Sharrinslife

Hi gotamakeachange

I am in the same situation except that all is at the insurance and I am waiting ... It sucks .... I understand...Sharrin

Hi Mommy2girls,

I think he gave me the date so that I could schedule the rest of my life because i am half self employed and half corporate employed. My Insurance is changing as of December 31. We know that we will have UHC what we do not know is what policy within the UHC. The Policy i have know pays for the sleeve some of the other policies do not. I am going to call on Monday and see what they say.

I am so looking forward to these .....

1. Having all my shoes fit again.

2. Buying boots and not having to have wide calf ones .

3. Not having to ask for a seat belt extender when i travel or worry about fitting in the airplane restroom.

If you're going to have a month off work, you'll be fine. There are a lot of things you can order eating out. For the most part, if I don't have someone to share a meal with, I order off the appetizer menu. Fish and Shrimp are always easy for me to eat. Soups are good choices too,

but they don't always stay with me as long. I've always been able to eat deli meat pretty easily too, so if I order a sandwich, I just take out the fillings and leave the bread.< /p>

Do you use Protein shakes and bars to augment meals? Mostly worries I will not be eating anything other then mushies and trying to travel.

One of my major concerns post surgery is that I travel a great deal for my current job. Although I have arranged to have have 1 month at home right after surgery i am concerned about being ready to be on the road again . I am also very concerned about how to navigate eating out . Any suggestions would be very welcomed. Thanks

Sharrin

That is amazing and inspiring...thanks for sharing!!!

So I'm 2 weeks out from surgery today and I got the nicest call from my bariatric Nurse Case Manager. She was the one from UHC that 1. decided if I was 'eligible' and a good candidate for the surgery, and 2. the single person who decided YES or NO once my case was submitted from the surgeon's office.

I had also a bariatric case manager who was much more accesible than the nurse, and my case manager was wonderful, answered any questions I had and sometimes would actually answer the phone, but always returned every call, etc. She called and left a very nice message on my cell phone the day of surgery wishing me good luck, etc.

But the nurse I only spoke once to, and then played a couple of phone tag messages with her before surgery, so I was surprised that she called me today. I'm sure it is all part of her job to follow up with the patient, but she was great, asked me all sorts of questions about how I was feeling, and was very nice and supportive.

I think sometimes insurance people and insurance in general is such a pain to deal with, it was nice to know that there are real people out there, and even though yes, they are doing their job, it was nice to know they actually cared.

Hi Mommy2Girls,

Thank you for all your post they have been really great for me to read . Your attitude about your surgery has been really inspiring to me. I also have UHC and am wondering how long from the time you submitted did it take to get the approval . My surgery is scheduled for 11/29 but I lose that date on the 22nd if they have not approved by then. I am both really excited to have the surgery and terrified at the same time some times in the same minute.LOL

Sharrin

I am set for Nov 29th with Dr Cirangle in SF. I am getting excited and scared at the same time. Have lost 12 pounds already .. having the flu helped lol. Any other SfLap people?

Hi Everyone,

Today has been a banner day because this morning I saw my Primary care doctor for the final time required by my insurance . Let me step back in time 6 months .

Like so many others on this board I have a lifetime of being plus sized. I have many reasons over the years not the least of the is that I have a congenital disorder that requires me to live on steroids. This has always made weight loss difficult but not impossible. So over the last 2 decades i would go up and down more up then down. Then this strange thing happened called menopause and the ups kept happening and the downs got harder and harder . Hours in the gym would result in weight gains. I felt like as long as I was healthy and active then I would be okay not everyone in this world was meant to be thin. I have a great life so i was content with the state of this for a really long time . Then I Quit Smoking and changed medicine and the menopause at the same time and I gained a lot of weight very quickly. This tipped my scale so to speak . I Started having serious medical problems . i kept saying to myself I am only 4_. This will get better but it did not . Then 6 months my insurance changed and I had to get a new Dr. She did a physical and a full on battery of test to "see where I was" . 2 weeks later She called to tell me i was diabetic and needed to be on medication asap. My Grandfather, My Father and My partner of 12 years all died of complication to diabetes , I know that road. i hung up the phone cried for 10 minutes . Picked up the phone and made an appointment for a consult with a surgeon. i was not letting that disease control my life.

I was ready or at least I thought I was. My Insurance company had a few things to say about that.

They have had me jumping thru quite a few hoops. I have never seen my primary care doctor so much in my entire life!!! I have had go and talk to her about diet and exercises once a month for the last 6 months. The Funny thing is as far as the insurance company is concerned I have to go and get on a scale talk about diet but if I do not loss a pound that confirms for them that I "NEED" the surgery. Whereas My surgeon will not do the surgery unless i loss between 10-20 pounds. In the middle of all of this my original doctor Dr Jossert left the practice and I had to switch to his partner.Dr Cirangle.

What made today a banner day is that the day i called I had no Idea what i weighted because my scale only went up to 330 and I was over that. The day I arrived at LapSF I weighed 327 pounds . Today I weighted 314 pounds . I lost the last 3 pounds over the weekend and because i did i got a Surgery date of Nov. 29 today. As long as the insurance approves everything that is my date. So that is my story to date... more to come i am sure