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Well I am waiting to hear back from my coordinator.  I called her to make sure my review would be in cue since my pre-approval tests are completed.  

Nothing - no call back and it's been 1 week.

During my ugi exam I discovered I have mild reflux. 

I am waiting - maybe they don't want me as a patient. 

I had my first official consultation and I was not impressed.  This was a top notch hospital and a highly rated surgeon but the office staff left a foul taste in my mouth.  The office was dingy and small. The male admin was rude, picky and very bitchy.  The nurse, I guess she was, ran me to the exam room and just rushed me through the program outline. She then took my blood pressure (over my elbow) and guessed my height for my bmi.  She spoke so fast you would have thought the devil was chasing her down.  After 7 minutes or so, she handed me the outline in a 4" binder and trotted out.
  
Next came the clinical fellow who came in with a flipcard presentation and asked routine questions before the surgeon made his appearance. The surgeon was aloof at best and perhaps that is the way they should be, but there was no connection. I learned that he has placed 500 bands and has had no mortalities. His slip rate is "low" but he could not give me a number or percentage. He said that the slips come from eating wrong not from surgery.

So I walked out with an appt for a dietcian and social worker all to take place in the next two weeks.  

I waited 3 months for my insurance pre-exsisting condition clause to wane, so I know I can wait a few more weeks in order to find a right fit program.  My BC PPO rep said, "not to worry about visiting other surgeons....just find one that you like and they will take care of the rest." 

Of course there is no guarantee that my insurance will even pay for the band...so

I am now looking into going to Mexico for my band with Dr Rumbant. From what I've read, that surgeon is one of the world's best, I can get it quickly and at a great price. I have never been to Mexico so it will be an adventure.  

I visited another seminar regarding the lapband and was very pleased with Dr Oliak.  That doctor is really something!  He knows his stuff his staff (TINA) is so nice and very patient!  


The only downer is that he is out of network for me and the o.r. wait time at Chapman Hospital is 8 months!

I don't want to keep this weight on any longer!!

I had to up eat - gain 10 lbs - in order to qualify for a BMI of 40. I didn't want to mess around with co-morbids because my co-morbids were not that bad.  I know the insurance would tell me that oral drugs would suffice.

Anyway,  I'm off to different seminar / support meeting tomorrow in Thousand Oaks.  I want to be prepared if my insurance doesn't pay, then I'll know who to go to if I self pay.

I had to really be diligent about my application for MRMIP....the application was received on January 10 but they had absolutely no data on it. After my 6th call, the rep got up and actually dug through various boxes of applications waiting to be input.

He found mine.  

He said that it had taken too long for my processing and pulled mine out and placed it on top of the pile for the processor to input.  The rep told me to call back later before they close (7:30pm) and ask for the processor directly if my application was still not in the system.

I called five hours later and was told that my application was accepted and that my insurance is retroactive from January 1st 2007!  I have insurance!  I have Blue Cross PPO!

I was told that I can make an appointment for my pre-exsisting condition now...just cannot have any services for it until April 1st 2007.  So tomorrow I will strive to get at least the basic tests booked on the same day of my consultation.  Psychiatrist, nutritionist, blood, barium swallow...

Doctor Cunneen here I come!!

OK, apparently my application for MRMIP/Blue Cross has been received by the office on Jan 10, but it has not been input into their big database.  I have only until Jan 26 to make the January enrollment cut off.  My check for $576 is waiting on somebody's desk!

HealthNet denied me individual coverage based on my height/weight....so that makes obesity a pre exsisting condition.  However since I was in a clinical trial for obesity/dyslipidemia in the past 6 months...that makes me ineligible for ANY doctor visits for obesity for 3 months starting from January 1st .

STARTING from January 1st...providing they process my application by January 26th.

I am so ready for this and I truly regret siging up for the last obesity trial....had I not signed up for it, then I would've started my wls journey as soon I would've received my shiny new BC card.  

