September 18th, 2014

That's the date I'll be making my way onto the 'Loser's Bench'! I just got the call today, from my insurance company no less. 

My paperwork was originally submitted around 8/4. I gave it a week, called my insurance company and found out it was sitting in the wrong fax queue. So glad I called! This awesome rep, Cynthia, personally got the docs, checked them to make sure there weren't any obvious exclusions (i.e. my hospital wasn't a Center of Excellence or whatever BCBS's term is) and then pushed it over to the correct department. She then followed up with me 3 days later to let me know it was there but a case number hadn't generated yet. 

She said I'd hear back on Monday, but I didn't (which really, I wasn't bothered by), but I did follow-up on my on Wednesday. Got through to the right department only to find out that my file was still sitting in someone's pending queue and, again, hadn't been touched. The rep got his supervisor involved and he personally started the process of creating the case. I got a call later that night from Cynthia, giving me the case number and telling me she'd be following the case personally. This was last Friday.

I called yesterday, got a rep that wasn't quite as helpful but did find out that my case was still 'Pending'. My plan was to call again on Wednesday, since I wanted to be sure it didn't sit in pending for days. Lo and behold, I got a call this afternoon and it was Cynthia letting me know that the procedure had been approved, along with a 2 day hospital stay. WHAT?

So the next hour was a flurry of activity that involved checking on my husband's paperwork, getting it faxed again (they didn't get the actual paperwork for some reason) and then scheduling my appointments. 

Sadly, we discovered that in order to have my surgery at the hospital that's about 10min from home, I'd have to wait until November to schedule. While there's nothing wrong with waiting, there are various reasons that I really wanted to be sure this was done before the end of October. Fortunately the surgeon had 1 slot opened at his other hospital, about 40min away, that was his last before he went on vacation for a few weeks.

So September 18th it is! The next 2 weeks are going to be relatively busy, so I don't even think I'm going to notice the wait.

Next week I have my pre-surgery education class on 9/3. I'm looking forward to that and getting more information about what Dr. Srikanth expects post-op.

On 9/8 I start my 10-day, clear liquid diet. My husband has already said he and the kids will be staying in a hotel from 9/10 until surgery. :p

On 9/15 I have my final consultation where I'm sure we'll go over a lot more information.

Then at 5am on 9/18 we make the 40 minute drive to get me checked in for surgery.

This will be the first time since I was 17 that I'll be going under general anesthesia for longer than 30 minutes. This will be only the second time I'm having any sort of major surgery.

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't scared - I am. There's a lot of 'unknown' ahead of me, but also so much promise.

Goals

Today we took the kids to Remlinger Farms. It's a large local farm with some fun rides and activities thrown in. It's our first time going and while it's been a lot of fun, it also helped make me look forward to next summer. There were a few rides that our son wanted to go on, and while he was tall enough the problem was we were too heavy to accompany him.

I can't wait for next year when that, hopefully won't even be a worry.

My goal by next summer is to be light enough that I can ride the Flying Pumpkin, the roller coaster and Barrel rides with Oliver.

So the current goal?  200lbs ... which would mean a loss of 127 from where I am right at this moment. I know it's a lot, but I'm going to bust my butt to get there.

Waiting Game

It's official - all of my Pre-Op requirements (except the weight-loss and 1 test) are complete. I've also satisfied all of the initial insurance requirements for approval - so all of my docs have been submitted for pre-approval. Fingers crossed! The PC at my surgeon's office says they usually hear back within a couple of weeks. I may start calling next week just to 'check' on things.

All my tests came back good with the exception of an umbilical hernia, slight Hiatal hernia and some of my blood work was off (iron, live enzymes, etc - nothing unexpected). I think my least favorite test was the Upper GI (swallow study). I've never had one, so had no idea what to expect which was probably a good thing. That stuff they make you drink is DISGUSTING! I barely made it through the test without throwing up. I really hope I don't have to do another one right after surgery, because I can't imagine how I'd be able to keep it down.

The only things I have left to do are get my infusions of iron and turn in my 24hr urine test. I figure I'll do that next Sunday and drop it off on Monday when I have to bring the hubby to the hospital to do his testing.

This is probably going to be my least favorite stage - where I get to sit and wait until we hear back.

I'm still on the mostly-liquid diet and plan to stay on it until 10 days before surgery. Then I'll go on my clear-liquid diet in prep. As of last Friday I had 17lbs left to lose. It's been a bit slow-going this week, but I didn't really start until Monday. Either way, as of today I'm down around 5lbs ... so 12 left to go! If I can get my butt in gear, that (hopefully) shouldn't be a problem at all.

As we get closer and closer to approval, I find myself getting more nervous and scared. I think it's normal. I keep wondering if this is really the path I need to go. I mean, I'm losing weight on this pre-op diet, so why not just stick with it for a while until  lose weight? The problem is I fell into that trap before and I know how it ends. I lose a good amount of weight (usually in the 60-80lb range), then I start slacking off and before you know it I've gained it all back. There's nothing that's FORCING me to stick to it and keep from cheating. There's no consequences other than slowly tightening pants that I can ignore for a while. I know I need more than that.

I need help to keep me on track for longer than a few months. Restriction, malabsorption and physical side-effects if I don't follow plan. Yes, I know I can't count on those side effects but at least I can count on the rest. I'll have a smaller stomach that will feel full sooner. I'll have lost a good portion of the stomach that releases the hormone that makes me think I'm hungry.

I think my biggest fear is having this surgery and then becoming one of those people that doesn't lose or winds up gaining back most of their weight. I hope I have the mental and physical strength to keep that from happening.