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I am a retired HTML Team Volunteer and have created a total of 60 profiles for members here at OH.

BEFORE PHOTOS



This is me & hubby at Graceland in June 2000 Weight=230

A picture of me that hubby customized Weight=230



Me in August 2001, weight=245



Hubby & I Xmas 2002, weight approx 260




Me Xmas 2003 weight 292 lbs the heaviest I've ever been


My Virtual Model

10/2002 - Had my initial consultation with the bariatric clinic in Ypsilanti Michigan and had my cardiac clearance done, my primary physician was all for the surgery and had written a letter to my insurance company in regards to my need for the surgery and it's benefits in the long term. Then my husband lost his job and we lost our insurance. He worked for a small business so cobra wasn't offered and we could not afford the insurance premiums. Hubby's new insurance will go into effect in about 3 months and I'll probably have to start over.

11/15/03 - I am in the process once again, working this time with LivLite out of Bi-County Hospital in Warren MI. So far all is looking good, I already know that my insurance has approved others for this surgery and rather quickly as long as it was medically necessary. I'm sure my primary physician will be writing a compelling letter, she has fought hard for other patients and won. I am to see her on Wed. this week for a physical, it's been over a year since my last one due to long periods of time without health insurance. I'll post on the boards as I know more.

12/5/03 - Well I'm bummed. I went to get my psych eval done... the last thing I need to do before sending all the info to the insurance company for approval. I didn't get it done. The LivLite program that I'm going through is in Warren and I live way the heck out in Howell, so I found a counselling service that was in-network for my insurance plan and made an appointment there. No one bothered to tell me that unless a therapist or the group they are practicing with does a lot of bariatric patients, they won't have the software program to score the standardized test that is required. They can administer the test, but have to send it off for scoring which can take up to 3 weeks to get back. Now heres the kicker, insurance doesn't pay for the test or the scoring or the report writing. They wanted to charge me $200.00 above and beyond what insurance covers to administer the test and have it scored and then another fee on top of that to write the report! I was LIVID! I wasted 2 weeks waiting for this appointment just to walk out of there with nothing accomplished.

Fortunately the LivLite program has a psychiatrist that works with them and charges $175.00 for the whole kit-n-kaboodle, so that's what I'll have to do. Not sure we can find the $$'s for it either, I've been out of work for 2 months and still waiting for unemployment benefits. I thought this would be the perfect time to have my surgery done, but we won't be able to hang on much further without me working and once I go back to work, well... it'll be kinda hard to tell a new employer "I'm gonna take 3-6 weeks off to have surgery... see ya". So it's up in the air once again, and I know many other's have gone through the same or similar frustration. Hopefully next update will be more positive.

2/5/04 - Hmmm, I think I deleted an update that I posted last month.. oh well, no biggie. I had my psych eval last month on the 16th with the Liv-Lite psychiatrist, 175 of the dumbest questions I've ever had to answer, turns out I'm sane afterall :). The request for pre-cert was faxed to my insurance company on Monday 2/2. Shelley from Liv-Lite called me on Tues to say that the lady from the insurance company called her and said they would have an answer for her by the end of the week....yee haw! Now if they will only deliver the approval that I'm praying for. I can't hold out much longer, gotta get back to work before we go bankrupt. Will post the verdict here as soon as I get it.

2/6/04 - I was denied, insurance company wants to see 6 months of Dr. supervised dieting to meet their criteria for WLS. Oh well.... here I go. I'll be back after 6 months to let ya know the results.

8/31/04 - Well, 6 months of dieting (tried low carb)has only caused me to GAIN 8 lbs. The problem is not dieting, it's exercise and since I can't exercise efficiently due to the continuing heel spur problems along with the bad left knee, my weight keeps getting worse. My doc understands, she's the best and she's written a letter to the insurance company letting them know that I've now gone through the 6 months of supervised dieting. Hopefully, she will be able to convince them that the gained weight has nothing to do with my compliance with the diet. Oh... one more thing, during this period of time, I've been diagnosed with Type II Diabetes, blood sugar is under control with medication (thankfully). I should know their final verdict within a week or so. If they deny me again, I am going to assume that it's God's will that I don't have this surgery, His will be done.

9/22/04 - Well... I did get another denial, but mainly because my primary doc did not give them enough info, so of course, that delayed things a bit more. She had to write another letter, this time she just wrote 3 pages and gave them my entire history from the time she started seeing me. It worked! I got the approval letter today! I'm still in a state of shock after so many denial letters. I will be calling the surgeon's office tomorrow to see if I need to see him again or if we can just go ahead and schedule the surgery. My 4th grandchild is due in a matter of days, so I think I would prefer to wait until about the 3rd week of October. Will post more when I know more.

