What can I say, I've been big all my life. Mostly due to poor eating habits as a child and family history. Everyone in my immediate family is overweight or obese. I grew up on fried foods, junk food and candy. It's hard to break out of that habit as an adult but eventually you start to realize how unheathy it is to eat that way so after I had my first child at the age of 22 I joined weight watchers and lost about 50 lbs. I started out around 180lbs and went down as low as 138 lbs. People kept asking me if I was sick because my face was so thin and I started to look so different. Some funny people insinuated that I was on drugs, those were the jealouse ones of course! I was able to fit into a size 6, I almost can't believe I was that thin. I maintained my weight at about 150 lbs for 2 - 3 years and then I decided to have baby boy #2. Oh what a mess that pregnancy was. I gained over 70 lbs! I was devastated. That devastation continued for 13 years and now at the age of 38 I am 230lbs.
My sister and I have been thinking about WLS for about 2 years now. We have a cousin that had it done and she had good things to say about the Barix Clinic in Langhorn, PA. My sister and I decided to check it out and we also had good feelings about the center and their staff. That was in June 2006. The Barix center is so busy that we both became a little fustrated and decided to check out Pennsylvania Hospital's program. My sister likes them because they are closer to her and she felt a little more informed with the initial consult. I wasn't as impressed as I was with Barix so I am going to stick with them for now.
Surprisingly Barix called in October and had an open spot for me to meet with the surgeon for the initial consult. I had almost given up on this whole thing! I found out that my BMI is 39 and I do qualify. I don't have any risk factors except, according to the questionaair I filled out I may have sleep apnea. The sureon recommended I have a sleep apnea evluation done. That's scheduled for December. Now it is a wait and see game. The Barix center submitted the paper work to my insurance company and so far they state that I meet qualification and the surgery part of this has been approved. Now from what I understand I need to get written approval from the insurance company that they will cover the surgery. By the way I decided to get the Lapband.
Currently I am waiting for written approval from the insurance company and I should be on my way. I have my fingers crossed because I know at this point anything can happen. I may be required to do 3 - 6 months of strickly supervised diet and exercise program by my PCP (family doctor) or a nutritionist like some insurance companies are making others do. My sister is going through this at Pennsylvania hospital and they won't even submit her information to her insurance company which is the same as mine (Personal Choice) until she does 3 months of diet and exercise with her PCP.
I am being patient and will wait until I hear something.
