<3 Carolina Girl <3

Well I guess I can vouch for their speed now too! I just got my phone call! YAY! 3 days is all it took! Can't wait for Nov. 10th!

I have not heard much on denials, I'm in SC and have BCBS MI (my hubby works for an out of state contractor), so my Dr's office hasn't had much dealings with them specifically. I've been scheduled for Nov. 10th. I've read my specific requirements very thoroughly & we've checked off everything before we submitted - so hoping this will be a quick and easy approval. Fingers crossed for you too!

I also have BCBS of MI. How long since you submitted? My case was just submitted yesterday & I'm ready to start bugging them already. Good luck to you!

A week ago, I went for an appointment to check in and hoping to get my surgery date. My stats looked great - lost another 7 lbs! We talked about some risks and went over what still needed to be done to submit to my insurance company. I have completed everything, they just had not received the letter from my psych evaluation yet. I'd not written out my daily food/exercise logs, so I'd need to print out my logs from MFP. Because I needed those things we scheduled a couple of extra weeks out from his normal 30 days. By Wednesday, I'd turned everything in & sent a copy of the psych evaluation. The office needs a couple of days to compile everything, so I'm guessing my case will be submitted today or tomorrow. I'm hoping for a quick approval & not even thinking of a denial. I don't see how they could deny me. I've done the hard work, I've made progress on changing my lifestyle. I meet all of their criteria and am still over the 50 BMI threshold to waive the 6 months documented dieting. I can't think of a single reason to not be approved on the first go-round. Still, I'm so scared that I won't be. Everything has seemed to go so smoothly, I'm just waiting for a bump in the road to make it all fall miserably. I'm trying to be calm on the exterior when actually, anxiety is reeling on the inside. When I can focus on the positive, I am so excited and happy for what is to come. I actually have a date to look forward to. I'm counting down the days til November 10th. I'm so ready, yet I try to contain my excitement so maybe it won't be such a disappointment if something falls through. I did "come out" to the world via Facebook late last week. I was overwhelmed by the support and love that my friends and family showed. I didn't really expect to have so many stop by my wall to comment and like, but it was blowing up my phone for the entire day. I never wanted to hide the fact that I am having surgery. I was, apprehensive about negative feedback. I should have known better - I have wonderful family and friends. The one not-positive message I got was from someone that I don't even know. She claims to know my husband, but even he says he doesn't remember her from high school. She recently added me (and him) out of the blue. I don't know where people who have no knowledge of your life or your struggles get off pushing their ideals onto someone they've never met. I realize I put my business onto social media and I will get responses - and I was prepared for negative and positive. I was not prepared to be told to rethink my decision because I could lose the weight without surgery by a complete stranger. I have not yet responded to her private message - no, she didn't even have the nerve to post publicly, but once I've responded, she will be "un-friended." I'm so ready for these days to fly by. There are lots of things going on in between and then the holiday season just after, but I can only focus on surgery. October brings my birthday, my daughter's birthday & my husband & my anniversary all within 4 days - it is always a very busy week for us. I'm usually knee deep in thoughts of how we will celebrate. Right now, I am feeling so selfish as I'm only thinking ahead to November and what I need to do to prepare for surgery and recovery. I hope I can come back to the present for a while. My daughter is 14 and although she's happy about my surgery, she's at the age/mindset where the world revolves around her and her birthday is like a national holiday. I don't want her to feel that it doesn't matter to me. Rambling again, I know, but that's the purpose - to put my thoughts out there and get them out of my head. As you can imagine by my rambles, it gets kinda jumbled in my brain sometimes. LOL Best of luck to all of you, no matter where on your journey you currently are. Have a great week!

