I visited my cardiologist today to begin my clearance with him for surgery.  He has got to be the nicest one I have ever met!  When I saw them in the past when I was in the hospital they were not so much on the nice side, but this man was wonderful.  He had a smile on his face the whole time and seemed genuinely happy that I was having the surgery done.  I am now scheduled to have an echocardiogram done this Friday, February 2nd and then a stress test done on Friday, February 9th.  After the stress test I will find out that day if he will give me clearance to have my surgery.  I feel extremely confident that things will go find, but at the same time I'm not getting my hopes up because I wouldn't want them to be dashed.  I was very surprised to get them done so quickly, because a gentleman that was seen before me isn't going to have his done until the end of next month.  Hopefully mine is going so quickly because of the fact that I'm getting it done for approval.  In any case, I'm thrilled that by the end of next week I'll know if I've passed my first of three levels of getting clearance for surgery.

My pysch appointment has been changed from this Thursday until Febrauary 20th.  Unfortunately our finanaces made me have to change my appointment and the 20th was the first day that they had available.  Actually, they had February 15th @ 2:30PM available, but that's the day and time that I'm seeing the pulmolnologist.  That's ok though....hopefully everything will be fully done by the end of February and I can get a date in March.  What a happy birthday to me that month if so!!!!!!!!  My actual birthday and a possible healthier rebirth for me all in one month....what a dream!  =)

I'll write more after I have my echocardiogram done on Friday and let you all know how it went.

My m-i-l and I were out this morning and when we pulled into a parking lot it started snowing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I have NEVER seen snow falling in my life and it was absolutely amazing!  It was just light flurries and didn't stick to the ground but it was a spectacular sight.  We stopped the van in the middle of the parking lot, got out and stood in it for a little bit.  I had taken my jacket off when I had got in the van so when I got out because of the snow I didn't care how cold I was getting because I was having snowflakes fall all around me.  This is truly a day that I will NEVER forget! 

It took a little while for me to get all this done, but I have made my appointments to see the cardiologist, pulmolnolgist and the pyschologist.  Thankfully two out of the three are in my city because the next closest city to us is over 30 miles away.  I will be seeing the cardioligist on January 30th @ 11:30AM, the pyschologist on February 1st @ 12:30PM (he is located just over 40 miles from me) and I will be seeing the pulmolnologist on February 15th @ 2:30PM.  

I couldn't believe how difficult it was to find a pyschologist.  My insurance company had given me two doctors to check out, but when I called to make my appointment I was told that neither one of them do bariatric evaluations any longer.  I finally found the one I'm going to after a long search online and I'm set to go.

So, I am done with yet another hurdle and once I pass all those I'll be even closer to obtaining my goal of living a healthier lifestyle.  My nerves are starting to set in a little right now because of how quickly this is starting to go.  Two years ago I had to wait months in between for the appointments and this go around I've got three appointments in four weeks time and my insurance approval should be going in in less than four weeks now.  OMG I'm not mainly nervous....I'm excited!!!!!!!!!!!  I have tears of joy welling up in my eyes right now and a smile pasted on my face because this is really happening.  WooooooHooooooo!!!!!!  =)

I had my initial consultation with Dr. Juarez this morning.   I was impressed with him from the minute he walked in the room.  He immediately made me feel at ease.  He says that I am an excellent candidate for having gastric bypass done which is the procedure I have ended up wanting after doing some research  on both that and the lap band.

At this time I now have to make an appointment to see the pyschologist, polmanologist and the cardiologist.  He wants to make sure that my breathing is under control now and that the sleep apnea will not affect me after surgery and he wants me to see the cardiologist to make sure that I pass a stress test and to have an echocardiogram done just to be certain that any problems that I had two years ago that made me not have the surgery are not still around today.  Now that I'm faithfully on my blood pressure medication and I breathe so much better I'm optimistic that I won't have any problems with those two visits.

Colene, the girl that will be requesting my approval, told me that four weeks from now she will send in for approval for my surgery and that we should have an answer within 6-8 weeks.  It sounds like a long wait, but I know that it will go by quickyly because I will find things to keep me busy.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be in for my surgery in about three months.

Two hurdles down now and a few more to go.  It's time to get outside and finally do some good walking so that I know my lungs will be strong enough to handle anything and so that after my surgery I'll be able to walk and walk and walk once I'm able to do so.  Everyone is telling me not to get my hopes up because anything could happen, but I've got a strong feeling that everything is going to turn out just fine.  The only hurdle I'm worrying about crossing is with the pulmonologist, but even with that slight worry I'm confident that things will go smoothly.  You have to have a positive attitude going into this and that's exactly what I'm doing.

I'll write more once I have my dates set for appointments which I'm hoping to have done tomorrow.  It's gonna be a longggggggg talk with the insurance company in the morning.....lol.

I went to the seminar that Dr. Juarez held yesterday, January 12th.  Even though I had attended one 2 1/2 years ago for Dr. Zahn I still learned even more this go around.  It was great to hear that Dr. Juarez prefers to do his surgeries laproscopically and only does open if need be!  Just by listening to him I could tell that I'm going to like meeting him Monday morning for my consultation.  Oh, and he's a total trip too!!!  He had me rolling in laughter a few times...lol.  I happened to ask him how long it normally takes him to do both the lap band and the bypass and his initial response was to ask me if I was going in for a race because he said it sounded like he had to rush to get me to the finish line....I didn't say it here nearly as funny as he said it there....lol.  Another person asked him where all he performs the surgeries and he told us of St. Lukes in Phoenix and Good Samaritan, but that he was hoping that the Biltmore would soon start allowing surgeries so that it's more plush for all of us....lol.

Ohhhhhhhh just over 36 hours to go before my consultation and I can't wait!!!!  Next step insurance approval after Monday and I hope that I barrel through that quickly.  =)