Got Insurance Approval Today 4/21/11

Apr 21, 2011

After being denied the surgery I prepared so thoroughly for at University of MIchigan (Insurance denied because it is not a center of excellence), I went through a pretty tough couple of weeks, trying to find another center and expedite everything since everything was done. I was so lucky to find St John Weight Loss Center in Madison Heights, MI. They took me on, took my paperwork from the previous hospital, required only one additional blood test (H Pylori) and got the insurance submitted within the week.  Although I knew for sure that this time I qualified, I had a deep dark fear of them coming back and saying no (for whatever reason that may be).

After submitting the paperwork this Monday, and being told the average feedback time is 10 days (but could go all the way up to 60 days), I certainly was NOT expecting the phone call this morning from St Johns. In fact, I was in a company meeting, one which I could not sneak out of. So, I saw the call come in, and the voicemal left. My heart sank. Certainly after 4 days, if they were calling me, they no doubt had gotten a "DENIED" response form the insurance compnay, or.. she wanted more information or paperwork.

For the next hour as I sat through presentations about how well the company did this last year, the only thing I could think of was: "What do I do now? Denied two places. Does God really want me to have this surgery or not?". Luckily (and ironically) I had found a co-worker of mine while heading into the meeting. She is about 6 months out from Bypass (RYNY) and she has become my most valuable tool throughout this whole process. When the call came in I leaned over and whispered: "That was them". She smiled and said... Good news!!. I'm glad she was so positive. I kept me from running out at that very minute to go listen to the voicemail (and risking looking bad in front of my bosses).

On the way out the only thing that I wanted to do was listen to the voicemail. "Hi Heather, this is so-and-so from St Johns..." I took a deep breath and held it. "I just wanted to call and let you know that I just received the authorization for the surgery..." I smiled so big and my coworker stood next to me as everyone was streaming out of the room around us. "....the next step is for our surgery scheduling nurse to give you a call and she will call sometime tomorrow or Monday morning..." I stopped listening and began to cry while nodding my head 'yes' to my coworker. She gave a quick "Wow, that's great" while I fumbled with my phone to try to save that voicemail forever in my inbox. I quickly went over what had just been said and looked at her and said "OMG, I'm getting nervous. I need to start getting everything ready... like NOW!"

After she had left, I sat in my car and I finally was able to save the voicemail and hear another voicemail that I ignored after hearing the good news. A beautiful sunny day, with the sun beaming in through my sunroof. "I finally got here".

I'm still taking in the breadth of the whole situation, but my mind is now racing far ahead of where it should. "What do I buy for food for the 3 weeks after?" "How hard can I resume exercise after the surgery?" "How do I take all these pills, which ones and at what times?" "How can I start and remember the habit of eating small, frequent meals during the day?" It all seems like so many policies to adhere to, which is fine by me, but how can I remember all this?

On the way home, I spent $73 on more protein, B-12 tabs, Citrical, and multivitamins. I want to make sure I have enough and I'm not rushing after the surgery. But now I'm starting to freak out and I turned to obesity help.com for answers from others who have done this. Emotionally, I'm ready (I was when the paperwork was submitted at U of M a couple weeks ago). But knowledge-wise, I don't know that I am.

I feel relief. Right now I feel anxious also, waiting for the surgery scheduler to call me. I feel a sense of peace, and oddly enough, a feeling that God has personally held my hand through all of this, enabling me to be strong while going through all of this. I feel scared, certainly anyone going to the hospital would. I also feel concerned about my workload while I am away from work. But this is my time. It's a time to get myself right, so I can go forward with life and not worry every day about if I will die young and never see my nephew grow up. Right now I am so thirsty for knowledge and that's why I turned to this website. I will track my progress as things move forward. :)

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