Nikki C.
It's been a life-long battle for me dealing with my weight and the ups and downs. I have been overweight since I am 7 years old. I have struggled on so many diets, pills, programs. I have never been successful in losing weight and keeping it off long term. In 2001 I pursued gastric bypass but it was a complete exclusion on my insurance policy. My family suggested changing jobs and my grandmother even offered me a big chunk of money to have it done and pay for it, but that wasn't a realistic option. Every year my insurance booklet came I'd look at the exclusions and there is was in bold print - weight loss surgery. However, this year, we changed group plans and at the end of June the books came. So I look again like I do every year and it said the same thing but beind it said SEE MANDATES! Well I scurried through book and there were the mandates...it was covered! I immedatedly looked for Drs online and signed up for a seminar and decided on the less invasive procedure of the gastric banding more commonly known as Lap Band. Then I got cold feet and cancelled it. I thought it over for a week to see if I was ready...I rescheduled the seminar and then it got cancelled but the office decided to give me a private one on one seminar and do the consultation the same day. This took place on Friday, July 3. From that point on I began the process, with insurance and pre-surgery requirements like counseling and nutrition along with a bunch of test. The most difficult test for me was a sleep study to find out if I had sleep apnea. For the past 6 months or so I have been battling literally pure exhaustion everyday and just thought it was because I bought a new house and put on a few more lbs. However my sleep study results were shocking to me! In one nights sleep, I had an average of 38 episodes per hour of not breathing. I was so damn mad after I had that done because I honestly went into thinking well I bet I don't have this or if I do it's mild...I was pretty wrong about that one! I decided to keep this to myself in the event the insurance would come back and deny me for some reason. Although the surgery can be done outpatient I chose to go inpatient for insurance reasons. Having been in a weightloss program last year for 5 months and then on to see a behavioral nutrionist for another 4 months, I did not require any pre-surgery medically supervised nutrition programs. In the end of July, I can't recall exactly what date but I got the call the insurance approved everything. The anxious wait was gone and the reality of me approaching a very life changing procedure was actually in my future. I scheduled my surgery for Friday, September 11, 2009. My surgeon is in VA and is a very well known experienced bariatric surgeron. He only performs Lap Band where he used to do gastric bipass. I'm pretty sure I am in good hands. I just have be the one to use the tool!
