Roo101769's Blog

Happiness and a sinus infection

Tuesday was a big day for me. In fact, it could be life changing. I met with the surgeon. It was great. He said I am a great candidate for the sleeve and that I should do awesome with it. Our consultation went as smoothly as can be. The few areas of concern I had were quickly put to rest. I was worried about having the DVT/PE this year and being on warfarin. But that will be handled and they aren't very worried about it. My other concern was time off work. I have already missed the better part of two 1/2 months work this year due to my DVT/PE. Even though my boss is on board with me for the WLS and believes this is best for me, I do not want to be off for weeks on end. That might be pushing it. The surgeon said that as long as I am healing well, there are no complications, and I am tolerating any pain or discomfort without being a zombie on pain meds he will release me to come back to work after a week. While I intend to take it easy at home and rest as much as possible, my job is really no physical stress. I sit on my butt at a computer all day. I don't want to make the work Gods mad, so I will be a good little loyal employee and do what I can to be here. So resolving those two issues was about all I had worried about. It sounded to me that the process will go fairly quickly from here. ( from what the surgeon said) My psych evaluation is next Tuesday. I am waiting to hear from the hospital to schedule my nutritional counseling. And he said I "might" need a pulmonary test to check out my lungs since I had the two PEs, but he isn't really worried that there is a problem. ( he will consult with the anesthesiologist to see what the say) Other than that he said everything was in order, so my footwork before hand has paid off! LOL The only bad news of the day was from my hematologist. Seems that he wants my INR level higher, so he is going to request they increase my warfarin dosage. I already have some undesirable side effects from the medicine, so I can only imagine those will get worse. Of course there is the easy bruising/ easy bleeding aspect. I also have been having weird skin issues. Random bumps and spots appearing, then disappearing. Some are boil like and get sore and end up draining. But the thing that is most disturbing to me has been increased hair loss. When I was in my mid 20s I lost a good deal of my head hair due to PCOS. Then after my pregnancy, when my hair had actually thickened in due to hormones, the eventual fall out made things worse than they had been before. I have been using Toppix hair fibers for a few years now to help hide the extreme thinning. Without it I look very much like someone who has been on chemo. Since I have been using the warfarin again the thinning has increased. It is getting harder and harder to cover the bald areas. I can only assume when my dosage of warfarin is increased the thinning will increase too. And of course I already have read all about hair loss after WLS. So....I made another pretty big decision. To be honest it was fairly easy to make, given what I have to work with. I purchased a wig. I did it over the internet (not a lot of wig shops around to go into) so I am praying it looks realistic. I know what is coming and I might as well be ready for it. I am not someone who will be able to embrace the whole "bald is beautiful" thing, even though I do applaud those who pull it off with style and grace. Nope, I'm a hair girl. So I am just hoping I can find something that will help me feel confident in the next phase of my life... And now to the sinus infection. After all my great news Tuesday I started to feel puney. By the time the work day was over I knew I was a sick chick. That night was miserable, congestion and a runny nose. When I woke up yesterday I had the WORST facial pain from a sinus infection I have ever had. Finally got to see a doctor in the evening. Finding a medicine I can take that won't interact with the warfarin and that I am not allergic to was tricky. In fact, I actually threw up this morning after taking it. ( of course I might not have ate enough beforehand and caused that) So all my elation over Tuesday was tempered by feeling crappy. Amazing how fast it came on too. Zero to crap-tastic in no time at all!

Roo101769

August 8, 2013

Update

My PCP is the culprit of the delayed record share. I received a call back from them yesterday afternoon and the nurse told me they will be sending everything over tomorrow. (Friday) Apparently they have an outside company that comes in a couple times a month that handles these types of requests. She also said only one year of the two required is actually already in a computer file, therefore the earlier records have to be pulled manually. ( And scanned to be sent) To be honest it probably is not a lot of info. I did not have a lot of medical contact in 2012. So my surgeon's office will have everything they need from my PCP tomorrow. I hope the pulmonary evaluation report will be in too. It will be a week since the tests were ran. I may call the pulmonologists' office tomorrow to find out. So if they have all the records and needed clearances by tomorrow I am keeping my fingers ( and toes and eyes) crossed that they will submit them to insurance next week. That will probably be the most nerve wracking time, waiting to see if I am approved. Given I have a BMI in the 50s, (for several years) severe osteoarthritis in my knees, a history of DVTs and PEs and permanent vascular damage in my right leg I SHOULD be approved without problem. But there is a small nagging fear in the back of my mind that says I do not have the "big" co-morbidities of high blood pressure or diabetes. Those are two things that would pretty much guarantee approval with my insurance. I am scared to death that I have set myself on this path, I am determined it is my "salvation" of sorts, and that I could be denied and not get the surgery. That would devastate me to no end. I do not want my health to get worse. I do not want further damage done to my leg to the point I could actually lose it. (worst case scenario of course) I do not want to be the "fat mom" who is unable to be an active part in her child's life. My daughter already has to deal with the fact I am the "old" mom, at least I would like to be the active, highly energetic older mom who is not limited by her body! I have zero doubts that this is the path I need to be on. Yes, I have fear of major surgery. ( You would have to be pretty numb not to) But I have no reservations about what the sleeve means and how it will effect my life. I so hope I end 2013 starting my new life. Nothing else is acceptable now. It is now a waiting game. A very stressful, anxiety ridden, nail biting, difficult wait. My entire future depends on the outcome of the decision made by insurance. Some office flunky will have my life in their hands....

Roo101769

September 19, 2013

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