1Haute Diva

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 I am APPROVED!!!  ... I woke up this morning telling myself I would not check the website until after noon.. I made it to 10am and I had to do it.  Low and behold instead of me seeing the dreaded "pending" it said "APPROVED."  My husband is off today so he was laying in bed with me and I shook him to wake him up saying, "I got it baby, I'm approved."  His response.. "Ok," and back to snoring he went.. MEN!  But needless to say I'm on cloud nine.  Before I could even email my surgeons office the coordinator emailed me letting me know that I was approved.  Let me tell you, Sara is on it!  She has played a big part in my journey, more than she'll ever know.

So I had a choice of March 6th, 19th, or 20th... that's when the fat girl came out in me and I thought of wanting to have my last Olive Garden meal and some buffalo wings from the wing spot.. so...  I picked the 20th. I know, I know, bad girl.. but I also have to send for my mother-in-law so this gives her ample time right?   Okay.. don't judge me... I said don't judge ME!!! 

So 2 week liquid diet starts March 6th.... I'm on my way to a healthier me!  So I'm going to need ya'll to slide ya'll decreasing bootys over on that losers' bench because I'm coming!!

 and I can't sleep.  No real reason why, I tend to get hit with insomnia every now and then.  

Got a message from my surgeon's bariatric coordinator Sara today.  She made sure to let me know in the beginning of the message that it was not about my approval as to "not get my hopes up" .  She must've known that if I heard her voice in my messages I would automatically think it had to do with my approval LOL.  She was just calling to let me know that my B-12 was a little low in the labs the had me do so I needed to start a sublingual B-12 twice a day untilI came back in to do labs again.  I must say Dr. Whipple is pretty proactive when it comes to vitamins, which is great!

I learned in my RNY class that Dr. Whipple has been doing RNYs since 2005, has never lost a patient, and will do no more than 2 RNYs a day.  It's pretty reassuring that he has such a great track record and isn't trying to fit in "as many surgeries as he can."  I feel confident in my choice to let him hold my life in his hands.....

So, still I wait.  I emailed Sara late yesterday asking if she's ever had anyone take this long getting approval from tricare.  She assured me that she had.  She says sometimes they get backlogged and it take a little longer.  But she told me she had no worries about me getting approved. So, yep.. still I wait!

So my info was submitted for authorization was submitted last Friday (the 10th), it did not show up in the Tricare system until yesterday (the 14th), and it's been saying "pending" ever since.  This wouldn't be a big deal if I hadn't heard that people have gotten approval within a day or two after submitting.  I keep checking and it doesn't change.  At one point I checked online  and the sytem was down so I called the automated number and... same thing.. "pending".  

I hate being negative but it's making me expect the worst.  I'm so ready to begin this new phase in my life!  Maybe I just need to relax and wait for the decision.  UGGGHHHHH!!! I guess I'll go sit on my couch and relax with a glass of wine.

Pray for me!

That's right ladies and gents.. the diva has FINALLY stopped procrastinating and got in her psych and Nut appointments so now.. she waits...  I can't explain how good it feels to know that all I have to do now is wait for my surgeon's bariatric coordinator to submit my information to Tricare and wait for my approval!

I've gotten my protein samples ready (I have to do a 2 week liquids only diet before surgery and again after surgery), I have my measuring spoons and cups, my Klean Kanteen water bottles (yes your girl is environmentally conscious ), and my ninja blender has been getting a workout already making my last few pina coladas before surgery!!!  So I am READY!!!

I'm hoping for a date this month so be on the look out for my next blog!!!

*Big hugs to all* And congrats on all of my friends that are celebrating surgiversaries!!!  I'm coming to join you soon on the losers' bench!

So, everything is done now except for my nutritionist appointment and my pre-op education class.  I must say all of the complaints everyone had about the psychiatrist Dr. Turner, didn't hold true for me.  She was really nice and very helpful in my opinion.  The appointment started with her assistant taking all of my paperwork and having me do a 165 question computerized test and then a short paper test.  That took all of 20 mins or so and then I saw Dr. Turner.  I just answered honestly and made sure I told her everything I knew about life after surgery.  All she could say is "you'll do well."  Hearing her say that was comforting for me and let me know that not only do I know I'm ready, but I have proven to others that I am ready.

