Kat Crowder

I go into Alexian on Monday, so I'm a week behind you! I have Dr. Wallace, who is also part of the Kane Center group that you and Shrinkinmama have. It sounds like I'm in good hands. I plan to go to support group meetings, so I hope to see you there. I imagine you need to talk to the surgeon or your primary care doctor about a temp handicap pass, once they clear you for driving.

Beautiful comment, iegal!

Good luck, Delta! Looking forward to hearing from you post-op!

LOL! That must be why I left Jersey really young! And, coincidentally, went to FL - although I'm in Chicago now.

My suggestion would be to say that you're trying to eat better and follow the advice of your doctor - which is totally true. I'd feel guilty if I actually lied. I haven't heard about Bound Brook, NJ in years! I lived in Bridgewater when I was a kid about 35 years ago - what a kick to see the name!

I'm afraid of that, too - I don't know how much of a difference your starting weight matters, either. Am I less likely to have a problem because I'm a low BMI to start with? Or no matter how heavy you are to start with, 2 weeks on the same diet gets most of the fat out of everyone's liver? I've been reading a little more tonight, and I super super super want my liver to shrink because my doctor's planning to do a single-site through the belly-button area, and I don't want him to have to convert to a multi-site. I think when I see him Thursday I'm going to fess up and see if we should reschedule. That would suck a lot because I've done a lot of planning around it with a friend flying in to be with me for the first week, and making sure it was the absolutely best time to take vacation. Rats.

I'd never heard of them before, but I googled around a bit and people at least like it for holding them in place. They're rubbery and you're soaking after wearing them. We'll have to wait to hear your reviews!

Afyna, it never hurts to call the insurance company and check. A lot of people, including me, have had a response come quickly after calling to follow up. Whether that's coincidence or not, I don't know. Good luck!

I just got approved today! Yay! I talked about this in another thread - I received a denial letter last week, primarily because the insurance coordinator for my surgeon's office hadn't submitted sufficient information (no information from my PCP except a letter, no information from my pulmonologist (and sleep apnea is my most advanced comorbidity), not enough info in the surgeon's attestation, etc.). I ended up talking to my PCP to get additional case information, sent medical records from my old doctor from 2001-2005 showing the comorbidities from back then, got my pulmonologist to supply a letter and my records, all to the surgeon's office. They faxed over ALL the records yesterday (I figured they'd go through and send the relevant ones, but no), and they set up a peer-to-peer talk between my surgeon and the insurance folks today, and voila, it's approved! The letter implied that an appeal needed to be filed, but when I called on Monday to ask if the additional documentation should be sent in an appeal, they said, oh, no, don't do that - an appeal can take up to 60 days or more, just send the additional documentation on the same case file. That wasn't clear at all. I bet it's really the peer-to-peer call that makes the difference to the doctors making the decisions - they don't want the explanation from Some Peon Without An MD and if they can get the information they need from a telephone conversation with someone with the letters after their name that they respect, they're willing to approve it. Another weird thing about my office is that they've refused to send me my "next steps" for after insurance approval until they had the approval in hand. So I get to find out tomorrow what I have left to do and what my timeline might be. I hope we can look at surgery dates. I believe I have an additional nutrition class, a GI exam, and some sort of preop diet to follow, but my pulmonologist has cleared me for surgery. I'm glad this is really happening! -Kat, who needs to work on a ticker for her sig at some point. :-D

Please don't lose hope! Look at how far you've come already - 60 pounds total out of 160 to lose? I agree with everything that walesmary said, just keep working on your exercise and nutrition, and look at the other ways things have improved. Going to the sugar and junk will just make you more unhappy. I'm a week away from my surgery, and I know I'll probably think similar thoughts at some time or another - and I know that the wonderful people here will help pull me back from that precipice. We're making an investment and commitment to our health, and we've got to stick with it!! -Kat

My denial at BCBS-IL was reversed after submitting additional documentation an having the surgeon talk to the insurance company, without even submitting an appeal. A lot of people seem to get an initial denial and come out with approvals.

Congrats to you, and good luck! You're right, it's the first day of your new life!

Woo hoo, go you! Sounds like a plan, and one I'll follow, too. Though right now I'm in pre-surgical-diet unhappiness mode.

Good luck, you guys! There's a lot of you May 14th-ers for today, so you're in great company! I'm a week out from y'all, so I look forward to hearing how everyone's upcoming week goes post-surgery.

Good for you for blogging!

*hugs* There is a lot of information, and there are a lot of options. I've heard a lot of positives about Dr. Garcia, though I don't know what group he works with. Information is power, though. Gather, gather, gather so you can make an informed decision, and go through the Mexico forum on here to see what others think. It can drive you crazy, but it's not like you're going to get your hair done.

If only Blago were going into his next journey looking to come out an improved man! Hope it goes well, and keep us posted!

Waiting for Monday sounds good, maybe things'll smooth out on their own. Are you taking the Effexor XR? My doc said I could pour the capsules out into my mouth or into a small amount of shake or something, but I'm not entirely sure how to make that work right.

Good to hear from you! What have the doctors advised on the sleeve cramping? My general thought would be to try lukewarm or roomtemp stuff.

Inline, sounds like a great plan - I'll echo what the others say, make sure you get some protein before your workout, and getting your endurance up and having muscle before the surgery should be good for recovery. I'm 4 days into my 2 week pre-op diet, and I was so glad that I felt energized enough to work out yesterday in my class. 600 cal just seems so low; my SparkPeople.com fitness tracker won't let me put in a calorie goal less than 1000.

Hi, Juli - I'm new here myself - getting sleeved at Alexian Brothers in Elk Grove Village on May 21st. The Post Surgical forums are probably the best place to ask questions like yours about stalls, usually people say "make sure you're getting your Water and Protein in, and walking, and you'll move past it, don't worry!" The groups based on localities are kind of odd - it's nice to know there are local people we can identify with, but questions and comments about anything unrelated to just Chicago fits better in other forums. I'm glad to make a connection with fellow Chicagoland folks, and doing something in person sometime would be great, but there's such a wealth of knowledge on these boards that it seems that when searching for info it's best to keep things with the group at large. Those are my thoughts on why there's less activity here.

We'll keep an eye on you! Congrats and good luck!

Glad to hear it!

I love my Massage Envy membership!

I'm not sure I really want to maintain a blog here. I kind of like the freeflowing comments within the forums, but I also like the idea of having somewhere a little more permanent where I can keep track of what's going on with me personally. We shall see. Now it's bedtime.