I'm about an hour and a half away from my next appointment with my surgeon. As far as I know, all of the hoops have been jumped & cleared & we will set a surgery date today. I've met with the dietitian. I've had my chest xray, EKG & swallow test completed. I've been to two sessions with a psychologist. I've been cleared on all of those. My blood work was done last week, so we should be going over those numbers at my appointment today. I don't foresee anything there holding me back. My only worry this far has been my BMI. I know I've lost a few pounds this month, but am hoping I haven't fallen below the 50 threshold. If I have, I may still be waiting for a few months due to my insurance's 6 month supervised requirement. That requirement is waived for patients with a BMI over 50. I'm right on that line, so it's been a little LOT stressful. I've faltered this month because of that stress. As much as I swore that I didn't want to sabotage myself into not losing any weight, I let myself eat some things I shouldn't have. I haven't been keeping my food logs like I should have and I have been lax about getting in my steps/exercise. I've tried to keep these things under control, but it's been quite a struggle. I know I have lost a little weight and am very thankful, but I'm positive that had I not been stressing over this insurance situation, it would have been an even greater loss. I suppose I should just be thankful that I didn't let those demons consume me so much as to make me gain this month. I don't know why I'm stressing so much on this - maybe it's just my nerves creeping in as I get closer to surgery. My head knows that I'll be fine and I'm going to know my date within the next two hours. Am I setting myself up for the worst case scenario so I'm not disappointed so much when it doesn't happen? Rambling again... On another note - I have a feeling I'm going to have a hard time with clothes very soon. I'm already throwing out some of my panties - they feel like an extra yard of fabric is flopping around under my butt! None of my jeans fit anymore. I'm constantly pulling them up. Heaven forbid I have to carry a lot of stuff upstairs. With my arms full & no extra hands, my pants have been known to shimmy down by the time I reach the second floor! I've been over 300lbs for most of my adult life, so I don't have a stash of clothes to go backwards into like some people may. I'm not complaining - it's an awesome problem to have, it's just going to start getting expensive here very soon. But I'm still in such a large size (guessing I'll need 24 or 26) that it's hard to find in the thrift/goodwill stores. I don't want to spend a lot of cash on new clothes that I'm going to be falling out of in a few months either. I'm broke enough as it is. LOL. Well it's about that time that I head out for my appointment. Wish me luck guys...maybe my nerves will be calmed in a little while!

Wondering if anyone else has been in my situation. I started my journey with a BMI of around 55. I've really bought into the plan my doctor gives us and have so far lowered my BMI to 51.99. My insurance has an exception to their 6 month medically supervised diet/waiting period for those with a BMI of 50 or over. I have one more appointment before we submit to insurance - in about 2.5 weeks. We will schedule my date then. Last month I lost 9lbs. If I were to lose another 11.6lbs, I would be under the 50 BMI. I've been so worried about losing too much and having to wait those extra months! I don't want to go off of plan and negate all of the hard work and effort I've put into getting myself ready for this surgery. Not only would it be emotionally hard to wait, my out of pocket has been met for this year, so if I can do this before the end of the year, I won't have to pay anything. Has anyone else been in this situation? Any suggestions?

@@kimba6999 My insurance and surgeon require the dietitian & psych eval/approvals, so I've been getting those appointments in. There was a waiting list for my dietitian. So he does not submit until those appointments have been completed. I've only had two appointments with him & he's ready to submit & schedule on my next appointment. I don't feel like that's waiting too long to submit. I'm happy with the time line he's using. If I've read it once, I've read it a million times on these boards, every surgeon is different @@SherB - I will try adjusting MFP - I've had it at only 2lbs per week. My problem is, I often only take in a little over 1/2 of my allowed calories as it is. It's amazing what cutting all the starches out does! I just changed my settings for 1lb per week & will try to increase my intake some with more healthy choices. Thanks for the suggestions ladies! I'm ready for 09/22 to get here!

Great job! Congrats on your new beginning!

You can blog on this site to keep everything together. Or many people start blogs on Blogger - it's connected with your other Google accounts (assuming you're a Google user). Best of luck!

So you had a little fall? Stand back up and fight, fight, fight! You can do this! Best of luck to you.

