Kat Crowder

I'm pre-op, so I don't know what I'm going to think afterwards, but I absolutely love the Bariatric Advantage vanilla Meal Replacement shake that I'm using for my pre-op diet. Blended with Water and ice, it really tastes like a vanilla milkshake. Yum!

<Duplicate post deleted the perils of spotty phone connections>

Thanks, all - today is Day 1 of 14, with my surgery on May 21. I'm very excited! I get 4-5 Bariatric Advantage shakes + other clear and sugar free liquids (Jello, popsicles, too). My last unsleeved diet, a great way to look at it.

I'm wondering how I'm going to feel about working out these next two weeks before surgery. I'm going to miss my pole dance classes while I'm recuperating, I hope I'm up for it while I'm pre-op, but a lot of folks have mentioned being really weak. I probably can throw another Protein shake in if I'm exerting myself in class - extra Protein shouldn't be too bad. I'll talk to the nutritionist.

I'm a little leery of this, since a lot of folks have said this is the hardest part. Plus, tomorrow I have 2 tests that require food-and-drink fasting, so after my first day of 600-900 cals I go without food and Water for 14 hours, then quick squeak in a shake before fasting for another 6 hours. Kinda tough. Going to make it, though! :-)

Checking in, day 5. Woke up another pound lighter this morning! 138 lbs. The size 4 capris that were kind of tight last time I tried them on in the fall before hell froze over are loose.

I had a weird experience this evening...

What an awesome story

I love the way primal eating makes me feel, and that's my ultimate goal for eating, after I go through my surgery (2 weeks from now) and get to the point when I can eat that sort of food again. Primal was my last ditch effort to lose weight before deciding for sure to do the surgery, and I managed 6 great weeks before I got back on the nasty carb train again which just compounds itself with my carb addiction. I'm looking forward to having the sleeve as a tool to keep me on track, and starting and keeping my new food habits.

But, I first need to go through liquid pre-op, liquid post-op, and go through all my mushy steps until I can eat real foods again. One step at a time, as well as long term goals!

I am having mine in Tijuana on may 21. Haven't seen anyone with that date yet

I'm May 21, also - but it will be done locally in the Chicago area!

After all the run around they gave me about not being able to schedule the surgery until I finished all my appointments, and at first not having an opening for a dietary class until June 26th (!!!), I just got my date! I'll be starting my pre-op diet next week, and I have to admit that I'm having a Farewell to food meal at the Melting Pot on Sunday.

Super excited!

-Kat

Hi, Carrie! Good to hear from you! I'm in a similar boat to you, and deciding that it really is necessary has been a big weight off my chest. People here are great and supportive, aren't they? The surgery is going to help us improve our health, and it's so important. It's disappointing that your mom's not being supportive, but you need to do it for you, not anyone else.

*hugs*

FindingMyself - You are defintely NOT crazy to consider having the surgery. I thought the same thing. Why can't I just lose on my on. I tried, lost 15 lbs, just to gain it back. I just don't have the will power. I was sleeved on 1/18/12, with 60 lbs to lose. I don't post my weight loss until I go to the doctor. But at this point, three months out, I have lost about 35 lbs. Maybe a little more. I love the sleeve! At this point, I can pretty much eat what I want (a LOT less of it), although I am never hungry (thanks to the sleeve). Of course, you have to follow the doctor's plan and make sure you get in your Protein, fluids, and Vitamins. It feels good to have friends tell you how great you look, and of course there are a few that are concerned that I'm losing too much. He He! I love it!

Oh, Louisiana Girl, that is great to hear! I didn't know what sort of weight loss profile I might get, starting at the lower end of weight to lose, and was trying to be very reasonable in my expectations, as faster weight loss is more likely in those with a lot more to lose, since they're going into a much greater energy deficit than what their body needs.

I should be sleeved in June some time, depending on scheduling, but I need to get some classes done and an ultrasound before they schedule it.

Would you mind sharing your personal recuperation information? There's such a wide range of anecdotal information, from the people going straight back to work to the people taking 4 weeks off work and wishing they'd taken more. I'm hoping the latter is more related to people who have more weight related complications. When were you able to start doing more exercise than just walking? I know everyone's different, and I'll just have to see, but I'm a nut about planning things.

Thanks,

-Kat

That's not the pre-Paleo kitchen purge you're supposed to do!

