At first I was a lil bummed but now.......not so much. The wonderfulladies of BAF and the DS board have cheered me up. Well I got a date of 11/20. It seemed sooooo far away. Well first they gave me 11/13...but the Redskins/Dallas game is 11/16 and what's the point of having season tickets if you can't go to the best game of the whole season?? So I asked for a week later. My surgeon only does the DS on Thursdays so my choices of dated are limited. I am hoping this time goes by supa doopa fast. Well at least I have more time to get myself ready. It falls exactly one week before Thanksgiving so this will be the first year I won't be stuffin my face. Maybe I need that...kinda like....the food aint really that important. It'll be there.

Thanks errybody who responded to my posts, sent me BL messages, gave me advice, called, texted, hung out with me, and raised glasses with me. I couldn't have done it with out you.

Hey errybody...well the title says it all. I called Aetna yesterday mornin...still pending. When I got home from work the representtative started goin on about pre-approval and reference numbers. I was like......hole up!!! So......I'm approved??? She then started talkin bout letters and some other stuff and I had to say agin........so I'm approved. She says YES!!!!! She coulda keep all that other talk and just came out with it!!! Well today I called my surgeon's office bout fifty-leven times tryin to get the insurance lady on the phone so she can get my letter. I can not STAND her!! Yea she is overworked and all but she neeed to have sometin hooked up to her phone that when I call and leave a message sumptin starts blinkin and what not!!! Still waitin for her to call me back with a date so we'll see. Well at least that big hurdle is over and I'm soooooo much closer to my DS!!!

I wanna thank errybody that ever checked on my progress, left me a comment, sent a BL message, text or phone call. I appreciate my OH fam; BAF and the wonderful DS forum!! You guys are definitely the bestest EVA!!!!

Chocolate Pumpkin Muffin recipe:

1.5 cups oatmeal (grind in a food processor)
1/2 cup Splenda Brown Sugar Blend
4 Scoops Chocolate Whey protein (I use EAS brand)
2.5 tbsp baking powder
2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice

Mix all the dry ingredients then add:

4 egg whites
1 cup of canned pumpkin (plain NOT pie filling)
1 cup skim milk or soy light milk

Makes 12 muffins, cook for 25-30 minutes at 350 degree oven.

1 serving (2 muffins) is 210 calories, 23 grams protein, 23 grams carb and 2 grams fat.

They turn out super moist but fairly dense. Keep good in the fridge for 4-5 days in a tupperware container :)

 So, instead of those cookies and other naughty things we love so much and have to balance them out, let's enjoy a balanced snack all the time! Spray with some I can't believe it's not butter and enjoy!

This answers the question of why the DS is soo hard to get and more surgeons don't do it! Diana Cox one of the DS Masters wrote this to one ignorant poster. She let thier ass have it!! And it goes like this:...............

That twatwaffle Dawgturd, while trying -- and failing -- to be a smartass, asked a good question that I decided to put some time into answering.  Carolyn asked me to bookmark it on my profile.  Rather than link to that whole stupid thread with all his fatty-hating misogynistic remarks and pix, I thought I'd put the core of the question (illiterate though it is) and my answer in a new thread instead, and then put the link on my profile:

Post Date: 8/16/08 4:43 pm
Ok seriously I gotta ask in all seriousness, if the DS is soo superior why is it then that it is such a hard procedure to obtain. I mean he leading minds in professional medicine dont seem to agree with you. Insurance companys , whose interests is value for making you as healthy as possible dont agree. The vast majority of WLS patients dont agree either. Do the math , it doesnt add up for you. Tell me who exactly besides a bunch of blowhards on here maintains that DS is a "far superior procedure" ???  Where did you go medical school Diane? At which hospital did you do your residency ?
What university did you gather all of your statistical data ( which amounts to a hill of beans when it comes to statistics: ask a statistician)  A bunch of self-superior minded  jackasses running around putting down anyone who didnt get a DS.


And my answer:

Post Date: 8/16/08 5:23 pm

You are so full of yourself -- and so full of shit, which is the same thing actually -- that I should just ignore you.  However, like that idiot Jade, every time the taunts start, it is a TEACHING opportunity for the newbies, as well as the sad postops who -- like you -- will probably find their surgeries failing and in need of a revision.  At which point you will come crawling back to us for help.

