Jessica H.

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Well I didn't have a lot of time before to post about my update, but now I'm blessed with waking up at 5:30 AM so I have lots of time before work!

I have been on the phone with my insurance company since Friday attempting to make sure that my Implanon will be covered. At $1,240- I can't risk it not being covered! I've called probably three times a day since Friday about the Implanon, and also since last Monday just to check on my appeal status. Yesterday, I talked to the nicest lady on the phone about my Implanon. No good news though, my Drs office still hasn't faxed in the medical necessity form. I wasn't going to ask about the appeal since I had asked probably 10 times in the last week (lol) but when she reemphasized "Is there anything else I can do for you? I paused and then asked if she could check my appeal. She said "Well I see that there has been an update to your review on the appeal", which I thought OK well they are reviewing it more.. I never expected an answer. Then she said "A letter is being sent out to you" when my heart sank- I could have sworn it was a denial. Then she read what the letter said, "After review of the patient's letter and enclosed documents, the finding on the appeal is that services will be covered between the dates of September 10th, 2007 and March 10th, 2007"...... I was crying by the time she hit "will be". Then she was apologizing for the delay on the medical forms for the Implanon, and I was like "I don't care!!!!" haha she's like "don't cry you're going to make me cry!" This was all at my desk, mind you. So my boss gets off the phone and she's like "what's wrong???" and I'm still crying and I mutter "I got approved for my surgery"... and she's like "awwww I'm sorry" because she thought I said not approved.
I called Teresa at the surgery center and I got on the schedule already! October 3rd is my date- THREE weeks from today! I'm not scared- not at all. Im so ready to begin a new life. I am nervous though- I am looking forward to my preoperative appointments next week that go over all of the educational aspects of it. I start my diet on the 19th, not a liquid diet- I have to see exactly what it is.

So I'm up early just like I was the day after we got engaged- just so excited that I can't sleep! How am I going to function until then??? Money is going to be super tight since I'll have two and a half weeks off of work- with no paid time off... I'm so glad we saved for this.

It's going to be just my luck that I get tired and ready to fall asleep right when I need to start getting ready for work. *grumble*

But I don't care!!!!! My life is getting better from this moment on!

Yeah that's right, you're not seeing things! I am finally approved for my surgery! What a pain in a butt an appeal is, but it was worth every bit of my time!
My first call was to the surgery center, everytime they answer the phone they ask me if I have good news :) I was so excited to finally say YES!!!
My surgery date is officially October 3rd. THREE WEEKS FROM TODAY! I have two pre op appointments on Monday and four on Tuesday. My pre op diet starts on Wednesday the 19th. No liquid diet for me *whoo hoo*. I have gained some weight, but I was losing, so hopefully i'm about what I was when I started this process, as long as I didn't gain!!!  October 3rd I will officially be a loser! :) :) :) I'm soooooo excited.. now only if It didn't cost an arm and a leg..and I have great insurance too!!!!!!! taking donations!!! *jk*

Hope you all are well!!!

So I got the lab reports back from my sleep study....... "Patient has moderate-to-severe sleep apnea. Weight loss will help resolve this".... DUH!
But, it was good for my appeal. Soooo I had my second sleep study on Wednesday night. All I gotta say is anyone who has to wear the CPAP is one tough cookie- I was going NUTS with it on! I got maybe... maybe 2 hours of sleep? They kept having technical difficulties where they couldn't get readings from the electrodes in my head. They don't need electrodes to read my mind, I could have told them that I CANT SLEEP WITH ALL THIS JUNK ON MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.... lol end rant.
For those of you unfamiliar with the CPAP, I have a treat for you. Just remember that anything that has pap in it is bad. Unless its paprika, then it's good becaue I love deviled eggs!

this is the one that I wore before bed.

This is the one that I initially tried to fall asleep with. We ended up changing several times during the night.

