I'm supposed to have my surgery on Dec 27th at Mt Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA, with pre-op tests scheduled for next week. Today, I get an automated message from my hospital to check MyChart. I did, and it showed my pre-test appointment as canceled. My surgery date is also gone from my upcoming visits. No explanation. Meanwhile, my insurance approval appears to have gone through. I called the weight management center's office and the receptionist mumbled something about surgeries being canceled and someone would call to explain. No one has called all day. I emailed, too, but nothing. Now the office is closed for the day and I'm so worked up over this, I won't get a wink of sleep. It wouldn't be such a big deal if it had to be delayed, except I am currently on an insurance plan through the healthcare marketplace as I am self-employed and my husband has been unemployed for a bit. But he starts a new job in January and I have no idea what the health insurance situation is going to be in terms of coverage. I am so stressed right now I could cry.

NickelChip you are amazing, this is truly reprehensible behavior from the admin at the hospital, and you are just not batting an eye, rolling on with what needs to happen to reach your goal in a new direction.

23 hours ago, ChunkCat said:

Oh NickelChip, I'm so sorry!! I was looking forward to seeing you go through your surgery and everything that comes after! I hope the new place reaches out soon, they are probably swamped with end of the year patients, plus a pile of patients due to this closure... It never ceases to amaze me how careless hospital admins and insurance companies can be about their patients.

I recently found out that the network my bariatric surgeon is in AND my orthopedic surgeon are in, are more than likely going to be out of network come January because Cigna is being an asshat about re-negotiating their contract with them. And I was supposed to have a shoulder MRI and surgery in January. This is my second shoulder surgeon as the first one's practice behaved abhorrently regarding my bariatric surgery. Does Cigna care about any of this?? Nope. Are they losing sleep over this? Nope.

I'm really glad you were able to check out the policy your husband will be getting in January and that it covers bariatric surgery. I hate that all your carefully made plans have been wrecked by idiots who allowed surgeries to be scheduled knowing they would never be done. They could have at least finished out the year! And called instead of giving you a chart notification... So ridiculous.

Chunk Cat, Sorry to hear about Cigna! My HR department sent us a notice that Cigna is in negotiations with a hospital network in Boston and the hospital and their doctors may be out of network after January.

I hope that it all works out for you!

10 hours ago, NickelChip said:

I'm so happy to report that I have an appointment January 2 with the director of the new practice. When I spoke with the administrative person to make the appointment, she did make it sound likely that I would not have a lot of extra stuff to do since I was right at the end of the process before it got cancelled, just needing the routine pre-surgery tests and my insurance approval.

I'm so sorry your insurance is being a pain about your in-network coverage. The whole in or out of network coverage is total BS. If they're a licensed doctor, they should be covered. Period.

I have to say, the relief I felt when the HR person sent over the insurance benefit packet and I saw the logo of a very widely accepted insurance that is known to have good coverage is almost impossible to describe. This is sort of a long-term consulting gig for my husband, and I had nightmares that the consulting firm would be using crappy companies I'd never heard of to save some cash.

Financially, I may end up coming out of this a little bit ahead, maybe $1500 less out of pocket. But I swear I'll spend that on hair dye to cover all the gray hair this ordeal is giving me! And I'm self-employed, so I can't just request a few weeks of vacation when the time comes. I'll need to do some major reworking of my schedule to accommodate the new date. As you said, is the head of the old hospital losing sleep over this? No, he is not.

But it will work out, and this time next year I will be looking back on it and laughing. In that awkward way you laugh over things that are so not funny.

NickelChip, that is great news. I wish you luck with your January 2 appointment, it sounds like they have most of the information needed to move forward quickly.

Haha, I just had my hair dyed in prep for my surgery; want to look good for the big day! I was formerly self employed, so I sympathize with having to rework schedules, etc. I've loved working for myself, but at times it was stressful! During Covid I had to close my business, it was a hard decision but it was the right decision in the end.

