EmilyLV1595

Send Message

Block

Add Friend

Please check out my **NEW** **IMPROVED** Blog here!

shrinkingemily.blogspot.com 

--OR--

Check me out on Youtube!

I'm approved!!! Wow...less than one week, and I'm already approved!!! I am SOOOO relieved!! This, of course, is the one thing that prevented me from fully accepting that I am definitely going to be making a life change...and now that I have insurance approval, half of the battle is over (although I do realize I have a big battle ahead of me!)....whew.. Well time to load up on supplements, and various other things to prepare me for post-op life. My surgery date is January 10. Wow...CRAZY!!!

Well....I did it. I had my very last of the 6 months supervised diet appointments yesterday...whew. I brought in a print out of my insurance companies coverage positon on bariatric surgery, and where they list out everything that must be included in my physician's letter...so I tried to give it to my PCP and she sort of seem offended, brushed it aside, and said "oh oh, I already have a template that I use." Ok....but my surgeon's office specifically told me to relay that pharmacotherapy options MUST be included in the letter, as my insurance company has been cracking down on that lately....she really didn't seem to be listeing to me. I hope her ego doesn't get the best of her, and she remembers to put the pharmacotherapy in the letter...ugh...the stress.  I also had an appointment with my surgeon. I gained weight since my last appointment with him, and he was not happy about it. I really needed him to lecture me, and told him so....so he even did a little finger pointing and threatened that he would not do the surgery if I didn't lose weight. It worked. I'm officially scared, so today.....grocery store for protein drinks, chicken breasts, and veggies. I think I'm going to do the Atkins induction up until surgery. So, thats another worry of mine....the surgeon's office is handing in all of the paperwork to my insurance company as I wait for approval. They tell me Cigna usually takes 15-30 days to reply with an answer. I am so nervous about this...because their decision also decides my future....ugh. I suppose I could pay out of pocket, but that would mean I'd be pretty poor for the next few years, which in all honesty...is probably worth it, but anyway...insurance approval would be a better option. :)....so....I wait. :-/ Keep your fingers crossed!!!

Just a little update, that is all. So I'm trucking along, going with the motions. I have my last supervised diet (6th one) appointment on December 4, and an appointment with my surgeon the same day. I REALLY want to get insurance approval by December 10, but I know that is REALLY pushing it. If I don't, then I can't have my surgery in January like I want, and I will have to wait until February! Ugh, that will suck. This is all due to schedule conflicts with work. I start spring semester of grad school January 23, so it would be very convenient for me to have the surgery before then...but oh well, I'm not going to get too hung up on it. My mom just had the lap band surgery with the same surgeon, so I was able to check out the hospital, the room and nursing unit, and the nurses. It all looked pretty normal to me. My mom was very upset with the nursing care, but as a nurse myself, I sympathize with nurses and the work load they carry, so I stuck up for them (she wasn't too happy with that, haha). 

In other news, my ex boyfriend from when I was 17 is in town visiting and has been calling me almost everyday to meet up. I of course and avoiding him like the plague, as the last time he saw me I weighed about 160...yeah, definitely not the case now, and he has no clue. I just keep thinking of how maybe this time next year I will be feeling better about the way I look and will have the nerve to meet up with old friends as they visit the area.....ugh, its the little things. 

So this week was pretty much full of pre-op "stuff". Thank goodness I have a nurses schedule and have plenty of days off during the week to get to these appointments. Yesterday I had a bunch of blood work done and I had to start a 24 hour urine collection. Today I had the dreaded upper GI...ugh that was rough. 

Anyway, overall I'm really just feeling like crap. My arm is totally screwed up because the phlebotomist basically butchered my antecubital looking for a vein. Also, I had to go off my beta-blocker for a couple of days and take Norvasc so that it would not interfere with the 24 hour urine collection. Well my doctor gave me the smallest dose of Norvasc possible (seems he forgot he also recently changed my beta blocker from the smallest dose, to double the dose)....well it certainly was not enough to keep my blood pressure down. I could TELL it up was. I felt dizzy, I had a headache most of the day, I could even feel my pulse pumping as I lay in bed....ugh, how dangerous! I'm really angry at the doc that that even happened....Also, in collecting the 24 hour urine...I started to notice something. I don't pee a lot. Also, it was dark pee. I must be totally dehydrated. So i totally loaded up on water yesterday and bought some protein drinks to pull the water out. I really need to be more careful!!! I'm a little worried that my 24 hour urine is going to come back a little wacky and my doc may not approve my surgery....ugh, that would suck. 

Anyway, i don't know what it is, but I'm in a sour mood. Last night I was crying thinking about how I am 26 years old and have high blood pressure and possibly some sort of kidney issue. I hate that I let myself get this way. I'm totally digusted with myself.

Ok cool, so I think I'm going to do this little blog thing. So this week I had a follow up/pre-op appt. with my surgeon. I was so worried that he was going to get angry at me for not losing ANYTHING in 2 months (the last time I saw him)....he told me he wants me to lose about 15 lbs before surgery. Come to find out, I actually gained 2 lbs! He broke the news to me...but he actually seemed to laugh it off like it wasn't a big deal. I told him I was a little worried about losing that 15 lbs, but that I was going to make more of an effort. He said "Hey don't worry about it, I know you are committed,....I'm not going to deny you.....hey I'll tell ya what....you are approved by me!"....He was so happy and positive....I didn't expect that at all! haha. I guess a part of me WANTS him to get angry at me, so I am more motivated to lose it. Oh well, I have already decided that after some of this bad food is gone out of my fridge (hopefully by this weekend)....I am going to do the 1200 cal diet my nutritionist suggested, and I'm going to go to the gym. I need to exercise anyway to let off some of the stress I've been having....work issues, guy issues....just kind of sick of it all and want to better myself. I need to make more of a concerted effort to improve my body and emotional well-being....and excercise will help that immensely. Well anyway, I'm enjoying reading the message boards here. I find myself spending most of my free time catching up on the boards...I am learning a lot!