But do you see what I'm talking about??? G-O-O-F-Y! My cheeks were totally muffin topping, I was a member of the chubby chubby cheek club LOL

As far as the appeal goes..... You know I found out about my denial the day of my surgical consult.. Way over a month ago. I am proud to say that my appeal is in the envelope ready to go! I wrote a LONG 3+ page letter detailing why I need the surgery, quoting higly respected doctors in the bariatric field. I really think I have a good chance, so I'm just going to think positive! Hopefully i can get to the post office before they close today to get this sucker in the mail. 

Hope everyone is well!!!!! I've got some way cool friends on here keepin me busy ;)

Well I had my sleep study Friday night.... CRAZY is the only way I can sum that up. I don't know how results from those things can be in any way conclusive- I know for a fact I did NOT sleep like I would have at home. I was hooked up to 1000000 machines, wires all over me, glued to my face, head, taped to my neck, chin, legs... a clamp on my finger to monitor my blood oxygen levels.. 
The room was pretty comfortable, I mean it was pretty sterile like a hospital room but it was carpeted and had a plaid comforter and a recliner. I'm just glad they had cable TV! I was so dead tired anyways from having a super busy day at work, I had no problems falling asleep. A little HGTV has that effect on me :)
The girl who got me all prepped was a pretty blonde pregnant girl, and I thought I'd be working with her all night. They have a little intercom that they talk to you through and when I asked for some water in the middle of the night I heard a manly raspy voice, which scared the crap out of me!! Then first thing in the morning this Jerry Garcia looking guy came in.. they should really prep you for that so you know you're not having an odd dream!!!! haha he was nice though. He asked if I like music and flowers and I was like... "uhhh I guess so?" and then I realized he could see my tattoo and I was like "OHHHH yeah!" hahaha. I was so incoherent, since they woke me up at 4:45 am!! I was walking out of the hospital at 5am and in my own bed by 5:15am. LOL. I was sooooo tired though, I had to take another nap just to function.

So we went to the Bix Fest last night and had a Blast! I love street festivals. I hate seeing people that you haven't seen for a long time (and rather not see..) but it's all good. At least I have a hot husband on my arm- and they don't! LOL

Here is a picture from early this morning, around 1am:


I'm at work now. OH well, I feel pretty good nonetheless.

Thursday I had a meeting with Theresa, the dept. head at the Surgeon's office. We went over my records and paperwork. I think we agree that it was the wording of my PCP's referral letter that got me denied. Although the letter was well written, It just had this overall tone that she's mostly writing what she's been instructed. She kept using the term "The patient reports", and "Although I have only been since her since March 14th....". More or less a "report" instead of a first hand account. So I made a ton of calls and dug up medical records from WAY back, so we're hoping that I can present them to my PCP and she can reference the history and kind of make the letter more "rounded" if that makes sense. 
The only thing I'm apprehensive about is how do you tell someone with a medical degree that they need to redo something because the first one wasn't good enough? LOL... She's super nice and I know she won't make me feel like an A-hole, but stilll......

Anyways, hope you all are well. It'll probably be a couple weeks before I have any kind of WLS update. But I'm hangin in there! The fair is next week and I'm super excited, Josh Turner, Gretchen Wilson, Poison, Lonestar, I'm forgetting people....

I had my consult with my actual surgeon today. It went very, very well. I love him! He's got a great bedside manner. We joked about Big Medicine and rectal exams. I really really like him. I didn't really learn anything new, but It's one hurdle crossed. He's the one who would have done my appt. at the breast health center and he told me I could go ahead and cancel because everything felt alright :)

Theresa (the dept. head) came in and told me that they submitted my papers to insurance on July 9th. I'm so glad they did it without telling me because I would have been on edge. BCBS has about a 10 day turn around so the 10 days should be coming up soon. But, being the impatient cow that I am... I called the insurance company once I got to work. I got a complete BOZO customer service rep at the insurance company, but all in all I am not approved. "Patient does not meet requirements at this time", with the more specific reason being that I have not had a three year medically supervised diet. At the bariatric clinic they said that BCBS was the very best to have in Iowa for this surgery. Cmon, who really does a three year documented diet? I have been dieting for far longer than 3 years. I asked about this way at the beginning and they said that all it means is "documented weigh ins" like at your Dr. appts. *sigh*. I know there is an appeals process but I already feel like I've got a strike and pretty soon I'll be out.

