john-mke

Surgery was October 20th, 2015 and post-surgery my blood sugars did spike which apparently is normal. I went home the evening of the 21st. Upon release I asked for the sliding scale for Insulin and they said to call if my blood sugars went above 200 and we’d work that out then. You don’t want to chase around bloods sugars below 200 because you don’t want a dangerous low. It’s been 3 days now and my blood sugars haven’t exceeded 150 during any of my before meal measurements. I was taking both Metformin and 60 units of insulin 75-slow/25-fast twice daily. I am no longer taking these. This is simply amazing. Another plus was a movement on the scale within 5 days I lost 9 pounds. As we’d say up North – Holy Cow!

I’d like to share my experience with getting insurance approval, in case it helps anyone out. For the past 5 years I’ve been struggling with Type 2 Diabetes starting out at a 10.8% A1C in late 2009 with a BMI of 35.8. This was a life changing event for me, so I kicked into gear and did really well getting my weight down to 263, BMI down to 33.3 and A1C of 6.1%. I always knew what foods to eat as my Sister is a dietician, but man, I love cheeseburgers. I cut them out, moved on to low fat foods and lots of walking which worked really well. After 6 months of focus on my health I lost my job, picked up another one quickly but that seemed to be enough for me to tell myself I could get back on the cheeseburgers. By the end of 2010, I was back up to 278 and a BMI of 35.2. My BMI continued to hover between 36 & 36 up until 2014 when I asked my Doctor about the benefits of RNY for Diabetes management. He was surprised I asked and referred me to the Gastric team. I had an initial Surgeon consultation in Feb, 2015 in which he explained the process and benefits of RNY for Diabetes management. I was very excited, but now I had to go through a 6-month journey on supervised weight loss, which so many of us get a little bummed about but I went through the program. I found it extremely beneficial as you concentrate on changing your habits. I gave up a couple of vices; sodas and fast food, but I needed to maintain a 35 BMI. Whoa, 6 months up and now it time to submit the paperwork. I’ve dotted all of the I’s and crossed all the T’s and I’m ready. I was so excited and then my letter came in the mail – Denied. WHAT? I’ve done everything, but wait, there are more rules that you don’t know about. My BMI had to stay above 35 for 3 straight years and I needed evidence of addition weights loss attempts. Turns out my BMI dipped down below 35 on a few occasions at my recorded height. Life saver, I shrunk a half an inch since they recorded my height some twenty years ago. Now this is where having a great relationship with your primary physician really helps. He wrote a letter detailing everything, my height was incorrect, I attempted to lose weight under his supervision and he documented all of my co-morbidities. AWESOME! Yesterday, I received the phone call I’ve been waiting 2 months for. I have been approved and Phase 2 – Surgery will be scheduled shortly. Trust your medical team and good things will happen. Tonight it’s chicken on the grill, No Cheeseburger!