Jenwill630

And my surgery is officially January 29th! I can not believe how fast Highmark approved (2 days).

Glad to read that Highmark only took a few days to decide. I was submitted yesterday and so now starts my wait......my Dr. office put my surgery date as Jan. 22nd

I haven't been on here the past few weeks, but best of luck to all of us now that we are here in January. Yesterday was the first day with my new insurance Today is the day my Doctors office will submit to insurance. LOL NOW, my stomach is officially in knots. Fingers and toes crossed

Jeanne- How exciting for your date!!!!!! I will be cheering you on. Taylor- We "might" be surgery twins. So I had an appt. with my surgeon yesterday. I was up 1 pound, but he didn't care about that at all. So that was good. He liked that I was very honest with my food journal and asked that from here on out, get the carbs lower. He also asked if I want my surgery in February or January. Well duh! LOL He said that once his office submits, they tend to get approval very fast. He didn't have the OR schedule there, but said he is shooting for January 22nd as my date and if not, then the 29th for sure. I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!! Dr. Gagne also said though that he was not going to remove my gallbladder during the surgery that he would do it later in the year. When I told this to my husband last night, he said he is going to put in for vacation for the week of the 22nd and we will have to cross our fingers it gets done that week. Even though I told him that I really don't "need" him there, I think he feels badly that he wasn't there for my back surgery almost 3 years ago. Especially since when he got home and he saw how much pain I was in and help that I needed, he was just horrified he wasn't there. Oh well. After all of these years, I am used to him not being here for things because he's on the road.

Good morning. So I am trying very hard to do everything right with my eating.....the right foods, journaling it all, etc. You know what I am having a hard time with? The whole food funeral thing...and it's not even ME planning the funeral, it's my freaking husband!!!!!! My husband is laid off several times during the year due to him working in a fairly seasonal job. So that means that he is helpful in making dinner when he is home. The past week he has been making everything and anything that he knows I enjoy and will not be able to eat once I have the surgery. Some of it I have eaten, some of it I have not. But I have been journaling it all because the one thing I am insistent on is that I will be honest in my food journal.

October 1st- PCP October 10th- Bariatric Seminar October 24th- 1 appointment with Dr. Gagne. October 30th- had all of my labs done November 5th- PCP November 7th- Meeting with Nutritionist November 7th- Meeting with Psych November 29th Support Group December 10th- PCP December 12th- Appointment with Dr. Gagne My new insurance takes effect January 1st. I don't want to start doing the EKG, etc until after the 1st of the year so it all hits the new insurance and the same deductible.

VERY exciting stuff!!! I hope it goes well.

Good morning! Yes we are in the same boat. And the funny thing is that I also have an out of state policy. LOL I live in PA, but my paret company's US headquarters are in Delaware, so I have Highmark Delaware. Heck we are just about the same weight too! Make sure you ask your HR department that it is covered! My current insurance is Aetna. Well Aetna sure does have a section regarding bariatric services, however, my husbands employer does NOT have a bariatric rider. I am glad that I had called to verify because i would have been SO PISSED if I had started my journey only to get denied.....and I have read this exact thing playing out on a few different forums. I had found my info in the medical policy section. Once I went in there, I then did search for Obesity and the policy change popped up:

I am changing insurance too. I am currently on my husbands and they do not cover Bariatric services. My employers insurance does, so I am switching back to this. In the meantime, I already asked my HR department to look into what is covered for me plus I double checked by going on the Highmark BCBS DE website and looking at the medical policy....which was actually changed in September to where there is no set amount of time for supervised diet any longer. So I selected a surgeon that is on both my current plan and my future plan so I could get the ball rolling on everything and that first week of January, they will submit to my new insurance.

Hi Kim!!! Nice to meet you. Have you started the process?

Congratulations!!! I hope you are feeling better this morning.

Good morning. So this evening I will be going to my first support group meeting. I'm kind of excited to meet up with others on the same boat. This group is actually at my Doctor's office (he has a HUGE conference room). There are 3 Doctor's in the group, so I am hoping plenty of people show up. They also make it known in the community that you do not need to be one of their patients to attend the group, so that I really nice. Tonight's meeting is a potluck. LMAO I am making sweet and tangy meatballs. I hope that is good enough to bring. My husband is also coming with me tonight. I am kind of shocked by this. It's not that he isn't supportive of my decision, because he is. He's just one that basically lets me take the lead on things and he waits for me to give him information.

On Amazon New Whey Liquid Protein. They are fruit flavored. They are vials of liquid protein (I add them to 24 oz of water) and each vial is: Calories 180, Fat 0, Carbs 2, Sugar 0, Protein 42 My surgeons office told me about these and I really like them. They have multi-flavor packs. https://www.amazon.com/New-Whey-Complete-Protein-Supplement/dp/B011NM7ZYM/ref=sr_1_3_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1542729189&sr=8-3&keywords=new+whey+liquid+protein+42g+variety+packs

I love this show. Sadly, when I asked my kids if they had any questions about the whole process that will be happening with my surgery, their answer was no because they've seen it on My 600 lb life. Sigh The Assanti's are FOR SURE a train wreck. If you are on Reddit, there is a sub-forum for the show and Justin Assanti posts in there once in a while.

