurance by not covering windshield damage. You should be able to find out by asking your Human Resources representative at work or your employer. It's a good idea to get a copy of your own insurance policy.