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Day of surgery May 27, 2011

Ok the day of surgery. Well the nite before I did not sleep at all, I was too excited to even think of sleep. My husband, Mother-in-law and I get up around 5 to get out of the house and head to the hospital. We arrive there about 5:40 in the morning. I get called to fill out some paperwork. Sit in the waiting room for like ever. Finally they call me and move me upstairs in the waiting room with my bed and such. They take some blood and the nurse tells me I have to pee in a cup so she can see if I am pregnant or not. Yeah this didn't go so well. I told her good luck, I haven't had anything to drink since midnight and you really think I can go for you. I told her she better just forget it and I know that I am not pregnant. After that she takes my blood pressure and the machince is going crazy it pumps up and then down and keep doing this, it is not reading my blood pressure. One more time it pumps up and keeps going until the damn thing just pops off my arm. Ok there goes my excitiment, and I was thinking this is not going to be good. She decided to take it on my other arm, takes it no problems. She then hookes up the IV and they take me up stairs to like a big waiting room for everyone that is having surgery.   Upstairs I meet the with my nurse and the Anesthesiologist and Dr. Brown. It is getting close to 8 in the morning and we head to the surgery room. The move me onto the table and they stick the mask on me and it is lights out. I don't remember anything after that till a nurse was waking me up in recovery about an hour later. When I woke up the pain hitted me hard. I started to cry and think what the hell did I just do. They asked how my pain way and every time I said it was 9. Give me the drugs!!! My mouth was so dry and i asked for ice chips and was so relieve when she said I could have them. The nurse I had in recovery was such a sweetheart and she took good care of me. Till about 10am I stayed in there and they took me down to the room I started in. I got a new nurse his name was Jack, one of the best nurses I think I have ever had. In there I finally got to meet back with my husband and MIL. By this time I was feeling good. I asked to get up and go to the bathroom, he was in total shock. But was like yeah let's get you up. I got up ok and went came back and was like can I get dressed now or do I have to wait. He let me get dressed. i felt fine and I just wanted to go home. After I got dressed my MIL went to fill my meds. As we waited Jack got everything ready so I could go home. When the MIL got back we were heading for the car. I left the hospital around noon. And home when went.   At home I do not remember the first day at home, to doped up on drugs I slept most of the day. The second day it was better and I decided I want to get walking so we went to the mall and walked around. Today is the 4th day post- op and I feel 100% better then I did the first day out of surgery. Things are going great. Call the doctor's office today to schedule my next appointment which will be at 4 weeks and I will be getting my first fill. Can't wait!!!
Shavona

Shavona

3
 

Emotional Week

I have no idea why but the last week has been an emotional on for me. I can cry with a drop of a pin. I think a lot of it has to do with my up coming surgery and me being a worry bug. I know everything is going to be ok, but my emotions get the best of me. The last few days have been so much better. Who knows maybe I just needed to cry and get it out.   Anyways, the other day I received my letter from the insurance that everything will be covered. I was super excited. The 24th I will start my pre op diet for 3 days and then the 27th is the big day. I will be the first one in that day. Not totally looking forward to being at the hospital at 5:30AM but will be happy to start my new life. And with that I truely mean a new life. The doctor finally gave me my goal weight and I could of slapped him. I like to take small steps and he throws the number out there all at once. 140. I don't even remember being 140, maybe like in the 6 grade. lol So all in all that means I have to 160, when you really think about it I will be losing a person or simply my husband. lol. This will be a journey and I know I can do it. Thanks to a lot of you sharing your story I know I can.   Will post later with the results of the pre-op diet..... Stay Tune.
Shavona

Shavona

2
 

A Dreaded Phone Call....

I learned a valuable lesson today...   After setting up my appointment Amy told me that she would only call me if she needed something else for the insurance. I was busy doing laundry when the phone rang. There was a voice mail. As I was listening it was Amy calling and she needed to talk to me. Worrying came over me. I was dreading the worse that the insurance didn't approve my surgery or that they needed something else from me. I called and was inform that she was with a patient. So I waited the minutes were feeling like hours. The phone rings and I answer it was Amy and she tells me that someone had canceled their appointment and that I need to be at the hospital at 5:30am on the day of my surgery. I exhale a big breathe. Thankfully it was nothing. Talk about relief. She did tell me that the insurance is still pending and I should know by next week. I was excited after he phone call I get to start my new life a little earlier!!    
Shavona

Shavona

1
 

The day that changed my life...

