Finally spoke to the surgeon tonight (to be fair, he called last night, but I was on a long phone call with a friend, and the "No Caller ID" that came up is what another friend who is also a client, who tends to call me in the evening and mix business with casual conversation for a long time and then expect me to not charge him for any of it). They haven't heard back from the insurance company to clarify whether the plication will be approved upfront or not. So I'm still not on any schedule.
We also discussed lipo'ing the side ****age. I would of course have to pay for that. I'm not sure that it is worthwhile without skin excision to address the gross overflow that cannot be contained by a bra. Not sure I want to go through pain and expense if I'm not going to get much better cosmetic outcome. Part of the reason this matters is that if I DON'T have any cosmetic surgery, he can more easily schedule time at one hospital, which has outrageous charges for self-pay plastic surgery (OR, anesthesia); if I DO want the add-on lipo, he wants to do it at a different hospital, where he doesn't have time blocked out for him in advance, so scheduling might be more difficult.
I don't know what to do. But I'd better figure it out soon.
On a slightly different front, Charles has a long deferred surgery as well - the inguinal hernia he had re-repaired in 2014 has torn AGAIN; last year, he was told to hold out for as long as possible, because a third surgery has a much higher likelihood of leaving him in more pain rather than less
. But he's in pain. So he decided that he would refuse to have surgery until AFTER I have mine - that was the standoff we arrived at last summer.
In the meantime, his surgeon who recommended watchful waiting left the practice, so he needs a new surgeon. So while I was on the phone with the surgeon, I asked him for a recommendation for this rather complicated procedure. He said he'd like to see the prior op report - which I happen to have right here in my electronic files - so I sent it to him. Won't Charles be surprised to find out when we go to the hospital and he meets the surgeon, that I'm lining him up for his own surgery, without telling him, for August, when we get back from our 2 month camping trip? Yeah, but that's what I have to do with him. He'll be PO'ed, and then he'll go along with it.
