bbtwin
I'm not sure where to start, so I'm going to start from the beginning. I've been overweight my entire life. All family events were surrounded by food and drink. My senior year in high school I was down to 135 pounds because I was following a doctors diet and doing aerobics every day. It was the smallest I've been in my entire life. It was nice to be a senior and share clotes with my sister who was a freshmen.
Not sure when I let it spiral completly out of control but I did. In 2008 I went to my first WLS clinic to look into having the lap band surgery. At the time I had trouble with insurance and got talked out of having that surgery. Then in September of 2009 my best friend and I went to a seminar and found out about the sleeve. Unfortunately, we knew our insurance was changing and wanted to wait to find out what the new insurance would cover. Don't you know they didn't cover WLS because it was a rider that my company would have had to purchase. That would mean nothing in 2010 for WLS, just more diets that I failed at or more like yo-yoed with. I checked again in 2011 to see if my new insurance would cover and to no-ones suprise our company again didn't purchase the rider with the new insurance company.
In June of 2011 my best friend lost her job, our company went through downsizing like many other companies at the time, and she was put on her husbands insurance. To her excitement WLS was covered and she had VSG on 12/23/2011. I was so excited for her and our insurance was changing agian in January and we were going back to the company that we had in 2009 that covered WLS. So I'm getting excited because we may not be having our surgeries at the same time but we were going to be on our journey at the same time.
So I called the new insurance company and specifically asked if WLS was coverend and I was told it was if deemed medically necessary. So I went through everything the insurance company said i needed to have done and submitted my claim. And to my complete horror I was denied because it is not covered under our policy. Here is where the depression set in, then the anger. And where I'm glad I have a best friend that is as stubborn, if not more, than I am. She and her husband looked up everything on doctors in Mexico and gave me information on docs that I could have VSG with.
Now I'm doing my research asking people on the boards their opinions and I decide on Dr. Acevez for my VSG, get it scheduled, make my down payment and now have to tell my number one supporters for everything I do. My parents have always been the most supportive parents a child could ever ask for. So, even if we disagree, they'll support me. So, I tell my parents and they don't like the idea, the entire "Mexico" part bothers them. They'd rather I'd go to the surgeon I had originally picked and find out how much it costs. I argue that it's have the price to go to "Mexico" and share everything I've researched. My mom asks me to contact Atlanta Bariatric and find out what all the costs are and what it would be if I pay for it in cash. So I do.......
Here is where I know that many of you may relate.... Although my best friend was going to go with me to Mexico, did I mention that I have the bestest best friend ever (and her husband is great too!), there is nothing like being able to only be an hour away from home and having your entire support system with you and not just one. I did as my mom asked and two days later I called her back and explained how much it would be to have it here and it was half that price to go to Mexico. She says ok, we chat more and then she calls me back 2 hours later and says to me "Your father and I want to loan you the money to pay for the surgery and have it done here." At this moment I think the time froze because I remember saying are you sure?, can you afford this?...... Before I got off the phone I was crying like a baby. It was like she had just handed me a life line. Then I called my Best Friend and was a blubbering idiot, you know the sucking on your bottom lip kind of crying.
So, I've checked my schedule, decided the end of September is the best time to have the surgery and I'm waiting until the end of July to get back with Dr. Hart's office to schedule the surgery. I'm on my way and so ready for this to begin...... I look forward to writing more as my journey continues.
