angelinad128

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Yesterday was my 4 week post op visit. I am now cleared for phase 3 of eating. I must say though, I'm comfortable with phase 2 and kinda scared to re-introduce "regular" foods.  I feel great though and am being told that you can see a difference. My surgeon told me yesterday that since I first saw him I am down 30 lbs.  About 17 from surgery and 13 from before. He says I am going at a good rate.

I am excited about going to a gym that some friends belong to next weekend. Gives me a chance to check it out. I am 90% sure I will join and my daughter will be my gym buddy no doubt. I just need to make sure that it fits in the budget.  I am praying it does!!

Pretty lame...but that's all I have to say right now, lol.  Plus I'm at work right now so maybe that's why I can't write, lol.

Oh! I almost forgot. there will be a walk for obesity in NY at riverside park on Sept. 13th. I signed me and my daughter up for it. There will be walks happening that day everywhere. It it hospital sponsored so you can check with your surgeons office, or you can ask me & I will give you the website info. I don't have it on me right now.

That's it for now...later!
 

Yesterday was my 1 week post op visit. It went really well.  I was told what to expect, mainly that my hair will fall out but that I would probably not notice it much because my hair is thick. We shall see.  I was given the OK to start vitamins and 2 add biotin because of the hair loss.  I was given the OK to start the soft/mushy food phase and to expect some regurgitation  as the pouch gets used to food.

Well today was my official first day of "foods".  Around 8 I made, using liquid egg whites since its a small amount, quick scrambled eggs in the microwave so that I don't need to add any fats. It comes out more like a fluffy omelet but that's OK to me. I nervously started to chew a tiny piece. Swallowed.  Not too bad, it stayed down, lol.  I ended up maybe taking 5 bites (taking a bites every few minutes) and told myself, OK that's enough.  After a while, I started to feel like I needed to burp but couldn't.  Not so great but I was expecting to feel something. I took a Gas-X strip and it helped.  Started on my liquids about an hour after that and had no problems.

Had "dinner" not to long ago. 3 teaspoons of canned salmon and 3 teaspoons of mashed potato.  Was able to eat the salmon (left moist of course and mashed to tiny bits)  and half of one potato serving and said that's good enough.  This time no burping feeling.  Actually feeling pretty good.  I'm going to wait till 7:30 start water again.

Support group meets on the 29th. I'm  really looking forward to it.  I love my surgeon and his staff!  Yesterday's visit was really fun.  I was actually tempted to ask him (jokingly) if there was another one of him at home single, LMAO. 

I almost forgot...as I was getting ready to leave to go to the surgeon, Dr. karbowitz called with the results of my sleep study. Like my surgeon had told me by just looking at me, I don't have sleep apnea, but I sore. Yeah, I could have told you that! lol.
 

I had my RNY surgery on Tuesday the 7th and I'm home now.  Since the time they put me in recovery, everyone in the surgery team came to see me and would comment that I looked great for having just had surgery.  I guess...lol.

I have to say they were a GREAT team! From putting me at ease meeting with me before surgery to visiting me during my overnight stay in recovery to seeing me when I was in my room. They were awesome!

I have to say that I can't say that I am or was in pain. It really is more of being sore...really sore like just trying a new workout and going a little overboard with it.  Its a little slow going at first when starting to walk because my legs are sore and heavy feeling but then it gets better and easier to move. I was given a prescription for percocet but as of now I don't see me needing to fill it.

That's it really, no complaints.  Not sure if I will show a weight loss in a week when I see Dr. Merola on the 15th just being on the liquid stage because I'm so bloated from the I.V.'s I can barely make a fist! 

Surgery is Tuesday! So far I am not scared or nervous. I keep repeating that this is my choice so surgery will be uneventful!.  My period was to start today with surgery on Tuesday...not fun, but it seems that my body is so cooperating because I got my period on Friday.  But  I will probably start again soon after the surgery since it seems to work that way.

I probably got it early because of the stress I went through earlier that day at my primary doctor's office.

I had my pre-certification done on Wednesday, the first. As soon as I was out of the hospital I called there to make an appt to get the medical clearance.  Since it was a holiday weekend, I was able looking to get an appt for Friday since my office would be closed and the hospital wouldn't fax over my results until Thursday late afternoon anyway.  So I called and was told that I could just walk in as long as I did so before 2 because of the holiday weekend. I questioned the fact that I didn't need an apt and was told that is correct. OK, see you Friday.  Well when I get there, I was told that why did I just walk in?!  .  WHAT!!!!  I was told that I could. Well they gave me some hassle because of that. I could just keep repeating "why would I just walk in if I wasn't told to. And I kept saying "I can show you n my phone that I called here on the first!" THEN one of the girls there did remember the hospital faxing over my paperwork but it mysteriously was no where to be found!!  Well, I was getting pissed and of course it comes out as tears rather than anger.  Thank god 2 workers there KNEW who I was and took me into one of the exam rooms and got the ball rolling with  calling the hosp and getting everything resent.  My blood pressure was taking and it was a bit high...YOU THINK!!!???  Then it was taken a little while later and what a difference!

