The office coordinator called and said she just finished reviewing my entire file and its ready to go to Aetna. The note from my PCP on 7/30 is comprehensive enough to consider it my 90 day start. All she needs is the notes from the surgeon which she will get after I meet with him tomorrow. Package will be faxed tomorrow afternoon. Usually takes 1-3 weeks for approval.

Tentative (assuming ins. approval) surgery date is December 18.

Shut up and be happy, right?

I shouldn't even think about the fact that I called the other coordinator over a month ago to ask if maybe the July date could be used and she CHECKED and told me no, we have to go with my appt. there on 8/17.

Or the fact that if I had met with the doc even last week, they could have faxed it all over on Monday morning. Yes only a 4 day difference between that and Thursday afternoon, but still.

Or the fact that if I had met with the doc maybe a few weeks ago they could have gotten me a sooner date before his schedule booked up.

Not like I didn't ask at every opportunity if there was anything I could be doing to speed the process up, check boxes, etc. I was constantly asking if I could be doing more earlier.

Of course, tomorrow I will ask the doc personally if there's any way (or cancellations) I can get in any of the 3 weeks prior to that, which would STILL allow 3 weeks for ins. approval which should come anytime between now and Thanksgiving. I'm also going to send the coordinator a thank you note and request the same.

So if I get operated on 12/18, come home 12/20, dinner for 13 at my house on the 24th.

I know, I know. It's going to happen. I should be grateful for that...

Oh, and did I mention my husband might win a trip to Mexico in March and how much an extra 3 or 4 weeks would mean to me?!

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.

Raven, what did u have to do for your 90 day program. I too have aetna and am doing the 3 month program

One exercise consult, 3 nutrition appts, 3 psych/behavior modification appts, monthly PCP visits. Make sure you can provide documentation of your weight at least once per year for the previous 2 years. I almost ended up dead in the water after the 3 months of appts!

Raven, my insurer required a 6 mos plan with a nut, psych eval and support group, then a 6 mos wait. I started the program Nov 2011 and had the surgery Oct 2012...

So if I get operated on 12/18' date=' come home 12/20, dinner for 13 at my house on the 24th.

I know, I know. It's going to happen. I should be grateful for that...

Oh, and did I mention my husband might win a trip to Mexico in March and how much an extra 3 or 4 weeks would mean to me?!

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Just to be clear...and in an attempt to help you out, you need to be clearly understanding of the fact that you can not cook dinner for 13 on the 24th. You can't lift, can't expend much energy, can't shop, etc..... you just can't do it dear. You risk hurting yourself permanently.

In addition, in march three or four weeks won't make a difference food wise. That would be fine if he wins.

I hope you can move it if the holiday dinner is important to you, but if you can't, your utmost level of involvement needs to be laying in bed until dinner is served, then returning there after you have some clear broth....

I feel the need to agree with Iggy on this one. I had NO complications but I was very very very tired the first several weeks post op. I found food to be naseating at times. Do not underestimate this - you are having the majority of your stomach removed, and the remaining part stapled together. You will be on some form of liquids, and this early on is not the time to taste and sample either.

My surgery was December 12th, On December 17th I attended the family Christmas party - still had drains and all. That went fine, but I only made it about 2 hours before I was ready to go home - tired. We did a Christmas brunch at our house on the 25th that I didn't even cook. I got to have a Protein drink while everyone else ate brunch. We opened presents, my kids went to other relatives house and I rested the remainder of the day. This girl knows how to party! Anyway, I am just saying that I fear you will regret taking on this kind of work so soon post op. It will be miserable and may wind up triggering you to get dehydrated or have other problems. Of course, you might wind up being one of the few that is pretty much back to normal immediately, but MOST of us weren't.... and I am just saying these are really aggressive plans so soon after surgery in my opinion.

The other thing I think of is that if you are remotely normal, like 95% of us, you won't be able to do this and you will leave those guests scrambling for where to have their holiday meal.

I had scheduled a charity dinner for 20 at my house two weeks after surgery. It had been scheduled months in advance, prior to even knowing I was having surgery. I originally planned to do it, but as time went on, it became clear that I was not going to be in shape to do the party, even though I hadn't planned on eating. Finding another house able to seat 20 for a sit down meal, with china, silver, blah blah blah was not an easy task to say the least, but had we tried to go through with it we would have had a disaster. I paid handsomely for another family to host it and the guests had a wonderful time. I thank god I made that decision to cancel, because it would have been not only a negative for me, but for those guests as well. In my mind, the comfort of my guests is key to a good time!

I'm hoping to get my date pushed back a week to the 11th, plus my kids actually offered to help clean and cook.

I hope you are able to move it, but really...you can not host that party. You'll never make it and taking a risk so close to surgery is playing with fire. I almost died from a leak and hate to hear of them, especially when brought on by overdoing it.

I agree. I was soooooo tired for the first full week post surgery. I can't even imagine trying to host a party of any size just a few days after....