I had another appointment with my surgeon yesterday. He was extremely happy with my food journals. My Upper GI, chest x-ray and EKG were great. And I've lost 9 pounds! He had told me his best expectation of his new patients was about 4 lbs in a month. I more than doubled that! It's paying off! I feel pretty impatient at most times, and just ready to get this surgery, but knowing all that I'm going through is really paying off, makes all the waiting worth while. So then we talk about my other outstanding appointments & that they'll be completed next week. He says, great! Then here's your blood work orders, get your PCP to send over their records and recommendation letter. Come back to see me next month and we'll set your surgery date! I was floored! Really? So soon? I don't have to wait forever & ever?! You couldn't have knocked the grin off my face. Then we talked for a minute about my insurance. I had spoken to them a few weeks ago & was expecting to be mailed all of the requirements, etc, of bariatric surgery, but it never came. I explained that from my understanding, I would need the 6 consecutive month weight loss attempt - documented by a Dr, of course. He told me, no worries, if that's what we have to do, we'll just keep seeing you every month until we get there. And that's fine. We talked about this to the lady in the office that works closest with the insurance companies. She tells me she should have the policy already. She finds it, prints it out and gives me a copy. We're looking over it and sure enough, there's that stipulations - six months documented attempt, blah, blah, blah. So I leave the office. I had another appointment to get to. Actually with my PCP, so I'm all fired up to find out if last year's phentermine attempt had me in the office for 6 consecutive months. I'm crossing every finger, toe and eyeball in hopes that I won't have to wait another 4-5 months. As I'm waiting to be called back, I find the next point in the stipulations - the six month documented attempt will be waived if the patient has a BMI of greater than or equal to 50. (I have a BMI of 53/54) Fireworks went off in my chest! Really?! So, that means, I can get my surgery date next month?! Do you have any clue how excited this made me? I was literally sitting in my Dr's waiting room, reading from this huge stack of papers and wiping tears from my eyes. I couldn't wait to get out of the Dr's office so I could go back to the surgeon's office to let everyone know what I found! Sounds crazy and dramatic, but I was crazy with excitement! And I also had forgotten to make next month's appointment, so I needed to go back anyway. I showed the ladies what I'd found and they were all so happy for me. My surgeon has such a wonderful team. I'm so blessed to have found them. Everyone is so supportive and welcoming. They treat you like family and it's a wonderful feeling. I know I'm in good hands and I'm so thankful for this feeling of confidence in them. So now I just have to get a few things out of the way - Tuesday I'll have my Dietitian and Exercise specialist appointments. The following Saturday, I have my second/final session with the psychologist and one day I'll drop by the hospital for my blood work. Then I see Doc again on September 22nd to set my surgery date. I'm coming into the home stretch! I'll be sleeved within two months and I am barely containing my excitement. Thanks again for reading my ramblings. Best of luck to each of you, no matter where you are in your journey!

Thank you! I don't know exactly when I'll have surgery. I have lots of questions for my surgeon Monday at my next appointment. I don't have a clear understanding of my surgeon's definition of "ready" really is. Also, my insurance requires 6 consecutive months documented weight loss effort. I'm not sure if my appointments last year with my PCP were consecutive "enough" to satisfy that requirement. My diet is really just cutting out starches; not necessarily all carbs. Pretty much, just avoiding sugar, potatoes, pasta, rice & bread. It's not so hard because I know I need to do it. But I haven't yet seen the dietitian either - so that might be changing as well. Like I said, I've still got lots of questions! Best of luck to you.