I know exactly what you mean about the awkward laugh... ?

On 12/15/2023 at 8:31 PM, CelticSoul said:

Chunk Cat, Sorry to hear about Cigna! My HR department sent us a notice that Cigna is in negotiations with a hospital network in Boston and the hospital and their doctors may be out of network after January.

I hope that it all works out for you!

Thank you!! I don't know what is with Cigna lately, they are doing with with my GYN office too! I sincerely hope someone does something useful and things get settled satisfactorily so I don't have to change 3 providers!!

On 12/15/2023 at 10:24 AM, NickelChip said:

I'm so sorry your insurance is being a pain about your in-network coverage. The whole in or out of network coverage is total BS. If they're a licensed doctor, they should be covered. Period.

I have to say, the relief I felt when the HR person sent over the insurance benefit packet and I saw the logo of a very widely accepted insurance that is known to have good coverage is almost impossible to describe. This is sort of a long-term consulting gig for my husband, and I had nightmares that the consulting firm would be using crappy companies I'd never heard of to save some cash.

I'm so glad you are being seen soon!! I agree, if they are a licensed doctor, they should be covered, period. The insurance industry is a disaster in this country.

I know what you mean about contracting and medical coverage. My partner was an independent contractor for a long time and I have pre-existing health conditions so for a while I could only be covered by the state specialty plan until the whole healthcare marketplace thing. It was so stressful dealing with rejection after rejection because no one would cover me, and the cost was obscene, even for crap coverage. When they finally went back to working for someone else it was such a relief to have the health coverage handled by a company again!!

It could be as simple as your surgeon has decided to leave the group, or is very ill. I hope it all gets sorted out soon.

So sorry, I really hope they clue you in soon. I get super anxious when my plans change

Curious to hear how your Jan 2 appointment goes today!

3 hours ago, LilaNicole20 said:

Curious to hear how your Jan 2 appointment goes today!

Me too, I'll be thinking of you NickelChip.

I just got home from my appointment and am happy to say that I'm now scheduled for surgery on February 21. I was able to meet with the dietician right after my appointment with the surgeon and she went over the differences between my old program and their protocols, which are similar with the exception that I will need to do the 2-week liquid diet (my old place only did 2 days). I head to the hospital tomorrow for pretests and then just have to wait the 7 weeks until surgery. Time to get back to my good eating habits after the holidays!

I thought everyone was very nice and I got a lot of sympathy for what I'd gone through with the center closing. I was told one patient who is now at the new practice actually arrived at the hospital the day of her surgery and only then found out it had been cancelled. No one even called her. I don't even know what I would have done had that happened.

I am so sorry this has happened to you. I would be going crazy with anxiety! Such a let down when you are so looking forward to beginning your journey only to be told nothing! I'm sure it will get straightened out and hopefully you can start your journey quickly! Hang in there.

That is great news, so glad to hear you have a new date! What a great way to start off the new year! ?

Good news, I'm glad to hear it. I'm glad you won't have to go through any new requirements.

Did you know there is a limit to how many vials of blood they can take on a single day at the hospital? Apparently, the limit is 12. Despite combining a few of the 17 different tests ordered by my surgeon, there are still 4 tests remaining that I will have to go back for another time. The phlebotomist just kept shaking her head and wondering out loud what all these doctors are thinking when they order so many tests all at once. Fortunately, it's not a rush. I told the surgeon what had happened and he said I could wait to do the others until the end of the month when I'm back in town for a final meeting with the dietician. (It's about 45-60 minutes without traffic from my house to the hospital.)

The barium swallow test lived up to its reputation. Thick grey sludge in a cup. Yuck. But I got to see my heart beating on the video screen, so that was trippy. And the technicians were very funny, so I was kept entertained. The results came back saying I have a minuscule hiatal hernia. Not sure if it will require any fixing.

My EKG was normal, but had I realized they would be putting sensors on my legs, too, I would have shaved!

