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circa's Journal

A blog by circa in General

  • Entries

    33

  • Comments

    53

  • Views

    4,329

About this blog

circa's Journal, a weight loss surgery blog by circa on BariatricPal. 33 entries on surgery, recovery and progress.

Entries in this blog

Surgeon Meeting #2

This went well. I got the answers I wanted except a surgery date haha. This could be not until August but here's the kicker - I got laid off from my job which means I'm down to one insurance ( not so bad) but I don't know if I can collect unemployment due to the fact that there's a restriction that you have to be in the state of michigan for the last 18 months or something. Anyway - I'm working this out - I've only been here like 15 months *grr*   The layoff is temporary - but oh wouldn't i
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Surgeon #2 meeting - Tomorrow

Meeting with Surgeon #2 tomorrow - and if things go well, I think he'll be my choice. Mainly because its a 3 hour trip each way to Surgeon #1 and I have 4 different days I have to go down there, potentially 5, BEFORE surgery. That's a lot of days off work before even having the surgery - doesn't leave me time off to actually HAVE the surgery. Considering Surgeon #2 actually trained Surgeon #1 - I think that bodes well for it going well. I'm excited to meet him - I've heard nothing but great
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First meeting with surgeon #1

So I met with prospective surgeon #1 - GREAT guy. Very upfront - loves questions and gives all the information he can. He didn't pull any punches and was very frank about what is and is not required and to be expected for each surgery. I do really like him. Oddly enough, he studied under prospective surgeon #2. Said he learned a lot from Dr. Kam (second prospective surgeon). So I'm in good shape, either way.
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Looking forward

I'm so very tired. I'm ill right now, so that doesn't help - but it makes the reality of actually having health again seem attainable. Just as I'll get over this cold/flu/infection, I'll recover from the health issues that my weight has caused me. Just like I'm on a daily basis recovering from the horrible poisoning that my body endured from the toxic metals. I know that I can do this. While I've been too sick to do much more than drag my butt out of bed and slump into the chair in my offic
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In 5 days...

In just 5 days I'll be meeting with another surgical office regarding my surgery. I'm hoping the, what I not-so-affectionately-refer-to-as "the plague" is gone by then. I popped in to my PCP today and she said its definitely viral and had to run its course. She gave me some stuff to help manage the symptoms. I've already had this for about 5 days. If I don't start to turn the corner by Wednesday AM, I'll insist on an antibiotic, because it'll obviously not be viral if its taking that long.
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you gotta move it, move it.

I've started to dust off some of my exercise equipment - I am hoping to have it all set up and ready this weekend. I know right now that a lot isn't possible, but that's not going to keep me from trying now, and being prepared for when I can. I know that just losing 50 lbs will rocket me into copious amounts of energy. I'm ready, and willing to expend that on something positive. Memorial day weekend will be spent getting the pool situated (temperature depending - in all reality, it could be

Excited

I'm so excited. I have 2 consults - one on the 16th and one on the 21st. I'm quite anxious to just keep the ball rolling on this. I want this done so I can move on with my life. I know its not good to rush things - and really, I'm not. I'm ready for this, I know what I'm in for, and I've done my own weight in research haha.

Yay!!!!! Got my consult date!!!!

Okay so I go in for my consult with Dr. Kam - he's been in this area for only a year and a half but has over 800 bypasses and sleeves overall in his career - he started as a trauma surgeon so he's good with the staples and such haha :thumbup: He has a thorough understanding of the liver as well - which is great for me considering the Wilson's disease. I'm quite excited :sad: I meet with him on the 21st of this month - and hopefully will be for surgery shortly thereafter :glare:

Epic fail by ins. Co

So. I called and finally got ahold of the scheduling coordinator and she told me that the insurance company hadn't sent them the approval letter. I have it. My doctor has it. My cousin's wife's sister's pet ferret has it, but they don't have it. *argh!* So I call the insurance company - they said there was an issue with their letter generation system and it didn't get sent to the surgeon's office *flail* So they're going to mail it to them tomorrow as they can't fax a letter that hasn't be

So....

In the theory of keeping my options open and keeping busy, I am going to check out another surgical center - they're about 3 hours away, but have appointments on saturdays so that helps. If nothing else, it'll keep my mind on the end result goal instead of sitting here doing nothing - and I can go hang out with my best friend that lives down there too haha. All this will do is help me get more information and keep more options available to me. This other surgical center accepts only one of my

Frustrated beyond belief

Ya know, maybe if I hadn't been working on this for a year and a half now, I wouldn't be so frustrated. I have ZERO idea how this can be hard. I'm sitting here with everything done - just waiting for the surgical date. Insurance companies BOTH have sent me letters of approval. I've contacted every other surgeon's office within 200 miles of me - either they don't take my primary insurance or(and sometimes AND) I have to start completely over with THEIR process which means giving back my appro
  • circa

Sleeve surgery, approved, by, insurance,?

