Hey all!

hi Jen, congratulations!! You are doing great!! Amy and I are still hanging in there, trying to keep each other from going nuts while we wait for insurance approval. Hurry up BC/BS!!!! Shelli, I am waiting for insurance approval, it's been about 10 days since Covenant sent my stuff to the insurance company. I will call them in a few days to see how it's going. So far I've had my echocardiogram and my sleep study done as far as pre-op testing is concerned so hopefully there won't be too many more tests. This weighting is making me crazy!! ok, maybe I was already crazy. Leslie

Leslie I hope your approval goes faster than mine did! My stuff was mailed out on May 4th and finally after faxing in a surgeons letter of medical neccesity, and my psych eval which I had done in February to IDPA I was approved June 10th. I am still waiting to get through the fianacial dept to get the go ahead on pre-op. We had a terrible time getting everything to IDPA. I do not know which end was having the problem Covenant or IDPA. I do not know if BC/BS is faster or not but I hope so. I attended the February seminar!! I thought I was ahead of the game, guess not!! Shelli

Thanks Leslie!!! BCBS only took 8 days to approve me. I called a couple of times. For my pre-op testing I had to do a urine test, blood work, EKG and an abdominal ultrasound. It took about 2 hours at Sartori. Have you had a psych eval done yet? They'll want that. Good luck to you!! I hope all works out well and you're on the losing side soon. Hugs, Jen

Shelli, I hope so too!! Mine went in the middle of last week. Now I can only hope to get the approval quickly so I can go to the next step...waiting for Covenant to make sure I have no debt with them. (ok, is this a stupid question? How could I have debt with them if I've never been there before this? and why does it take them 2-3 weeks to find out this information when I told them right up front? ) Jen, your insurance approval didn't take too long, did it? We have the same insurance. Anyway, I am going to call them today just to make sure everything is there. Take care everyone and stay cool and do lots of drinking. I'm consistantly drinking over 100 oz of liquid a day now. Leslie

Jen, I just called them today for the first time and it's been about 8 days but they didn't know anything yet. Sigh..... I had my psych eval, sleep study and echocardiogram done so far plus all my annual stuff right before, pap, mammogram and bloodwork. I've tried to keep ahead of everything the best I can. Shouldn't I be losing weight just from wading through all this red tape?? Leslie

Hahaha!!!! That's a good one! If only it were that simple! That's too bad that you don't have an answer yet. I feel for you because the whole time I waited, I was on pins and needles. It's weird how something like that affects you. I was constantly checking messages, emails, etc. Just waiting for something!!! You hang in there though because it DOES happen. When I look back on it now, I can't believe how fast it all went. I started researching it in early October when I had kidney stones and after going to 2 different surgeons and then finding Dr. G in Cedar Falls in February, I had surgery April 6th!!! I'll be thinking about you!!! Jen

Hi Jen! Wow, over 60 pounds is wonderful! You are doing a good job with losing weight. An idea for those family gatherings might be to make sure that you have something that ONLY you can eat. Find a protein bar or something that you like that you can take so you feel you are having a treat, also. I found one that is like a rice krispie treat. I don't have them often because they are loaded with calories and I will eat it whenever I have the chance - (food control issues, you know) - but it's good like at church when we have fellowship and goodies every Sunday after service. I am the only one walking around talking without food in my mouth. It is just nice to sometimes have something that's a treat for me. Now, I'm going to chew you out for the smoking part of your post. You had to quit - why in the world did you start up again? I don't really expect an answer because you know that I am a smoker (past), too. I quit once years ago for 3 years and then ballooned up to over 350 pounds. Then started again and didn't lose any of the weight. Had to quit prior to surgery and haven't had one since because I know that would just open the flood gates and I would start up. Think about all the healthy lifestyle changes you are making and add quitting smoking to that list. You have done something remarkable with the surgery - you can do it with the smoking, too. (Sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now.) Enjoy that pool and congrats on the loss! God bless, Andrea

I KNOW. Doesn't it suck??? My husband smoked the entire time so him smoking still hasn't helped. I think I started again because I was just bored. I felt like I should be doing something. Then I'd clean the house, do the laundry, get the girls in bed and then sit in front of the tv....so I just lit up. It tasted gross at first but now I'm addicted again. I think when I get closer to goal, I'll quit again. I have to quit before we get pregnant in 2 years so I know that it's at the end of the tunnel somewhere! It does feel kinda good to not stuff my face in front of everyone now. I do exactly what you do....I walk around and talk to people. While they sit there and stuff their faces, I find I talk a lot more! I really help my 2 year old eat too. She just can't sit still so I help her out and that takes my mind off eating. It's just hard sometimes when you can't even try a bite in fear that you'll dump. I'm so scared of dumping! I've only done it once but it was HORRIBLE. And it was on a protein bar. I think I just ate it way too fast and I ate the whole thing when I was only used to eating a half at a time. You live, you learn! Haven't had one since!! Thanks for all the support! Promise to start posting more and getting the support that I need. I wish I would have been more prepared emotionally before surgery, I guess. Sometimes I just feel so alone. Big hugs, Jen