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I enjoy walking, rollerblading, and spending time with my family. I am hoping to have this surgery early 2006. I love getting my nails done and getting my hair highlighted and eventually I'll love shopping too!!

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12/28/05: Bad News Today!! I went to my doctor for my weigh in (part of the 12 month diet history) and when I mentioned the physicians summary letter I needed in order to start my approval process I was told that I didnt come "consecutively" (even though I'd been going for the diet pills since 2001). I told the doctor that I'd been going to Weight Watchers from Jan-05 until Oct 05 so with a letter from him, the insurance company would accept that as part of my 12 months. The administrator at the dr's office is the one who writes the summary letters to the insurance companies and he wants proof that I'd been going to WW and I had thrown away my weekly weigh-in book last month thinking I'd never need it again. I contacted WW and was told they dont keep records on anyone that hasn't come for more than 6 weeks. Ugh...!! It looks like I have to start my 12 month documentation over again as of Nov 2005!!

12/29/05: I have an idea!!! I'm going to type up a letter and ask my WW leader to sign it and stamp it with the WW logo and pray that the administrator will accept that as documentation that I did attend WW. I'm also going to write him a letter about myself and how much this means to me, how long I've been struggling with my weight, that I know this is a tool and not a cure and I'm prepared to do whatever it takes to make this work, etc.....just to put a "face" to my chart because he doesn't know me, I've never met him and yet this whole process falls on him as to whether I get my surgery or not???? What's wrong with that picture???? I also decided today to contact my cousin who works in a Dr's office. I explained my situation about my doctor not wanting to write the letter without WW documentation and she said she's almost positive the Dr. at her office will do it because he'll take her word that I did do WW for 10 months this year so I had my records faxed to her office.

12/30/05: I went to the WW meeting and spoke with one of the women there.......she said she wouldnt sign it and can't speak for the meeting leader whether she will or not, or if she even has the authority to do so and that I should come back Saturday morning because that's when my old leader is in. (It's not looking good) Tonight I have my sleep study. I almost cancelled it due to my huge set back after talking to the Dr. but I decided to do it anyway.

12/31/05: OK, The sleep study was uncomfortable. I had tons of wires and little dime sized monitors taped to my face, legs, collarbone, and about 5 stuck to the back of my head with this pasty goopy stuff, a microphone taped to my throat and a sticky piece of tape across my upper lip partially blocking my nose. I was pretty much stuck in one spot all night due to all the wires. Not a good nights sleep at all and the morning was worse when I had to rip all that tape off my skin and hair. OUCH!!! I get the results next week as to whether I have apnea or not. It was "fun" washing all that paste out of my hair too!! P.S. I stopped at my WW meeting place and the leader signed it!!!! One step closer to my goal. I pray the administrator accepts it because it's on regular paper, not WW letterhead and she doesn't have a business card, a sticker that says WW, or a stamp so she gave me a blank "product receipt" to submit with the letter. It's not much but hopefully it works. I also got word today that the Dr. that my cousin works for will see me and review my history so I have an apt with him on thursday 1/6/06. It cant hurt to have 2 doctors reviewing my case.

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1/4/06: I went to get the results of my sleep study today. I'm normal, no apnea. I guess that's a good thing, I just hope it wasn't something I needed in order to get approved. 1/5/06: I went to the Dr. that my cousin works for today and he told me he can tell I've been doing my research and as soon as I get my records faxed to him from my old Dr. he'll write the letter!!! I am so excited but I'm trying not to be too excited because I'm still not approved. I called my old Dr. to see why my records havent been faxed yet and was told, "They are having difficulty locating my chart and as soon as they find it, they'll fax it." It's possible that the administrator took my file to review it once he got my WW documentation on 1/3/06. I'm keeping my fingers crossed so I can submit all my info to BCBS very soon!! Just a week ago I was told I'd have to wait another 12 months to start my diet history over and now I'm almost to the point of submitting all my info. Praise Jesus!! I knew He was listening to my prayers!!