So now I wait.  My NUT appt is next Tuesday and my Pre-op class is on Valentine's Day!  Somewhere between next week and V-day my packet should be submitted to Tricare... I'm sooo ready!!!

I love coming on here and researching about the different weight loss surgeries so that I could make the best choice for ME.  So I already knew that for me the only two choices were RNY or DS. Reading up on the DS everything sounded so great! 2/3 of the stomach gone, keeping the pyloric valve, and everyone that I have seen with the surgery looked great!  Low and behold, my insurance wouldn't pay for the DS so I felt kind of forced into getting the RNY.

But then I began to research more into the DS since late last year I was diagnosed with GERD.  I never realized that when I got nauseous after I ate that it could actually be a sickness.  I assumed that maybe I ate too much too fast, but, nope... it's GERD.  And finding out about it was like an epiphany to me.  I realized that RNY is really what I need.  The chances of it curing my GERD with the RNY is much higher than with the DS.  

So that's it RNY is MY surgery and I have no doubts in my mind.  I can honestly say that I am ecstatic about my choice and can not wait for my approval.

Well, it's been long overdue but I have finally scheduled my thyroid exam, psych appointment, exercise class, and I'll schedule my NUT appointment tomorrow!  I'm so excited that I will be done with all of my pre-ops by the 30th of this month and then all I will have left is my pre-surgery class!! I can't wait to be a thinner me by the summer... WATCH OUT NOW!!! 

Things got to be too crazy here so I had to put my surgery on hold a bit.  But now I'm back and ready to get the show on the road!  I've decided to wait until after the holidays to finish up any "pre-stuff" I have left to do.  All I have left is the nut appointment and the psych appointment.  Both of which I have to pay for out of pocket, so with Christmas right around the corner I've put them both off until January. 

Besides that all is well here.  I've lost 7 lbs, not sure why or how but I'm not complaining LOL!  I guess that's it.  Now I'm going to go visit all of my favorite peoples' pages to see how everyone is doing.  Hope all are well!!

So after waiting TWO months I finally met with my surgeon for my first consultation on July 7th.  After the NUT took my weight and all of my measurements I got to meet with Dr. Whipple.. aka Dr. McDreamy.  He's so cute lol.

Of course I got the regular spiel about being the perfect candidate and because I could explain to him everything about the surgery I claimed the title of "patient of the day" .  So all I have to do is meet with the psych, the NUT, take an exercise class, a gastric bypass class, do an Upper GI test, a thyroid blood test and of course the H. PYlori test (which I've already done and passed!).

The day after I saw the surgeon I went to my primary doc so he could put in the referrals for my blood test and Upper GI series.  Blood test was done the same day and the Upper GI is scheduled for July 27th!  I'm actually excited the drink the nasty stuff and have the GI series done... oh the things we're willing to do in order to have this surgery LOL.

Now to scrape together the 350 for the psych and the 275 program fee... ugggh... anyone know of any strip clubs hiring for big gurls????

But I'm slowly progressing and hope to be on the losers' bench soon!

*HUGS to you all*

 Well it's been almost 3 weeks since my seminar and I still hadn't heard from the surgeon's office.  I had called them the day after the seminar to see if I could get a date but they claimed they had to verify insurances before giving appointments.  (I call Bulls*** on that because I had to get a referral to them, thus they know I have insurance and since they work with my insurance all of the time they know that RNY is covered.. but I digress.. moving on...)

So I called them this morning.  I wasn't sure if I was going to put on my annoyed-black-woman voice or my sweet voice.  A chipper woman answered the phone so I decided to go sweet... AND I GOT A CONSULT DATE... July 7th is the big day!  Wohoo!  Kind of far away but this surgery has been a long time coming so I guess another month wont kill me :).  Besides she said I could always check back to see if they get any openings, so if I get desperate I have that option.

Congrats to all of you that have recently had your surgery and congrats to all of you that have reached any goals that you have set for yourselves.  To the rest of us.. just keep on keeping on!