This is what Priority Health says regarding VSG:   C. Limitations 1. The following bariatric procedures are covered when the surgical criteria above have been met: a. Roux-en-Y gastrojejunostomy b. Laparoscopically Adjustable Banding with FDA approved device c. Biliopancreatic Diversion with Duodenal Switch (BPD/DS) (For Medicaid, see #6 below). d. Sleeve gastrectomy IF one of the following applies (For Medicaid, see #6 below): (i) A Roux-en-Y gastric bypass is contraindicated (e.g. s
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*flail*

so I didn't get my call last week and I'm not going to get it this week either. They're CLOSED FOR THE WEEK FOR TRAINING! While I'm glad they're being trained, it certainly would be nice if they'd be taking phonecalls - or at least making the ones they were supposed to make! Maybe that's what their training is on lol.
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Decisions, Decisions.

I am, in fact, leaning more toward the sleeve than the band at this time. I won't make my final determination until after i talk to my surgeon. I know that there are a lot of questions that i need to have answered. I'm making a list to take with me. I'll have a lot of time to create a larger list of questions. Now my sister is looking into the band - and for her, that might be the right option - but I want to ask questions for her - she has other issues to deal with and she always has the q
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So mad!

Okay -this really has nothing to do with the lapband but I'm so angry right now, I could spit fire. When I moved back to where I live now, I called the office where my chiropractor was at - they said that they didn't know what happened to him but heard he moved back to Arizona - said some pretty negative stuff about him. I found out today that he OPENED HIS OWN WELLNESS CENTER HERE IN TOWN - they're mad because they lost a lot of their patients to him. I mean I can understand if they didn't w
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No call

So again, no call from the Surgery Center - was supposed to have gotten a call either Thursday or Friday - but nothing....I'll call today on my lunch to see what's going on. I'm so not a big fan of waiting.   Grrr! They're not open today! First they had a message on their phone that said they were having a staff meeting and would open back up at 1 - THEN after that, the message changed to in-house training and they wouldn't be available today. *flail* Ok - tomorrow I call! I hope their i
  • circa

Today

Not feeling well today. I've got issues with my adrenal glands going bonkers - and today is one of those days. I'm having a physical anxiety attack - which means that while I don't have the mental activity of an anxiety attack, my body still goes through all those feelings. Today is worse than most days that this has happened. I also have been fighting off a bug of some sort that seems to be winning. So putting both of those together does not make for a very pleasant feeling.   Still ho
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Rant

I really can't stand when my husband tires to make a joke and it just hits me the wrong way - joking about things that I can't control - things that are affected by my illness. It HURTS that he says things like that, but he doesn't see it that way because its "not what he meant". I really don't care what he MEANT - think before you speak, jerk. It'd be one thing if this was the first time this happened - but its a repeated thing.
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Impatient pre-patient.

I am waiting so very impatiently for the surgeon's office to call me for my first consultation appointment. This is just not sitting well for me. I hate hate hate waiting for anything. Patience is a virtue I am without. Hahah I'm without most virtues, I think   I just want this all to move in a forward direction. I feel like i"m sitting at the DMV - you know - the endless wait that never seems to end - and is really more painful than it should be? :tounge_smile:
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Support

So i told my husband of what I'm planning and he's supportive. His mom had GB surgery a couple years ago and he wanted to make sure I looked into what I was doing. I explained to him the differences between the surgeries and he's very supportive of me getting the lap band. He loves the idea. He just wants me to be healthy and happy and if this gets me there sooner, he's good with that.   We had some issues a while back when I was really quite ill - he just really wasn't there - he said
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I don't know why

I just realized that I have, in part, been waiting for someone to do something for me. I think because I wanted to make sure the surgeon saw me how I am. But he's got my weight from my PCP - I need to start the pre-op diet now. Maybe that'll help to speed up things. And if it doesn't, I'm just that much more ahead of the curve. If I falter, I have more time to recover from falling off the wagon. I just need to do something now. I ordered new parts for my exercise equipment so it'll be eas
  • circa

Still waiting....

I'm still waiting for the surgical center to call me and schedule my appointment. If they don't call me by end of day today, I'm calling them tomorrow. I don't like waiting for things! I'm not very good at being patient :tounge_smile:   I couldn't wait I called them today and the NP is reviewing my letter and it will be given to the scheduling coordinator who will be in on Thursday and Friday this week - hopefully I'll receive a call. The advisor there said that I could probably get in for
  • circa

waiting...

I'm just waiting for the surgeon's office to call me to come in for my first of 2 consults. I'm apparently going with Dr. Nizzi at Grand Traverse Surgery at this point and time. If they tell me it'll be 6 months, I'll be checking into other option in Grand Rapids, etc.   Ugh and I left my cell phone at home today - hope they didn't try to call me!
  • circa

pictures

I've been looking at all these before and after pictures....and I think what scares me the most is taking that before picture and looking at it. I know my view is distorted - I know what I looked like before all this happened - and it wasn't all that long ago. I know I don't look like that any longer and I know I carry my weight different from everyone else....and I know what I looked like 50 lbs ago - kinda... I SO do not want to look at that before picture. I'm afraid I'll literally get sic
  • circa

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