1/6/05: Today I called the Cori Center (Center for Obesity Related Illness) it's located here in The Detroit area. Many people from work have had this surgery and this is where they went. I was told by Christine, my surgery consultant, that she doesn't need my medical chart to get me approved and my diet history doesn't have to be 12 months CONSECUTIVELY, all she needs is the Dr's letter saying it's medically necessary and she can get me approved off that alone!! The Cori Center requires a psych eval (so does BCBS)so I made an apt for Jan 17 with the psychologist/psychiatrist they have on staff and it'll only cost me a $20-$50 copay instead of the $215 office visit I thought I was going to have to pay. It's looking like I may get approved or even have the surgery late this month or early February right?...... Wrong!! I went to work today and talked with my Human Resource Rep and explained that I may be having surgery soon and I need to find out about going on short term disability while I recover for 6 or so weeks. I was told that I'd be able to take the time off with 60% of my pay BUT since I've only been employed for 8 months and not 1 year yet I don't qualify for the FMLA (my hire date is May 23, 2005) which means that they don't have to hold my job for me while I'm off on leave. That's some BULL!! So it looks like I'm going to go forward with the approval process and will set a surgery date for May 24 or later. (my b-day is May 26, what a great present that would be) I'll just do WW until then, I'm actually joining tomorrow with a friend of mine. I was hoping to be thin by May but I should be able to lose 30 pounds by May with WW, I did last year in 12 weeks (Feb-April) With WW I won't be too far behind on my weightloss goal considering this set back.

1/11/06 I called the Dr's office today (the one that refused to write the letter for me) to have my records faxed to the Dr's office that will, and found out that the administrator had a change of heart and wrote the letter for me after all. He said I can pick it up this Thursday. Tonight I went to a support meeting for Cori Center patients. I met up with someone I've been corresponding with thru email thanks to this site. Hi April!! I'm also thankful to this site for connecting me to Marie, Bridget, and Connie. (you know who you are)(smile) All these women are wonderful, very supportive, helpful, and I'm very thankful that I met them. The meeting made me more excited to have the surgery. I must admit that some days when I think about having it done I get scared and sometimes think that if I had a date, I'd back out. I know it's only nerves and having this surgery will be a blessing. Well, I will post more when I have more info.

1/13/06 Well......I got both my letters today. Thank God my cousin's Dr's office came through for me and wrote an awesome letter that states everything I needed it to say. Macomb Medical Clinic on the other hand..........I had to pay $15 for this letter that states they "recommend a person go monthly but Rachel didn't", it says that "there isn't any documentation of any other comorbitities in Rachel's chart except for high chlosterol", and the best part is that it says "Rachel is a viable candidate for the surgery" I specifically told him that it needed to say it's "medically necessary". Whatever, I got the letter I needed from the other Dr's office and I'll never set foot in Macomb Medical Clinic again, I'm so disgusted with them. Their a medical/weightloss clinic and they don't know how to write a summary letter? Yesterday I spoke with Christine from Cori and she said she mailed out a diet history form and some lab forms that she needs me to get filled out but so far I haven't received them. I'll be waiting.......

1/17/06: I had my psych eval today..........it went OK. The Dr. was very nice. I guess I'm competent enough to have the surgeryand follow the instructions after. The Dr. said it's not the surgery that can kill you, it's not following the instructions afterward. That's SCARY!!

1/27/06: Earlier this week I submitted the last of my documentation, WW info, lab results, psych eval, EVERYTHING, to Christine and I got a call from her today saying that she reviewed my case with her supervisor and they came to the conclusion that since I'm not able to have my surgery till May/June they don't want to submit anything to BCBS until March/April because they're afraid the approval may have an expiration date and they also want me to join a gym and start documenting my workouts because apparently people have been denied for not having an exercise history. So tomorrow I'll be going to the gym to un-freeze my membership and start documenting my visits. Now I'm afraid of losing enough weight that I no longer qualify for the surgery. I say that because eventually I'll gain it back so it's a blessing in disguise whenever I lose weight. I'm putting in an effort at WW but if I want something good I sometimes eat it but I follow the program a majority of the time and when I join the gym I'm going to do 20 minutes on the treadmill 3-4 times a week. After the surgery I'll be there everyday doing the machines and sculpting but until then, it's the treadmill for me. I'll be back around March/April to update. God Bless Everyone!!!