Seriously, though, I think Paleo is a great way of eating, and if I did a good job of sticking to it presurgery, I wouldn't be getting sleeved in a month or so. My 6 month presurgical diet was Paleo, and I felt great for the first month, lost about 10 pounds, then the holidays came and I failed to follow it more often than not. Once I'm post surgery and back to real foods, I intend to follow it in a modified fashion.

What I wonder is, is there any downside to working my abdominal muscles before surgery? Maybe I'm just looking for an excuse to slack during my exercise class, but shouldn't weaker and thinner abdominal muscles mean less needs to be cut through and damaged? Or is it better to have good healthy muscle to encourage growth and healing?

Insurance approved, I'll be able to schedule my surgery after a few more appts. in May, so I should be sleeved in June at Alexian Bros. Who is your surgeon?

It was my results from my sleep study that scared me into definitely pursuing this. My oxygen levels get scary-low if I sleep without my CPAP. Like, potential-brain-damage-y low. I thought I was such a lazy loser for not feeling like getting out of bed in the morning for work - but I didn't feel like my brain was working because it wasn't! Sleep apnea can be a killer, please use your CPAP machine. It can make you feel like a new person. I had one of my best weight loss and maintain periods when I was first diagnosed with sleep apnea in 2004 - went from 230 down to 150, felt alive and like exercising and such. But I stopped using it when the apnea went away for a while, and my habits got worse and I gained the weight and the apnea back with a vengeance.

It seems like there's a wide range of pre-op requirements and sequences of events that different practices are requiring. What seems most common? Should I be frustrated by ineptitude or just think it's par for the course?

I met with my surgeon for the first time in November, after talking to my PCP about getting surgery and being encouraged by her. After that meeting, they seemed well organized, set me up with appointments for my psych evaluation and starting my 6 month pre-op weight management program. In December, I ran across information that BCBS-IL was planning to remove their requirements for the 6 month program, and at a meeting in October they said the change would occur within about a month. I followed up with BCBS-IL, the surgeon's office, and the professional organization who had held the meeting with BCBS's parent company, and all said, "Hm, we'll follow up on that and let you know." So I went about my business attending my classes through March, when the surgeon's office called me and said "we've submitted you for insurance today because they dropped the 6 month requirement in early February." Thanks, everyone, for telling me!

So, up until yesterday we've been going through stupid insurance loops because I'm convinced that the insurance coordinator at my surgeon sucks, and she said that she was going to wait to "send me my 'next steps' sheet" until I was approved. My next steps involve setting up more tests that need to be completed before scheduling surgery, and then they will schedule more pre-op tests after surgery is scheduled, but they have to be completed at least 2 weeks before the surgery.

Today I tried to schedule the abdominal ultrasound and the "gastric sleeve dietary information class", which must be done before they schedule the surgery, and the earliest available dates were 5/15 and 6/23. WTF?!?!?!?!? So when I was meeting with the nutritionist for the past 4 months, how does that not meet the dietary information class? And regardless of any of this, why couldn't I get this scheduled and handled ages ago, and why does this need to be done before scheduling the surgery? And if I have to wait until the surgery is scheduled to do my upper GI, chest x-ray, EKG, and blood work, if this is how scheduling goes, how the heck am I going to be able to get in for the tests a whole 2 weeks before surgery?

With none of these things being parallel-pathed, it looks like the end of July at the earliest. So many other people are saying "my insurance is approved and my surgery is in a week!" - I just don't understand why this is so f'd up.

-Kat

I agree with the people who said to maybe look around for another psychologist, but someone who works with or is recommended by the surgeon's practice would be a good idea. There are an awful lot of potential psychological effects of having major surgery and being unable to use food as any sort of coping or comfort mechanism, as well as changes in your interactions with people as you lose weight and start being perceived differently. It's a big deal, and the idea is to make sure you're prepared to handle the changes now, or that you receive additional counseling and support to help you handle the changes. People do get transfer addictions when food's out of the picture, and it can be a scary ugly thing.

I'm glad there are a lot of steps to getting insurance approval for this, and I feel I'm much better prepared for it because of it.

-Kat

Congrats to you!

There's actually a sub-forum devoted to this sort of thing that you can go through: http://www.verticalsleevetalk.com/forum/78-protein-drinkspowders/, but basically it confirms Rootman's lovely statement that "It's all just a matter of individual taste, what's good to one person tastes like barf to another."

Hi - I just was approved, and currently weigh 195. I'm not sure when my surgery date will be, but I think this is a great group for Louisiana Girl to have started, I hope it gains some traction.