It's not getting much easier. I'm sticking with the diet changes that I'm supposed to make, but they are not easy! Sometimes I just want a sandwich! Or a bowl of cereal. That used to be a great, easy dinner when I didn't feel like cooking. We've been eating eggs a lot lately. When I make them over medium (with the yolk still runny), I just want a piece of white bread to sop up that yolk! It's the best thing in the world when you can't have it. I can do without pasta - except for Aunt Faye's mac & cheese that I only get on holidays. That's my only pasta vice. I will have a bite (or 3) of that at Christmas time - no matter what. Hopefully by then I'll have had surgery and be well enough to be ok with the occasional treat. Don't get me wrong, I'm not planning my cheats even before I get my surgery date. There are so many things that I shouldn't have that I can absolutely see myself never wanting again. And I am ok with that. I would be totally satisfied if I never had spaghetti noodles with my meatballs & sauce again. Like I said, pasta isn't a big thing for me, unless you put a pan of Aunt Faye's mac & cheese in front of me... I would be completely happy to never have white bread again - I'll be just as happy with some yummy whole grain ONCE IN A WHILE. There are too many sugar free options for me to worry about every having sugar again, no worries there. Rice - eh - not a big deal to me. I would like to be able to have some really good sushi again, but I'm sure my sleeve will only allow so much. I'm ok with that. I'll just make sure that I have the best quality to make up for the quantity. Potatoes aren't that big of a deal for me either. Who doesn't love a nice baked potato or yummy garlic mashed potatoes, but I'd much rather have that filet. I can make those choices and not feel deprived. I'll be fine with it. Do you see what I've done here? It was not my intention to write about what I can do. It was my intention to rant a little and let off steam about how much I just wanted to give up. But here I go - I've convinced myself that I can do without these things. I've turned my head hunger around just a little bit and reminded myself that I don't need it. I know someday I'll be able to add some of these starches back into my life, but for now, they aren't priority. Yes, I miss bread & rice & potatoes! I'm only human. But I can make this journey. I can do what I have to do. I want to do this! I need to do this! My life depends on this. In my first consultation, Doc told me that my chances of living to age 65 were 10%. I'm 35 years old. I never thought it was this bad. I knew I was fat - that was never a secret. I knew I was doomed to high blood pressure & diabetes. It's all over my family. But I never thought I'd hear someone tell me that I probably wasn't going to make it to retirement age. My last two years have been tough medically. And it seems to never end. I truly believe that it can all be alleviated, or at least helped, if I could just get rid of this weight. I'm carrying around enough weight to almost equal 3 of my 14 year old daughter. WOW! That's a lot! I can not continue to live like this. I don't know where I'm finding this discipline, but I thank God for it. It's so hard. I just pray it will be worth it in the end.

What a great outlook! Best wishes for smooth sailing!

This month is dragging by! It seems I'm waiting so long between my appointments...they seem to never come. I've got a week & a half still before my next appointment. I'm being very impatient. I think I'm doing very well on changing my diet. My doctor believes in and teaches that starch addiction is the reason behind obesity. While I know that not everyone is the same, I have cut out starches (bread, pasta, potatoes, rice & sugars) and am losing without much other effort. I feel like I've cut my portions pretty well. I use MyFitnessPal & 9 times out of 10 I'm well below my calorie allowance for the day. I look back at what I used to eat and I'm really amazed at how many calories are in starches. And I really don't miss them. The biggest issue I have is eating out for lunch. I try to bring food from home, but many times I don't. I know I should plan ahead more & I'll have no choice but to do so after surgery. I have a 30 minute lunch break with very limited options for lunches...and when you add in the fact that I'm broke and everything nearby is so expensive, it's just hard to make good choices. Wendy's chili is a great, cheap lunch & fills me well - but it gets tiring when you have it two or three times a week. I have to say though, I have not made those bad choices on this front for quite a while. I am willing to have chili as my "safe, go-to" rather than stuff french fries in my face. Just another thing I'll have to work on. Rome wasn't built in a day, right?! I know I need to get moving more, that will accelerate my loss, but almost every day, the number goes down just a little. I keep hoping that I'll start feeling some of the energy come back to me. Right now, I am tired & exercise, even just walking, wears me out pretty quickly. By the time I work a full day, come home, make dinner for the family, I'm pretty much wiped out. But I'm going to get there. I have to push myself & I've not been doing that much. The rainy weather we've had lately hasn't been cooperating with my walking either. Just excuses though...it's me & I have to own up to that. I'm anxious to meet with the exercise physiologist to see what is expected of me. Am I going to have to make it up to a consistent average of 10,000 steps before I can have surgery? There's another question to add to my list. I guess I'm not exactly clear on my requirements. Doc assures me that it's not a race to surgery & he's there for me until I'm ready - whether it takes one month or two years, but what does he consider "ready"? I feel like I'm ready right now. I foresee a long conversation when that appointment finally gets here. I probably bore you all with my ramblings, but it's good for me to put my thoughts - no matter how random - out there. It helps me to slow down my mind for a moment and see my thoughts. And if by chance I stumble across anything that helps or provokes thoughts or ideas for someone else, then yay - bonus! Best of luck to you all in your journeys. I'm finding this site very informative and helpful. Thanks for reading my ramblings