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2/11/06: I just thought I'd give an update.............I've been going to the gym regularly now since the 28th of January (it's only been about 2 1/2 weeks but it feels like years) (smile) As I read more and more on the surgery (WLS for Dummies) I see how important exercise is BEFORE the surgery to keep from getting DVT's (blood clots in your legs that travel to your lungs, brain, or heart and can kill you) due to the surgery. Once I read that it was no longer about "documentation" for BCBS, it was about being in the best shape a 245 pound 5'4" woman can be before surgery. (smile) I'll be back to update more once I submit for an approval!! Please keep me in your prayers!!!

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2/17/06: Well, I've been going to the gym regularly and going to my WW meetings. I'm going to start putting in more of an effort at WW because as I research the surgery I see that any weight lost prior to the surgery, even only 10 pounds, will allow your liver to shrink so it's not in the way when the surgeon tries to go in thru the laproscopy procedure, otherwise he may have to cut me open to do the surgery. (I'm trying to avoid being cut open at all costs!!) I enjoy going to the gym and plan on kicking it into high gear once I have the surgery. There's nothing like finally seeing results from your workouts, I'm sure. I also got the results of my labs and my psych eval today and was told everything is fine and as long as I keep documenting my exercise and continue to go to my WW meetings, Christine says I have a good chance at an approval when we submit everything at the end of March.

2/19/06: Since I'm only going to have February and March of documented exercise, I decided to ask the counter person, Michelle, at my gym if she'd sign a letter that I write basically saying the even though we've only started documenting my exercise activity, I've been an active member of the gym since September 2005. I also enclosed a copy of my membership contract that I signed last September when I joined. Now even though I only actually have 2 months of activity documented, it's showing that I've been a member, and obviously exercising, for 6 months.

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3/1/06: After speaking with Christine, my surgery consultant, we decided it'd be best to submit everything the first week of April instead of the last week in March, only so I can go to the Dr. one last time for a weigh in, giving me at least 6 months of regular Dr. visits (Nov-Apr) instead of only 5 months. So now I'm scheduled for March 15th and April 5th for Dr. visits. What's a one week delay to submit right???? (it's killing me!!!) I'm just ready to have a date scheduled, once I have an approval and a date scheduled, I think I'll be fine and more relaxed, it just all this wondering and hoping for an approval is sooooo stressfull!!!

3/31/06: Well............it's almost time to submit everything to BCBS. I'm so excited yet so scared. I don't know what I'll do if I don't get approved, appeal I guess. The more I move forward with this process I'm seeing that I should keep things to myself and not let any more people know what I'm about to do. People often have negative reactions and I honestly don't need that right now. I'm about to undergo major surgery with major life altering changes when it comes to my eating habits and food so I need to stay positive and focused on this challenge I'm about to take on. No room for negativity.

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4/5/06: I had my consultation with the surgeon today, Dr. Kole, he was very nice and said I'm young, healthy, and he doesn't need to run any more tests than what I've already had done previously, so he'll "see me in the OR!" (if all goes well with my approval, of course). I also went to my regular Dr. today for my last weigh-in and he'll be faxing all the info to Chuck, Christine's boss, because Christine is out on leave for personal reasons. I called Chuck to let him know the faxes were coming today and can we submit before Friday, only to find out that he's "unavailable" until Monday, April 10th!! Oh well, I guess I need to be more patient because it's only a few days and I still have time before I can actually have the surgery, I just want an answer already!!!

4/12/06: Well, I still haven't been able to get ahold of Chuck, he's not returning any of my calls and his voice mail always says he'll be out of the office. Today his voicemail finally said to call "Kelly" and he left her number on the voicemail. I called Kelly and she answered right away. I explained the situation that I've been documentating my dieting, exercise, dr visits, etc....and I'm finally ready to submit and Chuck won't return my calls. She got my chart and told me she'd fax everything over today. FINALLY!!!!

4/13/06: Kelly called today and said she spoke with a nurse reviewer at BCBS. (I live in Michigan but the company I work for is based out of Philadelphia so my insurance is BCBS of PA and apparently the staff at Cori Center isn't familiar with BCBS of PA's procedures). Kelly told me that she'll call them again tomorrow just to make sure my case was being reviewed and didn't get set aside, and then she'll call me back and continue to update me weekly on the status of my approval. Bless Kelly!! She also said when she calls tomorrow the first thing she's going to ask them is how long does it usually take to review a submission for approval, that way I have some idea of a time frame. The thing is, tomorrow is Good Friday so its possible nobody is working tomorrow, even though its not a Federal Holiday, it should be. I'll post more when I hear something!!

