I love to blog..

So anyway.. this is the begining of my journey, I began sometime in December, I began by seeing my Dr, they said that I would require a 6month nutritional counseling, I would have to join a fitness club, have a physical and psych eval before my insurance would even consider banding me. The waiting game... :wink2:

I joined something called First Line Therapy, it was an out of pocket expense of $2000, as far as I was concerned it was well worth it. Come to find out 3 weeks later, that it's no longer a requirement of my insurance and I'm out the money!! Oh well, the way I see it... If I was told that I could have my surgery done ASAP as opposed to waiting 6 months and the cost would be 2grand.. I'd pay the 2 grand.. so I quit pouting.:tongue:

In the meantime.. I'm tracking down any and all medical records for the past 5 years for the purpose of needing documentation of my weight and any weight related problems for example; knee pain, back pain, sleep apnea, GERD etc...

Next, I had a sleep study done, I had my suspicions that I had sleep apnea so I thought.. oh well, atleast the documentation would be there for insurance purposes so it was bitter sweet when I got my results.. I have sleep apnea YAY! I just got one more diagnosis for my insurance to consider my band... Oh hey wait.. I have sleep apnea.. that sucks.. that's a disease for fat people.. oh wait.. I'm fat.. that sucks more. Phooey. :eek:

So my next step was the Psych eval, Loved my psychiatrist, she was awesome, I thought for sure I'd be in some dark room and she'd be interrogating me, but she was extremely supportive and gave me the thumbs up Yay! :tt1:

Next my letter of Medical Necessity.. I researched and researched this, and found one website that had an excellent letter of medical necessity and added my twist (I've worked in the medical field since 1990) So here's what I did, my Dr's office was pretty clueless, God Bless them, but they just didn't know, all they wanted to do was send me with my medical records, so I typed up my own letter of medical necessity and took it to them, so My Dr put it on her letterhead and signed it, it was GREAT! :tongue:

The same day I took my letter to my Dr's office and all my medical records so that they could start my Prior Authorization from my insurance.. and then.. the waiting game.. :biggrin: Were my records going to be enough? I sent out an email to everyone on my address list and asked them to pray for me..

10 days passed and I was getting antsy.. one of the girls I work with kept bugging me to call my Dr's office but I didn't wanna be a pest... I had already mentally told myself I wouldn't call until it had been 2 week.. UGH it was killing me!! So.. I nonchalantly called the insurance company instead.. and asked if they had EVEN received a request and they told me that I had been approved YAY YAY!! I was approved!! WOO HOO! I wanted to dance.. but couldn't dang it.. but I emailed my friend in the office and she came running to the back and gave me a big hug I wanted to cry and dance all at the same time!:smile:

So now.. the preop appt is scheduled on 2/4/08 approximately 2 months after my journey began... I'm on my way to the begining of my new life.. and the end of my old one.. I can hardly wait! :cool2:

PS.. if anyone is interested in a copy of my letter of medical necessity.. you can email me here or at lrome314@yahoo.com!

Take Care.. God Bless.. and GOOD LUCK fellow BandPeeps!