Backstory to getting the DS

May 09, 2009

What a great thing this has been.    I don't remember ever being so happy.   I don't know if I was depressed before, or if this surgery has just improved my metabolism to the point where I just feel happy or what.  

The sleeve was done 29 January, 2008.   I lost a nice amount of weight for the first two months.   Then I hit what I thought was a stall.   But it just went on and on.   I teamed up with a sleeve sister and we would do things like the "pouch test."   It's not really a pouch test at all, but a five-day program where you start out with liquid protein, then move to soft protein and then solid protein.   I never lost weight the week of the "test," but generally lost 1-2 pounds the next week.   Go figure.

Well, when I was at appreciably the same weight in July that I had been in April, I contacted Dr. Spaw about doing the DS portion of the surgery.   He was surprised that I hadn't been able to lose the weight with the sleeve, becuase I'd started out so well, and I obviously was working it the way it was supposed to be worked.   That started the insurance company run-around.   I'd had the DS approved in December of 08, but Dr. Spaw didn't think I was a good candidate for the surgery in its entirety, so he did the sleeve.   My insurance company does not pay for the sleeve, but it paid for the surgery that was done in January 08.   I really did not expect any problem, since the surgery had been approved in the first place, but SURPRISE!    The insurance company used a State of TN insurance paper that I'd used on them (they didn't cover the DS at the time, and the paper said that the DS was covered, but only for people with a HUGE BMI.   Which I had, unfortunately).   In the time since I'd had the sleeve, my BMI had gotten below 60.   Not a huge amount but still below.   So they said they wouldn't cover the DS part of it.

My position was that it was the same surgery, it had already been approved, and if they weren't going to approve the DS portion of it, they certainly shouldn't have paid for the sleeve part of it.   I did my own first appeal and really was again SURPRISED when I was disallowed again.

I got in touch with Kelley and Walter Lindstrom at Obesity Lawyers.   Kelley gave me a LOT of good advice and Walter wrote the letter for my 2nd appeal.   We prepared for my conference call "hearing."   The day before the hearing, the insurance company rep called me and told me that it had been approved.   I asked her to fax me a letter to that effect, and called my surgeon's office.   YAYYYY    But they wouldn't schedule me until Dr. Spaw could see me.    By that time, it was almost Christmas, and I coudln't get in to see Dr. Spaw for a while.  

It all worked out, finally.   DS surgery was scheduled for 9 February 2009.   What a long a weird journey (heh heh) this has been.  

Preop testing went well.   The time came for the surgery more quickly than I'd anticipated.   I went through my own preop preparation - I like to take a few extra steps to try to stave off any kind of skin born infection before any kind of surgery.   I was so scared when I got to the holding area preop, my legs were shaking so hard I was having back spasms.   I asked for the propofol, and that helped a lot.    

Surgery went well, I don't really remember PACU at all.    Up in the hospital room, I had a PCA with dilaudid and I felt like I used it a LOT.   I was uncomfortable, but not nearly as painful as my c-sections.   I was up in the room that day and I didn't have any of the problems with nausea and vomiting that I'd had when I'd had the sleeve gastrectomy.

The next morning, I sat at the sink to bathe and the tech offered to wash my back.   I'll never turn down a back-wash, but I really didn't need any help with my bath.   Dr. Spaw came by that afternoon and told me I could remove the dressing and shower if I wanted to.  HECK YES.   He was very happy with my progress (so was I!) and let me go home on Thursday afternoon.

I didn't need to take most of the pain pills he'd prescribed.   I ended up taking a half of one when first waking up to make it easier to get up out of bed and move around, and the other half when I went to bed, to make it easier to relax and get to sleep.   No pain pills at all by the end of the weekend.    But no BMs either.    That took a good two weeks, and two bottles of Mag citrate.

I took the first one the day that Sarah went to her 37 week OB checkup and then came to my house and had pretty consistent contractions.   She is a fast baby-haver, so we went to the hospital to have her checked out, and were there the rest of the afternoon, so I was pretty happy that the first bottle didn't work!

When the blockage finally passed, and the DS poops kicked in, that's when my weight started moving down.   But even before that happened, even before I'd lost the first pound after my DS, I felt happier than I had been feeling.   I just felt like I'd turned over a new leaf in my life, and I was happy about it.

I still am.

Love
Dennie

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