Rhonda Lassabe

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Really getting bummed, I got another email from the clinic, I had asked them AGAIN as to when I should expect to hear something about getting the surgery done!!! She replied and said that they promise they havent forgotten me, but the Center of Excellence has managed to string them along for 300 days and that they got a new manager in who vowed to call medicare every single day to see if they can get it closed so they can move on and then I might get a phone call to get in there and see the surgeon and be a step closer to having my surgery that I have been long awaiting on.

Just an update, no surgery yet but looks as if it will be soon! I have been waiting for some time now because the place where I am looking to have it done at has been on hold by Medicare to do a bunch of required paper work in order for them to be allowed and covered to take in medicare patients, just their way of trying to get out from having to pay for it! But I was told that it shouldnt be more than a couple more weeks now. In a few weeks I should be getting a phone call to come in and see the surgeon, so I am praying this will happen.....and praying we can make tentative plans on a surgery date atleast. I have been having some back pain, I have fallen a few times too and let me tell you, the bigger they are the harder they fall...4 real....I was told that I have degenerative artheritis/disk disease......this is just another thing to add to the list of reasons why i NEED this surgery! 
I am still patiently waiting and trying to get my mindset changed and ready for the surgery....I will keep ya posted....

I am getting more and more excited as the time goes by and I keep getting closer and closer to a surgery date. I finally heard back from bariatrics that they recieved my lab results. My doctor put me on metformin 2000 mg a day because she said im insullin resistant. I was told that im up for a call soon for an appointment to see the surgeon. After that they will be sending in for approval to my insurance. So it seems we are very close now. I have an appointment on the 16th to see a dietician and the 10th to see my psychiatrist and the 3rd to see an exersize therapist. I have been trying to lose some weight since i went to the seminar because i know it is good to try and lose and make some changes before having the surgery. I also know i will actually most likely be required to lose weight before surgery in order for the liver to allow to shrink some for a safer and easier procedure. I started a prenatal vitamin and protien drinks already, just for my own good i guess, no one told me to, i just did on my own. I am also wanting to go to the groups meetings even though they said i didnt have to. I figure the more the better here right....well i guess thats all for now...

12/15/06
Just got a phone call from a lady from the bariatrics services center and she said she needed my doctors referral letter re-faxed with a dr signature - signed and printed behind my pcp's name because my pcp  is a FNP. ....crazy picky...but oh well, I'll git er done!!...also have them faxing the needed form to my Psych for the evaluation. ... found out when and where the next support group is in kirksville which is only an hour away compared to the 2-3 hour drive to the bariatrics office...so this is awesome....She also told me to email natalie and have her put me on the SG list so I get mailings of when the groups are and where every month. I don't "have" to attend these but am opting to do so anyways....I told the lady who called me that I will be choosing option A and so will need the forms for the dietician and the exersize therapist and such...so she is getting those out to me also.....It is becoming more and more real to me that my life will be changing for the better and I will be getting a new lease on life.....i can hardly wait!!

12/14/06
I had my appointment today with my psychiatrist, and found out some very very exciting news!!!! I am so so Happy, because I found out that I will NOT have to come up with 200 dollars by the 8th of January for my presurgical Psychiatric assessment!!! I found out that my Dr. Is licensed to do these and now does psyc evals. Also he said he will not require me to pay no 200 up front....also, he said that he is confident enough that if there is a form for him to fill out for the surgery from the bariatrics office that he would just fill it out and use the visit we had today and we wouldnt even need to do the hour psych eval!!! This is totally awesome news...and probably the best news that I have had in a very very long time. So instead of the 8th, I have an appointment on the 10th of Jan. It is only 2 days later than the one i had originally gotten, but this one wont cost me.....right now anyways.....

12/09/06
I am now 9 days smoke free! I have a PCP appointment tomorrow and also see my ob/gyn tomorrow. I will be giving them both a referral letter to send off and will be asking my pcp to get me schedualed for the blood work/labs so those can be faxed as well. Im getting the ball rolling. Tomorrow if I have any time I will try and see if I can schedule a psych eval also.

