Debbie M.

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well today was my last meeting with the surgeon before surgery on Wed. of next week. Dr. Kim introduced me to his assistant who will help with the surgery and we discussed that he feels that he should do the surgery open instead of Lap. He said that because of my weight and my BMI and the way I carry my weight, that he feels that open would be safer for me. I was sorta nervous, scared about this, but after listening to all he said and his explanations, I agreed that I am willing to go this way. I just know that I have to have this surgery , that I won't be around many more years if I don't turn around some medical problems. My concern is a job, I am quickly running out of money and now have been off work for 14 months! I was hoping to be able to look for work sooner and well,,,,,,,,,,, it is just not going to happen. I know the Lord has me in his hands and this is his plan, so I am going to trust him for the provisions we will need.
I spent a little time on the message board tonight with several others who had their surgery open, and they all did fine, so I am no longer nervous or jittery a bit. On a postive note, when they weighed me at the doctors office today, I had lost 10 pounds in one week on this liquid diet! That is good, although, I am wondering if I can make it through next week. Oh sure I can. My mom went with me to the doctor and when we got finished we went to Sam's club and she bought me a smoothie maker instead of bringing me flowers to the hospital. I love it. Made one tonight and the thing just blended so great and crushed the ice just like the professional ones. New toy to play with next week! Well tomorrow is pre-op testing so I think I will go to bed and get some rest. Till next time.......

last update for May 05! The time is passing quickly. I have been on the liquid diet for 7 days now. It is getting easier each day. First couple of days were tough as you get used to not chewing stuff and never really being "full". I have been careful to get protein each day, and have discovered a place called Smoothie King here locally who have great flavors of high protein smoothies that they will make for you with Splenda and for a medium, it has about 50 grams of protein. Love them!! Plus when I go get one, I feel like I am "going out to eat". (what ever it takes huh?) I have also been told it is ok to have seedless watermelon on this two week liquid diet so that has been really good. But I have learned the hard way that too much of this is a bad thing. Tomorrow is my last appointment with Dr. Kim before surgery and then the next day I go for labs and ekg. and meet with the nutritionist, and physical therpist who will be walking with you in the hospital. I just pray everything goes smoothly and I am all set for next Wed. morning. I guess it is normal to start worrying that something in the labs or ekg will show wrong and delay this whole thing. Ok---I am going to stop thinking like this. My son who has been looking for a job since he got home from school got a call and has an interview tomorrow also. I pray this works out for him. Money is getting so tight for us now, as I have been off work for over a year now. Well, next post will be June, the month of my new beginning!

Well the countdown begins. Tomorrow I start the 2 week liquid diet prior to surgery. This is supposed to help shrink my liver to aid Dr. Kim in the successful Laproscopic surgery. I hope he does not have to convert to open, but I am ok if he does. Longer recovery but I will get through it. Tonight I had dinner with my son and his new girl friend at La Hacinda Ranch. Last meal, fajitia's. Brandon's favorite but I did enjoy. I know this is funny but I am ready to start the liquid diet because I feel like it is an official step towards surgery. Tomorrow I have to take my mom to her Doctor appointment. This is her first post-op visit since she finished her chemotherpy. She has done so good.
On another note, if anyone is reading this, the Acheive One drinks are so awesome. I loved the Starbucks Frapp. drinks and I honestly can't tell the difference at all in these. And I love that they have 20 grams of protein. I have been lurking on the boards so much this last week trying to find out any new thing I think might help me. I post rarely but I still find myself thinking of these folks as family. Like it is a special club that everyone understands you. As an obese person who lived in a mostly thin people world all my life, I always felt like no one ever really knew what it was like to be me. Oh come on June 8th!! I want a new life!

Well today is Friday the 13th! But no bad luck today for me. (I hope) Yesterday my delivery from Bariartic Eating came so I tried some of the flavorless protein in my crystal light last night and it was good! Foamed up a little but I just waited for it to go down and the crystal light tasted the same. I feel better knowing I will be able to do protein powder with no problems. This morning I had some choc. carb countdown milk with some PP mixed and it too was delicious. (and 30 grams of protein!) I liked it too. Don't know what I was thinking but I have no problem with the protein product. I also ordered some of the Acheive 1 coffee flavored drinks that are supposed to be just like Starbucks drinks, I will try one tomorrow and then save the rest of my stuff for when I have to start my liquid diet on May 24th. Got my official letter in the mail a couple of days ago from Cigna saying they cover the surgery so now I feel that they can't take it away from me. I will save the letter for my scrapbook. Well, I will go for now, just trying to pass the days till June 8th.

