Monday Roll Call

Good morning IL~

I have the kids today and I think I will take them to the pool.  I worked so hard around the house yesterday and my body is sure feeling it!  This week my goal is to excercise everyday.  There is a baby crying, so I better go.  Enjoy the beautiful weather!

Kim

Good morning Paul and Illinois, I'm off to a slow start again this morning, but once the coffee hits me it'll be nonstop. Earl is puting up the new organizer in the bedroom closet. I have the usual errands to run today, bank, groceries, post office, put all my new clothes away. 

Saturday night I went to a friends house she lost  80 lbs in the last 2 years by altering her diet. anyway she had lots and lots of size 18 & 20's clothes she had me try on  ( I was like oh sure this will be embarrasing) Well amazingly the 20's all fit and by the fall the 18's should fit. I could not believe it, but she only buys really good quality clothes (Liz Claiborn, etc) so all I can figure is that they must run big or else they would not go over my big butt and tummy!  I don;t really care right now why they fit I am just going to enjoy the feeling and hope it never goes away. I don't think 40 pounds lost is alot since I have so far to go but I do know that the clothes I was wearing 24-28's are hanging so I must be losing inches too.  I need to measure again, havent done that in a while. 

Yesterday, we went into Chicago and I met dear friend, Dawn,  from Arizona and her sister, Carol, and later her mom showed up.  It was much more like seeing close family than friends, I didn;t want the day to end. Dawn took lots of pics (I forgot my camera- how dumb) but she will email the pics to me when she gets home. They all commented on my weight loss and her sister had wl friendly foods for me.isn't that sweet! Dawn had told her sister, Carol that I was preparing for weight loss surgery. I want to pick up a special thank you card for Carol today for hosting our little get together and her thoughtfulness. 

I hope you all have a great day and week ahead. Hugs, Paulette

Way to go Paulette! It is so nice to fit into smaller clothes isn't it? Glad you had a nice visit with your childhood friend!

Support, that's what we are all here for!  One of these days we are going to have to get together so we can meet. Maybe we can plan something soon. I'll be in touch with you later. 

You're doing great Paulette-enjoy those new threads-I AM!  Hugs-Janet K

Good Morning!

This is my first roll call, as I just finished introducing myself yesterday.  I am home today still recovering from Gallbladder surgery from 11 days ago.  I finally am feeling better, and see inprovement in the pain and discomfort.  The GB surgery was supposed to be easy compared to the bypass, so I am a little concerned about the recovery after.  It took them tons of tests and scans and dr and an extra hosp stay to get the pain control right.  I now am on Norco, a lidocaine pain patch and an abdominal binder for support.

I had mentioned more than a few times that I thought the pain was due to the weight of my belly pulling on the sutures on the inside, and that if I was sitting still, or laying down I was ok.  When I walked, I needed to hold pressure on my side with my hand otherwise I got that pulling, ripping feeling, which then caused me to breath shallow and have shortness of breath.  Im not quite sure why they did not think of the abdominal binder earlier in the week before they sent me for chest ct, blood work, CXR, abdominal and pelvic cts and then an overnite stay to control the pain.  I am just greatful it is getting better just so I can heal to have it all over again!  

I am telling you, if they would call me today and say come in tomorrow, I would/  Pain or no pain, I am so anxious to have this done and over so I can begin my new life.

I feel like I have spent my whole summer sick, and in and out of hospitals and ERs and Drs visits.  Very frustrating.  My house has suffered, I cant do much and it bothers me something terrible.  Everyone says..let it go!...who cares?....forget about it...it doesnt matter that your house isnt clean.......WELL it does matter to me.  I cant stand it and it makes me so stressed out.  Then there is sending my kids somewhere everyday becasue I cant take care of them.  Especially my daughter who is 22 months old. I cant lift her into the chair to eat, or onto the changing table to change her.  SHe is always on the go, and the more I am up and down, and in and out, the more I hurt and Last Monday I tried to keep her home, and I over did it, and look where I am now.  Not to mention the laundry that is piled up. 

AM I CRAZY?? 

I feel like I have lost control over everything and I will never get it back.  I was so glad to find this board because I need advice from you all who have been through all this and how you made it through. No one seems to understand.

I am still awaiting "The Approval" from my ins. company, for the surgery.  They say my "due date" is July 22nd.  I cant even get them to tell me at what point in the process it is in, so I know if they have even looked at it yet.  This is an appeal on the first denial because I missed an apointment at the nutrtionist because my dad was having surgery for pancreatic cancer and I had to reschedule for the following week, which was a new month, so I technically missed Feb. and had to start all over in march with the 3 month medically sup diet.  So really all they should need is to see that I completed it as per their request, and approve it right?  Right?  I know I am in a dream world, of common sense and compassion, a world that the insurance company DOES NOT live in.  I am still frustrated with it all.

Wow I have babbled on way too long here.  Thanks for listening!

I welcome any suggestions on how to prepare better for the upcoming bypass ( hopefully) and how to deal with all the stress of "letting things go".

Nice to meet all of you and glad I have found some new friends.

Eileen

Hi Eileen and welcome to the IL board!

After reading your post, one thing stood out to me about your insurance.  I do not know who you have for insurance, but when I went through the process, and was denied for not enough suppervised weighloss visits, the way to handle it once the requirement WAS met was to submit the proof back to the person whose name was on the original denial of just that one requirement.  (Does that make sense?)

What I am saying is that you do not want to re-submit the whole pre-approval, you just want to deal with that one requirement and with the person who signed the denial letter.

I hope this is what you are doing, but my surgeon's office would have re-submitted and things may not have turned out so well.  Resubmitting is like starting over again and this is a mistake many people make when dealing with insurance companies.

Good luck to you and I am glad to hear that you are felling a bit better today.  May each day get better!

hi,

I asked that same question, about just adding in the info but my insurance company (Aetna) requires you to "appeal" any denial.  So it is in the appeals process right now, with all the added information.  It also goes to another Medical director for the appeal for fairness, because this one who denied it the first time is known for denying ALL claims no matter what.

I picture her as a skinny all her life, never and issue with weight, can eat anything she wants in any portion, lady sitting behind her big desk with a large DENIED stamp in her hand, laughing as she stamps every claim DENIED!

I know I am cynical and probably overreacting, but it is hard to not be after all of this.

I did not even mention that when my surgeon wanted to take my gallbladder out he called the insurance company and pleaded with them to let him do the bypass at the same time and they would not budge, becasue they had til the 22nd of July to make their decision.  So that meant I have to have 2 separate surgeries and 2 recoveries etc... all that adds to more bills for the insurance company costing them more money in the long run.

Thanks for the warm welcome and the advice!