Last week I went for my first surgical consultation. I'm so impressed with the Dr & his staff. Everyone is so nice. They scheduled my appointment for my Upper GI, EKG & chest Xray, and they were done yesterday. My next appointments will be with the dietitian & exercise physiologist. I still have to set up a psych evaluation. So I'm moving right along... Doc was very encouraging and talked through some of my concerns. He took the time to hear my story and he agreed with me - he too, believes that the sleeve would be the best option for me. I had an "aha" moment...or actually, a weekend worth of it. We had friends in town to visit this past weekend. I knew there would be a good bit of alcohol involved in our visit. But I actually went completely off my wagon! My eating wasn't as awful as it could have been, but I wasn't following the plan. breads & potatoes were the biggest culprits. I even passed on ice cream...so I guess I wasn't so bad. But I certainly felt the difference. I gained 9 lbs from Friday morning to Sunday evening. Salty margaritas are my vice, so I'm sure most of that was water retention, but still - it made me feel horrible, physically & mentally. At the same time, I was able to recognize that I'm not going to be able to do this anymore. I don't need the alcohol in such mass quantities, I truly don't need the breads and potatoes - I would have been fine without them. I just have to work on finding better food choices when we're out and about. I'm back in the saddle again this week. And the water weight is dropping off already. I know I shouldn't be weighing myself everyday, but I have been & right now, I'm glad to see it going back down. Once I get back to where I was last week & see steady loss for a while, I'll stop weighing everyday. I've also called my insurance company to verify coverage and prerequisites for my surgery. I shouldn't have any problems, but I'm afraid of one bit of red tape. I'm supposed to have 6 months of consecutive medical weight loss (failure) documentation. I think I should be OK because I did take phentermine for several months and this was all documented, of course. And since then, I've regained every bit of the weight lost on that program. My worry is that "consecutive" word. I'm not sure that I was in the office exactly every month. I will be going to see her again at the end of the month, so I'll find out then. I really don't want to have to drag this out for 6 months. I'm hoping that I will be approved based on the records we have already established. I would be devastated to have to wait so long. I'm ready now. I want so much to start feeling better. I hate feeling so tired all the time! I hate that my back hurts from carrying all of this weight all my life. I hate knowing that I have only a 10% chance of living until I'm 65. Really? So my life is more than half over right now! Unless I can lose this weight, I won't have a life. I'm merely existing from day to day right now. I don't feel like I live at all. Who knows if I'll make it another 6 months? With my family history and horrible health as it is, I am simply a walking time bomb. I'm rambling...just some random thoughts that pop into my head.

Wow, what a crazy ride you've been on! I hope you have nothing but smooth sailing this time around! You certainly deserve it!