9/23/04 - I have a date! 10/13/04 I am so excited, I can barely believe it's actually gonna happen finally. I know I'm gonna get the pre-op jitters and that I'll experience some anxiety.... never had major surgery in all my 52 years, but hey.... if it isn't this, I'm sure it would be open-heart or worse in a few years. I am soooo looking forward to being on the losing side PERMANENTLY! :)

10/7/04 - What a week! Monday my baby had her baby by c-section, mother and daughter are doing just fine. Little Korynn Lynn made her entrance at 3:16pm on 10/4/04 and weighed in at 5lbs and was 19 1/2 inches long. No... as far as we know she was not premature, she doesn't look it either, she's just petite :) If you'd like to see pics you can visit http://www.skbdezigns.com/baby/

Yesterday I had my pre-op testing, just an EKG and blood work, hopefully all is well there and surgery will be as scheduled on the 20th. 13 days and counting!

10/13/04 - Well....should have known #2. I got a call today informing me that my date has been changed to Oct. 21st instead of the 20th. Great! Now I'll be in the hospital on the weekend when staffing is at it's lowest and the quality of care goes down accordingly. I asked when the next opening would be and was told not until Nov. 1, which would be a Monday, I like that a lot better and would prefer to wait until then, but my husband has had it with all the delays, he wants this over with..... so I guess I'll have to do it on the 21st. I just hope staffing is extraordinarily good that weekend.

10/28/04 - Yeah.... I'm finally on the losing side, but boy what a trip that was! I can honestly say that I am not fond of "major surgery" at all! It was very painful, even with all the drugs. I think I'm becoming a whimp in my old age, pain just isn't as tolerable as it used to be. I had to come home with Dilaudid to control my pain and I'm still in need of the Lor-tab (which is so sickeningly sweet it's ridiculous.

Dr. Pesta was terrific, so was the anesthesiologist, but there definately was a shortage of caring, knowledgeable nurses on duty during my stay at Bi-County. I wasn't impressed, but perhaps I was just unlucky with the staff assignment, being a nurse myself, I was disappointed in some of the care I recieved. There were 2 very good nurses that stand out in my mind, and darn if I can remember their names, but the rest were mediocre at best. Anyway, it's all water under the bridge now. I'm sure things will be better once that bariatric unit is open.


I went back to see the doc yesterday to get my staples and drain out...such a relief! According to the surgeon's scale, I've lost 10 lbs of ugly fat for good! :)

I have not had any difficulty at all with my full liquid diet...it's almost scary, aside from the residual discomfort at the surgical site, I wouldn't even know anything was different...oh, now I take that back, what comes out the other end is definately different! LOL! I'm looking forward to going to see my pcp on the 9th as it's her scale that will tell the whole story, that's where I get all my weights from. I don't own a scale, and I think I'll keep it that way so I don't become obscessed.

Walking has been a bit of a problem due to the pain I keep having in my back, however the doc said it should go away pretty soon and not to push it.

10/29/04 - I was able to walk 1/2 mile around our neighborhood today, my hubby and I took the dogs for a walk. I intend to do the same tomorrow morning and hopefully by the end of the week I'll be able to take 2 walks a day to equal a mile. I also have a treadmill to use when the weather is yucky.

11/09/04 - Visited my pcp this afternoon to get my first B12 shot, I couldn't wait to get weighed there because that's the last scale I was weighed on before surgery (304)..... drum roll please..... I'm down to 279 25lbs! Yee Haw! I can barely wait to see the scale at my next appointment next month! Best thing about it.... I don't feel hungry or deprived or anything. Wish I could say I had a ton of energy, but that's not the case, I have been really kinda wiped out this week so far, hope I'm not coming down with something. TTFN

Well, I guess you can tell that I'm not big on posting. It's been quite sometime since my last update. I am now 5 months post-op and 80 of ugly fat gone forever! Having gone back to work full-time in January, I've been struggling with fatigue, although since I started using VitaMist a few weeks ago when I went for a follow-up visit with Dr. Pesta, I'm feeling a bit more energetic. I have neglected exercise miserably, with the fatigue, I jsut didn't have the energy to exercise after work. I'm hoping that as the nicer weather comes around, I'll be able to get out and walk the dogs and progress to aerobics and weight training. I'm so glad I saved all the clothing that I had grown out of. It's tons of fun pulling out the storage bins every few weeks to see what I can fit into again. Too cool!

Well, I'll be back to report when I've reached the 100 lb mark, still trying to figure out how I'm gonna celebrate that one, maybe a day at the spa or something like that. Blessing to all!

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