MozMonQ
My sleeve journey began in July 2009, when my primary care dr asked me if I'd ever considered having weight loss surgery. It is something I'd been looking into for about 4 years already, so I told him yes and he put in a request for a consult with a bariatric surgeon that same day. It was denied, but we weren't told why, so he re-submitted the referral request in September. Finally someone told me that I would have to do 6 months of supervised dieting/weight loss attempts before the insurance would consider approving a consult. I started my supervised dieting and visits with a nutritionist in October 2009. Was done in June 2010, because of a month-or-so lapse, due to insurance error. Meanwhile, he'd already requested the consult again in early May 2010, so by June it was in the process already. My 1st consult was supposed to happen in July 2010, but had to be re-scheduled to August 2010 because the surgeon was on vacation. Sooo...
July 2, 2009: First request for wls consult - denied w/no explanation
Sept 2009: Second request for wls consult - denied w/explanation
Oct 6, 2009: Began supervised weight loss
May 2010: Third request for wls consult - approved
June 7, 2010: Finished 6mo supervised weight loss
Aug 9, 2010: 1st consult with surgeon
Aug 13, 2010: Medical records requested to be sent over to surgeon
Aug 17, 2010: WLS Info Session
Aug 23, 2010: Psychological Evaluation
Aug 26, 2010: Esophagram (Upper GI/Barium Swallow)
Oct 18, 2010: 2nd consult with surgeon - SILS?
Nov 1, 2010: 3rd consult/Pre-Op with surgeon - surgeon said no to SILS - had chest x-ray
Nov 12, 2010: Pre-Op with primary care provider
Nov 23, 2010: Surgery Day @ 7:15am!!
Nov 24, 2010: Esophagram and then went home @ 6:45pm
Dec 8, 2010: ER due to leg and chest pain, had chest xray, leg ultrasound, and chest CT scan, all normal, but blood tests showed my potassium to be low enough that I was hospitalized for 6 days while I received IV Potassium (AND oral liquid potassium)
Dec 13, 2010: Discharged, with rx for liquid potassium to take at home. Drs orders to stop HCTZ (diuretic for high blood pressure), since it's potassium-depleting
Feb 14, 2011: Officially stopped taking liquid/oral potassium supplements - potassium level back to normal!!
April 10, 2011: ER due to excruciating upper abdominal pain. Turned out being gallstone pancreatitis.
April 16, 2011: Surgery to remove gallbladder and check, with contrast, the bile duct for any remaining stones (cholecystectomy with intraoperative cholangiography, with ERCP incorporated if bile duct stones are found). No further stones found in bile duct, so ERCP not needed. Gallbladder full of stones removed successfully.
April 17, 2011: Discharged, with rx for Vicodin and Colace (stool softener)
