LessHumid
Done and Done, Now Wait
Jul 08, 2014
As of 3 hours ago, I completed the 6th and final session with the nutritionist. Where the hell did these six months go? While I'm happy to be finished with this part of the journey, I can honestly say I'm going to miss some of the people in my group and having someone to ask all those odd post surgery questions. I called my surgeon's office last week and spoke to the coordinator just to make sure they've received everything. I was told I haven't done anything these past six months. Needless to say I blew my top. Since the beginning I've taken this process seriously, made and kept every appointment from the sleep studies to the big blood draw(yeah that one where they take about 20 vials). In fact I just received a $1700 bill for that last bit o' lab work. LabCorp had two of the numbers from my insurance card reversed so all's good there. Every test, scan, x-ray, and procedure was done through the University of Maryland Medical Center(where my PCP and surgeon are based, I planned it that way so that everyone has access to everything) and she still tells me I've not had anything done. UMMC uses the EPIC system, you can log on and see all your results on there too. I asked her to check EPIC and what do I hear, "there's nothing listed under your name". Really? Really? The ol'e pressure is skyrocketing at this point. I just happened to be sitting at my laptop so I logged in, what do I find? You guessed it, all the results from everything. I called bullshit and her lazy ass out on it. You guessed right again, all of everything magically appeared in front of her. Amazing isn't it? Well everything except for the psych evaluation which came from out side of the University system and was faxed, twice, to their office. She also asked me to have my PCP rewrite my letter(it really was crappy, by my doc wrote it the day before going out on maternity leave so her mind really wasn't there at the time). I'll be giving her a call back later in the week to make sure both things were received. The process is daunting enough, especially having to dot i's and cross t's, an ounce of care from the surgeon's office would go far. If I can offer anyone just starting out one piece of advice it would be to keep a binder: break down a calendar, punch holes and record EVERYTHING on it(names, times, et al.), keep copies of your food/activity logs in there, receipts, discharge paperwork, get copies of the results of EVERYTHING and take it to every appointment you go to. It saved my ass on several occasions.
Now the real waiting begins. I thought these 6 months would never go by but at least there was a scheduled end to it. The panel review from the surgeons office then submission to insurance is going to be a killer. I've been told it can be as quick as two weeks or as long as three months. It's the not knowing or not knowing what the time frame is that I'm not looking forward to. If anyone has United Healthcare I'd appreciate a note on how long your approval or denial for that matter took. Thanks for reading my rant; as much as I'd like to I shan't be emotionally eating right now!
