ladynitewolf
March 21, 2006
My name is Sarah, I am 35, and this is my weight loss surgery story.
I've always been a little bit on the "bigger" side of things. I was never one of the cool kids in school, and was always a size or two larger than they were. Nothing terribly bad, but I knew and they knew that I wasn't "good enough" because of my size. Bah!
My weight kind of just crept up on me. The happier I am, the more I eat. There was a time when I was in a deep depression over my fiance leaving me and I didn't eat and lost 20 pounds in one month. Not a good way to lose it, but obviously I wasn't complaining! But then I found the man who was to become my husband, and, well, since I was happy . . . .
Over the years I've tried different diets to get my weight under control. While they may have worked for a time (and some didn't work at ALL), I always gained the weight back, and then some. So now, after having two children and having nearly 12 years of marriage underneath my belt, I find myself at 313 pounds. Something has GOT to be done!
About 10 years ago, I met a lady who had the old-fashioned stomach stapling done to her. She was one of the success stories, and had dropped nearly 200 pounds in a year, and was keeping it off, three or four years out. Yes, she could only eat little bits at a time, but she was able to eat what she wanted with very little consequence. Only rice and bread gave her any real problems. At the time, I weighed only 220 pounds, but the idea intrigued me. I thought that this was something that I could do if I couldn't ever get the weight off me.
As the years went by and I gradually began getting heavier and heavier, the idea of having WLS appealed more and more to me. I began researching the RNY approximately 7-8 years ago. I learned all that I could about it, but thought that my husband and I could never afford the surgery even after insurance paid for it (or IF they even would pay for it!). That, plus I was very worried about some of the side effects of the surgery, such as dumping syndrome, stoma problems, the blind stomach, etc., etc. There were just too many ifs for me.
Every year or so, I would check back into WLS again, check out the surgeons closest to me. But go through the same old arguments again and again. It was the same thing, different day.
One of the ladies that I work with got the RNY about 4 years ago. She weighed somewhere in the high 200s, and was very desperate. She quickly lost the weight, and has been keeping it off. She has a fantabulous body because of the pounds she has shed. I kept looking at her and thinking, "Dang. I can do this, I can!" But I never got further than printing off the patient questionnaires from one of the doctors.
Then another lady where I work got the same thing. She had even more weight to lose, and watching her become the shrinking woman really set a fire under me for a time. This is something that can work, I would think to myself. But again, the same doubts and questions came back up.
In January of this year, my husband sat me down. He wanted to know what were the top things that I wanted to spend money on this year. We have been greatly blessed in our financial freedoms lately, and he wanted to know what would make me happy. I thought about it for a day and came back with my list. At the top of it? Weight loss surgery. I was crying as I told him that I was tired of being this big, that I feared I could never lose weight on my own, and that I wanted to be healthy for him. Well, he looked me straight in the eye and told me that I needed to do some research and make a consult and that he would be there. I was so happy!
I got on the ASBS site, plugged in my info and searched for a surgeon. I didn't particulary want to have to go to the Alvarado Clinic in San Diego if I didn't have to because it is 5 hours away. I knew we would have to travel, but I didn't want it to be that far.
Approximately 65 miles away from me (yeah, right! As the crow flies!) in Delano Ca. was Dr. Ara Keshishian. I clicked on his website link and discovered something that will change my life forever. I discovered the duodenal switch.
As I read about the surgery, about its risks, complications, aftercare - everything - it was as if God was suddenly opening up the door to heaven just for me. This was it. All of my doubts about being able to eat the way I needed to after surgery melted away. This was a REAL way of living. This kept more of my anatomy the way God had made and intended it to work. I didn't have to worry about dumping, eating 2oz meals at a time, being able to DRINK during my meal, stoma blockages, dilations, ulcers - all the sorts of things that made me shy away from the RNY previously. This was something I could do!
I quickly called Dr. K's office and set up an initial consult. I was so excited I could barely breathe. I came home and babbled to my husband about it. He was confused because wasn't one weight loss surgery the same as another? Ah, no worries. He'll get it eventually, right?
We made the trip over the Sierras to Delano on Feb. 23. After the two-hour teaching presentation with Dr. K's nurse Dee, who has had the DS, my husband was a convert. He now understood why I wanted THIS surgery or no other one. And after meeting Dr. K, he was even more confident about me having surgery at all.
On the trip home, we spent the time discussing the different things we had learned, and about the question of "what does Sarah want in the way of plastic surgery after this is all done and the weight is off." Hee! Needless to say, my husband is not going to quibble a bit about me wanting to get the "girls" nice and happy and my tummy nice and tight after all of this. You gotta love him! I know I do.
So I have started the rounds of appointments, tests and referrals. My insurance company - Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal Employees Program - has requested my diet history and a psych consultation before they will make a determination of if I get to have surgery or not. I send in my diet history, and will have the letter from my psych consultation in hand early next week as well. So, within the next two weeks or so, I will know if I can breathe easy and get a surgery date soon, or if I'm going to have to bear down and fight this thing out. You never know with insurance companies. The policy doesn't state which surgeries are approved - only the standard verbiage about them being for those who need to lose 100 pounds or more. Well, that qualifies me. I'm hoping that they just want the psych eval to make sure that I know what I'm getting into. I should know their decision two days after the eval is submitted.
Wish me luck!
April 18, 2006
Well, last week I finally got my psych report from the doctor after over a month since my appointment. Grrrr. I faxed it to both BCBS and Dr. K's office on Thursday. On Monday, I called BCBS's precertification line, and Pam was happy to tell me that I was approved! Hoooray!
I called Dr. K's office to tell them what Pam had told me. Dee, Dr. K's nurse, wanted to wait until their office got the paperwork to schedule my surgery. Eh, no big deal. I've waited this long, what's a few days more, right? Well, today I got the call from Dee, and my surgery is now scheduled for June 7. Eeeee! So close, yet so far away. But finally I have a definitive time frame to work with. That is so much better than being up in the air like it all was.
People have been asking me what type of insurance I have that has allowed me to get this approval so fast and so easily. I have the Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal Employee's Program, Standard Option. In the brochure, it says that bariatric surgery is authorized only when someone is 100 pounds or more over their optimal weight. They required that I send in a diet history and a psych evaluation before they made their decision. That was it. I'm sure that the way to my easy approval was paved by the recent Medicaid decision about the DS - seeing as how it was a Federal decision, and a Federal insurance program can't be going against a Federal decision. Heee!
Good luck to everyone trying to get insurance approval for this surgery. I am of the opinion that it is well worth any heartache and pain and fretting that it takes to get the surgery that we have determined is right for our bodies and right for our way of living.
July 10
Well, it's been a while since I updated here. Sorry I'm such a bad girl!
Anyway, my surgery was rescheduled to July 19 - just nine days away from now! It's actually a good thing it was rescheduled, as it has allowed me to take care of things that wouldn't have been tidied up otherwise. And, it's keeping the stress level for my husband down as well. Relatively speaking.
My mom is going to be taking the girls, and my husband will be staying with me while I have my surgery. I hope to be home by the 23rd, but we shall see what we shall see, right? It'll all be good, no matter what.
