My Weight Loss Surgery Journal
September 2002
9/2/02 - I wrote a letter to my insurance company today, explaining all the reasons that having weight loss surgery would be of benefit to me, how it could change as well as prolong my life, and why they should approve the surgery. Not sure if I will give it to my surgeon to send in with all their paperwork when asking for the approval, or send it in separately. I guess I'll ask them what they think.
The date for my consult is finally approaching! I see the nurse on Wednesday this week, and the surgeon on Thursday. I can't wait!
9/3/02 - Well, tomorrow's the day....I have my appointment with the bariatric nurse at 9 a.m. I'll turn in all the paperwork I've meticulously prepared. Then, Thursday I meet with the surgeon, he'll look over everything and tell me if he considers me a good candidate for the surgery or not. Feels like I've been waiting for this for months, instead of a little less than a month! Can't WAIT to hear what they have to say.
9/4/02 - I called my insurance at
7:30 this morning. Sure enough, the psychologist is on my plan!
Yippee!!! The ins. person was very nice. She did the authorization
for me and even gave me the number for it. She said all I'll have to pay
is $20 co-pay! Yippee!!!!
She was so nice and we talked about someone she knows who has had the surgery
and done very very well.
Then, later this morning, I met with the bariatric nurse again for a little
while. She explained their vitamin regime and gave me info on the one they
want me to start taking right away until surgery. I'll get a 10% discount
on it from the shop here in town that carries it. I'll go buy it tomorrow
or Saturday.
She also explained the exercise program they want me to start on right now to
help me prepare for the surgery. I'll also start that tomorrow. She
said not to worry about losing any weight right now, but from their booklet they
want you to lose 10 lb. right before the surgery. So, once the date is
finalized, they will probably give me those instructions.
I'll probably go to their next support group meeting.
We talked about timing for the approval and surgery and she told me to keep
calling her directly to check on approval, etc. She told me to not let
their front desk intimidate me and that I didn't have to 'mess with' their
insurance person...she said to tell them I wanted to talk to her and that it was
'personal.' How nice is that?!
She's thinking I should be able to get a
November surgery date!!! Yippee!!!!!
Then, I saw the surgeon. He looked over all my paperwork very thoroughly
and asked a lot of questions. He did a brief physical exam and then asked
why I wanted this surgery and which type I was interested in. I told him
the RNY, NOT the lap band. He asked why. I said because I wanted a
better
long-term result than the lap band would give me, and also I'd heard too many
bad things about the band slipping, etc.
He said he felt he needed to give me the options for himself, even though it
didn't sound like he'd change my mind. He did, and I didn't change my
mind! :) He said he would plan to do the RNY lap.
So...that's it. Next step is the psych eval on Monday. Then, the
waiting begins again. But, I'm nearly on my way!!!!!
9/6/02 - It
has been quite a week for sure! I went at lunch today and bought my mega vitamins
and started taking them. I'll get busy on my exercise program starting tomorrow. I'm also going to look into water aerobics a a warm
water therapy pool I know of in town.
The nurse sent me an e-mail this morning with detailed answers to the first 24
of my 70 questions! She also left me a voice mail saying she'd keep
working on them and sending more answers till I had them all. Isn't that
nice? I'll get them on the web site as soon as I get a chance.
9/7/02 - I'm
a computer crafter (when I find a spare moment, which isn't often recently with
being employed full time and being a 3/4-time college student!) But, I was
watching QVC the other day and they had the coolest scrapbooks.
They are 12 x 12 pages and have a little bar out to the right where you can
record 20 seconds of sound to go along with the corresponding pages. It
has 12 buttons with corresponding numbers for the pages, a little built in
speaker and mike and runs on batteries.
I ordered two - one in the floral pattern and one in the plaid (more masculine)
background.
I'm going to use the floral one to create a scrapbook of my journey to a
healthier, lower weight. Haven't started the first pages yet, but am
collecting ideas.
These would be really neat for all sorts of things! A family scrapbook
with pages devoted to grandma and grandpa and using their voices, etc.
9/17/02 - I
haven't a clue what the report will say, hopefully it will be favorable, but I
spoke to the psychologist again today (my surgeon's nurse made me call her again
today to check on the report).
The psych promised she would fax the report to the surgeon's office today.
Hopefully, she did so. And, hopefully after that, it will be a relatively
short time before the paperwork is ready for submittal to the insurance. I'm
trying to be patient.
I went to the first meeting of my surgeon's
office WLS support group last night. Very informative.
I met the other bariatric nurse...she used to be at the hospital and cared for
many of the WLS patients after surgery. She has since transferred to the
surgeon's office so she can work with them both before and after surgery
She is about 2 1/2 years post-op. She started at 278 lb. and I'd guess is
about 130 now. She looks just FANTASTIC! You would never know she
ever had a weight problem.
