Friday, July 29, 2011

The hand that feeds you... better be deep fried.

Wowza! Did i really write all of that crap? Sheesh... i even almost fell asleep. Well how bout I get down to the awesome insurance battle and other stupid crap Ive been having to put up with...

So October of 2010 I had heard from a friend about a seminar on Lap Band. I called up my mom and made her come with me to this joyful event. We learned a lot from the people who were there, a surgeon, FNPC, dietitian and an exercise specialist. We got packets of information filled with a ton of reading to do.

When we got back from the meeting i tore through the material. I was astounded that this could possibly change my life forever with minimal surgery! There were a lot of people there who were very weary about putting something foreign in their bodies but i chimed in and said " I would much rather have something put into my body then have something removed and/or re routed."

The main thing that made me really want to do the Lap Band vs Gastric is the surgery. In gastric they chop you up and move crap around, pretty much re routing your system. The thought of all of those stitches and things where they shouldn't be really gave me the creeps. There is just so much that could go wrong and i do not want those risks.

Lap band on the other hand simply adds a fun little plastic piece into you, and it wraps around the top portion of your stomach to limit how much you can eat at a time. Unlike gastric, you actually absorb everything you eat. With gastric you absorb some but most of it goes right through you and you get dumping syndrome (if you don't know what that is... trust me its gross). Yes the weight loss is going to be slower, but its so much safer and healthier for your body. All those foods you are eating (which are going to be healthy right...right!?) you body is going to absorb much much more of them and your body will be all smiles and friggen rainbows because of it.

*Deep breath* Okay. Enough rambling. After i tore through the packet i saw the application packet and immediately filled it out. You fill out all this information and have to have your medical records from the past 5 years sent to the facility. Everything went great, the clinic received my packet but guess what... the other clinics did not send them my records. Great. Fine. Whatever ill just re mail them and re fax them right? Wrong. After 2 faxes and 4 phone calls one of the clinics finally sent my records the other one.. not so much.

Thank god i worked at a clinic at that time, otherwise it probably would have taken a lot longer. About 6 months of battling with this clinic (you could only mail your request, and even then if it was a personal request it could take months) and me in tears about to sue them for my records I finally smartened up. I called the clinic from work because i needed to send a request for medical records to there office for work, not for me. Light bulb. On. They gave me a FAX NUMBER OH EM GEE A FAX NUMBER YESSS. No more friggen stamps and envelopes, these pricks are getting it in their fax machine x 100. The fax number is apparently for provider only inquiries... bwahaha i shit you not, a week later my clinic for surgery received my records finally. I win.

Or do i? After they finally received everything I got my appointment for my evaluation. It is multiple doctors appointments pretty much all in the same day. First it was off to meet the FNPC that would set me up with the referral to my surgeon. Polite, friendly to the point. We just went over if i was a good candidate, what i like/disliked about it and if it was really the best option for me. Took like maybe 20 minutes. Next!

Dietitian lady! Yup that woman had stuffed vegetables and greeny stuff all over her office. Just what you would expect from a dietitian. Super nice lady, just went over my current eating habits (i had changed to a better diet already). Only thing she really had to add was that i needed to add more protein in the morning like an egg or some string cheese, other wise i was doing pretty good. She also wrote me out a customized diet plan for before the surgery, and then the weeks after the surgery (liquid, puree etc).

*Gasp* Exercise! Dun Dun DUNNN!!! This gal was awesome. I had to change into "exercise" clothes and do some range of motion crap then walk on a treadmill for 5 minutes, take some vitals then briskly walk/jog for another 3 minutes and take more vitals. She isn't there to give you an exercise plan or be your personal trainer, just to see if you are capable of exercising without injuring yourself.


Tell me your... SECRETS!! My psyc appointment was the last stop. She was really fun, and funny! She pretty much knew right from the start that i wasn't a crazy or anything like that... and we went through all the routine BS, "do you feel like you may go on a homicidal rampage" wait..WHA? yeah that was totally a question. Her ending question was after we had sat there for a while and just gabbed back and forth. I'm like "uhh maybe you should ask that question in the beginning of your interview" LOL

The next day.. Is FINALLY the SURGEON appointment. He just went over different types of surgeries, what they are what they do blah blah blah but i was pretty in the know on what they all were so he said it was one of the easiest visits he had ever done purely because i had knowledge and done lots and lots of research on all my options.

After all the appointments, they send out a letter with a recommendation from the surgeon and all the other people i had met with to my insurance company. Now the waiting game...

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