harleigh2002
| Jeannie Charlson Bonner Springs, KS, USA Post Op - BMI: 21.3 Surgery Type: RNY Member ID: c1044321171 Contact: Click here to send a Personal Message Surgeon: Kahdi Udobi, M.D. |
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02/17/03 I have been talking to anna from bariatric surgery center just to get a little more info concerning insurance approvals and everything and she said that united healthcare choice ppo was a really good insurance and they have had lots of luck and cooperation with them. It really made me feel good because I think that is the one thing that is going to be the big battle here. My husband was very unsure about the whole surgery thing. He always tells me there is a better way to loose weight diet exercise etc... Well, I have tried that and it just doesnt seem to work. and with my diabetes, it is really hard to loose weight. I have been on a diet that my doctor prescribed me for 8 weeks and I have lost 4 lbs. I have been keeping my husband updated and he has seen these results. Now he is 100% behind me having the surgery. I just want to be healthy and feel good for once.
03/08/03 My surgeon Dr Udobi at KU med Center called and scheduled my first consultation for surgery. I know it is the first step in a long journey but I am so excited because I feel I am that one step closer to being healthy. I see Dr Udobi April 25th at 9am. I cant wait.:)
03/10/03 I am feeling really anxious right now. All I can think about anymore is that someday hopefully soon I can be off of all of my meds and wont have to feel like this again!! I dream at night of being on a boat at the lake in a swim suit and looking and feeling great. I hope everything works out.
03/23/03 I got a call from Dr Brent Steward's office in Topeka KS on Friday. It is weird, I got a consultation from him on April 25th. That is the same day as my consult with Dr Udobi. I am glad to have 2 appts though so I have something to compare:)
04/01/03 There is light at the end of the tunnel!!! I called my insurance company today and the rep Dennis said that because i am diabetic and have other weight related illnesses that if i have the surgeon send over my paper work they will probably approve me. I am so happy! He said that it was their exclusion. cool huh:)
04/27/03 had first consultation with dr udobi. I think it went very well. my husband went with me and got to ask questions and learn more about the surgery. I think it helpled him a lot. They were going to contact the insurance company friday i cant wait. i want to have all of this done and behind me as soon as possible so i can start my new life. I was doing yard work yesterday and ended up falling down a hill doing the splits which at my weight is not a very pretty thing and wrenching my knee all out of wack!! today it hurts like hell and is swollen but at least i didnt break anything. anyway i hope i hear from the insurance company soon and i hope its all positive:)
04/30/03 talked with gayle at dr udobi's office and she said that they were faxing over the information to uhc tomorrow morning. I then called uhc and asked the rep if what they said a few weeks ago was still true. I talked to dennis about a month ago and asked him about the exclusion in my policy and he said that if i could prove it to be medically necessary than they would approve it well i asked the rep today if it was true and she said most definatly yes. I am so happy. i cant wait. i finally told my boss today that i was going to have this done and he asked why? WHY??? So i kindly told him that i was tired of being diabetic that my cholesteral was sooooo high that i have osteoarthritis in my knees and i am just tired of being fat and he seemed to sympathize. i cant wait:)
05/06/03 It has been the worse few days I have had in a long time. I live in Kansas City KS and my neighborhood was struck by a horrible tornado. My husband picked me up from work on sunday afternoon around 3:45. They had just issued a tornado warning for wyandotte county. We rushed home and about 20 minutes later we are outside and we hear all of the sirens going off a couple of miles away but the one that is at the end of our street doesnt go off so we are thinking that mabey it is going to miss us. Then we heard this low roar like a jet plane flying low and we look over and there it is just a few houses down from us. we ran in the basement and when we came out there was so much damage it was amazing anyone survived. We got lucky with minor damage to our home but from about 2 houses down, we dont have any neighbors. It was the saddest sight i have ever seen. I just had to get it out. :)
05/21/03 Still waiting to hear from the insurance company. I have been calling them and they said monday that I should know something by next week. I wish they would hurry. I fell on concrete and slammed down right on my knees. That is 300 pounds of pressure that fell on them. That was 3 weeks ago and it still feels like i just did it. There is nothing broken but with my weight it keeps hurting. My blood sugar has been running around 280-305. I am just really stressed about all of this. I need to just calm down and take it easy. I know that it wont be easy after I have surgery but at least I am guaranteed some kind of result. I just dont want to feel sick anymore.