4/16/06: DENIED!! Apparently Comcast, the company I work for, put it's own clause in the benefits stating that you have to be obese for 5 years or have diabetes, apnea, hypertension, or coronary heart disease, which I have none of the above and wasn't considered obese until 2003 when I got pregnant and delivered my last child. So after the appeals, BCBS decided to uphold the decision because "it's out of their hands". Now I have to wait until 2008 or until I develop a co-morbitity. UGH!!!!

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7/21/06: Well, I was mad, upset, disappointed, and hopeless after my denial so I haven't been back to the site since April. I started coming back at few days ago and am feeling more motivated than ever to fight for my right to be healthy and thin. I emailed the HR dept at the headquarters of my company since the HR reps at my location don't really know anything about our health policy. They keep telling me to call BCBS but BCBS says it's not them, it's Comcast that is preventing me from being approved. So the HR reps at headquarters told me they were sorry I was having so much trouble and will contact BCBS on my behalf. It's a start, but knowing how things work, I have to keep on it myself so I also called the appeals dept again at BCBS because at my last 2 doctor visits my blood pressure was elevated. (just the co-morbidity I needed) The appeals rep told me we were starting a 2nd appeal and to fax to her my most recent medical records. I'm doing that on Monday the 24th. I pray this works out for me!!

7/24/06: Everything went well at my doctor's today. I'm picking up my chart on 7/26 and will be faxing it over to the appeals department. My appeal is set for August 3rd at 9:45a.m. and believe me, I plan on attending that via phone conference. I am going to cry, beg, do whatever I need to do in order to be approved. But mostly I'm just going to explain to them how I am only 32 years old and can feel myself slowly deteriorating. First it was my feet being sore, then my ankles, then my knees, and now I'm off work on short term disability for my back and the therapist specifically told me my lower back arches in too far due to my front being heavy and pulling my back in. I've also gained 10 more pounds being off these past 2 months because I haven't been able to do any exercise either, which made my blood pressure rise, thus making me eligible for the surgery again. I'll post more later!

8/2/06: Well, tomorrow is my appeals hearing!! I pray it all goes well. I mean, I have high blood pressure now and I also faxed in a letter of support from my physician so what reasons could they possibly have to deny me? I shoudn't say that because last time I was very confident of an approval and was VERY disappointed when I got denied over some BS!! I'm trying not to get my hopes up for tomorrow because with my luck my blood pressure won't be high enough or something. I'll be back once I know something!! Please pray for me!!

8/3/06: APPROVED!!! THANK YOU JESUS!!! There was no appeals hearing or no conference. I got a call from the appeals dept that said the administrator approved me because of a company policy change that occured June 1st. June 1st.......I could have been approved back in June???? Oh Well, I'm approved now and that's all that matters. YIPPEE!!!!

8/12/06: I attended a seminar today at Harper Hospital with Dr. Wood. He's a very nice man and now I feel totally comfortable in his hands. He's been doing the surgery for years and has done over 2000 procedures. I'm still waiting for my approval papers in the mail from BCBS so I can get started!! I'm hoping to try and get a date of 9/12. (Surgeries are also done on mondays, which would be 9/11 but I just didn't want to have it done that day, that's a horrible day in history so I'm not making it one of my best days, ya know?, I'll just wait till Tuesday, what's one more day?) I've met so many wonderful people through this journey. Sorry I missed you today Mary but I know you have to work, Mary is wonderful and I feel we are fast becoming friends.

8/30/06: I GOT A DATE!! Sept 12th is my day. My consult with Dr. Wood went great today, he said he feels I'll be successful because I'm dedicated and determined due to having lost 100 pounds on my own in the past. He said he feels I'll work the "tool" like I'm supposed to. I hope he's right because this is my last resort. I'm so excited, I'm not scared at all.

