Sunshine Diggity

I never had a serious issue with weight until a few years ago after some tragic family situations happen.. then I started having many health issues. Started with skin cancer behind my eye. After 7 surgeries in, under and below my eye and a huge reconstructive surgery I was faced with a serious skin situation due to surgery. The scar on my face is a few inches long and I was told to not go in the sun for over a year. I live in Arizona. I realized soon after that my thumb was clicking and had bad pain even holding a cup. Found out I needed CMC surgery on my left hand for bone on bone. My surgeon didn't do the surgery correctly and left parts of shaved broken bone from surgery in my thumb! 1 year I was in SO MUCH PAIN! I'm pretty sure this is when my downward spiral into the dark spaces of depression set in.. due to many many drugs and pain killers the doctors threw at me. I had corrective surgery on the same hand a year to the day of the first surgery gone bad and now I have minimal use of my left hand. It's been 3 years. I really believe all the meds I was on is what caused me to gain weight. I started to look into getting the sleeve done to minimize all the medications I was on. My BMI wasn't at the required 35+. Even with all my medical issues including severe arthritis in my knees.. the insurance company didn't care. My insurance company denied me 2 times and I appealed it twice with denials. 1 week after my second insurance denial I was walking and my leg gave. I blew out 2 ligaments in my left knee.. and that was my good knee! This was That was May 23, 2019. The ortho surgeon said I was too fat to do an ACL repair on my knee and wrote a letter to my insurance company insisting  weight loss surgery was a necessity. Insurance ignored the request. This was included in the appeal letter that there was concern my knees would give out. I seriously couldn't walk far due to the pain.. now due to the fall I'm in a wheelchair since using crutches are hurtful to all the weight my bad knee acting as the good knee is taking on. Anyway, I knew if the denied me there was hope. Open enrollment to switch insurance was November 1st 2019 and that day I switched to a better insurance company that listened to me. By then I reached my BMI and weighted 236 day of surgery. 13 days later I had surgery 11/13/2019 ! I'm currently only 2 weeks out, in a lot of pain. Strangely my knees and feet feel better and I'm walking.. not pretty but walking! After this surgery I keep smelling the surgical room for some reason and now I'm terrified to have any other surgeries... ever! Just taking it day by day and keep thinking.. next year at this time. It took me 1 full year from the first doctor visit to have the surgery so I was in the program for a long while.. due to insurance denials. Dr. William Arnold at Abrazo Scottsdale in Arizona did my surgery. I had seen 3 other surgeons before him and I didn't care for any of them until I met Dr. Arnold who I have nothing but GREAT things to say.  I KNEW the day I met him that he was perfect for me.