JennieDK

Jennie from Iowa. 12-11-12!

Awesome! And I live in Iowa, where gay marriage has been legal for more than a year and no one has burst into flames yet, contrary to what some seemed to believe would happen! And I'm getting sleeved 12-11! You?

Yes, let's keep in touch! We can be sleeve buddies!

Thanks, both of you, for your responses! I have to say, this is the only place I feel like I can go where people "get it". There's just something about making that decision that you're ready to change the way you live. I can't wait to open that box in the spring! Have a great Thanksgiving, guys!

So excited for you! I got my approval back in 6 business days! Good luck!

Thanks everyone! Surgery is scheduled for 12/11!

Insurance approval was faxed to my surgeon today! I'm approved! We'll be setting a surgery date within the coming days! I'm SOOOOOO excited!

I've now completed everything in my pre-filing six month period, so all I can do is wait. While I'm not a good wait-er (see previous entries) I feel pretty good about it this time. The ladies that file insurance in my doctor's office seem to feel very confident that I'll get an approval right away. We're hoping to possibly get the surgery in before the end of the year, which would be wonderful for a number of reasons. But I'm still very nervous. For instance, there's still the esophageal scope that has to be done. If there's anything weird on there, they can't do the surgery. I think I might just be worrying now because it's in my nature. Either way, I'm just ready for some news. It's Monday, and I hope to hear something within the next week to ten days. So fingers crossed! I'm so ready for this!!!

Your entry is really insightful. So much of it I can completely understand. I was recently at a meeting at my church for kindergarten parents, during which they talked about nutrition. When they talked about families that are overweight, they made it sound like we sit around eating cookie dough and laying around in our pajamas all day. I hardly have the time to do everything I need to do on a daily basis, yet I am known to hit the gym at 4:30 in the morning or 9:30 at night. People don't get it. I'm tired of people seeing my weight as a character flaw. Good luck for you! Keep us posted!

Uh! I, too, have gotten mixed info from my doctor's office. Especially about dates and what would and wouldn't count.That's so frustrating! Wishing you the best of luck.

Yesterday was my second psych eval. The first one was 18 months ago when I first looked into the surgery, so unfortunately, it was no longer valid for this attempt. It went very well, and he approved me to move forward, just like the first one did. Now that that's done, I have my last D/E appt on Tuesday 11/6, and then on Thursday 11/8 I will sit down with the surgeon. Hopefully later that day or the next day, my insurance will be filed, and then it's time to wait. (Have I mentioned I'm not a good waiter? Well, I'm not.) Though everything seems to be completely on track, I'll feel much better about this after I've gotten my insurance approval and there is a date on the calendar. It's hard for me right now because I'm excited about all of this, yet I'm afraid to get too excited. So, I'll just have to wait. (Sigh) And as I've said before, other people don't get it. Oh well, upward and onward.

Gabby, Sounds like you're doing really well considering the huge surgery you just had a couple of days ago! I hope I'm off pain meds 4 days after! But I'm sure you still feel a little rough. Good luck for continued comfort and success! Can't wait to hear more as time goes on!

Hello! My name is Jennie and I'm a teacher from Des Moines, IA. I started looking into WLS almost 18 months ago, and started the 6 month preparation process 3 different times, but had to abandon it twice because of confusion about whether or not I fit the criteria and then later because of a change in my insurance criteria. (I know that sounds really confusing-- and it was. It turns out that the second time I started, I would have been fine to continue, but my clinic misunderstood changes in the insurance criteria.) Either way, here I am, just one appointment away from the last of my six month diet/nutrition appointments. Upon reviewing my chart, it seems that I actually will get credit for part of counseling that I did this spring, so I now only have one month until we submit to insurance, rather than 3. This has meant that I have a lot of pre-surg appointments that I'm now trying to crush into the next 4 weeks. As you can tell, this has been a bumpy road so far, full of uncertainty. But now all seems to be falling into place. I hope to have the surgery in late December or early January. Many people have asked me if I'm scared to have the surgery, and I have to admit that it's a little scary. But what is even scarier, to me, is the idea of living the rest of my life 100 pounds overweight, and possibly having that like cut short because of my obesity. I'm 38 and I have three kids, ages 2-17. I want to be there for them at the most important points of their lives. And I want to feel like myself again. Though I've always faught my weight, the last 50 pounds, gained over the last 9 years, has really been my breaking point. To this day, when I pass a mirror, I'm still surprised by what I see there. I don't feel like a 250 pound woman. My mind feels vibrant and lively, but my body does not. I'm ready for my body to match my spirit. So that's where I am today. I hope to learn from some of you and to follow your journeys even as I embark upon my own. I hope you all have a great day, and here's to your health. Jennie

Yes, I'm getting mine done at Mercy. I'm feeling better about the insurance aspect of things since I had a chance to sit down and chat with the girls in the office. I made me much more confident that I'm on track!