It all started about 2 years ago when I had to set up an appointment with Dr. Clare in Lincoln, Nebraska. He is a Orthopedic Surgeon about my knees. He looked at my MRI and told me that I had old knees and I need to have a knee replacement in both of my knees. I was crushed. I never thought that I would ever hear those words. He looked at me all serious and ask me if I had ever thought about having the LapBand Surgery. He gave me a referrel to Dr. Hung in Lincoln. After leaving the appointment I broke down for the first time in a long time. I knew that I was overweight but to hear a doctor tell me that my weight is causing my knees to fail me. I was 24 at the time. Dr. Clare told me that he would not touch my knees until I was at least 35. What was I to do. So I made the appointment to see Dr. Hung. I met with him, he was very nice, talked a little fast, but I did retain a lot of information. Because of my surgery with Cigna I had to do a whole list of things, 6 months diet, psych eval, pulmonary test, sleep study and so on. I started the 6 months eval, waiting for everything else till the end. As the months went on my husband and I had talked about having a baby. So we decided to wait to have the surgery until after I had the baby. So we tried for a number of months. I decided maybe this isn't the right time to have a baby and I should get back into getting everything done for the insurance. So we fast forward 6 months and I have set up all the appointments, by this time it is November. My husband calls me one day to inform me that the company he works for is no longer going to have Cigna as insurance. I was crushed all this hard work for nothing. Jan of 2010 we change to Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield.   So going with a new insurance company, I called the number and was asking about what was covered, they said yes lapband was covered but that is all that they would tell me. Things came up and shoved it in the back of my mind. I was so busy with moving and and being a mom to my daughter I didn't think much about it. The whole year went by..... Starting a new year, I started reseaching the lapband again and getting my heart and mind ready to get it done. The day that really set me in motion was the day my daughter came up to me and called me fat and told me I had a big belly. I was hurt that my 3 year old can see what I have become. So I decided that I was going to call the insurance and make sure I didn't hang up the phone till the tell me everything that I want to know. I called and got the worst news, that the insurance did not cover any weight loss surgeries. I was crushed. So I started researching how much it would be out of pocket. My husband and I were willing to do anything to get this done. As I was researching I came across Dr. Ortiz in Mexico cost was $6000. I thought get, we can get a loan and I can have my surgery. I was excited. I called my mother-in-law and told her of the news, she was floored and made me promise that I would call the insurance again. She was scared because of all the news of the drug wars and what not. She is a firm believer that United States has the best medicine. Well keeping to my promise I tried calling. Being it was to late at night to get a hold of anyone, I decided I would call first thing in the morning. I was surfing the next and an ad caught my attention. A doctor here in Denver would do a insurance check for FREE. It would be Dr. Brown's office. So I filled out the little questionare. Being early the next morning I call the insurance and take to a guy ask him everything I wanted to know and he told me that nothing was covered. So I left it at that. An hour later I was getting ready to call my mother-in-law and I get a phone call from Amy, Dr. Brown's Insurance lady. And she informs me that the insurance will cover the surgery and that I only have to have a psych eval and talk to the dietician. I told her of what had happen an hour earlier. But she told me that she gave them all the codes and everything is covered 80 percent. I was thrilled, shocked and excited.   We set up an appointment for April 27, 2011 and I meet with everyone and get all my pre things done including the psych eval and speaking with the dietician. I meet with the doctor and his PA. Everyone was really nice and they really showed they cared and listen to me. Answered all my questions that I had. After meeting with Dr. Brown I went to see Amy to fill out some more paperwork. As I was sitting there I was waiting to hear that there would be something else that I would have to do. She looks at me and says "Ok, I have everything that I need, when do you want to set up your surgery date." I was totally shocked. I said WHAT??? She repeated her self with a little laugh. I said ASAP. We set my surgery for the 27th of May, at 8am. I was moved to tears, I couldn't believe that this is all that I had to do. It was by far the best day of my life and one I will never forget.
Shavona

Shavona

0
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