Waiting on insurance

[MissCindy 4]

Hi Everyone. My name is Cindy and I am waiting for my primary insurance to send their denial letter so my surgery can be scheduled. My primary insurance will not pay, but my secondary insurance will pay. Plus secondary insurance does not do pre-authorization letters. So, as soon as the denial letter is received from the primary insurance we can schedule my surgery. My surgeon said it will most likely be mid-May.

I have thought of myself as being overweight most of my life. Looking back on it, I was a twig when I graduated from high school. It's just that those who were around me were so petite. I had one successful pregnancy 30 years ago and was never able to lose the excess weight I gained then. Over the years I have tried every diet, sensible and fad, that I could find with varying results. But every time I lost weight on a "diet" I would put it back on and then some when the "diet" was over or I got sick of it.

Over the last 3-5 years my weight has been steadily creeping up and I am so tired of being tired and out of breath all the time. I want to be able to do things with my grand-children but I am not able to do much of anything for more than a few minutes at a time before I need to rest. I am winded just walking up one flight of stairs to our bedroom so I avoid having to up and down as much as possible.

I started my surgical weight loss journey about 5 months ago. It took longer for me to decide this was really what I needed to do than it has to do all the prerequisite visits, tests, and screenings. I really wanted to get the gastric sleeve but it is excluded by my insurance, so I will be getting the by-pass instead. The reason I wanted the sleeve was to avoid the malabsorbsion (sp?) and to be able to continue taking my anti-inflammatories for my osteo-arthritis. However, I have made peace with having the bypass and having to make the commitment to be really careful to get the proper nutrients and supplements to keep my healthy; because that is what this is all about anyway. I want my life back. I am sick of living a half life.

In February I joined a gym and hired a personal trainer. I have not lost any weight, though my body composition has improved, I have more lean and less fat than I did when I started exercising. The best thing about doing this is that I have found something that I love to do. I can't believe I would ever say that I love going to the gym and working out with a trainer. It is fantastic and I am really looking forward to the improvements I will see after I begin working out again after I am healed from the surgery. I am sure the that the walking that I will be doing during the healing process will get me ready for even more intense work outs than I have been able to do to this point.

My husband had this same surgery 14 1/2 years ago. He never had the kind of support that is available today and is amazed at the amount of pre-surgical preparation and information that I am getting. He lost about 80 pounds when he had his surgery and over the years had put some of it back on. But since I have started my journey he has been using the things that I have been learning and has lost nearly 15 pounds since December. He is nearing his lowest post-surgical weight. I think he is even more excited about me having this surgery than I am. He is being very supportive.

When I told my family back in January that I was considering having surgery they were all very supportive. My best friend, who is more like a sister than merely a friend, decided that it was time for her to have bariatric surgery as well. She had not heard of the gastric sleeve before, so as soon as I told her about it she started researching it for herself. Last month she flew to Mexico and had it done. When I talked with her several days ago she had lost a total of 29 pounds (including the pre-surgery weight loss).

Anyway, I feel like I have a great support system in place. And I am SOOOO ready to make this change in my life and to make it a permanent change. It's funny, I have never felt so certain about, or committed to, any of my previous weight loss attempts. This is my year for change.

Edited April 24, 2014 by MissCindy

[Ginger Snaps 1,323]

Sounds like you have a great support system in place -- how blessed! And WTG on exercising. I'm pre-op and started about 6 weeks ago and I'm starting to love how I feel, too.

Best wishes!

Ginger

[MissCindy 4]

Thank you Ginger. Good luck to you on your journey.

[ap248 5]

Good luck! It sounds like you are ready to rock and roll! :-)