There were about 40 people there....ranging from someone who had surgery 2 weeks
ago to people more than a year post-op. Woman in front of me is having
hers this Friday. Woman beside me is scheduled for October.
They are starting a new requirement for pre-op patients...a series of 6
classes...3 must be done before surgery and 3 after. Small groups for
meetings of 2 hours a time either one or two times a week. This is to deal
with lots of the psychological and emotional issues of the WLS patient. It
will be facilitated by a woman from the hospital (I didn't catch her title or
background for sure).
They are also going to start charging a $750 fee that is payable by the patient
up-front before surgery. This will pay for the classes and some other
things. They are going to also offer the classes to the rest of us for a
reduced price (haven't heard what it is yet).
Anyway, all-in-all, I was very pleased with the meeting and the support I felt
there.
They do a pinning ceremony periodically for people once they reach 1 year
post-op; will be doing one at the next meeting (they meet for 1 1/2-2 hours
every other Monday night at the surgeon's clinic building).
They're also talking about starting a clothing exchange, as well as doing
various social events for the group. They are doing some WLS angel stuff
and other things too.
It was so much to absorb at once that I didn't catch it all! I also got
there about 5 minutes before time for it to start, thinking if it was like most
things I'd been to, people would come straggling in for a late start; boy was I
wrong! The room was crammed when I got there! Only a couple chairs
left and they were clear in the back by the door. Next time I'll get there
earlier!
9/18/02 - Called
my surgeon's office mid-afternoon today to check if the psychologist did follow
through and fax in the report.
I got right through to the nurse. She said they had received the report
yesterday, the surgeon reviewed it and didn't find any issues. Yeah!!
Guess I'm crazy enough, but not too crazy! :)
She put me on hold so she could check my paperwork. Came back on and said
mine was #5 in the drawer for the insurance person. Said she would be
working on insurance all day tomorrow and my stuff should go in to the insurance
company for approval either on Friday or Monday!!!!!! Yippee!!!
She also told me if I hear ANYTHING from the insurance to let them know
immediately so they can schedule the surgery date, because she said the patient
often hears before they get the letter because it gets tied up in their mail
room, and a lot of times the insurance will telephone the patient.
I asked about the new program of 6 classes they are starting. She said
they will definitely be offering them to those of us who are already patients,
but they wouldn't be 'mandatory' for us. She thinks they will be $50 each
class, and we'll be able to choose which ones we attend. I told her I
planned to do them ALL; that this will be the VERY LAST TIME in my life I plan
to lose this weight! She laughed and said it was great that I feel that
way!
Oh yes, she said she was still working on my list of questions and hoped to have
them all answered for me before she sees me again.
So, I'm creeping closer and closer to 'waiting insurance approval' and to having
a surgery date!! Yippee!!!
9/30/02 - Haven't had a chance to update this for a while, but here's the latest snag in my insurance approval. I called early this morning to ask the insurance if anything was decided yet...I was told that it was pending for 'nutrition and post-op plans' info. I asked "So, what does THAT mean?" I was told that was info the surgeon's office needed to provide.
So....I call the surgeon's office. I get no answers from anyone and a lot of voice mail and 'she's with a patient.'
At lunch time, decide to call the insurance again and try to get more info. I get someone who actually puts me through the the nurse case manager. Ok, I think now we'll get somewhere...oh no...more voice mail. I leave a message.
She actually calls me back in an hour or so. Tells me that before they will approve the surgery I must see a nutritionist and discuss with her all the diets I've been on over my life and why I failed at them. I say, but ALL that is included in the info I gave the surgeon! She says "that's not 'good enough...it has to come from a nutritionist."
And she also mentions the 'medically supervised diet' issue. I say, "well, YOU should have all that info in your system; YOU were my insurance when I lost 150 lb. on Optifast!" Don't get much response from her on that.
She also says they need info on exactly what 'diet' I will be on after surgery, and what my support system will be. I explain that my surgeon's office has a support group that meets twice a month and I've already begun attending it. Too bad. She needs it in writing from the surgeon's office.
I was so frustrated by now, I just started to cry. When I calmed down a little, I called the surgeon's office again and left messages AGAIN for the one of the nurses to call me back.
Just before time to leave work I decide to try calling the surgeon's office again (thinking...if I have to see a nutritionist, I need to get an appt. going cause things will just be delayed AGAIN!) This time, the insurance person from the surgeon's office gets on the phone and I tell her what I was told by the ins. She says she just 'doesn't understand' why they want all that; she says 'none of the other people with my ins. (One Health Plan) have needed to have all that. She says she will call them and call me back.
So, I'm waiting with no approval in sight.
8/02 | 9/02 | 10/02 | 11/02 | 12/02 | 1/03 | 2/03
© 2002-2003 Vicki S. Mossman
All rights reserved
vmossman2@attbi.com
Last updated on 2/10/03