circa

This went well. I got the answers I wanted except a surgery date haha. This could be not until August but here's the kicker - I got laid off from my job which means I'm down to one insurance ( not so bad) but I don't know if I can collect unemployment due to the fact that there's a restriction that you have to be in the state of michigan for the last 18 months or something. Anyway - I'm working this out - I've only been here like 15 months *grr*

The layoff is temporary - but oh wouldn't it be nice to have that time to recover from the surgery and return to work rested and not having used any vacation time haha

Meeting with Surgeon #2 tomorrow - and if things go well, I think he'll be my choice. Mainly because its a 3 hour trip each way to Surgeon #1 and I have 4 different days I have to go down there, potentially 5, BEFORE surgery. That's a lot of days off work before even having the surgery - doesn't leave me time off to actually HAVE the surgery. Considering Surgeon #2 actually trained Surgeon #1 - I think that bodes well for it going well. I'm excited to meet him - I've heard nothing but great things about him. They're combining 3 of my appointments into tomorrow, whereas the other place could only do one each visit - So I'll have this visit, one more quick one I can do on my lunch hour, then surgery if things go the way they should. Hopefully it'll move right along.

So I met with prospective surgeon #1 - GREAT guy. Very upfront - loves questions and gives all the information he can. He didn't pull any punches and was very frank about what is and is not required and to be expected for each surgery. I do really like him. Oddly enough, he studied under prospective surgeon #2. Said he learned a lot from Dr. Kam (second prospective surgeon). So I'm in good shape, either way.

I'm so very tired. I'm ill right now, so that doesn't help - but it makes the reality of actually having health again seem attainable. Just as I'll get over this cold/flu/infection, I'll recover from the health issues that my weight has caused me. Just like I'm on a daily basis recovering from the horrible poisoning that my body endured from the toxic metals. I know that I can do this. While I've been too sick to do much more than drag my butt out of bed and slump into the chair in my office all week (hey - I made it TO work, what more do they want from me? lol) I haven't gotten to that exercise I do really long for. I wanted to start slow - and I will - as soon as I can move without feeling dizzy and nauseous My doctor said it was just "the crud" - midwestern for "whatever's going around at the time". Codeine for the cough, ibuprofein for the irritation in the throat, OTC cold/sinus meds and sleep. lots of sleep. I like the codeine - makes the cough stop for the most part. I get some sleep. It makes me all fuzzy tho so hard to take during the day and be productive heh.

In just 5 days I'll be meeting with another surgical office regarding my surgery. I'm hoping the, what I not-so-affectionately-refer-to-as "the plague" is gone by then. I popped in to my PCP today and she said its definitely viral and had to run its course. She gave me some stuff to help manage the symptoms. I've already had this for about 5 days. If I don't start to turn the corner by Wednesday AM, I'll insist on an antibiotic, because it'll obviously not be viral if its taking that long. In just 10 days, I have my surgical consult here with Dr. Kam. Its movin' and shakin! I weighed in at the doctor's office today - had my shoes on this time so that's a couple pounds and I'm very very bloaty from TOM but the scale read up 8.5 lbs. But its nothing for me to even bloat that much. I'll check again soon tho. I shouldn't have actually gained anything that isn't TOM related.

I've started to dust off some of my exercise equipment - I am hoping to have it all set up and ready this weekend. I know right now that a lot isn't possible, but that's not going to keep me from trying now, and being prepared for when I can. I know that just losing 50 lbs will rocket me into copious amounts of energy. I'm ready, and willing to expend that on something positive. Memorial day weekend will be spent getting the pool situated (temperature depending - in all reality, it could be snowing haha) so we can get that filled and the water warming in the sun :thumbdown:

I'm not sure what my husband did to our old food saver, but I bought a new one so I can start making food last longer as well. I've always loved these - they make great steaming bags now too so you can put together a meal of already cooked veggies and meats and freeze it - then throw it in the microwave when you're ready for it. This will be my plan :cursing:

Ohhhh I just can't tell you how much even being able to see a light at the end of the tunnel enriches me. Its not just what I want, its what I need.

I'm still quite certain about not telling most people - I have a relatives that are absolute fear-mongering idiots. My sister contacted my husband and told him that she thought I was suicidal because I didn't want to talk to her on the phone when I was sick and had the flu - she said I sounded just aweful and depressed!

UH DUH I HAVE THE FLU AND MY FACE IS IN A TOILET.

So if I were to tell her about the fact that I'm going to be having WLS....well - I don't know what she'd come up with - probably an old priest and a young priest for an exorcism

Anyway - I also have my mother to deal with who, has this uncanny ability to make everything about her - and I don't just mean in a la-ti-da way. You could CUT YOUR ARM OFF and she would know how you feel because she hurt her toe once and it was way worse than anything you're going through and blah blah blah...yeah. She also will be jealous and will blame me that she hasn't had surgery - But she lies to her doctor and to the psychologist - and won't follow the pre-op diet. That's why she hasn't had surgery. I told her if she'd follow the pre-op, I would pay her copay. Nope. But she wants that surgery so bad!!!!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to judge, I'm just not willing to deal with the drama that is my family at this point and time. Its like dysfunctional family theater around here. We had a 10 year long feud over a food item that may or may not have been present at someone's house. Yeah - real steady support system haha. So I choose to cut them out. They cannot provide me the support and encouragement that I need in this journey, so they don't get to be a part of it.

