ShapeShifter

About 15 years ago, the insurance my (then) company offered started covering Gastric Bypass Surgery, and multiple co-workers made that choice with hope to improve their lives. I was envious, and curious, and admit that it did cross my mind. But at that time, for whatever reason, I was not ready to make such a life-altering decision. As I learned more about the procedure and the results, I worried about the issues with malabsorption. And years later, when Ann Wilson (from Heart) was open about Lap Band Surgery, I studied up on that process and the results, and found myself turned off by the need to make frequent return visits to the doctor for checks and fills, and the possible complications scared me.
 
Recently, maybe early February, I was checking in on a friend in another state who had Gastric Bypass in December. During our conversation, she told me about a woman she met in her WLS support group who had VSG four days earlier... and she was upright, energetic and feeling great. She told me a little about the difference in this 'new' procedure, and I made a note of what it was called. That night, I started my research. I LOVE THE INTERNET, don't you? Can you imagine how difficult it might have been to find such detailed information and great support 20 years ago? Over the weeks that followed, I spent all of my evenings after work online searching for more. Honestly, I was searching for the horror stories. There is great affirmation out there about this procedure, but very little about complications and regrets. I watched many hours of video logs on YouTube, and worried about the people who stopped recording after a few check-ins. What happened to them? Are they okay? Did something horrible happen to them as a result of the surgery?
 
But then, there were people like AmySDMom, who has kept an incredibly honest video log, almost weekly, for the entire two years of her journey. She is very thoughtful and thorough in the details she chooses to share, and I've learned a great deal from her about what life looks like post-surgery. If you've not spent any time with Amy, and are pre-op OR post-op... I highly recommend looking her up on YouTube. And on this site, I found the link to Holly's blog at 300 Pounds Down, and find her so wonderfully inspirational that I now check in daily to see if she has checked in. Her writing is powerful, honest, painful, witty, and as I said, inspiring.
 
From the women I've been following, I have written down tips and preferences, and ordered protein powders that I've added into my diet. On one of the sites I read that a woman my size should be consuming 90 grams of protein and 1600 calories. I thought, I am likely not consuming half that much protein now. So I decided to go ahead and add that to my already low calorie, low carb diet. Did it help me lose weight? No. I continue to gain and lose the same two pounds each week, with great discouragement. I thought that maybe this would be the answer to why I couldn't lose weight. I just need more protein! Maybe I don't need surgery after all! Ha! Not so, said the Universe.
 
And so, I decided that I would continue my research, step-by-step, and watch and listen for signs from the Universe to decide if I am on the right path. A local friend, who had surgery last year at Celebration Health in Orlando, held my hand and went with me to the information session that is held each week at this bariatric center of excellence. I wondered if I would sit through the session and hear something that frightened me, or meet someone with a real horror story, or have a gut feeling that this was the wrong place or time. But none of that happened. I left feeling like this was the place and this is the time. And so, I decided to complete the paperwork, and wait to take the next step. I received an email a couple of days later which requested my medical and weight history. I completed the form, and waited for the call from the hospital about my insurance coverage and out-of-pocket expenses... waiting to see what the Universe had to say about that. Well, the hospital did call, and said that my insurance only covered lap-band and gastric bypass... and I didn't cry, but with a lump in my throat told her to go no further... because those were not an option for me.
 
I did not let that stop me, though. My company is self-insured and works with United Health Care and UMR. I knew that United Health Care was covering VSG, and so I called UMR to see why they denied the request. They said that my company did not have it on the list of approved procedures. I did not let that stop me, either. I sent an email to the SVP of Benefits and told her the story, and she responded with an explanation that our plan is outdated, and when something like this comes up, they take it to a committee and decide if they will add it to the policy, allowing UMR to approve the procedure. She checked in with me today, and shared her progress and next steps. With all of the changes in the world of Health Care, we aren't really sure what will happen next year, or what options will be offered - there is a chance our options will be even better than they are now. But I did remind her that I am eager to improve my life, that I am suffering with quite a bit of pain NOW, and that if I could have the procedure completed this year, with the insurance I am sure of... considering there could be a 6 month dr. assisted weight loss period... having the committee decide one way or another would be better for me, sooner rather than later. She understood and is moving forward. As am I. One step at a time... the Universe has not yet given me a sign to quit.
 
And so, I am here with each of you... yearning for your success, longing for success of my own, and wishing all of us a future that is free of shame, suffering, illness, and pain. Here's to our future! May we learn to shine in new and wonderful ways.

