kathpf

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I got a call today from Dr. Colpitt's office saying that they had the authorization from the insurance company so I could see Dr. Gorospe.  I was so happy and she could tell so she gently breaks it to me that Dr. Gs office won't make an appointment for me until I've been to one of their seminars LOL.  I loved being able to tell the receiptionist that I had already been to that, and a support group meeting, AND I have an 8am appointment on Friday.  I'm really happy though that I got my referral to Dr. G, so now my tests SHOULD be picked up by insurance and I won't have to pay that out of pocket.  I'm happy and scared at the same time.  I wonder at times if I could do this without the surgery, but I'm 38 years old, if I could do it without the surgery I'm positive that I would have done it before!

Yesterday I went and saw Dr. Colpitt.  I was very worried about letting her know that I wanted to have surgery.  She has always been quick with her script pad and figured that she would just try writing me a prescription instead of listening to what I had to say.  To my surprise she said that she used to be against bariatric surgery because of the danger but now that the techniques have gotten better and she's had patients who have had it done and seen the results she's for it.  Why didn't she tell me before?  She did say that I was on the small side for having it done (wow I'm small!) but I told her that I was right on the cusp and with my co-mobidities I didn't believe that I would have issues with getting approved.  I also told her that if I needed to gain weight that I wouldn't have problems doing that!  I explained to her the reasons that I wanted to have it done, that I had been to a support group (even though I signed in as a visitor), had went to the seminar and with my family history and current medical problems we could all see the writing on the wall if I didn't do something.  I told her I wanted to do something now, not 20 years from now, when I know that things would be much harder for my surgery wise and I would have MORE health problems to go along with it.  Dr. Colpitt said that she could see that I have done my homework and that I know the risks and shouldn't have any problems with the psych test   She said that she would go ahead and give me the referral but I have asked her to hold off, I wanted to wait until I had my intake appointment with Dr. Gorospe.  That would give us more time on the diet and also for Dr. G's office to start working on my letter of medical necessity.  I go back in 6 weeks to Dr. Colpitt because we changed one of my medications.  I was on Lyrica and had taken myself off because I was having swelling in my hands and feet and I knew that was just going to cause a whole host of problems if I kept on it.  I'm off the Lyrica now and moving off the Effexor and starting Cymbalta.  Wish me luck. 

Right before I was ready to leave work today the sleep center called with my results.  I was right, I got a little over 3 hours of sleep, 3 hrs 17 minutes to be exact.  Of that I was in REM for 13 minutes in which my respiration either slowed or stopped 69 times!!!  Needless to say I'm getting the darth vadar mask.  My love life is in the dumps as it is I can't see how wearing that stupid mask to bed is going to make me any more attractive.  They also told me that my oxygen level was down to 85% and that they get concerned at 88%.  I guess on the upside of this I've got one more co-morbidity to add to my list of why I need to get this surgery done.  My husband has offered to go to my PCP with me when I ask her for the referral.  Dr. G's office called today to remind me of the seminar on Tuesday.  I am looking forward to that.

I had my sleep study done last night.  I knew I was going to be hooked up with a lot of wires but I never dreamed that it would take an hour to get everything hooked up.  It took me over an hour to go to sleep and once I did fall asleep I kept waking up.  I would wake up to change position, I hate when that happens.  I am thankful that I wasn't having to get up to pee every 30 minutes like I had been all week, and I'm sure my tech was happy he didn't have to keep coming in and unhooking me.  I was woke up once because I had wires that had come off, of course that is when I was first dozing.  Right after I hit REM sleep the tech came in to put the CPAP mask on me.  I had chosen the one that looked like the nasal canula because I thought that would be less obstrusive.  He told me to breathe through my nose.  Breathing in was easy but I felt like I couldn't breathe out there was so much pressure.  They put the mask on me about 2:30 this morning.  At 5 I was woken up to tell me the test was over and that as soon as I had filled out the paperwork I could go home.  Sam didn't get to Bailey to pick me up until about 5:45 and all I wanted to do was go to sleep.  I got home about 6 and took a shower to get all of that gunk out of my hair.  When the kids left at 7 I went to lay down but I've been unable to fall asleep.  I think I got 3 hours of sleep total last night.  I've taken a couple of OTC sleeping pills so I hope that will help me relax enough to be able to take a nap.    Even though the sleep study was ordered by the ENT I'm hoping that it will be okay and we can use it for my pre-certification for surgery.

I'm taking the first step and going to Dr. G's seminar on March 11th.  I wish that I could snap my fingers and get approval just like that.  It's not that I think this is the easy way out...I know it's not.  I've got two teenage kids and I want to be there for them and for my future grand children!  I'm scared that my PCP Dr. Colpitt won't refer me for WLS.  I hope to go to the support meetings and make friends who will help me on this journey.