I'm not a good wait-er. I never have been. In fact, my impatience may be one of my defining characteristics. And when I set my mind on something, I become extremely focused on it. This can be really useful, except when it has to do with something that I feel I have very little control over. And that brings me to my progress toward WLS. And yes, I know, I actually have lots of control. My insurance requires 6 months of pre-surg diet and exercise counseling, and I am now 3 weeks away from my last appointment. In the coming weeks I'll have my psych-eval, I'll meet with my surgeon, and I'll have a diet/exercise class. Then, around November 10th, they'll submit my information to insurance. I'm doing everything that they want, but I know that's not always enough. The thing is, during this pre-surg period, I haven't lost anything. In fact, I've gained a little. Right after my first month, I put on 6 pounds. Bam, there it was, even though I was working out and watching what I was eating. But that's the way my body has always been. I seem to have gotten that under control and now I'm heading in the right direction, but I'm going to be struggling to get back under that 248 mark for the next appointment. I'm exercising regularly and trying to stay under 1200 calories a day, so hopefully I get there. I just hope that the insurance company sees it as being enough. I've started this process three times now. Here's how it's gone so far 1. I spent 3 months in early 2011 going to classes and meeting with my doctor. I even had my psych eval and met with my surgeon. At that point I was 263. Then, during one of many discussions with the insurance people at the office, we realized that I didn't meet criteria because I needed a BMI of 40+ for at least 3 years. This had only been 2. Extremely frustrated, I abandoned the idea and decided to go it alone. (With Nutrisystem. That didn't last long-- I lost 14 pounds that came right back on as soon as I stopped eating their food. I could only stomach/afford it for three months.) 2. One year later, I decided to start the process again. I learned that everything I had done the year before didn't count (I assumed as much) but my 150 dollar deposit would carry over. Two months in, the same insurance person in the office told me that my insurance was redoing their criteria and that it would not be in my favor. Frustrated and very sad, I decided that this was not in the stars for me. I spent 400 dollars to get hypnotized in June of 2012. It didn't work. I'm still fat. 3. In July, out of frustration, I contacted the WL Center again just to make sure that I understood exactly what the new criteria actually is. To my surprise, I found a new person was doing the insurance information for the office, and she seemed to have a better handle on what was going on. In fact, it turns out that I could have continued last spring because the insurance changes were actually IN MY FAVOR. So in August I started the six month process again. 4. Now, last week, I found out that I actually get to count the two months of D/E counseling that I did this spring, meaning that I am two months closer to my surgery than I expected. But that also means that I have less time to lose the weight that I gained at the beginning this time. I have an appointment tomorrow for a Diet and Nutrition class, and I hope to sit down afterwards and go over all of this with the new gal and make sure it looks okay. I get it all comes down to this: My hopes have been dashed so many times so far that I feel like it's not going to happen. And I don't feel like I can talk to anyone about this because they just don't understand. But I guess I just need to stay positive. I can't control it, but I can control how I feel in the coming weeks. I guess it would be silly to let my worrying ruin the coming weeks. So, I'm currently accepting any positive energy that anyone is willing to send my way.

Thanks to both of your for your reassuring words. I went ahead and stopped in to the office and sat down with the two nurses who file and deal with insurance issues. It was SO incredibly helpful. The weightloss is not a requirement for my insurance, luckily! Though I'll still end up ahead of where I started (I think). It was so helpful to sit down and lay out the info from my 5 months of D/N counseling and look it over with them. I now feel much more confident that there won't be any surprises. I highly recommend having those conversations in person whenever possible. It was so much better than trying to have some of these conversations over the phone. Good luck to both of you in this journey, and keep us posted. Honestly, I'm most worried about the insurance part. I'm very confident about the surgery. It truly will be a second chance at life!

Thanks! And good luck to you with the surgery! You'll have to keep us posted. I stumbled upon this site, and I'm so glad I did. I have found that most people really don't get it, so it's nice to hear from people dealing with the same things. But most of all, good luck! Be well and I'm sure that everything will be awesome!

I'm so excited for you! I'm still about 2-3 months out from mine, and I'm so very excited. I can only imagine how excited you must be now! Good luck to you, and keep us posted about how it goes!