Happy Mothers Day to my mom and myself! I have a 21 year old son who is away at college and finishing up finals and his job for the spring semester, so he could not be here with me today. That is ok, I know I will see him this next Tuesday and he will be with me through out the summer as I re-coup. My brother and I took my mom out to dinner last night at her favorite steak place, Outback Steak House, and it was one of those "last meals" for me too. It was so good and we had a great time. About a year ago, my mom had a routine colonostpy and they found a rather large tumor and she had to have colon surgery and 6 months of chemotherapy. She did great through all that, and had her first colonostpy this past Friday for her one year anniversary and she was totally cancer free. Such a relief. She is planning on "taking care of me" now as I have my surgery. She said I was there for her last year and now it is her turn to "nurse". I am so glad I will have her support through this. I ordered vitimins and protein from bariartic eating yesterday so should have those two things marked off my list. Just trying to keep busy and getting ready for the big day. Well, more later as the journey continures.

Well if finally finally happened. I got APPROVED by insurance today. I am still in shock. My surgeons office called me today and told me that Cigna had called them to let them know that my file had been reviewed and I was approved for my surgery. So we set a date for June 8th. Longer than I wanted to wait but I know it will go quickly. I have pre-ops on the 2nd and an appointment with the surgeon on the 1st. And two weeks prior, I have to do a liquid diet, but not a colon cleanse. Which is ok with me. I have just been on a high all afternoon and can't actually believe that after a year, this is finally going to happen for me. But God is good, and alot of prayers have gone up for me. Thanks to all of you who have been on this long approval journey with me. Now the losing begins!

last Thursday, I called the insurance company to again bug them as to what is going on with my file. I got a really nice lady who said, to hold on and she would find out what is the holdup. She then came back and asked me a few questions like, have I had the surgery yet?? huh??? Well, it turns out, that my file was in the claims dept. and it needed to be in Pre-approvals. I thought my brain would explode when I heard this. I ask why no one else had figured that out on the many other times I had called about this and oh course she was so sorry for the mis-imformation I got from the other customer service reps. So then I ask her if she can put a rush on the file so they will read it first since they had already been sitting on it for over a month. But oh no, she informed me that this is not a life or death situation but rather just something I want for myself. Not knowing how to make her understand what this is doing to me, I just asked "so when you have a life or death situation, you still have to have a medical review director read file and determine whether the customer deserves in Cigna's mind to live??" I am more than sure that did nothing to endear me to them, but sorry, I was pissed. So tomorrow is a new day, and I will once again give them a call. To pass the time, I have read everything I can find on the surgery and pre-op, post-op, shopped for protein, foods for puree, and new pajama's for the hospital. That is how sure I am that I will go. Will update again later.

By the way, didn't Renee do a fantastic job on my profile page? She is the best!

well no news yet on approval. I have called the insurance company several times to find out why they have been so long to make a decision, and all they will tell me is that they have 30 business days to make a decision, and that will be May 3rd. I know they have made a decision, they have had my file and all documents since March 17th. I am so frustrated. I plan to call them tomorrow and maybe everyday till they get so sick of me they will at least tell me something. Cigna is such a hard company to work with. Keep praying for me if you are reading this.

still waiting to hear from Cigna about approval. I am worried as I have heard such bad things about Cigna and my doctors Bariatric cooridinator said that she has had nothing but denials from Cigna this year. Keep praying. I am not giving up.

since my last post, I was approved for surgery after an appeal, only to have my company change insurance companies so they would not pay for surgery, but they did send a letter saying their medical review board did deem the surgery to be medically neccessary. So hopefully this will carry some weight with the new company. (New company Cigna PPO--anyone else used them?) So this past monday I had my last visit with the dietician (6 months) and have submitted the entire file to Cigna. Pray for a quick decision! I will keep you updated.