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Well! Here it is!

The first real checkpoint! Now that I got nutritional and psychiatric clearance, my surgeon's office will submit to insurance. Nervous/excited/hopeful.

Fingers, toes and eyes crossed that this commitment pays off because I certainly am not getting any thinner and I kind have been banking on this lifeline called WLS. 

My phone call to my insurance company left me feeling pretty positive about the approval rate and the girl I spoke with stated that it's usually about a 24-48 hour turnaround time for approval. We shall see!

Today seemed pretty productive. First, I had an appointment with my primary care doctor. I was able to get firm word about the status of my sleep study, which supposedly was ordered in FEBRUARY. I'm not sure why it kept getting lost in translation, but I was told today that I will be hearing from the sleep lab soon and I will do an at home study. According to my surgeon and dietician, this test is usually takes a long time to get, so I'm crossing my fingers that this doesn't set me back several months. I also met the the dietician today for my final pre-op appointment and she cleared me for surgery on her end. She will send this approval over to the surgeons office who will then put together a package (nutritional clearance & psych evaluation clearance) to submit to my insurance. Upon approval from insurance, I will hear from the surgeons office who will then order more testing (upper GI, EKG & bloodwork) and set a date. I hope this doesn't carry into spring. I would like to get schedule the surgery for the 2nd week of February at the latest. I am going on vacation Jan 19th - Feb 3rd, so I'm thinking its probably better to wait until afterwards. I would actually consider postponing my vacation if it impacted my surgery date. Hmmm... That is all! I am crossing my fingers that all goes smoothly.

I am beginning to get frustrated. I literally have been at this since January- trying to get an appointment with a surgeon (check!) getting an appointment with the nutritionist (check!), getting the necessary lab orders and submitting to my insurance. Geez, why is it so difficult? I have called my doctor's office a few times to check on the referral to the sleep lab for a sleep study. No response. It's really annoying. 

Gosh, this has been a slow go! I was hoping to have lost the weight by my 10year reunion, which is in November. Unfortunately, it seems to be a molasses-like process and so I have accepted this. 

For insurance purposes, I have been required to attend 4 monthly consecutive appointments with a dietician at the hospital. Gosh, I missed one appointment (darn iPhone lost all of my appointment memory!) and it set me 2 months back. The good news is October 22 is my last appointment with the dietician and then I can move forward more.

Next is a sleep study, which ihave been trying to get an appointment since March, however I prior authorization is required by my insurance so that's proving to be sticky. Cross your fingers. After this, it will be a few various appointmens and then a surgery date. 

Nervous. Excited. 

Boy has this been a slower process than I had hoped for!

I finally got 2 dates in the mail last week. One was for an evaluation Appointment with the surgeon for April 24th and the other date was for a 2 hour mandatory informational seminar that took place today. Of course I went and it was informational. Some of the attendees' questions were comical. My favorite was "My wife and I like to go to buffets. If she gets this surgery, will we still be able to go?" There are so many ways to answer this, but I won't even go there. (Maybe the buffets are what got you here?!) Rant over.

So now I will have to wait until April 24 to get an evaluation by the surgeon to determine if I am a good candidate for surgery. From there, they will submit an approval request to my insurance company. The insurance company requires 4 months of medically supervised dieting. I have been trying to diet since October and my primary care doctor has been keeping record. Hopefully this is enough to please the insurance company! The insurance company also requires Psychological clearance, which can be done by my primary care physician, according to what I read in my insurance booklet. From there, it seems like there are several tests that must be completed (sleep apnea, blood tests etc) and THEN you get a preop appointment with the surgeon! Lots of steps that I wish I could skip! I know they're for good reason, but I guess I am eager and impatient! 

I will try to do as much footwork as possible to expidite the process! 

I have been frequenting this website for some time- maybe the last couple of years- considering/dreaming of getting wls. ( I just learned what "wls" means, so I feel like I'm in the loop now!)

WLS has not been a realistic option for me to even ponder until now because I have not had a decent health insurance plan in 8 years and 8 years ago I never thought that I would be at 275lbs. I, like all of you, have tried everything. I succeeded once, when I was 18 and got down to 175lbs from 220. It has slowly crept back up and then some. Since 2005 I have gained 100lbs. I have gained 15lbs just in the last year. I have had several factors that have affected this out of control spiral, but I won't bore you with the details. 

I started making calls soon after I got insurance through my business (yay!). Last week,  I got my primary care doctors approval for a referral to Miriam Hospital's weight loss program and then I called University Surgical Associates to get a form sent out for a screening. Their bariatric surgeon is hosting a free informational seminar on February 12th, so I would love to get necessary tasks done by then so that I can attend! I am eager to get the ball rolling as quickly as possible. I hope I am approved by the doctors, surgeon and insurance. I can't think of a reason why I wouldn't be. 

My sister is graduating from college in May and I have to fly to California to attend. All I can think about is how I don't want to be fat for a vacation. That's why I haven't taken one in my entire adult life. 28 and never been on vacation because I know I won't enjoy it. I even visited a Medi Weight Loss clinic to see if that might be a good option to take off some weight before May. It was there that I found out that I am 54% body fat and have a water percentage of 97%, which is way above normal, which means I am retaining water. I know that even if I get all of the necessary approvals for surgery, it likely won't happen before May. That being said, I wonder what the fasted process has been, from approval date to surgery day?

Crossing my fingers that this can happen for me. Every time I diet and exercise, I become disappointed by the lack of results and give up. There has to be a means to an end. It is to the point that I don't feel like myself and I have lost my motivation to partake in social events. 

One thing I have been doing is doing a little yoga and walking. (With my dog, of course!). I am trying to start the changing my habits now so that by the time surgery is done, I have implemented some lifestyle changes. Also, I have been lotioning and oiling my body in hopes of avoiding loose skin down the road. I am curious if there are other females in their late twenties (wow, I'm getting old!) who have had WLS. How was your skin afterwards? 

Okay, I'm done writing a forever novel. Hope I wasn't boring!

xo Sarah