I also don't want the attention and questions. If I felt that my having surgery and talking about it would benefit anyone, I would most certainly talk about it - and I actually have. My one sister who has a physical disability brought on by a car accident knows about the surgery and is considering it for herself as well. I trust her and I felt that her knowing would be helpful to her - so I told her.

Congrats, Dr. Kam is my surgeon also. I am scheduled for July 2. I was initially scheduled for May 11 but had to have an emergency appendectomy last week so I had to change my date. Good luck!

Wow! hope you're feeling better!

What an angel you have! I'm so sorry for your loss!

I'm so excited. I have 2 consults - one on the 16th and one on the 21st. I'm quite anxious to just keep the ball rolling on this. I want this done so I can move on with my life. I know its not good to rush things - and really, I'm not. I'm ready for this, I know what I'm in for, and I've done my own weight in research haha.

Fantastic...I wish you all the best! Sounds like a good choice for a surgeon! Trauma means he can handle qanything that comes along so your surgery will be nice and boring for him! I'll be thinking of you on the 21st!! Cali

That's what I was thinking - and he's obviously very experienced in things like resections, **ectomies, and wound suture and stapling before he even got involved in bariatrics. I really think I have an excellent opportunity here :wink:

Okay so I go in for my consult with Dr. Kam - he's been in this area for only a year and a half but has over 800 bypasses and sleeves overall in his career - he started as a trauma surgeon so he's good with the staples and such haha :wink: He has a thorough understanding of the liver as well - which is great for me considering the Wilson's disease. I'm quite excited :wub:

I meet with him on the 21st of this month - and hopefully will be for surgery shortly thereafter

So. I called and finally got ahold of the scheduling coordinator and she told me that the insurance company hadn't sent them the approval letter. I have it. My doctor has it. My cousin's wife's sister's pet ferret has it, but they don't have it. *argh!* So I call the insurance company - they said there was an issue with their letter generation system and it didn't get sent to the surgeon's office *flail* So they're going to mail it to them tomorrow as they can't fax a letter that hasn't been generated yet - makes sense but doesn't make sense haha. I asked them to fax them my copy or my doctor's copy but they said they couldn't do that (mine's at home and I'm at work). So they apologized for the SNAFU and gave me the approval code and info and told me to give that to the surgeon's office along with their direct line and to have the surgeon's office call them. So I faxed all of that over to the surgeon's office and now I'm just waiting to hear whether or not that will suffice - if it will, she MAY be able to get me in for my consult on May 21st instead of in 4 months! :wink::thumbup::wub::thumbup:

:thumbup:

:thumbup::crying:

In the theory of keeping my options open and keeping busy, I am going to check out another surgical center - they're about 3 hours away, but have appointments on saturdays so that helps. If nothing else, it'll keep my mind on the end result goal instead of sitting here doing nothing - and I can go hang out with my best friend that lives down there too haha. All this will do is help me get more information and keep more options available to me. This other surgical center accepts only one of my insurances but said that they will work with me on submitting to the other for coverage - and they even said they'd put that in writing! :wink: Last thing I need is to get burdened with a big ass medical bill when I wasn't expecting it.

So the 16th I head down for the initial seminar. By the time i Have the surgery, I'll have been to so many seminars, I'll be able to GIVE them :wub:

I just want my damn sleeve. I get irritable because i have no control over this and I'm rather OCD.

"I'll be glad to shed these extra pounds as soon as you shed your stupidity - let's race and see who gets there faster."

I understand completely - I was approved in March, still have no date and won't know anything for 2 more weeks. It's frustrating when you finally decide to do something about your problem, but no one seems to have any urgency but you. Good Luck!!

good luck to you too! Hopefully we'll both hear something soon!

If this wasnt so real for so many people it sounds like some kind of bizarre catch-22 type of not funny joke! Its almost like the system is set up to keep us 'scammers of healthcare' out! Ridiculous, who would do this if they didnt desperately NEED it!? I really feel for you...I'm self pay which suck but at least it goes faster...my ins co only covers BMI 40 and I'm around 35! I just cant gain weight on purpose, I might go off the deep end! Good luck, girl! Cali

Thanks - yeah I'm having a hard time with this. I pay my freaking insurance premiums and hardly cost the industry a dime for 30 years. I do everything I need to do - save the doctor's office time and energy by keeping everything organized (my PCP LOVES ME) and I get to wait. WAIT WAIT WAIT. Bizarrely - its the actual doctors, not the insurance company dicking me around this time.

