7/6/10 - On my way....

Jul 06, 2010

I had RNY surgery on 6/14/10.  After 3 years of researching and talking to 2 co-workers who had the same sugery I decided to start my journey. 

In March I went to my surgeon's educational seminar.  After attending Dr. Snyder's seminar I was convinced he was going to be my surgeon.  He is warm, caring, to the point, extremely qualified, and so dedicated to helping over weight people.    3 days later I called his office to set up a consult and got an appointment for April 28.  Between now and then I had a bunch of prep work to do.  Dr Snyder's office had all the forms I needed to fill out on his website.  This was a huge help, but at the same time I was almost overwhelmed with the amount of paperwork.  Some forms were 1 or 2 pages, but other were 10 plus.  There was a new patient form, medical history form, previous weightl loss attempts form among them.  I thought it was a HUGE advantage that I could take my time filling out all the forms BEFORE my consult with Dr. Snyder.  I made double sure that when I went to my consult, my forms were going to be completed.

Along with the forms it was also recommended to have a pulmonary consult and psych evaluation done.  I was cleared for surgery by the pulmonary dr and as for my psych eval, I had been seeing a therapist for a year prior and she had to complete a form provided by Dr. Snyder.  Now that was easy.

April 28, 2010 - I was super excited for my consult with Dr. Snyder.   I had all my forms completed, pulomonary and psych documentation was faxed.    I was so worried that I would have to have a sleep test done or go see a cardiologist.  But during my consult I was told that I'm ready to go.  No more tests were needed, I just had to attend the nutrition class, see a dietician and once those were completed my paper work would be sent to my insurance company.  I didn't have many questions during my consult.  With all my research I was already well informed of my choices, risks, and benefits.  Dr. Snyder felt RNY was the best choice for me.  At 5'8 he felt my ideal weight would be around 165.  At the time I thought, really?, that high.  I always imagined 145-150.  But who knows.  After being overweight for so long I have no idea what my body frame/type is.

May was spent waiting and attending my 2 hour nutrition class and a 1 on 1 with the dietician.  I felt my appointment with the dietician was a waste of time and money because every question I had was going to be answered in the nutrition class and I didn't learn anything new.  The nutrition class was awesome.  Each patient gets this binder book, basically the WLS bible that had EVERYTHING.  If ever I had a question, that book would almost always answer it.  The book was truly awesome and such a life saver.    I use it today, being nearly one month out and will continue to use it for at least the first 6 months.

Once I had my surgeon's requirements finished, my paperwork was submitted to the insurance company.  I was soooo nervous about approval.  A friend told me that with my BMI and co-morbities I should have no problem getting approved.  But come on.... ya just don't know until ya know.  Everyone says to keep following up with your insurance company to see if they received the paper work.  While I do agree with that somewhat I waited.  I was very confident in my surgeon's office staff and the insurance experts in his office.  I waited a week to call my insurance company, Anthem Blue Cross.  I first sent them email and they replied back with a specific telephone number I could call to check on my status.

On May 25 I called and got a verbal confirmation that I was approved.  A week after submission.  YAAAHOOOOOO.  However part of me didn't want to believe what some stranger was telling me over the phone.  Fortunately the next day my surgeon's office called to set up my surgery date because I was approved.   TRIPLE YAHOOOOO.   About 2 days after that, I got the actual letter from the insurance company.  My surgery was set for 6/14/10 at 10:30.   I was so thankful I didn't have to wait forever to get a date.    I had not quite 3 weeks to prepare and that was plenty of time.

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