Stacy M.

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So I've been stressed out about money and moving etc.. So I decided to blow out of town on Friday with my mom and head up to her cabin. I am almost packed (if I had to move tomorrow I could throw the rest of my stuff in a couple of boxes and go...)

So we had a nice relaxing weekend.. minus a good night's sleep. I sleep like crap in her guest room on this old wiggly twin bed. I should have just slept on the couch. But we had a good time, and it was great getting away from the stress of an annoying roommate (don't even get me started.. I'm moving to my own place), the stress of packing and moving, and enjoy slower small town life.  I feel destressed (work and moving have been getting to me lately, and money is tight with moving...)

So anyway.. I'm almost at my 4 week mark till surgery.. this coming Wed May 27th is the 3 week mark till surgery.. I can't believe its really almost here. Its almost freaking me out! Next week I have Monday June 1st off to unpack after I move on Sunday the 31st...  I have my pre-op physical on that Wednesday, and the pre-op class Thursday night.  Then I have one full week of working.. Then Monday the 15th and I'm off beginning Tuesday 16th to do the bowel prep..

  Then surgery the 17th @ 10:30 am @ Abbott..  Wow its just around the corner! 

I'm really financially stressed out... We've been being sent home early here or there on slow days at the hospital and my pay checks have been smaller.. and I don't want to take PTO to cover the short hours because I need it  to cover me before my short term disability kicks in, while I'm at home recouping from sugery.

I am moving next weekend (the 31st) which I'm excited for, but I'll have just enough after I pay half my rent and another bill thats due to cover the other half of the movers fee.. THANK GOD! they collected about 1/2 of the 3 hour fee when I booked them like 2 mons ago or I'd be totally screwed up the ass worse than I am now. I had to push my internet/cable installation out another week so that means I won't have any tv or net at home to keep me occupied the first week I move... whaa...  I know I'll use up the time to unpack and the week after I move I have my pre-op physical and pre-op class is in the evening and whatnot.. but still.. Just when I think the bumpy road of my life is smoothing out.. I hit a major crater..  It never fails... Everything is just kind of a mess right now...



ugh 

The most exciting part of this journey is that Anna M. and I are scheduled on the same day at the same hospital, but two different doctors! We're both having our surgery at Abbott on June 17,2009!!!
I'm at 10:30 and she's at 1pm!! AND We're both going to the same pre-op class! How exciting is that!

Sunday May 31st - OT
Moving to Woodbury, MN

Monday June 1st - Day off from work for post moving day unpacking.. AND...
Gyno appt to talk Birth Control post surgery
Starting the pre-op Liquid diet

Wednesday, June 3rd
Offically the day I should start the pre-op Liquid Diet (see above)

Thursday, June 4th
8am History & Physial with my primary care (EKG,chest xray, labs, physical)
5:30-8:30pm - PreOp class at Abbott

Tuesday, June 16th
11 am Poopin time!!! (AKA the Magnesium Citrate drink to empty intestines)

Wednesday, June 17th
SURGERY DAY!!!! - ABBOTT NORTHWESTERN HOSPITAL
8:30 am arrival
10:30 am surgery

Today while I was at lunch the Health Partners rep who has been helping me with my approval called and said its official, you're approved! I can hardly believe it! Its been a long 5 months..

I have a tenative surgery date of June 17th, 2009 @ Abbott (where I work)...
I was so excited.. but my coworkers were so lackluster in response when I told them.. I was kind of down for a bit...

Only about 4 weeks away.. wow!

Now I just have to move.. and start the liquid pre-op diet that same weekend.. well at least I won't have the cost of buying food except for a few liquid diet/pureed diet foods when I move!

I can't wait to be a like the rest of you!

So on Friday (5/1/09) I called HP insurance to double check they had recieved my pre-auth from my WLS office. Nope.. still nothing. So I called the WLS office and she was like well.. I have confirmation it was faxed. And just sat there.. I was like okay, well they don't have it so what do we do. Well I suppose i can call them later today if you want me to?  I'm like uh, yes please???

So I called HP back around 2:45 .. nope, no one had called from my WLS office (they log everything on your account).. So the super nice rep listened to my story and put me on hold to personally call the WLS office. She came back and said that they were faxing the paperwork directly to her and that she will personally give it to the policy review rep. As soon as its posted in the system she would call me..  she called back and left a voicemail around 3:30 letting me know all was well and the insurance approval was in their sytem and will be processed! How nice huh? She gave me her name and phone # and told me to call her directly with any questions...

