Shouting From The Rooftops

May 21, 2009

Oh my gosh!!!!! I FINALLY have a date!!! Six years of waiting and my dreams will finally become reality in less than 3 weeks!!! Can you believe it? I am so ecstatic! It is unreal. I have pinched myself so many times to make sure I am not dreaming. Oh, I guess I should tell you all when it is.... It's June 10th!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, guess my rant is over! LoL 
3 comments

Some Updates!

May 15, 2009

Ok, so I wanted to write a blog to give you guys a bit of an update on some recent happenings. First off, I have an angel!!! Let's hear it for Frances S.  Secondly, I had my last nutrition class and my psych evaluation today. Those were the last 2 things I needed (other than my pre-op testing and stuff that's done 2 weeks prior to surgery). It all went great. I passed the psych eval with flying colors and he said he would have the recommendation report on Dr Stevens' desk first thing Monday morning. So, I am officially 100% approved!!!! I am so excited!!! Kate said that I would be getting a call within the week hopefully for a surgery date! I will definitely be keeping you guys updated as soon as I get one! Hope everything is going well in all of your journeys! God bless you all!! 
2 comments

Over excitement!!!

Apr 08, 2009

Hello all! I am so excited! As I wrote in my previous journal, I had an appointment with my Dietician and Surgeon yesterday for my Weight Loss Surgery. Well, it went absolutely wonderfully! The Dietician, Kate, was amazing and very helpful. She discussed all the different types of surgery and answered all of the questions we had. One of the questions I had was, is it positive that I'm going to be eligible and be approved? She said, yes without the shadow of a doubt. My weight and BMI alone qualifies me without the co-morbidities that I do have. There is no possible way that they will deny me. I was so thrilled, so this is a done deal. My insurance requires that I attend two nutritional classes, a Psychiatric evaluation, a support group meeting and two pre-op preperation classes, as well as a series of tests. I went to a support group meeting two months ago so they are going to go ahead and count that. The nutritional classes they only do once a month and it just so happened that they had one today, so I went back down there and attended it today. If I had waited until the next one, it would have pushed me a month behind. (I have to insert a brag here, I didn't have the money to attend this class because the cost is out of pocket, plus the place is almost 3 hours away so the gas it costly, and I prayed and prayed and tried every avenue I could and at the last minute, God provided a special angel  that selflessly came through and provided me the money, even though she is in a bind financially herself.) So, now, all I have left to do is the next nutrition class, which is on May 15th. I also scheduled the Psych evaluation for the same day. Kate said that she should get the results from that within 48 hours, at which time, she will be calling me to schedule the surgery date. She said, from that point to my actual surgery will be 2 to 3 weeks. I will attend a 2 week pre-op class, and a 1 week pre-op class. I will also have all the other tests probably the same day as the 2 week pre-op class. So, it will be in the first or second week of June as of right now! Oh, I also chose a surgery. I am going with the Duodenal Switch. Dr. Stevens said he thought that was the best option for my weight. He wants to do it in phases, by starting with the sleeve and letting me lose all I can with it, and then continuing with the switch. I am still doing research and thinking about whether I want to do it that way or go ahead and do the whole procedure while I'm there instead of having to go through more surgery. But anyway, I am so excited. I have waited so long for this and up until yesterday, have felt like it wasn't going to happen. But now, I feel like it is totally real and just a very short distance away!!! I can't wait to post before and after pics! Thank you all to the ones of you who prayed for me through all this! May God richly bless you as much as He is blessing me!

0 comments

Angels

Mar 27, 2009

Hello out there to all of my new friends. I am so glad I found this site! I wanted to ask you all a question... When is the best time to get an angel? I am just starting out with the preperations for my WLS and I don't have a definite date yet, so should I wait until I get a definite one or would it be better to get one now? Also, how do I go about choosing the right angel? And what exactly does an angel do? Ok, so I should have said "a few questions" LoL but I don't really know how all of this goes. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you all and God bless you!
3 comments

I'm So Excited!!

Mar 26, 2009

Hey all! Ok, so I'm majorly excited!!! The hospital never did call me back, so I decided to call them again today just to make sure I didn't fall through the cracks or anything. Well, turns out, that she told me she would call me within 2 weeks and for some reason, she was thinking I was going to call her back! So, I waited 2 weeks for nothing! LoL Anyway, she went ahead and put me through to the front desk and they scheduled my first appointment for April 7th!!! I am so excited. She also said that the pre-op tests and getting the surgery approved and scheduled shouldn't take any longer than 2 months so I am very excited about that!! I could reach my goal of having the surgery by June afterall! Now, I have 12 days to get the last 5 years of my med records together! LoL I'm such a procrastinator...but at least I work a lot better under pressure! Ok, just wanted to fill you all in! God bless you!
4 comments

Where I'm At Right Now

Mar 19, 2009

Hey guys! Ok, so I am loving this site so far...so I thought I might do a blog on here about my WLS journey...at least until I can get a webcam (or figure out how I can record a video of myself on my phone without having to hold it or have someone take it)...then I want to be just like Amelia (turtle_gurl) and do a video journal on YouTube! Anyway, ok, so as I said on my profile, WLS is something I have wanted for as long as I can remember and have heard about it. I have been studying it, going to seminars, praying, and waiting for about 6 years now... well, in August of '08, I finally got insurance that will cover WLS. I was so excited and thinking that my insurance would kick in on August 1st, I would schedule an appointment for that day and at the very most, a month later, be on the table having the surgery.. WRONG!!! In Louisiana, the insurance I have, Medicare and Medicaid, will only cover 6 hospitals... 2 of which only do LAP band, and the other 4 are all intwined with the same company. Unfortunately, that company had a 6-8 month waiting period for Medicare/Medicaid patients due to the fact that they could only take 2 patients a week and they were having to do La and Ms Medicare/Medicaid patients. So, I sign up on July 25th, 2008 and get my paperwork submitted. Then bitterly, I wait... It is now March 19th, 6 days from being 8 months! I have not gotten my call for my consultation yet. I have called several times and they keep telling me that they have no way of telling me how long it will be! BULL! They could at least tell me how many more people are in front of me, right?!?! Well, finally a 8 days ago, I get someone with some intelligence and get my first ray of hope. She tells me that she is working on the July '08 patients right now and that within 2 weeks, I will be called to set up my appointment! I get off the phone, call my mom and SCREAM!!!!! well, they have 4 days left of the 2 weeks to call me so I am still just waiting VERY impatiently...but I KNOW in my heart of hearts that when God is ready and His timing is perfect (because His timing is usually very different from ours) then I will receive that glorious loooonnnngggg awaited phone call! I just pray that after the consultation, it won't take long to get everything else going. I was told (by the hospital coordinator that is doing my WLS) that the insurance company usually responds within 2 weeks but they legally HAVE to respond within a month... I'm kinda hoping for more like 2 days...but again... in HIS timing, not mine! Anyway, I'm sorry this has been so long. I'll try to shorten them in the future. Any questions or comments are greatly appreciated as I am very interested in making new friends to travel this wonderful, life-changing journey with! God bless you all! Hugs, Gayla
2 comments

About Me
Leesville, LA
Location
67.9
BMI
DS
Surgery
06/10/2009
Surgery Date
Mar 18, 2009
Member Since

Friends 44

Latest Blog 6

×