05/26/03 Well, its Memorial Day and here I am working!!! Oh well. I have been bugging my insurance company about twice a week now. They said I should hear something this week. I hope so. I looked up MYUHC.Com to see if the claim was posted yet and they have approved the consultation but the surgery claim still isnt up there yet. I cant wait. My sugar has been going crazy the past few weeks and I am wondering if it is the stress of wondering about this surgery. I just need to calm down. Soon it will all be okay and I will be healthier. Everyone at work and home is so concerned about me. Most of them are very supportive of me. My husband goes through phases. One day he is all for it and the next he is telling me to exercise more eat less do something other than surgery. I have had trouble getting pregnent and this will help out and i will have a healthier pregnancy because of it so i tell him that part of the reason for having the surgery is because my dr has told me that if I were to get pregant right now it would be high risk and I may not make it through it because of the damage my diabetes has done to my kidneys. I am so glad that he is worried but i wish he would just support me 100% on this.
05/31/03 This is just getting to be so messed up!!! I have been calling united healthcare every week now and no one could tell me if they have even received the info from dr udobi's office. well i did some digging and found a fax number for the approval office and faxed them to call me and let me know what was going on. well yesterday i received a call from beverly and she said they have never received anything on me. she gave me her fax number and i called gayle at dr udobi's office and gave it to her. she was not too happy which I can understand. beverly said that after she receives it it should only take about 2 days for an approval. i cant wait.
06/04/03 I just got the worse news ever. I was denied by UHC because my employer has the exclusion. I even asked them before I filed my claim and UHC said that it was not my employers exclusion. I just cant believe this. I am 26 years old i have diabetes arthritis kidney problems all kinds of stuff and I weigh 305lbs. I called the insurance lady that cooresponds with the company that handles our insurance and have not heard from her yet. I am going to call first thing in the morning. I am not going to just roll over and play dead from this. Although I cried all day long. I will win this even if I have to quit my job and get one at Home Depot. Something has to happen. I just talked with the owner of my company and he is going to look into why the insurance company wont approve me. He said that he understood it to be if a dr can prove it medically necs. than they would approve it. I am almost in tears this is just tearing me up.
06/16/03 Well, after gathering information and even more information, I finally got my appeal mailed off. I sent it priority mail with a delivery conformation ticket so hopefully it gets where it needs to go quickly. I am praying that everything goes well. I really need to have this surgery and getting denied again would mean having to get another job with different insurance and that is not what I want to do. Pray that all goes well.
09/16/03 Wow, its been a long time since I last updated my profile. Sorry. This has been one of the most exhausting heart wrenching experiences I have ever had. I sent a second appeal letter in on my own in fact I have done all of this on my own because I cannot get any help from my healthcare coordinator or from Dr Udobi's office. They basically told me to fight on my own or find another job. This is just getting so frustrating. I am in such bad health right now. Two months ago my husband and I found out that by some miracle of nature I was pregnent. I was happier than ever. It was the first time in a long time that my main focus was not getting approved for the surgery. Well 2 weeks ago I lost the baby because of my weight and diabetes. I was completly devastated. I still cry at night about it because that little baby didnt have a chance in this mass i call a body. I have been having a lot of trouble keeping my diabetes under control and have not been feeling good. All I want is for all of this to go away but because of some stupid clause in a stupid piece of crap insurance policy which by the way I pay $75 dollars a week for, wont pay for a surgery that would save my life and perhaps allow me to do the one thing that I have always wanted to do and that is to be a healthy mother to a healthy baby. I feel like crying all of the time and I really try not to let it get me down but it is hard. I just figure if God wants me to have the surgery, he will help me find a way. All I need is a job that pays enough to pay the rent and offers my solution. Mabey one day it will happen. I hope so. I dont want to be like my mom and be 45 with the body of an unhealthy 70 woman. I am sooo scared that is where I am heading.
1/04/04 Well, I still have has no luck finding a job that has insurance for the surgery. I have started going to the ymca and have started atkins. I feel really good. I have not weighed myself since starting it on new years eve, but i feel okay. This year has started off really good for me. My husband finally quit drinking and we are seeing a therapist. We have been getting along so well and I am so happy. If I never get to have the surgery I will not dwell on it and let it make me sad. Anyway, I feel great.
08/09/04 I just got a new job that has really good insurance. The insurance will kick in on sept 15th so as soon as it does, i am hopefully going to be on my way to having the surgery. It will be the one positive thing that has happened for me this year. My mother went into the hospital on jan 11th with a heart attack and was transfered to a rehab facility to be weaned off of the ventilator and passed away on march 15th. I miss her so much. She was so supportive of all of this and was even wanting to have the surgery herself. She was my best friend. I know that she will be with me when I have my surgery and make sure things are all right.
