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Hello! So I have been trying to get the sleeve and finally everything is in. All doctors and tests. But my job needs a doctor letter and I am unsure if the paperwork has even been submitted to insurance. I call the coordinator and email the documents.... no response and no confirmations. I am so worried and I cannot sleep without thinking this is all going to fall through. It is so hard to reach the coordinator and she may be going out on leave soon. I am a person who needs confirmation but... I never know with this coordinator. And I worry that everything will fall through...because I could not connect with the necessary persons.

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Why does your place of work need a letter so soon? You don’t even have the approval letter yet; that should be ok to send to your job, correct?

usually people have weeks before the surgery is scheduled and then you can get your affairs in order

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Unfortunately my place of work wants it by at least 14 business days prior to date of leave.

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I needed a letter to return to work, and my surgeon said 'write it and I will sign it'. I faxed it, and he signed it. Perhaps this might work for you? Write it up, send it to the coordinator for their signature.

Sent from my XT1254 using BariatricPal mobile app

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You should call your insurance company directly to see if the paperwork has been submitted. My coordinator was very poor at communicating as well and i got most of my information directly from the insurance company. When they didn’t have something, i called and let her know I knew. You need to light a fire under her otherwise it can drag out.

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Is your surgery scheduled yet? There is usually plenty of time. At least a few weeks or more. Call your insurance and see if its beens submitted and how long that process is before you start over worrying.

Edited by Kat0000

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4 hours ago, Starr2015 said:

Hello! So I have been trying to get the sleeve and finally everything is in. All doctors and tests. But my job needs a doctor letter and I am unsure if the paperwork has even been submitted to insurance. I call the coordinator and email the documents.... no response and no confirmations. I am so worried and I cannot sleep without thinking this is all going to fall through. It is so hard to reach the coordinator and she may be going out on leave soon. I am a person who needs confirmation but... I never know with this coordinator. And I worry that everything will fall through...because I could not connect with the necessary persons.

Is this for FMLA? or for the insurance company, I'm confused. Your company should give you so many days to submit the paperwork once the request for time off is made. I would call and ask to speak with the office manager. I also had an extremely hard time communicating with our coordinator, so I ended up requesting her email, and found that she responded quicker.

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Hi everyone, thank you for responding.

Glad to see i am not alone in the difficulties reaching out.

Yes, FMLA paperwork needs to be completed by July 6th as per my job for a leave date of 7/23.

The insurance papers are not submitted yet for 8/6 date because they are still submitting July surgery date approval requests.

In other words, after 2 emails and a phone call or two, I got a response to my email and a promise to follow up next week...

Anxiety still through the roof but a little better. Now just the regular jitters of omg can I follow this 2 week pre-bariatric liquid diet without dying!

Thanks all!!

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    • LeighaTR

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      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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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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