Surgery date is May 21st! That's going to make one person mad but he can get over it. That also gives me Memorial day for recovery.
I have to meet with the surgeon and I have to get labs done with my primary care physician's office all of which I need to get scheduled on Monday.
I'm on liquid diet now….
Just went into the BCBS of Texas Live Chat and got told that my surgery had been approved. Am in the process of finding the people I need to get it scheduled.
I have phone calls and emails out. Will update when I know more.
And something I need to solve….
So after I went to the nutritionist and lost 7 pounds I have been telling myself — oh, you can eat that, you deserve a break. A week later and I am still not back to losing weight. I’m also doing a lot of–I need to say goodbye since I won’t have that food again.
Also other things are getting in the way — for example, right now, all the cold air in our building is in my room. Seriously, I’m freezing but if I walk down the hall a few steps it is HOT! Apparently there is a damper stuck and someone needs to come and fix it.
My solution to being too cold on Wednesday, and I was seriously shivering, was to go find something warm to eat. Actually just driving over to the nearest fast food and back was probably enough to get warm, but yes, I ate some McDonald’s food.
Yesterday was better, I went downstairs and had a piece of chicken from the cafeteria.
Today’s been better yet, I walk down the hall where it is warm when I get to cold and then come back.
But yes, I’ve got to solve this and get back on track.
Checked with BCBS this morning, no approval — trying now, but probably better later in the day and our internet isn’t working well right now.
Just went to the BCBS site to check and they do have my paperwork. They say I should get a response back in less than two weeks.
I love their online chat service. Much more convenient than the telephone.
Getting closer.
I love what the case manager said:
I am updating you and letting you know I am submitting all your medical records and paperwork to your insurance today. I have snail mailed all your info to BCBS-TX. Their fax is down today. I will try again tomorrow but just in case I am mailing your info. Please call your ins. in 1 week to check status of your case.
We should hear something in about 3-4 weeks. It is always possible that your insurance company will request additional information that will delay the approval. If you happen to hear anything let me know. If you get a letter in the mail, please make sure you send me a copy for your chart. There are times we are not notified and letters are sent to the patient only. Many patients think we will contact them assuming we received a copy also, when in fact we have no idea of your approval or denial.
If you want to make sure you are on top of your case, you can call 1 week from now and check the status of your Lapband pre-determination. You can tell the insurance this is for lap-band CPT code 43770 for morbid obesity diagnosis code 278.01. Your insurance should be able to keep you posted. We all know how insurance companies can be. They will either lose your paperwork, or else it sits on someone’s desk for weeks. If you are in contact w/ the insurance you should be well informed of all steps involved.
I wish you the best and hope to hear good news soon!!
Current Status: Waiting on case manager to submit paperwork to insurance company.
I am still working on losing weight, though the storms that have gone thorugh is making that idfifcult. Knees ache the most but all joints are aching. Only got 17 minutes in on the treadmill yesterday, we’ll see how the rest goes.
I posted a request for personal trainer referrals and got several, so I am going to look into that.
I’ve got a Magic Bullet blender so getting through the 4 weeks of post op diet is going to be good.
I’m also trying to do liquid diet as much as possible between now and then, and keeping it as low carb as possible. I really feel the difference after having lost over 7 pounds in the last month so that helps. Not sure what the surgeon will say but in my presurgery meeting with the TLC Edge Consultant, she said to try to lose as much as possible before the surgery and that the postop is cruicial in preventing slipping. She also said that dropping the Diet Coke was cruicial too.
Expectations: The dietician I am seeing drives me a bit nuts. She was going on about how next year this time I should weight 170 pounds. I don’t think so, that means a weight loss of around 140 pounds and I really don’t think that is a good idea.
I’d be happy with 250 pounds in one year from now.
I also don’t want to hear things like off medications, off CPAP, etc. Though I would LOVE a reduction in gastric reflux, I doubt that will happen for a long time, because I still has reflux with liquid diet only. I think most of the reflux is the weight I am carrying.
This is the last problem I have to fix before surgery and the one that is the hardest, as I am still downstairs and haven’t headed up. Though I am planning on sleeping in tomorrow.
Quoted from http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/results.php?storyarticle=6675:
Bought a Magic Bullet Blender at Walmart after my appointment today. I wanted to wait until I tried it out before I said something. I'm going to be on a liquid/mushy diet for about four weeks after the surgery. My plan is to do Optifast/Slimfast as long as possible and when I get to mushy, smash everything up. Worked really well with hamburger, and am going to give chicken a try tomorrow. I was also looking for easy cleanup and it looks like it fits the bill.
So that is out of the way.
Hit 25 minutes on the treadmill. We'll see how I feel tomorrow.
This article is RIGHT on the mark. As a probable Type 2 diabetic with a probably dead pancreas I know. And this was well written, and good information. Good job!
Some of the concerns and comments about how a couple drinks might affect Bears quarterback Jay Cutler and his diabetes are well meaning, which is great.
I just completed 6 months of medically supervised diet. Checked into my dietcian's office at 8:00 am this morning (yes, May 1st), the first possible moment I could. <snicker> I have now met all the requirements needed for insurance approval.
At least 7 pounds weight loss from last visit and I think I'm close to were I started 6 months ago. <sigh>
I also met with the surgical consultant. She went over the whole lap band system again. Her name is Cynthia and she wrote the book, which I need to go order.
TDD is down to 80 units a day from 150.
Treadmill walking is up to 22 1/2 minutes a day last night and 20 minutes a day consistently the last two weeks.
Best news — dog agility practice is going better!
Now I am waiting for insurance approval and I'm going to keep up with what I am doing with food, as low carb and fat as I can stand and only as much protein as I need to get through the day.