So what did I do? Went to Checkers and got a chicken strip meal. With a HUGE Mr. Pibb. Oh, and fries. Do I feel sick? You bet!!

:( I just can't describe how I feel right now. Being rejected from a procedure that would give me a life that I can't obtain on my own? It is just devastating. I know I can appeal but I'm just so down right now.

Well today was the big psych eval. I was all stressed out for NOTHING! 

It really wasn't a whole lot of talking. Definitely not like other meetings i've had with counselors. It was more about answering questions and not going on and on lol. I think the talking part only lasted 30 minutes? The other 3 hours was taking tests! I did a 567 question true/false test. Every once in a while they'd pop a question in there that was crazy like "I have flown over the Atlantic Ocean more than 30 times this year"- I think that was meant to figure out if people were just randomly clicking any answer.
When the psychologist asked if I had any questions (this was before the test) I asked "Did I pass?" and she said of course it isn't a pass fail, and it's not meant to weed people out of the program, but to concentrate help to areas that they need it the most before surgery. Which I knew. But she said I did very well and she thinks I'm a great candidate for this surgery. That made me feel better.
One big OOPS I made was when I was telling her the story of my high blood pressure, I said I went in for an annual and she freaked out and sent me to a "real doctor" (which means from a gyn to a PCP, which I didn't have at the time) and she goes "Real Doctor?". After thinking about it I realized that I may have offended her, by implementing that unless you have MD behind your name you're not a real doctor? Which I totally didn't mean at all, I just don't like saying gynocologist, LOL. 
Anyways, if that didn't hold me back then I have no worries. The dept. head said it takes about 2 weeks for her to write her report but they'll give me a call in the next couple days to schedule a meeting with the surgeon!

YAY! :)

We've been so busy lately. Settling into the house and work, it's crazy!! I LOVE our new house. Owning your own home is very rewarding!
So on May 1st my PCP finally gave me a referral to a surgeon!!! I totally thought it would be months before that happened- I was getting the vibe that she was very anti-WLS. 
Everything is moving like sooooo slooooow. I guess I should say was. I'm not sure. So here is the timeline sofar: (and I really should be better about documenting this stuff) May 1st- Referral. Had to wait forever to get into the introductory Seminar required to even get an appointment at the surgeons office!! That was May 24th. Then another few weeks to get my first appt, which I did today- yay! And my psych eval is Monday the 11th. I met with the Department head today, Teresa- she's so nice. I really like her. I have to go see a girl doctor (barf), she said I have symptoms that point toward PCOS.... which are a lot of the same symptoms of Diabetes, but since the tests I have had have eliminated that possibity, this is next. 
So from my appt. on Monday with the Psychologist, I have to wait about 2 weeks for her report to be put together, and then they submit to the insurance company!! I hope It moves quick from there!
One nice thing is that there is no liquid diet before the surgery- I don't know how well I'd be able to adhere to that. 

I've been seeing a new Chiro who is hot hot hot... omg hot! So I go home and tell my husband about how hot he is haha. I'm pretty "messed up" according to the chiro, but I'm not in too much pain so I'm OK. He highly recommends a breast reduction. I went home and told Ben that and he freaked out- that was the last straw for him! Ha! It was pretty funny. But with a 135 lb. weight loss I doubt they'll be giving my back too much trouble. 

I'm down 1.6 lbs. since Monday. Yay! I'm also 5'5". I couldn't see the tape measure when she was measuring my waist and hips- but it was probably a good thing. 