A final update for this thread: I had my gastric bypass on Feb 21!

Check in went smoothly. I changed into my hospital gown, got my IV inserted, and was given a number of medications to take before being moved to a waiting area where I got onto a gurney. The various members of the surgery team came by to introduce themselves and check on various things. Finally, the anesthesiologist came by and gave me "something to relax" via my IV port. A minute later, I was being wheeled into the hallway, and that's the last thing I remember until waking up in my hospital room. I never saw the inside of the OR, and I have no memory of the recovery area afterward, either.

The surgery itself took much longer than anticipated, about 6 hours. I was fine and safe the whole time, but the surgeon ran into some issues with my small intestine and a small abdominal mass (sent to pathology and was benign) that required additional steps. Because of this, I was surprised to wake up in my hospital room and discover it was already 9pm when my surgery began at 1pm! My poor mom had been so worried because we thought it would take maybe 3 hours max.

The nurses checked on me several times that night. I was able to get up to use the toilet on my own, and the only real challenge was the IV pole having to be dragged along. I was very fortunate that I ended up with no roommate. It wasn't technically a private room, but no one else was assigned to it while I was there.

In the morning, my surgeon came by and explained what had happened during surgery. He was concerned because some of the stitches ended up under more pressure than he considered optimal, so he wanted me to do a swallow test before I could have anything by mouth, including water. They got me in for that and it turned out okay, so about an hour after returning to my room, I was brought a bottle of water and a cup of red sugar free jello.

I have to say, it was nice to have water because my throat was dry, but I really didn't care about eating. I did because they told me to, and I know at this point I hadn't had a single thing in my belly for over 40 hours, but I just didn't care. I felt zero hunger. But I at the jello, and later they brought me a popsicle, another jello, and a chicken broth. I ate it all over the course of about an hour. It was fine, but again, I just ate it because they told me to.

Because I got such a late start on fluids after surgery, they kept me an additional night, just to be sure. But on Friday morning around 9am, I was discharged. I had a protein shake when I got home and worked all day on fluids. I was tired and a little sore, but my pain had been minimal enough that I was only on Tylenol. It worked well enough that I only had a few moments of real pain, mostly when shifting position that required the use of abdominal muscles. I was fortunate to have someone staying with me for the first few nights home, and my parents kept my kids (ages 12 and 15) with them for the first week so I wouldn't have to worry about all their activities and food.

It took a few days to discover what worked best for me, which ended up being hot tea (decaf and herbal) instead of flavored waters as I'd been having pre-op. For the first week, I've met my 64oz fluid and 60g protein goals most days, but as time has gone on, I've become completely turned off anything with artificial sweetener and every protein shake except Syntrax Nectar Natural, which I can still manage. I definitely wasted a lot of money on shakes I won't be drinking, but I'm glad I had them for the 2 week pre-op diet and to take the pressure off finding things to try when I got home.

Yesterday, I was allowed to start soft protein foods. So far, I've had tuna salad (2 Tbsp), refried beans with a sprinkle of melted cheese (1/4 cup), and 1 poached egg. No issues with anything so far. Tonight I will be cooking some haddock with pesto for dinner.

I go in for my 2 week post-op appointment with my surgeon next Tuesday and hope by then my weight will be a little lower. I lost 15 lbs on the 2 week pre-op diet, but my weight was higher by about 5lbs when I got home from the hospital thanks to the fluids and swelling, and I'm only just back to where I was the day I went to the hospital. Still, 15lbs in three weeks isn't bad.

As for other incidentals, I have been taking Benefiber daily in my morning tea and it really has helped. I had the first BM (very loose and not a lot) before leaving the hospital on day 2, and have managed to go at least every other day since, and daily the last couple of days, so I'm very grateful for that. My energy levels have been decent, but it's only today that I feel like I don't need a noon nap. Going without caffeine has been a struggle, but I'm getting used to it.

After all the wait, I'm so glad to have this behind me and be able to focus on a healthy future!