Ginah Clark
Jan 7, 2008 Almost a whole year went by and I still have not lost any weight and I have been walking for 3 miles every day. Maybe it is portion control with me, I dunno. I just feel sad, hopeless, and FAT. My husband got into a drunken stupor and admitted to me that he was way out of my league and I was really ugly but nice, and he is embarrassed to be seen by me. Man I wanted to slug him, but even though I have never really admitted it that is who I feel about myself. I am not justifying his actions but it was more of a wakeup call because he has never said anything like that before to me. I think it bothers him as much as it does to me. PLUS he was drunk. Something has to happen. I am now researching Mexico. I would do it in the U.S. but I haven’t found a place that is under 10k. I really need support. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- I must start off by writing Happy New Years!!! I went to the dr today and I got some medicine for my headaches and got diagnosed with GERD. My dr said I have migranes. I just thought it was bad headaches. I weighed in today at 265. Well I am over Tricare criteria for a 5'6" gal. So when I appeal there should be no problem getting approval. ------------------------------------ Dec 28, Bad news!! My surgery is cancelled. Tricare wants me to weigh 260 pounds and have a BMI of 40 because my other conditions do not qualify with a BMI of 35. All I could do was cry. Here is something helpful... How to figure out your % over body weight...(Percent Ideal Body Weight = (current weight/ ideal weight X 100) You can find your ideal weight by going here http://www.halls.md/ideal-weight/met.htm You will need to find your frame size, Most insurance companies will simply go by the lowest weight for your height by medium frame. If you know your frame size then use the lowest weight for your height as your ideal weight when calculating. When your numbers add to 100% you are at ideal weight. If over 100% then well you are over ideal weight and if under 100% then you are under your ideal weight for your frame size. ------------------------------------- Dec 15, 2006 Got a letter in the mail telling me exactly when my pre-surgery appointment is and when my surgery is. It also had my liquid diet info. I am a bit excited that my day is coming up.... oh one more thing it is the 9th not the 8th. Now I need an eyebrow waxing, get my nails done, and maybe a facial and pedicure. ------------------------------------ Dec. 5, 2006 I got a call today letting me know that my Doc had to move my surgery Date to January 8th because of the New Year holiday. I can understand.. but I still wasn't that happy about it, lol. --------------------------------------- November 30, 2006 Woohoo! I got a date of January 2, 2006. I found out my NUT was fired and we are getting a new one... so I may not have to eat only organic food after all. hehehe. I am still waiting on my pre-surgery date and teh results from my H.Pylori test. I felt like a dog going to the VET for that one; they wanted a stool sample. Things that scare me right now is the tubes I will need, breathing tube, draining tube, NG tube. Yikes i pray that I don't flip out. So, I realize my font and color has just changed.... oh well. I sort of like it. I also need to be eating very low carbs and 2 weeks before my surgery I need to be on a liquid diet. I was told by my NUT 3 protein skaes a day and that is all. I just know I am going to starve~ everyone else seems to not have to just drink that but get at least a plate of veggies. Soon, I am going to get my eyebrows waxed and my nails done and maybe my feet too. Hey if I die during or shortly after surgery, I want to make sure I look good. I know that was a bit vain, but that is how confident I am about the surgery. Secretly, I think my husband is going to test my limits, like giving me sugars just to see if I dump or really fatty things. But he always surprises me. so who knows... Yeah I realize I am just rambling on......... --------------------------------------- Nov 13, 2006 I called the dr office to see why I haven't gotten a date yet. I was told that there are many more patients waiting for at leat a year. I replied with yeah I know but my surgery was approved by Tricare as of August, I think it would have been more productive to schedule me a date 3 months out at that time. I don't think they liked that response. Then they said I don't see your psych eval.. and that is going to take some time to get done, so I asked if that was all that I was missing and she said yes. So I said hold on I have copies of everything let me fax it to you. (I have a fax in my home) I heard it come in when I was on the phone. But by that time she just found it. I am doing other tests just to supplement but not becuase it is madatory. Still waiting. I hope they tell me by the end of the week. --------------------------------- NOV 1, 2006 I visited the NUT and my Doc. My But was a little concerned at the fact that I brought my kids. OH WELL. My husband is in the military and I have to do what I have to do and that includes bringing my kids. I already went to a few Nut’s B-4 but she wanted to go through the whole bariatric eating regime according to her. Like I can ONLY eat organic foods. YEAH RIGHT! I don’t have that much money. Now if I do have the extra money I will splurge on organic. When I met with my Doc She said all looks good and to have the front desk schedule an appt for my two week pre-op and surgery date. They said they will call me back. I did get some freebies today- woohoo- love those freebies! -------------------------------------
1st post of the New Year. Ok, I spoke with Susan who works with Dr. Alvarez. I can get the sleeve for 10k and I was ok with that. I am having problems getting financed so I probably will have to get it with my student loans. Dr. seems really nice and I have heard nothing but good things. Mexico seems so far away though. I did more research and found Dr. Pleatman. He will do it for 1k more, BUT it is not all inclusive, meaning I would have to pay for my hotel and tix to go there. Since he is closer I can, er, uh, hubby can just drive there and we can stay at a hotel there so I figure about 13k should be pleanty for this procedure.