9/11/06: Well, tomorrow is the day..............I'm not real nervous but I'm sure I will be once I leave for the hospital. I've been waiting for this day for so long, I've been denied, been to countless docotor's weigh-ins, logged exercise routines, etc....I'M READY TO GET IT DONE!! The liquid diet wasn't bad at all. I'm not even real hungry. My boyfriend brought a pizza in the house yesterday AND today but it didn't really bother me. Now if I had been just trying to diet then yes, I would have cheated, but since I can't eat "food" before the surgery that made it easier. Well, it's 11:35pm and I have to finish packing and picking up the house and have to leave at 6:30am I'm going to go for now..................

9/20/06: Hi all, I'm a week post-op and am doing fantastic!! I'm moving around without almost any pain, I take my pain meds once in the afternoon and once at bedtime and I take half the dose. I started my vitamins and protein today and so far so good, I haven't had anything yet that didn't agree with me (except milk) and I have yet to throw up so that's a plus. The surgeon said it went "Perfectly" so I thank God for that. I'm now eating sugar free maple/brown sugar oatmeal, sugar free pudding, and soups. Next week I get to add some food so I'm looking forward to that. The scale this morning said 235 so I'm down 10 pounds in 8 days!! Pretty good. The morning of surgery, after the 2 days of liquids and the bowel prep, I was 245. (normally I was btwn 250-253)

9/22/06: I had my 10 day post-op check up today, I'm down 14 pounds!! Last time I was at Cori Center I weighed 247, today I weighed 233. (at home in the morning I weigh 232 so my scale is pretty accurate) Dr. says my incisions are fine and I'm doing great. 9/28/06: I'm only down 3 more pounds, it's frustrating but I know it's normal. My body thinks I'm starving it so it's holding on to the weight. I know it'll be a few more weeks until I see a dramatic weightloss, by that time my body will have adjusted to the new caloric intake. My BMI is down to 38.2 from 42.1 two weeks ago so I'm happy about that.

10/13/06: Well, I'm 1 month post op and am down 28 pounds!! The scale says 222. The last 2 weeks I've lost an average of 6 pounds a week. I haven't been taking my measurements but I've been working out everyday, my body shape is changing faster then the scale is going down!! This is the best decision I've ever made.

11/2/06: Well, I'm 7 weeks post-op and am down 36 pounds!! I can totally feel and see a huge difference. Clothes I couldn't wear a few months ago are now falling off me. Friends, family, and co-workers are all saying I look great. Halloween came and went and I'm proud to say that I believe I've got the worst part of the weightloss battle under control...............THE MENTAL PART!! I was surrounded by donuts, candy, brownies, food, etc.... and I didn't even want any of it. I had 2 cubes of cheese on 2 crackers, 1 sugar free piece of chocolate, and about 5 bites of beef stew the whole night. Normally I'd have eaten about 20 bite sized candy bars, at least 3 of the brownies, a whole bowl of stew and probably a few donuts. No wonder I was so big!!

11/11/06: Well, I'm officially 2 months out and am down 40 pounds!! I can't believe that I have only 10 more pounds to go and I'm out of the 200's forever!! I'm really going to try to kick start my weightloss so I can be 199 by the end of November. I have 2 weeks. I'm going to get at least 60 oz's of water in per day, my required 80 grams of Protein, and I'm going to work out for 45 minutes 3-4 times per week with my Firm dvd's. If that doesn't work then I don't know what will............

12/8/06: Well, these past 10 pounds have been stubborn but I got them off. Today (and yesterday) I was 200 pounds even. I have been losing 2 pounds a week so it took almost a month to get the past 10 pounds off. I've now lost a total of 50 pounds in less than 90 days. I can't even believe it!! I'm going shopping after christmas because my clothes are literally falling off me and I'm tripping on the bottoms because they slide down so far. I'll post next week when I hit the 100's!!

12/23/06: Happy Holidays!! I am officially out of the 200's forever!! I am 194 as of this morning and for the past week and a half I've gone from 199 to 194 so no more going up for me!! Even on a bad, bloated, day I'll only go up to 196 or 197 so I'm still not hitting 200 anymore. I've noticed that some days I can eat what seems like a lot and the next day I can only eat a few bites. It's strange but apparently normal since I've discussed this with many people who have had the surgery and they all say the same thing. I've decided not to worry about it as long as the scale keeps going down. When I started this process I wore a tight size 20 pants, now I'm in a loose 16. This surgery, once again, is well worth it!!