Awwwww. A good night's sleep in a hospital is rare. Shoot for uncomfortable and look forward to your own bed!!!

Set alarms on your phone if you have to have a reminder to eat or drink.

I hope it went well for you and you feel ok.

PLEASE do not take this the wrong way, but you have GOT to get in gear now because half of this is what you will NEED to do once the surgery is over. You will HAVE to drink all of your water. You will HAVE to get all of your protein in. You will HAVE to prioritize your meals. Part of doing all of this ahead of time (at least in my mind) is to get into the habit of it all beforehand so there is less failure afterward. I am not saying any of this to be mean, but if you can't do what you are supposed to do for the 2 or 3 weeks leading up to the surgery, what is going to happen after the surgery?

My list is: 1. Health.......I am sick and tired of being sick and tired. 2. Mobility.......I have had surgery on both my knees and my back. The weight is NOT helping either of those issues. I am normally an active person and I truly miss getting out and playing golf or going for long walks with my hubby. 3. Romance.....He can say my weight doesn't bother him until he's blue in the face. I don't believe it. I want to be comfortable being with my husband again. 4. Looks....heck yeah I want to be the hot grammy! 5. Longevity....I would like to be around for the grandkids! 6. Family.......I put their needs ahead of my own for 20+ years....it's time for me.

The other day, I had my appointment with the NUT and my psych evaluation. I absolutely loved the NUT. She was SO thorough with explaining everything the Dr. wanted for me to do and then she added in her own additional thoughts on everything as well. We also discussed the things that I am to start changing immediately to get into some better habits. Well the biggies are not drinking 30 minutes before or after a meal or during. I had actually started that this week anyway. The other is not drinking my breakfast and to drink my morning shake as my mid afternoon snack instead. And then the thing that I never in a million years thought I would have a problem with....not drinking with a straw. Holy crap is this hard!!!!!! I have a 32 oz mug at work and a 24 oz mug at home. At work, I fill my mug 4 times during the day. At home I fill it once or twice in the evening. So i do drink alot of water. Boy did I struggle to "sip" water and not gulp it down. Who would have ever thought that at 48 years old, I am learning how to drink again????? It really does suck though. Anyway, the psych eval went good too with her saying she was sending in her thumbs up. I guess the only things left will be the pre-op and I don't want to get any of that done until after the beginning of the year.

Good morning January losers. Yesterday was a flurry of activity for me. I met with the NUT yesterday and had my psych eval. I absolutely LOVE the NUT. She gave me so much information and truly presented it to me very easily. There are a few things that i am really going to have to work hard to get into a habit ahead of time so I am really glad that I met with her already. She will also be at several of the support group meetings that my Dr's office holds, so that will be great. The psych was easy enough. We talked for a while and that was it. She was nice enough. Anyway....time to work. yuck. Have a great day!

So my appointment at the PCP went perfectly fine. There I was, all prepared with a speech in my head of how to tell him of my decision that i wanted weight loss surgery and that oh I must of shrunk because they measured me at the surgeons office and height is different. I get in there and Dr. has a med student with him.....so that threw me off. Dr. decided to discuss my labs and asked if there was something I wanted to tell him. I must have looked at him puzzled because then he told me that he saw another lab order in there from another Dr. So that broke the ice. He then explained the different surgeries to me and the med student, which one he felt would benefit me more and why. Luckily it is the one I wanted. LOL He then told me that if he were to recommend a Bariatric Surgeon, without a doubt, he would recommend Dr. Gagne that he is one of THE best in the country at the bypass, his reputation is impeccable, his results are fantastic, he ran one of the best bariatric programs in the country at one point. So hearing this truly made me feel even more comfortable with my decision. He also said he is behind me 100% with opting for surgery.....that's great...would have been nice if he had recommended this a couple of years ago though! LOL So he very willingly filled out all of my paperwork that Dr. Gagne requires and on my way I went. I got home, looked at the paperwork and realized oh ****. I forgot to tell them about my height being wrong and now my BMI is wrong on the paperwork I have in my hand!!!!!! This morning I called and spoke to the nurse explaining everything. Of course she laughed at me (in a good way) and so I need to stop on my way home to get the height notated properly in the file and for the form to get re-done. Could I have waited until my next visit next month? Probably, but I can't let things sit...my anxiety does not allow that. If I had let it wait, my mind will play that game of "the worst possible thing will happen and I won't get the form re-done".

So this afternoon, I have an appointment with my PCP. This will be the first time I have seen him since I decided I want to get RNY done. I am a little nervous about this. Why? I have no idea. That's just how I am....a scaredy cat when I have to tell people decisions that I have made and am not sure what their reactions will be.

I've got the same thing! I'm so glad this worked out for you....and for me too! LOL

You don't say which Highmark BCBS product you have. I am switching over to Highmark BCBS Delaware come the first of the year. Them AND PA both changed their requirement in September where you no longer need the 6 months. I verified this through my surgeons coordinator, a person on one of my FB groups that works at BCBS and I looked for myself on highmarks website....toward the bottom of the page, click on Medical Policy and then search Obesity. I "think" it might be G-24 or G-25.