seemego2150
Band date set... July 15, 2009
Jun 22, 2009
I saw my surgeon today and set my date for Wednesday, July 15th at 10 am. I am so excited and so nervous. Surgery is a big thing to go through no matter how un-invasive. I still have a few things to do this week. I have a pulomology appointment on Wednesday. Tomorrow I have to call to make 2 more appointments - lab work and pre-op education. That should do it - I HOPE!
On another note, I lost 3 pounds this week. 
Getting very busy
Jun 19, 2009
Today I saw the cardiologist. I was able to take a copy of the EKG I had done on June 3, as well as the chest xray from the same day, so that saved a bit of time. A stress test is required for all bariatric surgery patients through my surgeon so I had a stress test which went very well. I'd never had one before. My blood pressure was 120/80 when I arrived and of course went up some when I'd been walking on the treadmill for a while. Once at rest for3 minutes after it was over it went back down to 114/78.
Aside from just a surgery prep it was pretty cool to have the stress test and for them to get a nice look at my heart valves, etc. My grandmother had heard disease so to have someone look at mine now was reassuring.
Monday (3 days from today) I see the surgeon and at that time I will get a surgery date. Then on Wednesday I see the pulmonologist. I wonder what type of tests they do at a pulmonology appointment?
I will have a lab appointment a week prior to surgery. That should be all of my appointments!!!
Today is Friday. This week on Monday I started my weekly weigh-ins. I've done really well so far this week so I hope that on Monday morning the scale reflects that!
And.....SHE'S APPROVED!!
Jun 08, 2009
Yes, it's true! I am approved. This morning at 8:30 I logged into my insurance web-page and looked under authorizations expecting it to still be empty. Much to my surprise it finally said PENDING. It did not say that even yesterday so it must have been added very early today. I held my breath most of the day and after a few more times of checking it at 2:30 it was finally changed to APPROVED! Just to be cautious I called the insurance company just to confirm the information - they were pleased to tell me it was approved. I then called the surgeons office. They were so nice and excited for me. The first available appointment to see the surgeon is 2 weeks from today, Monday, June 22. At that appointment I will be given my surgery date. She said it should be within 6 weeks so that should definitely be by the end of July.
It was a strange feeling when all was said and done. It was like WOW, what have I done? Sort of felt like I just conquered this whole long drawn out approval process like a true warrior.....but now what? That means I really am going to have s-u-g-e-r-y! The only thing I could think of to describe it was to compare it to a very exciting fishing trip with high prizes at stake. You fish and fish and then it's over and you win but you realize you have all these fish to clean and you stop in your tracks and think... ohhhh - now I gotta clean all these damn things! Can't I just throw them back and go home knowing I won??
Keep in mind I don't fish! LOL so I have no idea how I got that analogy! But I do know I would think cleaning fish was way more of a pain in the butt that catching them.
But seriously, deep down I am so happy to be on this journey, it's just that the reality of it finally set in today. It's not about what turned in to "the challenge of the approval process" anymore, it's about a new mission. I think if I go after it in the same manner I did for the approval process I am bound to be successful.
I feel motivated! 
All tests results submitted -
Jun 07, 2009
All 3 of my test results were just fine and I had all of them submitted to my surgeon's office by noon on Friday (June 5). At 3pm the surgeon's office responded to me and said they would be faxing them to insurance that day..... sooooo..... I plan to call the insurance company on Monday afternoon to see if it's processed yet. I don't know exactly what to expect if it's approved now. I am not sure if they will stick with the time frame that was originally submitted since it took so long for the approval - over a month. That might set my surgery back a month, but I'm not sure. I guess I will just wait and see. 
Progress...
Jun 03, 2009
I have a feeling if these 3 things are all okay that this will satisfy them!! Yeahhhh!!! I could be meeting with the surgeon in the next couple of weeks and if their timeline holds true I could be BANDED - let me say that again - BANDED - by mid-July....so unreal.
Cross your fingers that the 2 tests come back okay tomorrow.
Insurance - still waiting
May 28, 2009
Insurance flub-up
May 15, 2009
Submitted to Insurance!
May 11, 2009
Still Waiting...but not standing still
May 07, 2009
I have not heard from my surgeon's office to give me an update. I called my insurance company to find out if they'd received my referral but they had not. Before I called insurance I'd emailed my surgeon's office once and left several voice messages but no reply. I understand that maybe they don't have all the information they need or maybe they are running behind. I am totally understanding of that. But what is bugging me is that I basically have no information about what is going on. I think a month is plenty of time to send someone a card that says "We've received your notice of completion of your 6 months of supervised dieting and we are currently reviewing your whole file", etc. They were very good about sending me cards each step of the way the first several months.
Anyway, in the meantime I've joined Weight Watchers again - with my highest weight EVER! Not for long though! I plan to lose 3 or more pounds this week to get me back to what I would say has been my most common weight in a few years.
I hope to be able to update next week with some good news - either some weight loss or news that I've been applied for insurance approval OR BOTH!
Waiting...
Apr 20, 2009
The office has been going through a lot of changes and I hope it gets back to normal soon.