I attended a WLS seminar with my mother early today and we were disappointed. It was much more like a recruitment/sideshow than a serious medical discussion about wls.  

I was upset also with the non chalant way the surgeon divereted those asking about LapBand to RNY.  I was told that the average daily calorie intake will be 700-800 calories a day...when I asked about such a low calorie intake permanently lowering metabolism he shrugged and said, "but you'll lose a lot of weight."

He was flabbergasted that I knew about the low profile port, he actually asked how I knew about it!  He said that if he could get his hands on one then he will use it on me, he thought it would "be neat" to try one.

The sidekick, the comedian, was annoying. It was really his show and the doctor was just there for effect. The office staff was there to hand out folders full of promotional material including a booklet featuring a plastic surgery center complete with full color, partially nude photos of past success patient. The folder also held an intake sheet asking for social security numbers, insurance carrier info and by the, height and weight.

Overall, it left a dull taste in my mouth.  My mother was not impressed, but we are determined to get our lap bands. The real work isn't getting the band, it's finding the right doctor AND support staff!

After another seizure scare by my nephew that lives with me over the weekend, I found out his mother lost her job and therefore lost his insurance.

Why? 

Why didn't she tell me the day after she lost her job that he no longer has insurance? Why am I so ready to pick up everybody's broken pieces and mend them together?

I am facing over $2000 in ER bills and today I just shelled out $300 cash for a neurologist's 10 minute history review.  I now face $350 for an EEG and then $650 for an MRI next week.

The money isn't what concerns me, what really hurts me is my nephew's attitude. He doesn't talk to me, acts like he is totally embarrassed to been seen with me. Yet doesn't have trouble taking him out to dinner or to the movies - he just makes sure to walk 3 times as fast as I do, huffs and puffs and rolls his eyes, he just started giving that stern eyebrow look.

He is no longer a minor, he is 18 so I don't have to pay for anything anymore.  As far as I am concerned I should just let him apply for Medi-Cal and for him to been seen by the county hospital instead of a local Torrance hospital.

I've done this all my life. I've taken care of people, taken abuse and have been used by people all in an effort to gain their love and acceptance.  It's almost as if I am dolling out their punishment on myself because I don't feel worthy enough to be their friend or even in their family (at times).

He just sits there like a bump on a log on the long drive over to the neurologist's office. He was all happy and excited chatting with friends because I watched him before he noticed I was waiting for him.  His friend has far better manners and seems truly engaged with me...even told my nephew that he's lucky , while my nephew told him "No man, you don't know....it's suffocating, you'd wish you were dead if you dealt with what I do."

I sacrificed a job opprotunity in Denver, re-arranged my college schedule and cancelled vacations in order to take care of him whle he was a young child (age 3-11)....but he doesn't remember that. Bailed him out of a huge mess last year, begged school to let him in, built him up to where he actually feels good about himself...  

Well, he won't have to deal with that anymore.

I'm worth too much to take that shit from a kid who won't even feed his own dog (that I had to take in) or hides the lunches (that he asked me to make for him) in his closet to rot.

Nope, this year is for me..........finally!  

All the while I type this, I have cut up the King's Hawaiian Bakery' Paradise cake to fill up on...damn, I am so tired of this stuffing feelings down. I hope my prospective band won't break.

Well,  I think I've come to the decision that I will get the Lap Band procedure.  I'm still full of questions and the further steps I take to the actual procedure being done....I'm finding I'm even more nervous!

My weight has been a factor in my life, I've let it hold me back and down, I've listened to the taunts and internalized the looks given by schoolmates, coworkers and the opposite sex. 

Now that I am the BIG 4-0, I want to finally live life for me.

I've neglected my health for too long taking care of other people before myself.  I have finally taken the step to getting a high risk medical insurance that is available to Californians with no health insurance.  I am paying a lot of money for Blue Cross of California ($576 @ mo) but it seems they are easier to get approval for WLS than the other plans available.  I have just applied and am waiting for approval.