I am done mooing!

I got the paperwork in the mail today from my insurance company saying that they will approve my surgery for the sleeve. It gives a list of requirements and such that I have to do first. Now all I have to do is find an approved hospital and surgeon. That seems to be the hardest part. I thought that would be the easy part and the insurance company would be the hard ones. Crazy right?!?

Where do you find out the information? I can not find information anywhere about places that offer self pay.

It just annoys me that I have 8 hospitals in a 1/2 hour radius of my house that perform the surgery. Most of them are centers of excellence which is a requirement of my insurance, but I have to use a hospital 126 miles away.

I am not rich, I don't have the money to drive out to cooperstown all the time. That's 126 miles EACH DIRECTION! I don't even know if my car will make it that far. That is my ONLY option though because I can't afford to pay out of pocket. I really just want to give up and go crawl in a hole. This is bs.

My dr put me on Byetta today. He said that it will help me lose weight while I am waiting on my insurance to pull their heads out of their anus. Has anyone else used this before? They said that it will make me nauseous for a few weeks but that it's normal.

No nausea yet and I have gained 2 pounds, but my sugar is getting lower :-) Would rather have the weight loss though. Maybe when I go up to the 10 unit dose. Right now I am still on the 5 unit dose.

I currently take 100 units of Humalog 3x a day, 120 units of Levamir once a day, 10mg of Glucophage once a day and now the Byetta twice a day. Here's hoping that it will work a little :-)

My family is not supportive at all. They tell me that I am just enabling my disgusting-ness and that if I really wanted it I would do it myself. I know all about stigma's. Grrr.

What questions should I ask?

What if after going thru everything, my surgeon tells me that he doesn't feel that the sleeve is for me and wants me to go for the gastric bypass. Has anyone ever had this happen? How did you convince your surgeon that the sleeve is what you want? I have NO interest in the gastric bypass. I don't want my insides to be cut apart and re-routed, etc. I have been diabetic my whole life, I would like to eat a cookie some day with out being punished for it by either a needle or a toilet. I have been told over and over that I am too large for the band. I feel that my ONLY option is the sleeve. I haven't seen my surgeon yet, I am just scared that he is going to tell me that he will only do the bypass

Why does it have to go under the tongue? I have been taking it for months because it helps with energy, and I just chew it. They are the cherry ones from Wal-Mart. I didn't know they were supposed to go under the tongue until I read it on here a few days ago lol.

That's on my list too :-) I have not let myself go to an amusement park EVER because I don't want the embarrassment of being too fat for the rides. The guy that I am with has mentioned going to Disney World for our honeymoon. I feel like that may now be an option!

I love shaved ice. I wish there was some of them stands around here. Even just one, I would drive lol.

My insurance has approved the sleeve. My bestie is having an issue with her surgeon because she wants the sleeve and he wants her to have the bypass. I just couldn't imagine if my dr told me that because after researching, studying and waiting for this for 8 years I will be furious if my dr looked at me and said he didn't think I would be a good fit for the sleeve. That's why I have been wondering how often that has actually happened.

I didn't know they made them with carbonation That stinks.

Yesterday and today I just can't stop munching. I am very worried about this AFTER the sleeve. I need to learn to control the munching. Ugh. What tips do you guys have to help control a case of the munchies?!?

I am just so excited and ready! I know that it's going to be hard sometimes, but I want to be able to chase my son thru the playground. I want to be able to give him a sister (if I get a boy it's going back to the turd factory hahaha). I want to go to an amusement park and go on a roller coaster! I have never been I want to finally start living my life!!! I have decided that even if I have to save pennies, do fundraisers, take out loans and pay for it myself (at least I will get a vaca in Mexico ) I will have this surgery before I am 30!

Sadhasivam, Subramaniam, M.D. He is the surgeon that accepts my insurance in that hospital. That is the only part that sucks. If I don't like him I will have to go to a different hospital. The next closest one is about 2 hours away. That is the one that I originally thought I would have to go to until today when my insurance case manager called me and told me that I could use the hospital 20 minutes from my house I am so beyond excited and ready! I have been looking into this since 2004. I didn't want to have the bypass though because I didn't want my insides butchered. I have been waiting for something less "slice and dice". 8 years later, I finally found it and I am just so excited!

I have also already done the sleep study! 2 things off the list I have diabetes, sleep apnea, infertility, depression and occasional incontinence. My bmi is 61.8%. I don't think I will have to jump thru too many hoops. My insurance company is actually all for me having the surgery. They have been so helpful I can't believe it! They have gone above and beyond to help me get all the information that I would need to choose a hospital and a surgeon. They sent me a copy of their entire policy for bariatric surgery. I think they looked at my $600 a week insulin regimen and realized that this was going to save them a ton of green hahaha. It's the only time in my life this fat has ever come in handy.

My seminar is on the 30th, then I make the appointment to meet with the surgeon for the initial consultation. The only advantage I have is that I already meet with a nutritionist monthly because of my diabetes. I hope that cuts some time off it but if not, 6 months is not a long time when I am getting the rest of my life in return

I was looking at some books on Amazon about the sleeve and it made me wonder what everyone else has been reading? I was given "Finding The Thin Person Inside You" (fourth edition) by Barbara Thompson. It's very outdated. I have been looking at a few others though. So, what are you reading?!?

1) Evaluation by a mulit-disciplinary team consisting of medical, surgical, psychiatric and nutritional components. 2)Presence of severe obesity as defined by either of the following: *Body mass of > 35 with co-morbidity *Body mass of >40 with no co-morbidity 3) Documentation of willingness to comply with preoperative and post operative treatment plans, to include compliance with pre-operative dieting. (the following are about the surgeon and hospital requirements) 4)The facility must be contracted with CDPHP and participate in the network. 5)Adequit written bariatric program description including patient selection criteria 6)Adequate patient management plans and protocols that include therapeutic and evaluative procedures for all phases of treatment. 7) Must follow NYS HPA surgical management of obesity consensus guidelines. 8)Must be performed at facilities that are: *Certified by the ACS as a level 1 bariatric surgery center OR * Certified by the BSCOE (here is the excellence one) It seems like there are FAR more requirements of the surgeon and hospital than there are of the actual patient lol.

My gyno is an a$$ with no bed side manner. He was the biggest "fatty bash-er" I knew. As soon as my son was born I switched lol.

I was put on Heparin shots after having a c-section with my son. I asked why at the time and they said that in plus size women they gave the heparin to prevent blood clots because it takes us longer to get up and around after a c-section that it did for smaller women. I imagine it's the same kind of reason they would do it for the sleeve.

I bought the "dummies" book too. I am waiting for it to show up