09-05-04
I am so excited. I just found out that my insurance covers me from day one at work. I have an appt with my pcp on Sept 20 so I can get my refferal from him. He supports me having the surgery so it wont be a problem. Since I have already had a consultation with Dr Udobi, his nurse gayle said to just fax over the refferal with my insurance info on it and we can get it all started. There are no exclusions in my policy. The only thing it says about surgery coverage is that all surgeries must be medically neccessary. That is not problem at all. I am still fat and still a diabetic. This hopefully will go fast and mabey if I am lucky I can get my surgery scheduled during winter break at school so I only have to miss some work. I am so excited. It wont be long now before I can change my heading to POST OP!!!
09/19/04
I am hoping that all goes well with my insurance tomorrow. I have to see my pcp at 10:30 and he is giving me my referral for dr udobi. since I have already been in to see him, all i have to do is fax over the referral and my new insurance info and we can get it all started. I really pray that everything goes alright. Its really hard to go through all of this without my mom. She was wanting to have the surgery before she died. Her stats were a lot like mine she was 5'3" and weighed 356 when she passed away. I miss her but I want to live a long life and be happy:)
09/22/04
I went to the dr monday to have my referral wrote up and he ordered a whole bunch of tests as usual because of my diabetes well my platelet count came back extremly low so they had me come in yesterday and retake the test. I am waiting for the dr to call me back and hopefully tell me it was all a big mistake because if not, i am afraid that what ever is wrong with me will not allow me to have surgery. this really sucks. i finally get an insurance plan that covers the surgery, got the okay from the insurance company (deena at uhc) and now this. MAN THIS SUCKS!!!
09/29/04
I just talked to gayle from dr udobi's office and she did receive my fax but thank god I called her because none of the info showed up on the fax. So I gave her my insurance info and she is going to submit it. I cant wait!!!!!
11/26/04
Well, a long wait is over.! Gayle from dr udobi's office called on Tuesday and said that I was approved and she will call me on Monday to schedule my surgery date. I am so happy. I hope this is a good ending to a horrible year. :)
12/03/04
Well, I am sitting here at work not doing much except wishing my surgeon's office would hurry up and call me. It has been over a week, I received my approval letter from United Healthcare yesterday and I have still yet to hear from the dr office to schedule my surgery date. I have the okay from my job's disability dept to take the time off needed with pay as long as the dr office fills out the proper forms. I am just so tired of waiting. I have been waiting since 2001 to get this surgery. I have done all of my research, tried to diet and exercise more hoping that I could do it on my own without surgery, got my husband on my side and now I have to wait for a date. My surgeon's assistant makes me feel like I have pissed her off or something because when I call she gets real short with me and I do realize that she is busy, but its not like I am waiting in line to buy a shirt from my favorite dept store. This is my life and I hate the waiting game. I will call her on Monday and see if she can give me a date then. I hope she is nicer to me than she has been in the past. I dont bug her, I bugged the insurance company for 2 months 3 and 4 times a week. I know I am just complaining, but I want to have this done soon. I want to start to feel like a normal person soon. I will be patient over the weekend, but come monday look out. I feel bad for being like that, that's not who I am. We'll see what happens monday.
12/08/04
Well, I finally have a date!! ! Feb 16th and my preop is Feb 8th. I am so excited. YEAHHHH!!!!!!
12/11/04
Well, I am sitting here at work thinking about surgery and how life will be so different afterward. My husband has started having bad thoughts about it. He thinks that I wont be able to handle it. What I cant handle is being diabeting and 300lbs!! I have 67 days until surgery and I cant wait. I know that I will be okay because I had my gallbladder out in 2000 and I still have dumping problems with some things I try to eat like fast food goes right through me and anything that has sugar in it makes me sweat and I am running to the bathroom within minutes of eating it so I know that I will have displine when it comes to eating the right things. My husband just doesnt have as much faith in me as I thought or he is just scared of me having surgery. At least he is reading up on it. That I do have to give him. But he is talking to all of these people who watch tv but have not had contact with anyone who has had the surgery since the 70's and of course they are telling him horror stories about people dying and having so many complications. I have told him that this surgery is not without complications however the chances that I am going to die from it are pretty minimal. I just cant wait.:)
12/13/2004
I am just lurking around tonight. My ideal body weight is 138pounds. This is my goal. I know it may be a little unrealistic to set a long term goal of loosing 100% of my excess body fat, but I am going to do my best to try. My short term goal is 200lbs. that will definatly happen.
12/18/2004
I am really missing my mom today. christmas is next week and there is no tree at mom's, we didnt have our traditional get together the begining of december and decorate her tree, there will be no spending the night at moms house acting like kids and waking up at 3am to open presents like we were 5 years old again. This has just been so hard. I have not wanted to christmas shop for anyone I just want to curl up in a ball and forget christmas. We have to make monthly pymnts to the funeral home for my moms funeral and they have a christmas tree down there with everyone they have buried on an angel. I know the gesture is sincere but they gave my sister my moms angel and it felt like they just pushed the fact that she is gone. I know I am taking it the wrong way but it hurts so bad that she is gone. This is going to be a hard christmas and it will be even harder when I have surgery in feb. I want to go home and curl up on my moms pillow and cry. I love her so much. All I can think now is just to love everyone as much as you can and let them know everyday how much you love them that way when they pass on you will rest easy knowing they knew till the day they died how you felt about them.
