Met Dr. Castro

May 24, 2009

I went last Wednesday and met Dr. Manuel Castro. He operates in two locations, Dallas, and Mansfield. I met him at the Mansfield location. I was impressed with the office waiting room and how I was treated there. I only waited for maybe 10 minutes. I was called back by Sandra (I believe) and she went over my history and my reasons for being there. Then Dr. Castro came in and I was impressed with his friendly manner and smile. He actually spent about 45 minutes with me!

He asked me why I wanted to remove my band and I explained to him that it was no longer working for me. I said that I thought that I might have a leak and gave him my reasons for thinking so. I did say that it was not the bands fault in the beginning as to why I had gained the first 20lbs back. I explained I started eating soft foods and my life situation at the time (met and fell in love with hubby, started stressful job, moved from the country to the city, blah blah). I then explained that when I tried to get back on track my body refused. I was diagnosed with insulin resistance. I got discouraged. In the mean time, I had very little to no restriction. I went to my Mexico doctor who pulled out no saline when he went to check my fill. It made me believe i had a leak. He filled me with 1.8. I came back the next day, it was still there. But after a few weeks, it felt like it left me. I gained the other 40 lbs over the next year.

Anyway, he listened to me and tried to tell me he could fix the leak if there was one. He did the "doctorly" think and tried to attempt to discourage me, which I appreciated. It meant I wasn't just chattle to him. Then I told him I didn't want to have to worry in 5 years wether my band was still working, wether I would eventually get a leak. I told him I wanted the reduced hunger effect of the sleeve, and the restriction "right out of the box". I also liked the fact that I could revise again to a DS if I wanted to. I guess that convinced him plus the fact that he recognized that I did well with good restriction before.

He pulled me into another room and proceeded to check my fill. Surpisingly he pulled out 1.9-2 cc's!! I told him "does this mean I am crazy?" and he said "no no no" . He proceeded to explain to me that I probably had a small slip causing a pelican pouch which was then causing me to have GERD and causing my esophogus to expand acting like a second pouch. He explained this was probably why I could eat more. He let me set with no fill and I sat up. He then laid me back down and gave me back my fill plus 1cc. Now I am not sure why he gave me a fill.....it would make more sense to leave it alone I would think??? But maybe he was thinking if i could lose a little before surgery it would help? I was thinking more along the lines of I didn't want any further trauma to my stoma before surgery? I am going to ask Sandra when she calls me after submitting my insurance.

That was another positive thing! They told me that they have had sucess with my insurance-United Healthcare. They said that if anything, they would at least pay for the band removal and then I would just have to cover the sleeve which would only be $2000! Hey, I think I can come up with that!!

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