red316
Oh boy! The things I'm going to tell you! Sit back and relax, and I'll give you a little information about me.
I've been overweight all of my life - right from the very beginning, actually. I weighed 9 lbs. 6 oz. at birth, and believe it or not, I'm the smallest of my mom's three kids! (Sorry about that, mom, I love you!)
All through my childhood and my pre-adolescent years, I was active but heavy. I don't ever remember anyone reprimanding me for eating too much, and when I got into my teens, my parents never said anything about how much or what I ate. I really started packing on the pounds when I was in my late teens and have steadily grown since then.
I'm 38 years old and as of June 11, weighed 431 lbs.
I've never known anything but being overweight, so the possibility of being thinner is an interesting concept to me. I'm an observer of people, and I notice in everyday life that people who don't have weight issues seem to function better. They seem to be more self assured, more confident, and always more attractive. Of course, being a realist, and having many thin friends, I know for a fact that they are just as worried about their own self-esteem, confidence and appearance. I figure that makes it an even playing field.
For years - until I was about 30 - I let all of the problems I just mentioned overwhelm me. I was the typical wall flower - I didn't participate in any clubs, organizations, or social events because I knew that people were going to judge me and find me lacking. A few critical things happened to me when I was 30 and my entire outlook changed. I became more confident - sometimes even when I wasn't feeling it, I faked it - and I began to realize that I was not the ogre I felt like and that other people didn't see me that way...only I did. I started going out more, making more friends, and learning new things that interested me.
My personal opinion of myself has changed so much that it's scary at times. I can't believe what I caused myself to miss out on by not having the confidence to try new things. I know that even if I am fat, I'm worth something in this world.
I started thinking about bariatric surgery after talking with one of the associate physicians in my doctor's office. His daughter, who was about my age, had the surgery and had very successful results. She went from a size 24 to a size 8 in practically no time at all. He told me the name of her surgeon and recommended I attend an information seminar about the procedure. I did a lot of online research and batted the idea around for over a year before I decided to start looking into the procedure for myself.
By this time in my life, I met the man who would end up becoming my husband. He's a great guy and being with him was like finding the other half of me that I didn't know was missing. We both knew relatively early in our relationship that we would marry, but we both didn't want to rush things and we dated for more than two years before deciding to marry. It was at this point that I knew I had to stop dallying in my decision to have the surgery. I wanted to stay around and live with (and for) this man, and with my increasing health problems from the obesity, I knew that I was a walking time bomb.
I met with my doctor and attended the bariatric surgeon's seminar. I learned so much from that meeting and made a promise to find out as much as I could about the pros and cons of a surgery that would radically alter my life. The initial request for approval with my insurance company was submitted and I was rejected. That was in July 2004. I decided to wait until after I married to try again. We married in October 2004, and the following month, my husband added me to his insurance policy. Again, we submitted the request to his insurance company, and were denied.
I met with my husband's primary care physician and she and I came up with a gameplan. She would document every little nit-picking thing that she could attribute to my obesity. She also referred me to a different surgeon, and I attended an information seminar similar to the first one. In April 2005, I attended the seminar and met with the surgeon's assistant, who said that I would need a minimum of two years' documentation that chronicled my attempts at weight loss. I knew that my former physician didn't document any of my weight loss attempts, so I was up a creek without a paddle.
I requested my old medical records, which started a battle of its own. My former doctor's office was involved in a court battle over the storage of their old medical records. It took several phone calls and the threat of an additional lawsuit over 18 months to get the records I needed. I knew that what I needed was not in the records, but took them to the surgeon's office anyway.
The surgeon's assistant confirmed what I already knew - there was insufficient documentation for me to be considered for the surgery. She told me that my husband's health plan would accept three months of documentation from approved specialists that worked directly with the surgeon as proof of weight loss attempts. She referred me to an endocrinologist and to the surgeon's nutritionist. I began a regimen with these two individuals and surprisingly, while seeing them, I managed to lose about 8 lbs. over a 4 month time period. Having met the requirements for my husband's health plan, the paperwork for approval was submitted again. And again, we were turned down. Unbeknownst to both me and my husband, the health plan - chosen by his union - had decided not to carry the rider on the policy that covered bariatric surgery.
I had to dig out some recent paperwork received by the insurance company and send it to my employer as documentation of a significant change in benefits. I was allowed, because of this issue, to pick up my own insurance without waiting for an open season. I did my research before hand and found an insurance company who not only covered the surgery, but didn't penalize new members who had pre-existing medical conditions. I picked up the new insurance on March 18, and on May 10, I was FINALLY approved for the surgery.
It is now two days until I have the surgery, and all I can say is thank goodness this day finally came! It was an exercise in patience and futility, but it worked out in the end.
My advice to those of you who are having similar insurance tangles: don't give up! Keep at them and do everything you can to keep your fight going!
