megbaum
So, here I am. Thirty years old and almost 100 pounds over weight. I have read profile upon profile and I hear so many people with my same story. I too have struggled with my weight since I was very young, maybe 10 or so. I have been a size 16, a size 6 and everything in between...my senior prom dress was even a 4! I was one of the cute, sporty, active, popular girls in high school and early college but I was doing very dangerous things to stay small and have energy. I had a multi-faceted eating disorder that permanently damaged my metabolism, I took diet pills, starved myself, manically exercised and spent every waking moment obsessing about the non-existent flab on the my back or inner thighs. I think about those moments and am amused in a sad way...now I know what flab is and what it is like for my weight to truly rule my life...if I only knew then what I know now...right? I got married, I became busy and discontented with aspects of my life so food was my escape. I remember weighing 135 when I was a freshman in college, I remember weighing 165 when I was a sophomore and when I graduated I was around 180...at my initial conference my official weigh in was 226 at 5'1". How did this happen!!!!
Now...how it all started. Fast forward to today...well let's try November. I was being oh-so-productive at work and flipping through the latest Military Spouse magazine when I saw a full-page add for a surgical group somewhere out west that does gastric bands...never before had I even given it thought but then I saw "TRICARE covers the gastric band procedure" wait...MY Tricare???!!! I was on a mission. It's funny...once you start researching and talking about WLS people who have had it come out of the wood work! One of the front desk staff in my office building was in the middle of her paperwork and specialty consults so I picked her brain copied her surgeons packet and made an appointment to see my PCM. I got my appointment fairly quickly but I did fib a little and say I had an urgent issue...it was...I had to get the show on the road! On Friday I was walking through the hospital parking lot on my my way to see my PCM and was so ready for her to argue with me that I had my monologue ready to go...tears on standby if need be. Unfortunately, I did all that rehearsing for naught...she said she absolutely agreed with me and that I met the Tricare guidelines...she entered the referral right in from of me. My BMI was 42.7 and I had 3 co-morbidities. Woohoo! I am on my waaaaaay!
The following week I am in Los Angeles for work and am patiently waiting for my referral to come in the mail so I can schedule my conference date. It being December I just knew it was going to be January. I virtually harassed my husband if he hadn't gotten the mail by the time I called in the evening...even making him get up at 10PM to go and make sure nothing was left behind. Finally, after several days of tormentious waiting it comes…ta-da! Dr. Bryan Freeman…Anniston, AL. I was a little disappointed because I had heard he requires a $500 program fee that Tricare won't cover but he also does all the consults in house so you get done sooner. I decide to give him a shot and if I don't like his style I will go to Atlanta and it will just take longer, no biggie. As soon as I woke up the next morning I was on the phone...the next conference date for Dr. Freeman was December 16th…10 days away. I will be back from LA and my Momma will be in town so I don't have to go alone if Husband is working...so far so good. On the day of my conference I was excited but nervous…always afraid that I wouldn’t be able to have the surgery for some reason and the fairytale would be over. That was a very long and informative day…the group session ended at 1:00 but we will still had to meet with the surgical assistant, go over our history and I had an appointment with the on-staff counselor to do a Psych eval. I figured even though it was $100 out of pocket that Tricare wouldn’t reimburse at least it would be done with…and it was…that ended up being the only consult I needed. By the end of the day I was sold on Gastric Bypass and now all I had to do was wait…The counselor had to write his report and the surgeons case manager had prepare and submit my packet…Tricare had 72 hours to respond from that time. I figured it would take longer because of the holidays and I decided to give them 4 weeks and one day before I started my harassment schedule. Then, just after I got off the phone with my Husband, talking about how ready I was, I got the much anticipated call. “Megan, this is Beverly from Dr. Freeman’s office” my insides were jelly…I just KNEW that she was going to tell me I was denied “We got your approval and are ready to schedule your surgery when you are”. SHUT UP!!!! I said that I was ready now and the date I had in mind was ASAP…she said “How about the 19th of this month?” SHUT UP again! Today was the 7th....that was less that 2 weeks away…I thought I was going to throw up…but it a good way…is that possible…I digress…you get my point. I was just thinking, that very morning, how badly I just wanted the surgery to be over with…I had gained about 4 pounds over the holidays and could feel it…in my knees especially. I was then one step closer to a life that was thought to be unattainable. Within the next 30 minutes I had called and notified, Mom, Husband, Dad, Best Friend #1 sent a text message to best friends number #2 and #3 and did the happy booty dance…twice.
Somehow, I managed to complete the entire preliminary process and get my surgery approved and scheduled within 3 weeks...surgery said and done in less than 4 weeks. For once, I <3 TRICARE.
Which brings me to today January 12th…1 week post-op. Wow.