Ya know, maybe if I hadn't been working on this for a year and a half now, I wouldn't be so frustrated. I have ZERO idea how this can be hard. I'm sitting here with everything done - just waiting for the surgical date. Insurance companies BOTH have sent me letters of approval. I've contacted every other surgeon's office within 200 miles of me - either they don't take my primary insurance or(and sometimes AND) I have to start completely over with THEIR process which means giving back my approval and having them do everything from step 1 all over again. WTF? What kind of sense does that make? They want to send the exact same paperwork to my insurance company to get the exact same answer I already got from my insurance company. Huh? I'll have to see their doctor who will go over the medical records my doctor sends after they take my history that I already have with my doctor so that this doctor can put his stamp on it and give it to the surgeon. Uhhh What??? Yeah. Makes NO sense. I mean you can quote procedures etc - but this is why this crap costs so much! Because there's 5 people doing the same thing over and over again that's already been done! I might as well stay where I'm at - provided I can actually get a phonecall back from these people. UGH. I'm just frustrated that I can't even get someone else to move when I've already done everything I can do. I have no more pre-op appointments that I can do - only other thing I could do is the shrink visit and dietician visit but I was told that if I do them BEFORE I have my surgical consult that they won't count and i"ll have to do them again. *flails arms wildly* So no phonecalls back, no appointments to keep, no paperwork to fill out....just sitting here waiting...

yeah I'm the customer..problem is I'm in a pretty rural area and going with another surgery center would be quite difficult - having to miss work at least one day for every appointment, the drive time, money involved - its not something i have at this point and time.

If you already have kids or don't plan on having one anytime soon go for the sleeve. I have the band and I wish I did the sleeve. The waiting for fills the adjustments etc. is just too much. With the sleeve it works without all that after care. Good luck and research research, I wish I had researched more. I would have gotten the sleeve.

Well apparently, biological kids aren't really an option for me, apparently - which is fine. In fact, I'd hope they'd just take out all the stuff that's not working correctly for me haha. (the malfunction of my girly stuff isn't due to weight) Its come down to an insurance coverage question, really. I want the sleeve but will settle for the band if I _have_ to - and then pay for the sleeve revision later if need be. I don't have the funds to do it now but hopefully in the future.

This is what Priority Health says regarding VSG:

C. Limitations

1. The following bariatric procedures are covered when the surgical criteria

above have been met:

a. Roux-en-Y gastrojejunostomy

b. Laparoscopically Adjustable Banding with FDA approved device

c. Biliopancreatic Diversion with Duodenal Switch (BPD/DS) (For

Medicaid, see #6 below).

d. Sleeve gastrectomy IF one of the following applies (For Medicaid, see #6

below):

(i) A Roux-en-Y gastric bypass is contraindicated (e.g. severe

adhesions, previous bowel surgery) and the patient is either not

desirous of or not a candidate for any other covered procedure

(laparoscopically banded gastroplasty or biliopancreatic diversion

with duodenal switch ), OR

(ii) The sleeve gastrectomy is an integral part of another planned

covered procedure (i.e. duodenal switch procedure), but only if the

sleeve gastrectomy is performed because intraoperative

complications preclude the completion of the duodenal switch

procedure itself.

So I see the way around if the surgeon is willing - but holy crap! Why such a big ordeal for a surgery that's been around literally forever? heheh

Any advice on how I approach this with my surgeon?

so I didn't get my call last week and I'm not going to get it this week either. They're CLOSED FOR THE WEEK FOR TRAINING! While I'm glad they're being trained, it certainly would be nice if they'd be taking phonecalls - or at least making the ones they were supposed to make! Maybe that's what their training is on lol.

I am, in fact, leaning more toward the sleeve than the band at this time. I won't make my final determination until after i talk to my surgeon. I know that there are a lot of questions that i need to have answered. I'm making a list to take with me. I'll have a lot of time to create a larger list of questions. Now my sister is looking into the band - and for her, that might be the right option - but I want to ask questions for her - she has other issues to deal with and she always has the questions _after_ the doctor visit haha. I wish I could take her with me! She's going to her PCP tomorrow to talk about it. I just want to give her a list of questions to ask - and they'll be similar to mine - but I also want to put myself in her position to think of any other questions since our situations vary.

I would call them back and tell them that, in the nicest possible, calmest voice. Tell them they need to be better people than they are.

Yeah cuz I'm certainly not happy about it. I can't wait to actually go see him again. He was great. I'm sure he'll be interested in knowing.

well congrats on the 20 lbs! One thing to remember is, you're only 5 weeks post op! Your body has some changes to become accustom to for one thing. Also, you might want to count your calorie intake as well as your protein intake - maybe increase protein but decrease or maintain calories.

Okay -this really has nothing to do with the lapband but I'm so angry right now, I could spit fire. When I moved back to where I live now, I called the office where my chiropractor was at - they said that they didn't know what happened to him but heard he moved back to Arizona - said some pretty negative stuff about him. I found out today that he OPENED HIS OWN WELLNESS CENTER HERE IN TOWN - they're mad because they lost a lot of their patients to him. I mean I can understand if they didn't want to tell me where he was practicing or whatever, but to LIE to me was ridiculous.