I just hope they sent the medical clearance paperwork back CORRECTLY.  They gave me a copy of two pages, not sure if they were actually the paperwork that was suppose to be sent to the hospital, but I will be taking them with me Tuesday and showing my surgeon them just in case.

UNBELIEVABLE.  Everything was going well until then. That better be the first and last thing that goes wrong in this long journey!!!   

The other day I couldn't take it any longer & I called the surgeons office to see if they had any word from the Insurance co. Well, to my surprise, when I was told that it was submitted last month, that was wrong. Amy, the surgeons patient co-ordinator told me when I called that my file was right in front of her and that she was submitting everything today. This was Tuesday. 

I saw I had an email from my phone company letting me know that I had a voice mail so of course I check it. It was Amy. I called back & got her voice mail. Left a message and while I was in a short meeting she called me back on  my cell as I asked her t do since I was at work & would get her calls faster that way.

When I got back to my desk & saw that I had a voice mail of course I listen to it. And of course it's Amy so now we are playing voice mail tag, lol.  OMG!!!! When I heard the message I couldn't hold it in and ran to the other side o the office where the girls sit and yelled out "I GOT APPROVED!!!!!"   WOW, it finally happened and so fast!!  Right now no nerves, lol, but I don't think I will get nervous, but who knows.

Now the journey can soon begin!

So I got a call from my surgeon's office today. No, it wasn't to tell me that they heard frm my insurance. Rather it was to re-schedule me.  My doctor will not be available for the last 2 weeks in June and he isn't performing any surgeries that week because he doesn't want to be away if complications arise to those of us that were scheduled for that week.  That is very caring on his side.

Now, if I could just hear from my insurance. A co-worker said I should call and find out. I dont want to call the insurance company, I feel like I will jinx it. 

The phone was ringing...caller ID said NY Hospital!...my heart started to beat hard...could it be THE CALL telling me my insurances approval or denial? No, it was the Pulminologist letting me know the results of my breathing test for the day of surgery.  Not that it was a bad call, my lungs are great and I should have no problem with them after I wake from anesthesia.  Great news...fantastic news if I knew I was actually going to get it done!

So long story short, still waiting word from insurance. A co-worker said "no news is good news"...well not in this case!!! 

It's been a week since my insurance has gotten the paperwork and no news yet.  Funny that the other day I was cleaning out drawers and found this years packet of information from my insurance.  So I sat with it and read through it.  It says in the book that anything submitted to them for approval will get a reply in three days and not longer than five days.  I remember asking my surgeon how long it usually takes to hear back from GHI/EMBLEM HEALTH and  he said about two weeks.  When the girl from his office called to schedule the last appt. with him and my hospital pre-surgery testing I had to ask her the same question and she said she has seen my insurance company approve within 72 hours.  So that's not actually making me feel all that great.  

The worst part really is the waiting. 




  

So, yesterday I called over to the surgeons office to check if they had received the letter from the pulmologist. He told me over the phone the day before to tell Dr. Merola that I was "good to go" and he would send the letter over. 

So yesterday when I spoke to Carline, who is a doll and so patient with me all the times I called, told me that his letter wasn't necessary for my insurance to be approved, Dr Merola wanted me to go. So I was like OK. When do the papers go out? Well, she told me they went out already, on Thursday, the 14th!.  Now I have to say I'm nervous!!  I would so love  to get the call from the hospital to schedule the pre-surgery certification  and get it done and MAYBE move up the date??!!  OMG, THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!  But I really don't want to jinx anything.  I haven't seen anything posted here recently that shows how quick GHI approves, but I did see some posts from years back, like 2003 that showed people with GHI getting approved in just days, one I remember was 2 days! But then again, they could have co-morbidities that I don't. 

I guess it's just time to chill, wait and see...

Well, I had my "get a surgery date" with the surgeon today.  Unfortunately, when it was my time to visit the doctor he was called up to the OR for an emergency.  So I met with the woman who handles the bariactric dept end in the office and she let me know that she would be the person I see when I come out of anesthesia.

Then I met with Carline, who gave me some other paperwork I will need for my pre-op visit with the hospital and she gave me my date, June16th.  I am happy that this is happening, I actually said it a few times in the office that I cant believe its actually happening!!  But I wont get my hopes up to much because I want to make sure that I actually get APPROVED!!!  That's when I will go and celebrate!!!!!!