12/04/06
Well, I had a great evening in Columbia at my seminar. It was very informational and it only eased my mind even further on my decisions to have this surgery and have the RNY (lap) procedure. I have a better understanding of the before during and after of my life in this journey. I got some names of some of the protein drinks and am planning on going to get some of those the first chance I get. Tomorrow I will be filling out the paper work so I can get it sent right back as soon as possible to get this thing started. I also am planning on getting in to see my primary to get the referral paper off and I have an upcoming appointment to see my psych. and will get him to also send me a referral out. I will get set up for a sleep apnea test done and my psych eval. I am so so excited and psyched about this. I really feel that my time is here for this and my new life is just around the corner. this time it is real and it is going to happen. And believe me.....I am so ready for it!

Also, I cannot forget to say that this is my fourth day without smoking and I really feel happy for myself and proud about it. I can hardly stand the smell of smoke anymore as my hubby does still smoke and even smoke around me and as much as I sometimes think I could just have one more...I don't. I am smoke free and am really truly on my way to better health. At the seminar, They asked for a show of hands of who all smokes.....I didnt have to raise my hand because I dont smoke anymore!!! And I must also just say that I couldnt have picked a better support person to take me to the seminar, my pastors wife took me. Well, it would have probably been good for my hubby to have gone to it but it just wasnt possible because of our three kids, we didnt have adequate childcare for us to go together. Anyways, thats all for now and I will try and keep you all updated every step of the way....

Well, this is my second day in my giving up smoking. I have worn a nicotine replacement patch for two days now. I am noticing already a big difference in things. My husband smokes and I about puke in the mornings when I get up, he has gotten up before me and smoked ? how many ever cigarrettes and I have not and the smell is just rank...Yesterday was a bit rough, boy was I a bitch! I did maybe have a couple puffs or so and a couple times I found it soothing just to hold a cigarrette while it burned when sitting with others who smoke. It was not too bad though. Today however is kinda rough. I have had maybe a total of one cigarrette. I know i am not supposed to smoke with the patch, but it has only been a puff here and there. But a good thing though, the smoke is really getting to me now, the headaches arent as bad as they were yesterday, so that has got to mean something. Also, today I have even noticed a bit more energy, maybe this even means my lungs are healing up a bit? But man am I bitchy today...I can't wait till this is no longer a issue for me, so I can move on to my real goal. Just one more day till monday...I will be leaving monday afternoon to head to Columbia to my seminar..Woot Woot!!

After some careful thought and taking in some advice from several different people I think I will ....be thinking more on the RNY instead of the lap band. I am 30 and am not over 400...close (370 or so) but not over 400. I dont have a whole lot of problems with comorbidities right yet, I have some muscle skeletal back pains, gerd or acid reflux, anxiety, depression, PTSD, High blood pressure, and sometimes cannot get to sleep or do not sleep well, but this is pretty much the extent to my problems. I think the RNY will give me a better sucess rate and that provided my current conditions it will be the best for me and the safest, I dont feel as if I would be one out of the 200 that dies. Of, course I will have to discuss this with my dr and all, but I have been there before I had gotten pregnant and he was saying the RNY back then. Now that I am starting over, i have thought more on it but still I think I will go RNY, the only thing that I still dont know is the difference between the RNY lap and just RNY? ?  Getting very anxious as the 4th is approaching and the quitting smoking.

It seems that I am having really quite a deal with this quitting smoking.I know that I will "need" to quit for the surgery and for good, never to start up again because of the dangers of ulcers and such after surgery. But I "want" to quit smoking because I want to renew all of me and I am having this surgery for my health and so why then wouldnt I benefit to quit smoking for my health also. It just is so hard to quit when you live with someone who smokes and are around his family who also smokes. One way or another I will quit, initially told myself that I wuld be done smoking before the 4th of December when I have my seminar meeting. I still hope that this will be done! Please pray with me and my church that I will be free from smoke by the 4th of December?