Sunday, October 23, 2011

AH MAH GAWD

FINALLY!! So, after insurance battles and corporate BS I am finally scheduled for surgery!! Tuesday, October 25th 2011!

Now I know it has been a while but hey, I'm a busy lady...kinda... I had my pre-surgery appointment with my Dr on Thursday and he pretty much just went over the procedure with me again for the billionth time and told me what to expect. Then it was downstairs to the pre-admissions surgery department and they described how I am going to be taken care of, where we are going to go, what to expect, how long we will wait before surgery and everything like that.

I will let you know step by step what happens day of surgery, so its not a big mystery :)

So on a different note... my friend and I won first place costumes at a drag show last night... he was speed racer and I was Trixie, who looked like she ate speed racer :P with a cheap $5 wig, pink shirt/pants/shoes and a 20cent piece of felt shaped like an M, who can go wrong?

Words can not express how excited I am for surgery. I have gotten all my favorite foods out of the way this week so I dont have to worry about any last minute food regrets *lol* I also picked up at the store 2 cases of Ensure, 4 cans of beef broth, 4 cans of chicken broth, Popsicles and apple juice for my first week/2 weeks after surgery. I know the first week is clear liquid diet, so I dont plan on drinking the Ensure, only if I feel really malnourished, just to get some nutrition in my body.

Friday, July 29, 2011

My milkshake brings all the...calories to my thighs

Seriously... i promise once i get all of the crap that has happened in the past these will be shorter since i wont have to fuggin back story everything i do. And ONWARD!

I played the waiting game with the insurance for about 4 weeks, then i called. I ADVISE EVERYONE IF IT IS TAKING MORE THAN 2 WEEKS CALL THEM. *cough* anyhoo I called them and they told me that they had received....NOTHING. No request. No papers. Nothing. Zilch....FML. I called the surgeon clinic back and they said they sent it, and i got the fax number they faxed it to and called back the insurance company. MY CLINIC had the wrong fax number. Awesome. Great. I love everything...

I proceeded to call my clinic back and give them the correct information to send my stuff to, and they did. I was told i will get an approval letter or denial letter in the mail after they have made their final decision (insurance company).....3 more weeks later I called the insurance company again and was assured it was in its final stages and i would be getting a letter within the next week.

I received my letter on July 22. The date on my letter read July 8th. W. T. F.? Fine. Whatever, i got my damn letter so I'm going to call the damn clinic and make my damn appointment and everything should go damn smooth right? RIGHT? ... Wrong...damn..
The clinic had not received an approval letter but i had, and they asked me to fax it to them so i did. Well apparently I have to call this 2nd part of my insurance where they send another verification of approval to? Whatever the hell that is. Ugh. Seriously. Cut me open already.

I have yet to call my insurance since I just received this phone call on Wednesday... Its Friday... damn. I will keep you updated!

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...

Please don't feed the animals...

Most of us have heard the infamous joke "Inside me, there is a skinny woman trying to get out. But I can usually shut the bitch up with chocolate." I like to take this quote very dear to heart, because the bitch really does need some chocolate.

Now for introductions and history. I am 24 years old and like most Americans, overweight. My weight gain started when I was about 14. My entire life I was always told how to look by my mom and "don't eat this or you will turn into me" type of attitudes in the household. I think the mental strain of always feeling like i have to cut back and exercise at a young age made me feel " no one is going to tell me what to do. It's my life and if i want to eat chocolate god damnit I'm gonna."

In high school I was probably a size 14, which compared to the other girls was bigger. I am really short, only about 5'1 so I always felt heavier anyway since my weight sits differently than the other girls. I remember shopping for my first prom dress in 10th grade. We went everywhere (that my parents could afford) and finally found a size 14 dress. Do you know how hard it apparently is to find a size 14 in juniors at JC Penny or DEB? I didn't have very many options to try on and I could not have an open back since i was so self conscious, so that limited it drastically.

When i look back on old prom photos and school pictures I hate myself for thinking i was HUGE. I wasn't, i was just a little bigger than the rest of the girls i knew. I was beautiful and i should have taken advantage of that instead of hiding myself from others. I think it was put into my brain when i was so young that i was fat and no one likes fat people. I was afraid of boys and what they would say about me, I would not wear a bathing suit around my friends unless i had something over it. I love my parents dearly but i feel as if i was brainwashed to think i was unattractive.

Which brings me to the age of 16. Size 16-18. Limited places to shop for a girl in a VERY small town that can make clothes to fit me but still express my youth. Fashion bug was the closest place and it was still a 2 hour drive. Don't get me wrong, i love fashion bug but my wardrobe hand turned into band t-shirts and pajama bottoms. Being in a small school with a class of about 19 was amazing for my wardrobe. I didn't have to have expensive clothes or fit in with he clicks because no one had those things, they just were not an option. And the "clicks" pshh we were too small to have a click so we all hung together. I miss my blue leopard pj pants and a pantara t-shirt :)

Don't feed it after midnight...Age 24 size 22-24. (jeeze my age just keeps increasing the same as my waistline)  I feel that at my young age that gastric is too heavy a surgery for someone my age. I do not want all the problems that come with it so i have decided to do Lap Band instead. I know that Lap Band still has its dangers but they are much less than gastric and it can be reversed if something goes wrong!

This is the beginning of my story and the process I am having to go through post and pre op so more people like me can know what to expect.