GardenLady

I think my journey started, officially, in December 2013. Not that the weight magically appeared, mind you, but more that my Type 2 diabetes became an issue for me. I've been having increasing neuropathy in my feet and if you haven't experienced it, let me assure you - the tops of your feet are not supposed to hurt all the time, no matter what you are doing...well, unless you are a circus performer and hang from the trapeze by your feet...I guess then it might be reasonable to have them hurt. So when my bed sheets caused me to have trouble sleeping because they hurt my feet, I knew I had to do something. I've known several people who have had WLS so it wasn't a hard thing to think about researching as an option - especially when I've already heard success stories and when I heard a report on NPR about the benefits for diabetics.

So I did some research into the process, determined that lap band might be viable and found a bariatric center nearby that is a "center of excellence" with my insurance company (BCBS). They require an orientation meeting before accepting you into the program and I went ahead and scheduled it. I then discussed it with my primary care who didn't seem enthused about the idea. Because she was so tepid, I didn't sign up for the program when I went to the meeting. She and I discussed it later and she fully supports it.

The entire process has gone pretty much according to plan - I was able to get appointments in clusters so I didn't have to take off a whole lot of leave but had to do a lot of stuff to make my surgeon happy - I had to have an endoscopy, have a dental implant crown put back on (the screw had broken), and had oral surgery. The program requires three meetings with a psychiatrist and with a dietician, twice with a bariatric nurse and twice with the surgeon. After the first meeting with the surgeon, I did more research on the sleeve and we all agreed that it was a better option for me and that's what we are looking to do. They normally require insurance approval before scheduling the surgery but my job requires me to travel fairly frequently. I have a known 7-week window when I am not traveling and they very graciously helped me get scheduled on a tentative basis pending the approval. I think that the co-morbidities clinched the matter and they have the experience to know that approval was highly likely.