-Kat

Congrats! I got my approval today, too, but I don't get to talk through timing until tomorrow. My practice requires insurance approval before some nebulous "next steps", so I've no idea what I'm looking at time wise.

Unfortunately, my recommendation for tonight is to drink lots of fluids, and tough it out until you can talk to the practice tomorrow. I haven't gone through it yet myself, but it sounds like everyone's medical practice has different requirements, and you would absolutely hate to do something tonight that would affect your surgery date. :-/

-Kat

I just got approved today! Yay!

I talked about this in another thread - I received a denial letter last week, primarily because the insurance coordinator for my surgeon's office hadn't submitted sufficient information (no information from my PCP except a letter, no information from my pulmonologist (and sleep apnea is my most advanced comorbidity), not enough info in the surgeon's attestation, etc.). I ended up talking to my PCP to get additional case information, sent medical records from my old doctor from 2001-2005 showing the comorbidities from back then, got my pulmonologist to supply a letter and my records, all to the surgeon's office. They faxed over ALL the records yesterday (I figured they'd go through and send the relevant ones, but no), and they set up a peer-to-peer talk between my surgeon and the insurance folks today, and voila, it's approved! The letter implied that an appeal needed to be filed, but when I called on Monday to ask if the additional documentation should be sent in an appeal, they said, oh, no, don't do that - an appeal can take up to 60 days or more, just send the additional documentation on the same case file. That wasn't clear at all. I bet it's really the peer-to-peer call that makes the difference to the doctors making the decisions - they don't want the explanation from Some Peon Without An MD and if they can get the information they need from a telephone conversation with someone with the letters after their name that they respect, they're willing to approve it.

Another weird thing about my office is that they've refused to send me my "next steps" for after insurance approval until they had the approval in hand. So I get to find out tomorrow what I have left to do and what my timeline might be. I hope we can look at surgery dates. I believe I have an additional nutrition class, a GI exam, and some sort of preop diet to follow, but my pulmonologist has cleared me for surgery.

I'm glad this is really happening!

-Kat, who needs to work on a ticker for her sig at some point. :-D

It's thinking that I should be able to do it on my own and blaming myself for my failure that has kept me waiting this long to get surgery - keeping me depressed and unhealthy instead of taking the reins of my own life and doing what I need to do. I was so happy that my doctors were supportive, because I'd been so convinced that it would be cheating and taking the easy way out and that I should be ashamed of giving up on diet and exercise alone.

Don't let other people do that to you - know that you're doing the right thing for you. It's sad when the people who care about you don't understand, and say things that are hurtful. Be strong. <3

And gramaof4, I feel obliged to say that what your husband is doing is perilously close to emotional abuse.

I am almost 7 weeks po and have hit a huge milestone--losing 40 lbs (for me, it pushed me into the 220's which was my first mini goal).

I love my sleeve!

If you click this link- it will send you to my blog post that has the side-by-side pictures.

http://thinspiration...n-progress.html

sorry about not posting the pics directly here, but having some problems doing that .... will try again later!

Thanks for looking!!! <3

You're looking great!

Thanks, everyone - raindrop, I totally didn't mean to hijack your "yay, I'm approved!!" thread! I did call BCBS after the first submission to ask a question, and they responded to the submission with a request for more info, and all the office sent was a letter from my primary care physician, and the "attestation from the surgeon" that I've been properly educated. The denial letter came back saying that they still hadn't proven the medical necessity according to the guidelines and that they'd failed to submit the proper surgeon's attestation. That gives me little faith in the insurance department, because it's fairly straightforward to tell if you have a surgeon's attestation to certain things. I can see an honest difference of opinion between the insurance and my doctor as to whether sufficient other medical management of my comorbidities has been tried, but attesting to something is attesting to something.

MinaT, I'll let you know how things go, and you do the same to me!

-Kat

Why are you not taking the $$ you saved and making a trip south....? Save yourself a bundle of money and have excellent care. Dr. Aceves in Mexicalli is a fabulous surgeon and he and his staff have taken exceptional care of me and more so than the US docs would of. Dr. Aceves emails me to find out how I am doing and asks if I have any questions and is genuinely concerned with my health well being.

I would say do some research you can get a plane ticket for cheap and have quality royaly care, for much less. I paid $8750 and was all inclusive...

Jan

I am considering it as an option if I don't get approved for my surgery, but with a max $1500 out of pocket on my insurance, I'd rather have it done here and stay local. I don't see any information about there being an exception for the OOP maximum for bariatric surgery for BCBS IL, but I'll be sure to call them on Monday.