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sleevers in Chicago southland



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Hello I'm located in Chicago waiting on my surgery jn October!

Where are you going? I'm hoping to get sleeved in Mexico in October.

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I just got the call - I'm Approved! Holy Crap I'm Approved! I'm trying to have this done the first week of September since my husband will be off of work that week and he can take care of our 5 year old. I have to pay for my 15 day pre-op meals and pick them up on Saturday and try to start the preop diet on Sat as well. Geeze what a rush. Maybe it will help me from being terribly scared but I doubt it. I know alot of people have written that they are scared that they may die from this and I try to remind myself that this is a good life changer. But as I sit here typing this, tears are rolling down my face as the reality of this is hitting home...and hitting hard. I've read so much about the emotional side of this journey but, man it's already started. I feel scared, excited, anxiety-ridden, hopeful....

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I just got the call - I'm Approved! Holy Crap I'm Approved! I'm trying to have this done the first week of September since my husband will be off of work that week and he can take care of our 5 year old. I have to pay for my 15 day pre-op meals and pick them up on Saturday and try to start the preop diet on Sat as well. Geeze what a rush. Maybe it will help me from being terribly scared but I doubt it. I know alot of people have written that they are scared that they may die from this and I try to remind myself that this is a good life changer. But as I sit here typing this' date=' tears are rolling down my face as the reality of this is hitting home...and hitting hard. I've read so much about the emotional side of this journey but, man it's already started. I feel scared, excited, anxiety-ridden, hopeful....[/quote']

Yay!!! So excited for you!!! Where are you having it done? And how long did insurance take to approve you? - you have BCBS right?

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Yay!!! So excited for you!!! Where are you having it done? And how long did insurance take to approve you? - you have BCBS right?

I'm having it done at St. Alexius in Hoffman Estates. It took about 1 week to get approval from BCBS once they sent over the paperwork.

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I'm having it done at St. Alexius in Hoffman Estates. It took about 1 week to get approval from BCBS once they sent over the paperwork.

I'm getting nervous I won't be approved. It was a week today since they sent my paperwork. I know they say it can be up to 30 days but I keep reading posts where BCBSIL approves in a couple days to a week. I found out I do NOT have sleep apnea, so I don't really have any comorbidities - just slightly elevated blood pressure and a BMI of 42.7 :/ anxious.

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I'm getting nervous I won't be approved. It was a week today since they sent my paperwork. I know they say it can be up to 30 days but I keep reading posts where BCBSIL approves in a couple days to a week. I found out I do NOT have sleep apnea, so I don't really have any comorbidities - just slightly elevated blood pressure and a BMI of 42.7 :/ anxious.

That was me too. No sleep apnea, my bp is a little high but I take meds for that and my cholestrol is a little high and I take meds for that also (hopefully not for long!) but my family history isn't great so that may have helped a litt. I've read that people have to go for a cardiac clearance...I didn't have to, did you? If you want to give Maria a call and check I'm sure she wouldn't mind - I just think they are soo busy -- she called me about 8pm tonight with the news.

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Hey LawDiva... Were you able to get a group together?

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I just got the call - I'm Approved! Holy Crap I'm Approved! I'm trying to have this done the first week of September since my husband will be off of work that week and he can take care of our 5 year old. I have to pay for my 15 day pre-op meals and pick them up on Saturday and try to start the preop diet on Sat as well. Geeze what a rush. Maybe it will help me from being terribly scared but I doubt it. I know alot of people have written that they are scared that they may die from this and I try to remind myself that this is a good life changer. But as I sit here typing this' date=' tears are rolling down my face as the reality of this is hitting home...and hitting hard. I've read so much about the emotional side of this journey but, man it's already started. I feel scared, excited, anxiety-ridden, hopeful....[/quote']

That is awesome congrats! Are you still going through The Kane Center. Just an FYI I had a great experience through Alexian Bro's. keep me posted :-)

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That was me too. No sleep apnea' date=' my bp is a little high but I take meds for that and my cholestrol is a little high and I take meds for that also (hopefully not for long!) but my family history isn't great so that may have helped a litt. I've read that people have to go for a cardiac clearance...I didn't have to, did you? If you want to give Maria a call and check I'm sure she wouldn't mind - I just think they are soo busy -- she called me about 8pm tonight with the news.[/quote']

I just called insurance and they said they are sending a letter out today that I am "conditionally

approved". Does that mean I need to do more stuff? I left a voice mail for Maria. Hopefully she'll call back soon.

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Not yet. It hasn't worked out. How about this: message me your email address if you're interested and I'll try to get something organized. I just talked to insurance and they said they are sending a letter to my surgeon that I am "conditionally approved". I hope that means I'm a go!

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Anyone interested in meeting, message me with your email address and I'll try to get a group together for coffee. Or tea. Or whatever. :)

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Anyone interested in meeting, message me with your email address and I'll try to get a group together for coffee. Or tea. Or whatever. :)

I'm actually at fairly loose ends this weekend, except for pole class Saturday morning. I'd even drive into the city! ;-)

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I just called insurance and they said they are sending a letter out today that I am "conditionally

approved". Does that mean I need to do more stuff? I left a voice mail for Maria. Hopefully she'll call back soon.

it sounds like you have to do few more things for them to approve you. You did the pysch evaluation right? Did you do the pre-op dietary meeting? Hmm, it will be interesting to find out what it exactly means.

I just talked to Donna re: scheduling. Unfortunately my schedule and Dr. Rantis' schedule doesn't jive well. He will be off for the Jewish holidays soon and that's when I have a block of time available. I will talk to my husband today and see when we can do it next - he needs to be off to get my son to/from school, etc. Frustrating, just when I was getting myself psyched.

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it sounds like you have to do few more things for them to approve you. You did the pysch evaluation right? Did you do the pre-op dietary meeting? Hmm' date=' it will be interesting to find out what it exactly means.

I just talked to Donna re: scheduling. Unfortunately my schedule and Dr. Rantis' schedule doesn't jive well. He will be off for the Jewish holidays soon and that's when I have a block of time available. I will talk to my husband today and see when we can do it next - he needs to be off to get my son to/from school, etc. Frustrating, just when I was getting myself psyched.[/quote']

I did the psych eval and the dietician and they both said they were recommending me. I have also been to the pulmunologist, cardiologist, and done the sleep study though I don't know if insurance has any of that info. I'm waiting to hear back from Maria at Kane Center. I'll let you all know when I find out! (fingers crossed!)

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    • LeighaTR

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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