vhoke1

Hello everyone, I'm new to the forum & have been reading the posts and enjoying the WEALTH of information that I've been reading as a whole. SUPER congratulations to Amy on her surgery, thanks for giving all of us who sit 'pre op' a glimpse into your life pre & post op. My story & journey is that I am (currently) a bander, and am scheduled to be sleeved on July 5th. What an a hard toad traveled to have gotten to this stage of FINALLLY having the opportunity of breaking from this confinement that is my weight. The lap band TOTALLY failed me, only I thought 'I was the failure', & it put me in a depression when I gained all of my weight back. I started a new journey this past January at tackling my health once again and scheduled a visit with my lap band doctor and was surprised to find that I was NOT alone, & more importantly I was NOT a failure! My doctor said something that resonates in my mind & gave me hope again. He said: "your band failed YOU!' He ran tests to confirm this (including an EGD). My dr then suggested having the band removed & having the Gastric Sleeve. I was surprised, I didn't know this was possible either, but I was all for FINALLY getting a tool that would not relapse as long as I did what I was supposed to do nutritionally & physically. Sooo began the long six month road to getting to where I am today: pre op with a surgery date of July 5th. The process to get approved was fairly quick, I did the Nut & psyche eval in the same day, had the EGD done, sleep study whih revealed my mild apnea, I attended classes, and my dr submitted everything to my insurance co which was the same insurance I had 5 years prior. Hitch in the giddy up: my surgery was denied on a technicality, my surgeon anticipated 3 hours or more to do my surgery, but the insurance code would only allow for 2 hours. Even though it was anticipated, it was devastating none the less. I was then told by my insurance company about the quick appeals process, what letter to expect, etc. they were VERY nice and showed humanity in speaking to me. Last week, I received 'the letter' regarding the decision on my appeal. I stared at the envelope, cried, prayed that God would continue to see me thru...it took about an hour before I opened the letter and automatically my eyes 'zoomed' to the words 'approved'! I cried uncontrollably, my face flushed with tears of joy & thanks. I was able to schedule my pre op appt & surgery date very quickly & have a stress test scheduled on June 20th, then I begin my liquid diet 2 days later prior to my surgery on July 5th. Having surgery is not new to me, but having and living post op with a 'successful' surgery (my sleeve) has me so excited I can barely stand it! Thanks for taking the time to read my very first post, & I look forward to reading more about all of you :-) Vikki H.