I am going to be honest, I was nervous, excited, scared - I wanted to cry.
I get there a few minutes early and there were only 2 other patients in the waiting room. One was going through the approval process. The other just had a full bypass 2 weeks ago.
The gentleman who was in the process of getting approved was a little frustrated with this process - but it was strictly insurance. His particular plan required him to jump through hoops. He was hoping to get on the schedule for surgery while he was there today. He had been going through this process since January.
The second person just had the by-pass 2 weeks ago. She looked great. You can tell she was very sore, but she said that she never had to even take the pain medication and they did the surgery laparoscopic. That kind of gives me hope if for some reason that I don't qualify for the sleeve!! She didn't have to jump through a lot of hoops - she first had her consult in June and she had her surgery a month later! She was telling me how she had to do a liver diet cleanse for 2 weeks before the surgery. It was interesting to hear
They call me back to a room and do the typical go over paperwork, check vitals, etc. Then they do the initial weight.
I weigh 273 pounds. So that is my starting weight officially on the books!
They also take my "before" picture. Really, couldn't they have warned me first, I would have dressed for the occasion!!!!
Dr Ferrari comes in to the room and we have a great chat. He explains to me in detail how the weight loss surgery works and how it is different than the medication I took, Belviq. He explained how, even though Belviq targeted the seretonin in the brain, that the sertonin is also responsible for other things in your body. Where as when the stomach is reduces, it also changes the hormones that are sent to the brain. It was interesting to listen to him talk about it.
I expected a grilling. Like "You have to prove that you can do the work" and all of that. But as he listed to my story and I showed photos of my journey, I think he realized, I am willing to do the work, I just need help.
I was even honest, I told him I wasn't there to make excuses, I am responsible for getting to this point. Now lets do something about it.
What was great was, he also realized that with my RSD, I have limitations on what I can. But that is no excuse, I can swim, bike, etc. But he seemed sympathetic and hopeful that getting the surgery off would help my symptoms.
He the turns me over to the medical front office coordinator to go over details. What is required for me and what are the next steps. She gave me a packet that had my list of "tasks" that I need to do with referrals for each type of provider. So, lets go over what I have to do:
- Blood work- they will check hormone levels, vitamin levels and of course, liver and lipids. I will fail on the lipids and I already know I am vitamin D deficient. I will be scheduling that next week.
- Cardiac Clearance - Basically, I need to make sure my ticker is strong enough to handle the surgery and the after math!! That appointment is scheduled for Tuesday, August 13th
- Nutritional Consultation - meet with a dietitian who will go over some basics on nutrition to prepare me for what I need to do before the surgery and after. That appointment is scheduled for Wednesday, August 7th. (NOTE: She was so nice on the phone - I can't wait to meet her in person)
- 3 month supervised diet - So I basically have to go see Dr. Ferrari once a month for 3 months to show that I can stick to a diet. This is required by my insurance. I don't have to show significant weight loss, just can't gain weight either. Basically, I have to stick to a program. My first appointment is September 4th. I will then have one in October and the final one in November.
- Endoscopy - this is to look at the stomach. This will be what determines if I am a candidate for the sleeve or if I have to have a full gastric bypass. They look for hernias, etc (which can be fixed in surgery). That will be scheduled some time in October.
So the Goal is - to have all of my tests, etc done before I go in for my final appointment on the supervised diet in November. At that time, they will take everything they collected from all of the providers and send it to the insurance company to get the final approval so we can schedule surgery in December!
I will blog in between. I will talk about the diet program, the nutritional consultation, and even some measures I am taking on my own to help boost my health and get ready for this biggest change in my life!
Stay tuned!!
