Lexibelle

That's the date I'll be making my way onto the 'Loser's Bench'! I just got the call today, from my insurance company no less.
 
My paperwork was originally submitted around 8/4. I gave it a week, called my insurance company and found out it was sitting in the wrong fax queue. So glad I called! This awesome rep, Cynthia, personally got the docs, checked them to make sure there weren't any obvious exclusions (i.e. my hospital wasn't a Center of Excellence or whatever BCBS's term is) and then pushed it over to the correct department. She then followed up with me 3 days later to let me know it was there but a case number hadn't generated yet.
 
She said I'd hear back on Monday, but I didn't (which really, I wasn't bothered by), but I did follow-up on my on Wednesday. Got through to the right department only to find out that my file was still sitting in someone's pending queue and, again, hadn't been touched. The rep got his supervisor involved and he personally started the process of creating the case. I got a call later that night from Cynthia, giving me the case number and telling me she'd be following the case personally. This was last Friday.
 
I called yesterday, got a rep that wasn't quite as helpful but did find out that my case was still 'Pending'. My plan was to call again on Wednesday, since I wanted to be sure it didn't sit in pending for days. Lo and behold, I got a call this afternoon and it was Cynthia letting me know that the procedure had been approved, along with a 2 day hospital stay. WHAT?
 
So the next hour was a flurry of activity that involved checking on my husband's paperwork, getting it faxed again (they didn't get the actual paperwork for some reason) and then scheduling my appointments.
Sadly, we discovered that in order to have my surgery at the hospital that's about 10min from home, I'd have to wait until November to schedule. While there's nothing wrong with waiting, there are various reasons that I really wanted to be sure this was done before the end of October. Fortunately the surgeon had 1 slot opened at his other hospital, about 40min away, that was his last before he went on vacation for a few weeks.
 
So September 18th it is! The next 2 weeks are going to be relatively busy, so I don't even think I'm going to notice the wait.
 
Next week I have my pre-surgery education class on 9/3. I'm looking forward to that and getting more information about what Dr. Srikanth expects post-op.
 
On 9/8 I start my 10-day, clear liquid diet. My husband has already said he and the kids will be staying in a hotel from 9/10 until surgery.
 
On 9/15 I have my final consultation where I'm sure we'll go over a lot more information.
 
Then at 5am on 9/18 we make the 40 minute drive to get me checked in for surgery.
 
This will be the first time since I was 17 that I'll be going under general anesthesia for longer than 30 minutes. This will be only the second time I'm having any sort of major surgery.
 
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared - I am. There's a lot of 'unknown' ahead of me, but also so much promise.

It's official - all of my Pre-Op requirements (except the weight-loss and 1 test) are complete. I've also satisfied all of the initial insurance requirements for approval - so all of my docs have been submitted for pre-approval. Fingers crossed! The PC at my surgeon's office says they usually hear back within a couple of weeks. I may start calling next week just to 'check' on things.
 
All my tests came back good with the exception of an umbilical hernia, slight Hiatal hernia and some of my blood work was off (iron, live enzymes, etc - nothing unexpected). I think my least favorite test was the Upper GI (swallow study). I've never had one, so had no idea what to expect which was probably a good thing. That stuff they make you drink is DISGUSTING! I barely made it through the test without throwing up. I really hope I don't have to do another one right after surgery, because I can't imagine how I'd be able to keep it down.
 
The only things I have left to do are get my infusions of iron and turn in my 24hr urine test. I figure I'll do that next Sunday and drop it off on Monday when I have to bring the hubby to the hospital to do his testing.
 
This is probably going to be my least favorite stage - where I get to sit and wait until we hear back.
 
I'm still on the mostly-liquid diet and plan to stay on it until 10 days before surgery. Then I'll go on my clear-liquid diet in prep. As of last Friday I had 17lbs left to lose. It's been a bit slow-going this week, but I didn't really start until Monday. Either way, as of today I'm down around 5lbs ... so 12 left to go! If I can get my butt in gear, that (hopefully) shouldn't be a problem at all.
 
As we get closer and closer to approval, I find myself getting more nervous and scared. I think it's normal. I keep wondering if this is really the path I need to go. I mean, I'm losing weight on this pre-op diet, so why not just stick with it for a while until lose weight? The problem is I fell into that trap before and I know how it ends. I lose a good amount of weight (usually in the 60-80lb range), then I start slacking off and before you know it I've gained it all back. There's nothing that's FORCING me to stick to it and keep from cheating. There's no consequences other than slowly tightening pants that I can ignore for a while. I know I need more than that.
 
