kweenbee

Hi my name is Shawn (female) I am 57 years old, I was 56 when I started this journey in March 2012. Right now I am waiting for my Medicare HealthNet insurance to approve me. My insurance packet was sent to them Sept. 7th. My situation is a little different. When I had my upper gi they found a problem. I have Achalasia. When I have my surgery my Dr. Podkameni, Arizona is going to do what is call Heller Myotomy on my esophagus and if I do well he will do the vertical sleeve at the same time. If there are problems I will do the sleeve 6 to 8 weeks later. I am praying that my Dr. can do both at the same time. Can I please ask for prayers please. I will let you know my surgery date as soon as I know it. I am so excited. Not nervous yet. Sharon I feel we are doing the right thing. I watch a youtube video and a Dr. did this surgery on his 12 yr. old neice. So I thought if she can do it I can too. I wish I could remember the Drs. name, darn I forget. When I find his name I will tell you. Good luck everyone. I am so glad that they have this group for Sleever Sleevers!

I notice several of you saying you have dumping symptoms and you haven't been sleeved yet. I know my date is very close and all the sudden I am having dumping symptoms, nausea, diarreha, cramping, weakness, I have to lay down. I really believe I am already have the dumping symptoms. Weird. I feel like I am being prepared so I don't eat certain things like sweets, fats, carbohydrates, pasta, etc.

Hi my name is Shawn (female). My paperwork was sent to the insurance company on Friday. I am hoping for a date in October. I have Achalasia so I have to have Heller Myotomy Surgery and the Sleeve done on the same day if all goes well with the Heller Myotomy. Prayers please! I am so hoping when I wakeup in the recovery room they tell me they did both surgeries. If they can't do both, they will do the Heller and I will go back in 6 to 8 weeks for the sleeve. I am very excited and can't wait to start this journey! Dr. Podkameni will be doing my surgery in Arizona. Hugs and blessing to all of you!

Sorry I haven't gotten back with you sooner, I have been sick. I haven't had my surgery yet. I don't know if there will be any complication after the Heller Myotomy. I will ask the next time I talk to Dr. Pod. I would like to hear about your Heler Myotomy surgery. You said you are having problems with acid. I am having problems with acid now. I have to sleep with my bed very elevated. Some of the acid got into my lungs about 3 weeks ago. I got very sick with pneumonia. I am hoping the surgery will take care of that. I would like to discuss this with you some more! Would you like to email me at: kweenbee@cox.net I don't think you will be any problem having the sleeve. I will say a prayer for you and I wish you the best of luck.

Everyone thank you very much for your advice. It has been very helpful. I haven't called the insurance company yet because the papers were sent today(Friday) instead of Wed. The reason being the bariatric office didn't have the clearance from my PCP. I was on the phone with my PCP immediately and kept calling everyone so this would get taken care of. So they are submitting the forms today! Yeah!!

I talked to the insurance lady at my bariatric office today. Tomorrow (Wednesday) she will be submitting the paper work to the insurance company. I am getting closer and so excited. I have to have two surgeries one on my esophagus and the vertical sleeve. My Doctor is going to try to do both of them together. He will do the esophagus first and if all goes well than he will do the sleeve. I really, really need prayers that he can do both at the same time. If for some reason he can't I will have to wait 8 weeks after the esophagus is done to do the sleeve. I have a question she said I could start calling the insurance company after they are submitted on Wednesday. Did you contact your insurance company and how often? Thanks so much everyone!!

Thank you all for your kind support and prayers! All of you look great! Congrats to all of you!

I want to up date everyone about my bariatric surgery. I met with my surgeon Dr. Pod yesterday. I told him that it would be my birthday tomorrow and I wanted good news. I wrote you all about a week ago saying I had Achalasia. My endo. Dr. gave me this info and lead me to think I could not have my bariatric surgery. Well I have good news. I have to have surgery on my esophagus it is called Heller myotomy. Dr. Pod is going to do that surgery and if all goes well he will do the sleeve. If I have a lot of inflammation he will not do the sleeve at that time. I will have to wait 6 to 8 weeks for my esophagus to heal. Please pray that he can do both surgeries at the same time. I AM SO HAPPY THAT I STILL GET TO HAVE THE SLEEVE. Thank you all for your support, you are wonderful!

I really appreciate your honestly and I am so sorry you are suffering like this. I know the acid reflux is a terrible thing. I am now on an antibiotic because I had a spell of the acid reflex a few nights ago and some of the 'stuff' got in my lungs and I now have an infection. Thank you so much for being real with me. This does give me something to really consider. I wish I could give you a hug and tell you in time things will get better. When did you have your surgery and who was the Dr. if you don't mind me asking. I will be praying for you.

I had my 1st appointment in March 2012. So I have been on this journey for six months. I did my upper GI May 3, 2012. They found that I have stenosis of the esophagus (narrowing in the lower part of my esophagus). Than I had to do a Esophagael Monometry (they put a tube in your nose and run it down into the esophagus while you are awake). Than my Endoscopy Doctor got the results he sent the result to a friend at the Mayo Clinic to get his opinion. I talked with my Endoscopy Dr. a few day ago and he told me the diagnosis is Achalasia. Than he said I cannot have the weight loss surgery because of the risk. I immediately looked up Achalasia on several websites. They list several symptoms. I do not have any of the symptoms that are listed. example: food does not stick in my esophagus, no diffiiculty swallowing, no heavy sensation in chest after eating. No pain that mimics heart pain. No weight loss. This diagnosis does not fit me. I have never had any problems with any of these symptoms. If I had not done the upper GI we would have never known I have the stenosis. I feel I have had this since birth. The websites did say some causes are since birth. I have called the Dr. back and left a message with his assistant about not having any of these symptoms. I am very upset and worried. For the last 6 months I have prepared for this WLS. It is the 1st thing I think of when I wake up and the last thing I think of before going to sleep.You know what I mean, I have read and study, gone to lots of appointments and meeting, etc. Any advise would be greatly appreciated! I really want and need to have the sleeve done! Please say prayers for me.

Dear mztialady I am sorry that your surgery has been delayed because of your labs. I will say a prayer for you. I started my journey in March and I still don't have insurance approval and a surgery date. Hopefully it all comes together soon. Thank you so much for writing me. Please let me know when you get your surgery date and I will do the same!

I am pre-op, I haven't taken the journey yet. So I can't offer much. But I will be praying for you! I feel the steroid will help a lot. Just hang on you will be feeling better soon. We are all praying for you!

I am so excited for you. By the time you read this your surgery will be over. I will say a prayer for you right now. I wish you the best of luck and a speedy recovery. Please let us know how you are doing. I don't have my surgery date yet. I am thinking it will be in September. Take it easy and take good care of yourself!

Hi my name is Shawn (female). My Dr. is Dr. Pokameni. I am pre-op, I am getting closer each day to my surgery date. I am hoping my date will be in September. I read your post and I feel so much better reading about the hospital experience. I am very excited. I have not been to a support meeting yet. I will do that in the near future. I am meeting with the Dietitian on the 26 of July. I am having problems with my esophagus and that is making things go slower. Next week I have to have a tube put in my nose and ran down my esophagus while I am awake! I will do that that on the 19th. I will be so glad when that is done and I get my results. I've already had an endoscopy and colonoscopy. I have had an apptmt. every week since March!

I am so happy for you! When I read Medicare/Medicaid is now covering the sleeve I was soooo thrilled! Now I have to take care of some things before we can process the paper work, but I think I am getting closer each day. I hope!