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Dec 29 2007,
Jan 5, 2007
I went to my first seminar. Basically it was the same stuff I read about and learned from everyone else. The only new things I learned was how to accurately pronounce some of the words. Plus I also got to meet the surgeon and she impressed me quite a bit. She was very friendly and approachable and by her overall presance I felt comfortable knowing I had chosen a good doctor.
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Sept 29,2006
Well, I am officially approved. However the weird thing is that I am supposed to have 8 office visits and 5 hopsital visits. I have neveer heard of it like that. I have an apt for OCT 5 with Dr. Frantzides. but that was cancelled. My insurance called me and told me that my network dr would be Dr. Siegal. I made an apt to see him and the soonest I could be seen is Nov 9th.
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Spet 26, 2006 here is my pcp letter. All he needs to do now is fax it to Tricare.
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Attention:
I am writing to you regarding my patient, Ginah spouse of sponsor ########
I am requesting an approval for gastric bypass surgery for Mrs. , a morbidly obese, medium frame female, who is 5'7" tall with a weight of 247 pounds and a BMI of 38.7. Since 2002 Mrs. has been gaining an extensive amount of weight. Mrs. has a few co-morbidities. They include Non Alcoholic Steato Hepatitis (fatty liver) high cholesterol, high triglycerides. These are all results of her morbid obesity. If she does not receive this surgery very soon, we may be looking at many more complications than she has now. Gastric bypass surgery is Medically Necessary for. Although she has been obese for most of her childhood life as well as her adult life, she is now at the stage of Morbid Obesity and cannot afford to continue to gain anymore due to health related risks. She has been unable keep the weight from increasing despite numerous attempts with a nutritionalist and exercise programs.
Her family history is significant for high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease. Her father, who is Egyptian, had many health problems including heart disease, hypertension, high cholesterol, heart attack, arteriosclerosis, and a femoral artery graft at age 31. He died at age 36 after suffering a heart attack. Her mother, who is Native American from the Sioux tribe, suffers from hypertension, sleep apnea, high cholesterol and Diabetes. There are also significant health problems with siblings and grandparents.
Mrs. has made repeated attempts at weight loss, including medically supervised, Ediets for 82 weeks at a total cost of $410.00, as well as enrolling into the health and wellness center on base as advised by her nutritionalist. She tried on her own slim fast, optifast, and weight watchers with little improvement to her weight and more importantly, little improvement to her overall health. Mrs. also needs to buy a bigger size of clothes every 2-3 months because of her weight issues and is now at size 22. Due to some very personal issues she could not attend the fitness classes on a daily bases and was advised in Oct of 2005 to get some sort of fitness machine in her home while with the health and wellness program. She purchased a Treadmill for $375.00 as well as a home gym for $1849.00.Each time she would achieve a loss no greater than up to 11 pounds in a 3 month period, she would regain the weight lost and gain more weight usually double what was initially lost.
I believe Mrs. is a good candidate for gastric bypass surgery and that her case is one of Medical Necessity. Many of her health problems would terminate by such an intervention and the permanent loss of one hundred pounds would definitely help with her future health.
Sincerely,
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About me: I have Nonalcholic Steato Hepititis and as of 3/14/06 was diagnosed I also have high Triglycerides and high cholesterol.
July 21, 2006
Not much is going on. I keep getting lab tests for my liver and I was just told by my PCP to contact my next PCP in Illinois for Bariatric surgery. In about a month I will have moved to Illinois. I was going to have the DS and pay out of pocket, but With all that is going on in my life I may just have to go with my insurance carrier and get the RNY.