So I finally have my initial surgical consult today. I've been looking forward to this for what seems like so long! I had an appointment with my PCP on Friday. In the time since I'd lasts seen her, about 6-8 weeks, I think, I've lost 18 lbs! That's so exciting! Anyone have suggestions on questions for me to ask? I have read so much here and on other forums/sites that I'm not even sure where to start. I guess I just need to see what he says. I think my biggest fear for today is that he will suggest bypass over the sleeve. I am pretty confident in the sleeve decision. I don't think I would get enough results with a band, and I don't want to go as drastic as the bypass - it scares me. I don't want anything re-routed, I hope to not have to take supplements forever. But with a BMI over 50, I'm worried that he will want to go for a more drastic approach. My husband will be coming with me for this appointment. I'm so glad to have him on my side. He's such an amazing support. I think this is going to be a journey we take together. His diabetes has not been adequately controlled by oral meds, so our PCP put him on insulin injections a few weeks ago. This really freaked him out. He never wanted to take the injections. It really bothers him. So between his PCP appointment and him going to the info session with me, he has decided to look into surgery as well. He's not as large as I am, but could definitely stand to lose a good amount of weight. He is leaning towards the LAPBAND. I'm so excited that he is on board, not only with me doing this, but to get himself more healthy as well. As for me, I just want to push fast forward and get it done. There are moments when I'm scared, but those are few and far between. I want to be healthier. I want to be active. I want to not be in pain from just walking down the street. So guys, wish me luck this afternoon. It's going to be a LONG Monday as I watch the clock until 3:15! But I'm taking one step closer to the loser's bench!

I've been trying to slow down and not let this thought of surgery consume my entire life just yet. I'm sure I have plenty of time to get all of the information I need. After all, I'm still 12 days away from my first surgical consult. But it seems like time is standing still and I can't wait to get the proverbial ball rolling. My husband thinks I'm crazy...who gets excited about the possibility of having their insides rearranged and removed? I'm pretty impressed with myself as far as eating less, smaller portions, less calories and very few carbs. Sugars and sweets haven't really bothered me at all. It's been a long time since I was a regular soda drinker, so I'm not going to have a bit of a problem letting those go. I am still having a problem with breakfast though. I have some protein shakes, but I'm not a big fan of sweet stuff in the morning. Why can't they be bacon flavored? LOL! I know I'll need to try other types of protein mixes and shakes to find something I can stomach, but I'm worried about buying these huge tubs and not being able to use it. I guess I need to start checking out websites and looking for samples. My morning McDonald's habit is the worst decision of my day, but I feel like I have no time in the AM to do anything at home - and let's face it, there aren't a lot of good options for breakfast on the go. I'm just going to have to suck it up and get up a little earlier in the mornings I guess. Hopefully time will start to tick a little faster for me...I'm ready to start this journey!

I don't want to be a downer, but I promised myself I would document how I feel through this process, so I'm going to be honest. Last night, after work, I thought it'd be a good idea to "reward" myself since I've spent all week seriously trying to eat smaller portions and better foods - and lots of protein! I talked my husband into going out for dinner. Nothing awesome, just some chicken wings. Not even the worst choice we could make. We usually share a platter of 20 assorted flavors & a big order of fries. We opted for fried mushrooms as an appetizer last night & did not order fries. My body must have been getting used to smaller portions. I know I felt full, but my head hunger got the best of me. I really wanted those wings! I did end up bringing 2 home, but I should have stopped sooner. I felt completely awful, not just mentally, but physically. I shouldn't have thought of a bigger meal as a reward. That's not the kind of reward I need. It's not even a reward - it's just another hurdle. Another thing I'm worried about...am I obsessing on things a little too early in my process? I think I'm going to take it a bit easier for a little while. My first appointment is still 17 days away and it feels like FOREVER. I'm going to drive myself nuts! Don't get me wrong - I WON'T give up. I won't eat everything in sight, I won't stop trying to get some exercise in. I just won't be so obsessive until I know what my doctors really want me to do. So there - I'm not perfect. I'm never going to be perfect, but I'm not going to stop striving for the best me that I can be.