Finaly making my entrance.....

Hello!!  My name is Melissa a.k.a Mel.  I have been finally approved for RNY and scheduled for June 17th.  I started this jouney in 10-06 and after being discourged through the intial process I put it on hold.  (BTW, I have been considering RNY for 5 years prior)  I got a new job in June 07 with more flexability and great benifits, so I began my journey once agian.  I started the 6 month diet (it was not medically supervised, I miss read the requirments) with WW.  I started off at 414.  Now, I am very tall, 6'1, so I didn't look that weight.  You can see pics in my profile.  I made it through my six months with 24 pounds lost.  I had my physical In Feb. and was diagnosed with Type II Diabetis.  My BP is still great!  I have extremly high Cholestrol and fatty liver.  LF test is double what is suppose to be.   My surgeon re-consult was the following week.  They told me to redo my psych eval and I got it to them the following week.  They submitted my paper work and the insurance in March and the insurance came back 2 weeks later saying they wanted a Nutrional consult. Luckly, since being recently Dx Diabetic i was in diabetis managment classes where I had two appointments with a R.D.  They were more then happy to give me a letter and off it went.  Next day I get a call that I was "denied"  The insurance wanted me to get further clearences.  I was Dx after I had my son in 06/03 with Cardiomyopathy.  My cardio felt it was pregnancy related.  I started of with a heart function of 35% and by three months later I was at 50%.  A year later I was at 60% and released.  I had another echo done in 09/06 due to symptoms and I was still holding at 60% strong.  So, I degress, the insurance wanted me to get a cardio and pulmoanry (asthma) clearence before they will approve me.  I got cardio clearence the same day i saw my cardio doctor.  He did not want to do any testing and felt since I am not symptomatic, my last echo was great, and I don't have high BP, go for it.  I got the testing done by my pukmonary Doctor and cleared. They sent my paper work in last week.  I got a call on Tuesday with my approval! My pulmonary doctor wanted me to have a sleep study and was just informed on tuesday tht I have moderate to severe sleep apnea.  I go in next weekend to be fitted for my CPAP.   I think i started this out with a BMI of like 54 or 53.  I am not down to 51 something.  I have lost some additonal pounds since being diagnosed with diabitis.  So I am now down to 387.  I have to be on the opti fast diet 2 weeks preop.  I am hoping to get sown to at least 375 preop, lesser would be great.  That would make my total weight loss of 200lb to get my goal (ideal weight for my height) of 175.

Mel - i know you from the VA board.  but now I know  your whole bio.  I had my surgery with Dr. Halmi on 3/25/08, i'm just back to work this week.  You should be so proud of yourself for taking this step.  I did the 2 weeks of optifast as well, if you can make it to day 4 or 5, then you won't be as hungry, you can do this.  I, too have a CPAP, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me, ok?  Before surgery my BMI was 55, it is now 47.9 a month out.  We will all be here cheering you on - Lys

Thank you Lys!!  How are you doing?  I know you got really sick.  Are you feeling better?

Welcome to our little corner of the internet, MammaDuck a.k.a. Mel!!!  You've already had quite a journey and I commend you for sticking with it; jumping through all the hoops to get approval can be frustrating, but it sounds like you handled it all really well.  So kudos to you for that!!! 

Congrats on having a surgery date - June 17th will be here before you know it!  And congrats on the 24 pounds you've lost so far - that's fabulous.  I'm sure you'll be able to lose a bit more before surgery; every little bit helps as it makes it easier for your surgeon to operate. 

Again, welcome to this board, we're a very friendly supportive bunch of folks!  I look forward to sharing your journey with you -

Kellie

We all have the most awesome stories to tell in our little world and here's another story of bravery and perserverance.  It's crazy that we have to battle our insurance companies to have a life changing, life-saving surgery that will save them money in the long run.  Your battle sounds like a more reasonable one to make sure you were healthy enough to have the surgery.   We post anything here and it's great because we are all battling about the same amount of weight to lose.  Good luck!

Congratulations on your approval and welcome to BMI over 50!

Mel - thanks for asking, i'm doing so much better, started back to work this week (I only work P/T), but so glad to be out of the darn house!  2 more weeks on mushy foods and then off to a whole brave new world! - Lys

Hi Mel, thank you for sharing your experience.  You are a strong woman and I am glad to meet you.  Makes me stop my whining...... Connie.

Hi Mel  Welcome to the BMI over 50 forum, This is a great group of people always willing to help so if you have questions feel free to post away,  I look forward to getting to know you better!  Estelle

Welcome!! Glad to have you here! My date is May 27th so we can compare notes as we lose.