Keith.
3-2-06 My First Entry
Hello everyone, I am 41 and divorced, I have a 12 year old daughter (13 next week). I have been divorced for 11 years now, it was pretty rough and bitter, but through the grace of God I was given custody of her since the beginning of my separation/divorce, she has been a great kid.
As for my daughter and I we have many interest, I am an avid bowler and bowl in the Hopewell Church League every Sept-May, love to play golf and am a die hard Redskins fan with season tickets, as for other sports I love Yankees Baseball, Nascar (Go #24), and Duke Basketball. My daughter is your typical teen, she loves music and television and is very passionate towards art. We are both Christians and love our church (www.mpbc.us). Well enough of that for now, plenty of time to discuss more later.
As for my weight problem, I have not always been an overweight man, in 1984 when I began employment with my current employer I weighed 150 lbs, my weight began to be a problem when I was towards the end of my marriage (1994) and it just got worse after the divorce, that is when I became less active physically due to staying home and raising my daughter (2 yrs old at time) and then beginning to eat out at fast food joints all the time, I loved to cook but just couldn't manage to cook in such small quanity for the 2 of us and neither of us liked left overs so that was a waste. On top of all that I am a shift worker and after 22 years of that and eating at all different times especially after midnight when I would get home before bed it just escallated to where I am today.
So I began my journey to WLS surgery on 12-7-05 by going to Dr. Amy Martin of Commonwealth Surgeons seminar at St. Mary's Hospital, I was very impressed with her knowledge and passion towards her work. I had already done some research and watched a video of the Lap-Band procedure online prior to the seminar, so after the seminar I knew this was my choice. I met with my NP Barbara Kayes on 12-30-05 and she was just super. On 1-17-06 I met with Sharon Upton the dietician and on 1-19-06 met with Ronna for the Psychological Evaluation, both of those went well also. I had to submit from my PCP a 6 month evaluation including weigh ins to my insurance and that was no problem. All the above was submitted to my insurance and on 2-2-06 I got my first bad news, my insurance carrier denied the surgery, the co-ordinator at Commonwealth (Hilarie) took care of the appeal. Finally today I got my letter from Cigna dated 2-24-06 that they have APPROVED me for surgery (Praise God) So now I am waiting for Hilarie to call me back and give me a date. I am not sure what all is next but I pray that God will allow everything else to go more smoothly and quickly, I would love to have a date ASAP.
Well, I guess I have rambled on enough for now, I look forward to reading the message board and also will post more later. Until then thanks for reading, take care everyone and God Bless. Keith