12/22/04
My husband and I opened some gifts last night and he was so thoughtful. I got a really cool blender/smoothie maker and a bathroom scale that tells weight, bmi, water retention and all kinds of other stuff. I have 7 weeks left before surgery. I am so excited. Yeah for me:)
You are water!
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01/22/05
Well, sitting here at work counting down the days! Only 24 days left until my surgery. I am so happy. I have been feeling kindof yucky though. I think I got the flu or something. Last week I was in the hospital for dehydration because of all the vomiting and diarrehea. Not very good. But I do feel better now than then.
02/05/2005
Well, sitting here at work as usual on a saturday. I wish I were off it is like 60degrees outside and I want to ride motorcycles with my husband today. This sucks. One the other hand, my surgery is coming up quick 10 days left!! I have my preop appt next tuesday at 1030 am. I am so excited.
03/10/2005
I am 3 weeks post op and so far so good. No complications, a little nausea here and there but nothing major. I have lost a total of 34 pounds. I cant believe that. It is just incredible! Yea for me:) I am still on pureed foods which still sucks but it is okay. I eat chicken, vegies corn beef hash and chili. drink about 60 - 80 ounces of water a day. Doing pretty good.
04/08/2005
Well, so far I am down 87 pounds from my all time high weight of 326 and 51 pounds from 290 when I went into surgery. I weigh 239!! I am so happy! I have been having some problems the last couple of days with vomiting but I think that it was probably because of sinus drainage or I just didnt chew the beef good enough. Overall I feel great and I am starting to look great. My husband actually apologized to me last night for not thinking this would work for me. I cant wait till I loose another 50 pounds! I am sticking to mostly pork right now. Beef is really hard for me to digest, chicken makes me puke, I can eat turkey and fish. I eat cottage cheese, nonfat, and sugar free freezer pops. Those have been a life saver! Drinking about 80 oz of water (mostly crystal lite) a day so not too bad. Pretty good!
04/03/06
Well, it has been 13 months since my surgery and I feel incredible! I am down to 132 pounds and loving life. It has been a while since I updated my profile but I guess when you can live life to its fullest, sometimes it is hard to sit in front of a computer. But I have to say thank you for all of your support and prayers. I have learned so much from this site and I hope that I can give back some of the knowledge and support that I have received here.
02/18/08
Well, it has been quite a while since I last posted. A lot has happened. The best thing of all I am 16 weeks pregnant and doing great!!!
11/09/08
I have not updated for a while. I am the proud momma of a healthy beautiful baby boy named Chad. He was born July 25th. He is so wonderful. I gained just a few pounds during my pregnancy. I was actually very underweight when I first found out I was pregnant. Then, I found out I was enemic so had to have several blood transfusions during my pregnancy and during labor. I made it through though and I am so happy. So much has happened since my last real update in 06. My husband and I divorced. Had nothing to do with my weight loss, it was a long time coming. I developed an abdominal hernia that stupid me let go for a year and when I did finally have surgery it went from a one day in and out thing to having my scar from my bypass reopened and and 6 1/2 by 8 1/2 inch hernia repaired. I had 40 staples up my chest and was in the hospital for a week. I dont recommend letting things like that go. It was harder to recover from that than my bypass! But I am fine now. The surgeon was a great guy and did an upper tummy tuck for no charge while he repaired my hernia! I woke up smaller than before! It was great. I am with my sons father now and things are wonderful.
Photos
 This is me and my husband Mike in August 2002 I was 326lbs here |
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Surgeon Info:
Surgeon: Kahdi Udobi, M.D.
Initial consultation is 04/25/03 with Dr Udobi had my consultation with dr udobi and it looks pretty good. He poked around on me and asked me a bunch of questions then answered a few questions my husband had and gave me my manual. I called gail and she sent everything over to the insurance co for approval. still waiting on that. I really like dr udobi. He is a very nice man and seems really intelligent.
Insurer Info:
united healthcare, pos
United Healthcare was not great as far as keeping good communication between them and my surgeons office. I had to really stay on them and make sure that they got everything they needed and then hounded them for 10 weeks until they finally gave me my approval. I am very greatful though. Thank God for good insurance companies!
About Me
Bonner Springs, ks
Location
25.7
BMI
Surgery
02/16/2005
Surgery Date
Feb 03, 2003
Member Since