This has turned into rambing, but until next time..........

(How are all of you doing?!?!)

I wish I didn't have such high blood pressure!!!!!!!!!
I can feel a severe hypertensive migrane coming on and my prescriptions are at the old house. It's my fault that I don't take them everyday but I'm just so bad at stuff like that, it's amazing that I can remember to feed the dog (jk!)....

If surgery would cure my high blood pressure and ONLY that, I'd STILL want to have it done!!! I hate feeling this way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When I have this kind of headache, I think of a special I watched on the discovery channel once about ancient Egyptians, they would drill a hole into their skull to release the pressure and they'd never have headaches.... I wish they did that here, I'd do anything to be relieved of this!

I still haven't called my PCP back to reschedule. I was supposed to have my app on the 2nd. I just can't bring myself to go back to her office and be like "I didn't do anything that you told me to do"... ugh. Suggestions?

I just thought I'd update quickly, from MY NEW HOUSE! That's right.. this whole thing I'm in...walls, floor, ceiling, I OWN IT! Well, the bank does...but when I'm 53 It'll be mine! That's 30 years from now...

LOTS of work to move. The acutal "MOVE" only took 2 hours!! We filled a whole 24 ft. UHaul and a couple pick up trucks full. lots and lots of stuff.

To make my life hard, the refrigerator we ordered did not fit. They can't redeliver until Thursday so now I have no refrigerator or freezer! Ugh! 
We have the "staples" in a cooler... sooo inconvenient!

Hope you all are doing well <3

Hello all,
     Well It's been a week since I've been doing the food diary, and I'm proud to say that all but one day I've had less than 2,000 calories! I've kept a diary before but keeping one really does make a difference. I use fitday.com, I really like it but I heard that it's very inaccurate. It works wel enough for me!
   I took my BP meds today for the first time in several days, and it's been in the 80's here in Iowa, and boy did I sweat all of that extra fluid out! Ugh! I hate sweating!! I was just so uncomfortable and embarrassed at work. On top of that the heat gave me a headache that I STILL have, and I had to stay an hour and a half late at work running around crazy! I didn't get to eat anything between my breakfast at 10am (good thing it was a big breakfast!) and when I got off work so I hit the drive thu on my way home :( Bad I know. I also had Wendy's yesterday but instead of fries I got chili. And the chicken sandwich is half the calories than the double bacon cheeseburger but yum I was craving beef! Tonight I *did* get the fries with the meal and I also upped it to a medium....but mostly for the pop because I thought the caffeine would help with my headache and I have to stay up late to clean because we're showing our house tomorrow.
Anyways.... I don't feel guilty. That's the total opposite of what I want to do!

I was making my husband dinner last night (he works 3rd shift so I make him meals specifically for him to take to work) and I took the pan of steak fries out of the oven and set it on the counter and totally burnt my gut! Here's whats wrong with the picture: I was wearing a tank top that's 4 sizes too small for me and so my gut was exposed. But I was sweating my butt off and I was home alone so why not?!!? Secondly, my gut is apparently so big that I cannot control it anymore. It's crazy. I didn't just brush up against it, I walked into the pan at full force. My gut must be a full half foot protruded from my body. Like if I was to walk up to a wall, my belly button would touch it first, and my feet would be 6 inches from the wall. The end result is a 5 inch long burn on my belly!!!!!! Ouch!!! It was all blistered up yesterday and today it's super super red. It's healing though. Unfortunately I'm very familiar with burns, due to my curling iron days...OK enough gut talk lol... Is burning your gut considered a comorbidy?? How about the inability to control excess body.. haha I don't know!

Next monday I have more bloodwork and I do the stress test, I was thinking about cancelling because of the horrible pain I've been getting on the side of my leg!! I know the practical reaction would be to go to the doctor but I'm starting to really not like my PCP!! I wish I could get a name of a good one around here, someone who is PRO WLS.

I know I'm being dicked around and It sucks!!