First of all, you question my credentials to speak on scientific and medical issues.  I have a PhD in biochemistry and molecular biology from UCLA Medical School, where I TAUGHT biochemistry to medical and dental students.  I am also a lawyer, a biotech patent attorney actually, and Chief Patent Counsel for a biotech company.  I deal with bleeding-edge science day in and day out, including molecular biology, biochemisty and immunology.  So yeah, I DO know a little bit about science and medicine, as well as statistics.

I am also a support group leader for my surgeon's practice.  And I provide advice and guidance for people navigating the insurance approval process -- predominantly for the DS, but also for other procedures and reconstuctive surgery.

So, what are YOUR credentials, and what have YOU done lately for the WLS community?

Why, if the DS is so superior (and yes, yes it IS), isn't it more available?  I'm going to treat that question as a serious one, even though you probably are unable to comprehend the answer, as it involves complex issues of economics and psychology.

1)  By the time the DS procedure was developed and perfected, from 1988 to the mid 90s, the RNY was entrenched.  Thousands of general surgeons had taken weekend courses and hung out their shingles, offering RNY-mill operations -- doing 4-6 surgeries/day, with little or no follow up.  A money-making machine.  The insurance companies got in on the act as desperate people demanded that bariatric surgery be covered, and drove the reimbursement rate down by leveraging the thousands of RNY surgeons against each other.  If the surgeons wanted to get a steady stream of patients sent to them by the insurance companies, they had to contract with the insurance companies and their shitty reimbursement rates.

2)  The DS is a FAR more difficult surgery to learn.  The duodenal anastomosis is a very tricky procedure -- the tissue of the duodenum is difficult to stitch.  It cannot be learned in a weekend -- it requires being proctored by a VERY experienced surgeon.  And most of the RNY hacks don't want to take time off from their high-throughput lucrative RNY mill practices to learn a new procedure when they've got plenty of RNY fish to fillet. 

Also, there isn't to my knowledge a DS surgeon who does more than 2 DSs per day, and many spend lots of hours providing follow on care for their patients, because they CARE about them, and are providing not only follow on care but also collecting statistics to publish and provide scientific evidence of the superiority of the procedure for future patients to use to fight their insurance companies.  These honorable practices have resulted in NUMEROUS insurance companies changing their policies over the last several years -- some of which policy changes I am proud to say I have had some small part in -- including BC of CA, Cigna, Aetna and Medicare.

Because of this economic disincentive, not many of the DS surgeons contract with insurance companies.  They don't have to, in order to get their FULL fee, to which they are entitled.  If they accepted the paltry rate of reimbursement the insurance companies offer for the DS (i.e., what they are willing to pay for the RNY), they would not be in business very long.  In fact, many of the DS surgeons who DO contract with insurance companies have instituted manditory non-insurance-reimbursable "program fees" amounting to several thousand of dollars that the patients have to come up with before surgery, just to make the surgery marginally profitable to the surgeon.  This is a practice I find despicable, even if I understand why they do it.

3)  "Insurance companys , whose interests is value for making you as healthy as possible ..."  Oh PLEASE tell me you meant this as a joke, and you are not that naive or stupid.  Nah, nevermind, you ARE that stupid (and illiterate besides -- what you wrote is practically indecipherable, misspelled and ungrammatical).

News flash for you: Insurance companies are in business to make money for their executive management and shareholders, you idiot.  Their managers are paid and retained on their ability to spend less in any given immediate time period than they collect in premiums.  They have data showing that the average insured person changes insurance companies (through job move, job loss, or choice) about once every three years.  The longer the insurance company puts off having to pay any amount of money, the more money they make in THAT time period.  And the higher the chance that the sick person will LEAVE before they have to pay a claim.  They don't CARE what is more cost effective in the long run -- they care about what is the cheapest in the current quarter.  Period.  They don't CARE about making you healthy -- they are hoping you change insurers or DIE before they have to pay a big claim in THIS quarter.  Period.

I'm sure this is all information you are too stupid to understand, but it's really not for you -- it's for the others who might be reading this.  Now get back to your trailer and mind your own garden.  You have no business here -- until you need information about your revision.
 

I get some messages about why I chose the DS over RNY. In a nut shell these are the most important reasons to me:

Why did I choose DS over RNY? Because it has on average the highest percentage excess weight loss, best maintainence of that weight loss, and best resolution of comorbidities. It also has the best lifestyle - you can eat a varied, normal diet, there is no dumping, no food getting stuck, you can drink liquids with meals, you can take NSAID's.