I'm kind of upset at the WLS surgery chick for treating me so non-chalantly... Clearly after 3 1/2 days if the insurance company says they don't have it.. well they don't have it. I have worked in claim submission before and thats not how you handle a patient's inquiry into their claim submission. Disappointed about that.. I think if I didn't have a medical/insurance back ground, then the darn thing could have sat not being processed for 2 weeks before anyone knew anything.

I called Health Partners (even though I told myself I wouldn't  yet) today after work. The rep I talked to said the pending approval didn't show up in their system yet, but not to worry because it takes a day or two when its submitted electronically.. SOOO...

I won't call again till Monday.. I kind of forgot it was only Wednesday and they just sent it in yesterday.. I need to be patient. I know it will be fine.. because I've put it all up to a higher power!

I called my  WLS office today to make sure they got the summary from my PSYCH from my results on Friday so they could submit to my Health Partners insurance.

**Surprise!!!**

She told me she had recieved it the day before and they had submitted it this morning! What? Are you sure? This is finally almost real? OMG!!??!!

Once I get that approval it will finally feel real.. I can't believe it's finally happening.. I don't think the reality will set in until I know its approved though.. maybe even not until I'm at the hospital that morning waving goodbye to my family and traveling down the hallway to freedom...

Had my psych eval result appt today.. barely lasted 20 mins! Whoopee!

MMPI was totally normal.. I handle change well, have impulse control, and I'm emotionally/mentally stable.
Eating assessment was normal minus my tendency to eat too fast and too much (duh, look at me??)
Lifestyle assessment showed that I'm unsatisfied with my financial situation and my romantic life. 

So other than that we talked a little bit and we were done! He said he knew I had Health Partners insurance and that he'd get the summary over to the business office today still.. As soon as they have that they can send it off to insurance for approval.
So I'm sure as soon as I find out from the office that they sent it, I'm going to be on the phone every day checking on the status of the claim.. well maybe e/o day.. well maybe every day .. ha ha

Its full speed ahead now! The month of May will mean packing for me as I'm moving to Woodbury on May 31st. I am going to try to give myself a week or two to get scheduled before the surgery. I'm looking at the 2nd or 3rd week of June for the surgery!

I can't believe how fast March and April went.. now if May can go as fast.. I can't wait to have this damn surgery and have a fresh start on life!!!

Well because I had a brain fart I missed my HealthPartners dietitian phone call yesterday.. I'm really mad at myself. I've been doing them e/o Monday at 11:30 and I was caught up in a work thing outside of my office and totally forgot. I called them back as soon as I could but it was already too late and they had to reschedule.    I couldn't reschedule until next Wed April 29th.. ugh! That puts me a week and 1/2 behind on my phone calls! I need all 5 done before they'll cover me for insurance.

I've just been reading blogs and gathering as much info as I can... Mostly diet wise.

This Friday is my psych eval results appointment- the eval went fine but I don't really feel like sitting with this dude again and discussing the information. The MMPI is a joke.. those statements!  I also took an eating eval and lifestyle eval and they were ridiculously simple and stupid.  I hope my appointment doesn't last a whole hour. I hope its structured like the first one was (he had a pamphlet he went through)... Its the last appointment barrier I have for submitting to my insurance company. My bariatric office said that I need to tell him at the end of the appt that he needs to submit a basic summary ASAP so they can submit to insurance.. I guess it can take this Psych months to get the final report back to them otherwise. Nice huh?

So as the title of this post says.. Waddle waddle I still go down the journey of weight loss surgery...

Yesterday (Friday April 10th) I had my final appointment.. my Psych eval. It was interesting.. and what I expected- a waste of time! But I know its required by the office and insurance...  My psych was very nice but it was stupid too.. He just went through a series of pages in a packet and sort of went through a list of questions and facts about myself. Then I took the MMPI, an eating inventory, and another lifestyle inventory. I felt like all the tests were just almost silly.. unless you have psych issues or you're not educated then they might not be obvious.. I don't know.

Anyway.. the insurance only requires a summary from the visit so I think the business office will get that from the Psychologist. Its the last step in my pre-op visits required by my bariatric office and the last also that my insurance requires. Now its just a matter of submission to my insurance for approval. It won't feel real until I get that approval.