RubyMel
I have been thinking about WLS for about 6 years and never really looked into local surgeons or if my insurance covered the procedure until this year. In Feb. 2006 I attended the orientation for my surgeons practice. I invited my Mom and my sister. It was very informational and answered majority of my questions. I was not sure I was going to share my desire to have WLS with my family...but after thinking about it they have been my support system through more difficult times and I needed them during this time in my life. Also, including them helped them to understand how unhappy I have been for so long with my appearance and level of activeness. I have always put on a happy face and remain very positive for the most part, and people have always mistaken my smiles and happiness with me being content with my current weight. Anyways...I decided now is my time!!! I have been a young mother and career woman and my 20's are almost over. I feel like I have missed out on so much and have not ventured out in the world like I may have if I was comfortable in my own skin. During March 2006 I completed all pre-op tests and scheduled my consultation with Dr. Snyder (WLS Surgeon). My consultation with Dr Snyder was great, he said I was a excellent candidate and the next step was to submit all information to my insurance UHC. About a week later I was notified by Dr. Snyders office that my employer required a 6 month medically supervised weight loss attempt. During this same time I lost vision in my right eye and was seeing eye doctors, my PCP and ended up in the emergency room because I was blind in my right eye and there wasn't any explanation the doctors could give me. I was later sent to see a neurologist and was diagnosed with Multiple Sclorosis. I was finally diagnosed after the many random and strange symptoms I have been having for more than 7 years... This was a relief for me but a little scary because M.S. can be very aggressive in African Americans. Luckily this is a good time if any to be diagnosed with M.S. There are good treatments available that are used to delay the progression of M.S. I have been under treatment for about 6 1/2 months and am feeling pretty good. So after being diagnosed and dealing with the side affects of the treatment, I started my 6 month medically supervised weight loss plan with my PCP. My Dr. and I devised a plan for me to join Curves, walk 10,000 steps a day and to eat a low calorie diet. I started my journey with the plan and ended up losing about 22 lbs. This was great but not good enough for me. So October 14th was my last appointment with my Dr. for the weight loss plan. I then had this information submitted to Dr. Snyders office so they could resubmit to my insurance for approval. I received APPROVAL on October 24...I must be the most impatient person in the world...I called the insurance company everyday to see if they received anything from the surgeon's office. I know they were sick of hearing from me. But...I needed to know, this has been in progress for over 6 months. So once I received the approval I started to bug the surgeons office to see if they received my approval. They only have one person in charge of insurance and scheduling. It has been very hard leaving messages and hoping someone will call me back with a surgery schedule date. I called and finally got a hold of the insurance lady...she said I could have surgery as soon as November 14th or the 20th. She is supposed to call me back today (11/07/06) with a date confirmaiton...so right now I am trying to be patient and take my mind off of the whole thing because I know it will work out. I have been praying and just having faith that this is the right thing for me. I have been blessed with so much I cannot even ask for more... My life is wonderful as is, I have two wonderful children that make me so happy and a wonderful job that allows me to be a great Mom to my kids. I just want to be able to get out there and play hard with my kids. I want them to have wonderful memories of growing up so they will want to do the same and more with their kids. I want to take them Snowboarding often, I want to go hiking with them...take them Hot Air ballooning, traveling all over and so much more. I want to live a full life and be a participant in life not a observer on the sideline watching my kids have fun.... I want to be a part of their fun...and I will!!! God willing :o) So I will be patient and update my page....I have been on this site since I started the process and there are so many stories that have helped me and encouraged me to follow through with this. I hope my story will help someone in their journey...It is not a easy one but I know it is a necessary one for me that will benefit myself as well as my kids! I will update again and start my blog once I have a scheduled surgery date.... Pray for me :o)