I need help to keep me on track for longer than a few months. Restriction, malabsorption and physical side-effects if I don't follow plan. Yes, I know I can't count on those side effects but at least I can count on the rest. I'll have a smaller stomach that will feel full sooner. I'll have lost a good portion of the stomach that releases the hormone that makes me think I'm hungry.
 
I think my biggest fear is having this surgery and then becoming one of those people that doesn't lose or winds up gaining back most of their weight. I hope I have the mental and physical strength to keep that from happening.

So since my last update I've survived my 1 week of high protein, low carb eating. It wasn't too bad, especially since I followed a lot of my Whole30 strategies. I also managed to drop around 8lbs which isn't to bad. This week I've started my 2 weeks of clear liquids and it's definitely tough. I'm home with the kids all day and between prepping their food and having to feed the youngest, it's kind of torture. On the upside, I did discover that adding a scoop of unsweetened cocoa powder to the shake helps the taste tremendously. I definitely need to find at least one other shake option, because chocolate is going to get really old really fast. I wish there was an option that didn't use sucralose, because I have a hard time with that flavor.
 
I'm really hoping for some big losses with this stage because I'll be done with almost all of my requirements in about two weeks. Assuming insurance cooperates, that means I should be able to hit my goal of surgery by the first week of September. That is, of course, if I can lose the 35lbs my surgeon is requiring. It normally takes a few months for me to lose that much, so I'm really expecting a lot and I know it. I also have doubts about being able to survive the full two weeks without cracking.
 
Blah! Got to stay positive!
 
In less stressful news, I did my psych consult today. As long as I don't come back as a raving lunatic, that should be all they need to submit my paperwork for approval.
 
So fingers crossed and lots of losing weight vibes going on over here!

This journey really began about 3 years ago when my husband and I first looked into WLS. We were both super morbidly obese and despite our best efforts we were having a hard time doing it in our own. We picked our surgeon, went to the seminar, got all the info and started scheduling our tests. Then, about a month into the process my husband lost his job and with it our WLS coverage. My insurance excluded it.
 
It sucked. I cried and got angry. Then I moved on with a renewed determination to do it on my own. It would take almost three years, but I did manage to lose around 60lbs on my own. It required a special diet, intense exercise and no cheating. Then I got pregnant, got morning sickness and the only foods that I could keep down were the ones that I had to avoid. The good news is that despite that I only gained back 15lbs. The bad news is after my daughter was born I gained another 15 on top of that.
 
Despite my best efforts I need help doing this. I need to be able to not have to exercise 2 hours a day to get the weight to come off. I need a longer term solution that will help with me stuck to those healthy food choices because I won't have room for the other ones. Sweets aren't my problem, volume is. I need something that will help me get faster results so I can exercise and not be in constant pain.
 
So when I started my new job and saw that my benefits included WLS coverage I started mentioning it to my husband. Then he got his job which also offered coverage. It felt like it was time.
 
I contacted the surgeon we had originally picked because of his expertise and the fact that he performs the DS surgery. Waiting for them to verify my insurance coverage was the longest week ever but I finally got the email.
 
On July 3rd, 2014, I'm hopefully taking the first step on a journey that's going to help change and extend my life. Fingers crossed that it all works out this time.

This journey really began about 3 years ago when my husband and I first looked into WLS. We were both super morbidly obese and despite our best efforts we were having a hard time doing it in our own. We picked our surgeon, went to the seminar, got all the info and started scheduling our tests. Then, about a month into the process my husband lost his job and with it our WLS coverage. My insurance excluded it.
 
It sucked. I cried and got angry. Then I moved on with a renewed determination to do it on my own. It would take almost three years, but I did manage to lose around 60lbs on my own. It required a special diet, intense exercise and no cheating. Then I got pregnant, got morning sickness and the only foods that I could keep down were the ones that I had to avoid. The good news is that despite that I only gained back 15lbs. The bad news is after my daughter was born I gained another 15 on top of that.
 
Despite my best efforts I need help doing this. I need to be able to not have to exercise 2 hours a day to get the weight to come off. I need a longer term solution that will help with me stuck to those healthy food choices because I won't have room for the other ones. Sweets aren't my problem, volume is. I need something that will help me get faster results so I can exercise and not be in constant pain.
 
So when I started my new job and saw that my benefits included WLS coverage I started mentioning it to my husband. Then he got his job which also offered coverage. It felt like it was time.
 
I contacted the surgeon we had originally picked because of his expertise and the fact that he performs the DS surgery. Waiting for them to verify my insurance coverage was the longest week ever but I finally got the email.
 
On July 3rd, 2014, I'm hopefully taking the first step on a journey that's going to help change and extend my life. Fingers crossed that it all works out this time.