Back in 2009 my medical Dr, told me while i weighed 350lbs. that i need to do something about my weight before i hit 50 yrs old, which at the time i was 46 yrs old and on BP Meds. So i was like yeah,yeah ,yeah. On July 3, 2010 i participated in a health research and was weighing 395lbs. Then moving forward to the early 2011 weighing 410lbs. and now had a new female Dr. for a while now. She had me do blood work-up which showed elevated cholesterol and sugar level rising. So my Dr. starts to mention about bariatric surgery to lose weight. So now I'm looking at my Dr. who looked like she weighed 350lbs herself(keep reading it get interesting). So I'm not convinced by what she was talking about, but agreed to attend a bariatric seminar at Jacobi Hospital. The same day i met with a nutritionist who impressed me and gave me a meal plan. As soon as i got home that meal plan went into the night stand somewhere.So i attend the seminar and walked away displeased by the noisy people in the audience and a post-op pt. talking about his ordeal while holding up his old trousers he wore prior to his surgery.(keep reading trust me). At the seminar i get an appointment for the bariatric clinic which i didn't bother going to.
So now summer 2011 comes around and i balloon up to 442lbs, 90 degree weather outside and i'm wearing long pants because I'm embarrassed by my swollen legs. I make an appt. with my Medical Dr. and when i arrived at her office I WAS LIKE WHAAAAAAAAT. My Dr. had shed like 100 lbs and i was like WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY REGULAR DR. So she proceeds to tell that she had a Gastric Sleeve operation was the reason she had slimmed down. So i confess to her that i didn't attend the bariatric appt. So she gives me another meeting date for a seminar, i attend and receive my appt for Oct,2011. I attend the appt and weighed 331lbs. I receive a list of appts for various specialties which took from Oct 2011 thru Jan 2012. One of the Appts was for Sleep Apnea which i wind up having and get put on a sleeping machine call CPAP. Now i go back to my Medical Dr. who now looks like she lost 150lbs and i was amazed and went home that day and began exercising.
So finally after completing a whole battery of test i receive my surgery date for March 1st. So i had to request a Leave from work for 6 weeks which was approved based on the Dr. notes i submitted from the Bariatric Dept. So the day before the surgery i go to finance Dept at Jacobi and was devastated when i was told that My insurance didn't approve my surgery because some nutritional notes were missing. I went home and began to lose hope and felt that the last few months were all in vain. So my wife and daughters begin to tell me not to lose hope and have faith. The very next day i receive a call from Jacobi and I recognized the voice as the Bariatric nurse Lynn who tells me how she is fighting with the insurance company and filed an appeal. This call does little to cheer me up but my wife does not want me to think like that. So on March 2 i get a call from Jacobi stating that i have been approved for surgery and if i wanted to come in on March 5th, and i was like WHAT TIME YOU NEED ME TO BE THERE.
So March 5 comes around and i have my Gastric Sleeve surgery and i awake in a PACU ward and staff telling me all went well with the surgery. I then receive instruction on using a Morphine drip and feel a pain below my chest above the stomach which i was eventually told that is the area where a alot of cutting takes place. I also had a dry feeling sensation in my lips and kept requesting for ointment to be put on my lips. So my family and co workers begin to come into the hospital ward to see me, so i'm smiling when i see them but inside my mind is starting to ponder was this the wrong decision i made to have this surgery. March 7 i get discharged from hospital with a meal plan for the next 10 weeks and a load of prescriptions to fill plus vitamins and protein shakes i have to get. So prior to leaving the hospital i weigh myself and i was 415lbs. So the first two weeks go by and I'm on a liquid diet and I'm doing walks in the streets and parks.My wife and daughters start telling me that I'm trimming down' in my eyes i do not see it but I'm noticing that i'm not getting back aches and don't feel that heaviness that i felt with 442 lbs of weight on me. I go into my closet and i tried on a suit jacket i brought 12 years ago for my best friend's wedding and was able fit into it and that's when it hit me and i thought about the guy (remember earlier in my story) who held up his trouser at the seminar and now realized what that meant to him at that time and his accomplishment. Week 3 just started this Monday March 19 and i'm onto pureed food.So today March 20 i attended my first post-op appointment and my weigh was down to 386lb. I was elated that i began to text my family and close friends of my accomplishment.
Although i'm just 3 weeks into my Post surgery i continue to follow the meal plans, drink my fluids, drinks my protein shakes and read on line anything i can find on the subject of nutrition and pass on tips to my friends struggling to lose weight. So far i have lost 56 lbs since Oct 2011, and 29 lbs. of that in 2 weeks since my surgery. My brother has also been an inspiration to me as well because he's trying to run 50 marathons by the time he's 50 years old. I now sit back and think of that Dr. who told me in the beginning of my story to get my act together before you hit 50yrs old because it get harder to do then. So Dr. i was listening all along.
 
 
Source: Operation Skinny Jeans