Rant on timetables, diabetes, etc.

I know you cant snap your fingers and get this surgery but I have some major time constraints and I need to try to hurry this as much as I can. 1) I barely qualified for Medicaid this last time and may not qualify next time. 2) I have been accepted into a medical program beginning in May that lasts pretty much until the end of the year. Of course my health comes first but I would prefer not to miss much time as I have been trying to get into this program for several years now. So I have a seminar to attend on March 20th in Charlotte. After that I assume are appointments to see a psychiatrist and a dietitian/nutritionist. Anybody have a name and number of the people Dr Voelinger uses so I can go ahead and set up an appointment? What can I do to help things along? Is there anything I can do now while Im waiting BEFORE Dr Voellinger asks me? The metformin seemed to be working well until today. Ive been dizzy and lightheaded all day starting last night. My blood sugar is 264 on my meter so I guess Ive a right to feel bad huh? Being diabetic doesnt let me go about this slow. Im so scared that Ill wake up sometime soon and my kidneys have stopped working or something. I jokingly tell people Id let a fisherman with a rusty knife do WLS on me if I thought he could do it....lol.

robert,i know i repeat myself but dr. malik in rocky mount has no waiting list and no manditory seminar to go to. i was in the hospital for surgery on monday and left tuesday. he said my new pouch is perfect and he couldnt have performed a better surgery. he is excellent. dr.s with seminars and waiting lists are too long of a wait. adrienne

Thank you for your post Adrienne. Dr Mailik is 189 miles from me. I dont really know what to expect from Dr Voellinger but if it looks like they are into the waiting game I will have to consider Dr Malik. Actually maybe the fact that he is so far away is a good thing. He would be more willing to get all my paperwork and appointments at one time because of the long drive? I assume you had your psych evaluation and nutritionist meeting fairly quickly with no games? I WISH I could just have my seminar, turn my paperwork in, get appointments with the Psych eval and nutritionist the next week and have a surgery date sometime the next week. Ive researched this stuff quite a bit and although there are somethings I am not sure of Im soooo ready to get it done. I was afraid of my appetite after surgery but pretty much everybody says the appetite is gone or very very much reduced. I was afraid of the possibility of dying in surgery or soon after but my diabetes has made those odds seem like very good odds. Truthfully the five year mortality rate of morbidly obese people who dont have the surgery is over 6% while the five year mortality of those who have had the surgery is less than 1%. I want to ask the Doc about having him bypass up to 200 cm of small intestine instead of just 100 cm to enhance weght loss... Im so afraid of my diabetes and it is readily apparent to me that my current medications are not controlling it completely. In my family the five, hell the 2 year mortality rate after diagnosis with diabetes is 75%. I dont want to waste a single day because it matters that much. I had two uncles develop diabetes and turn around a die from kidney failure within 3 months. Maybe they had it a while and didnt know? I hope so for my sake. My father swore he never felt any symptoms at all until the day his kidneys failed. There were a lot of days his blood sugar would go over 700. The machine they used only went up to 700 so who knows how high it actually was. He fought tooth and nail to live and survived for 3 years before he passed last year. I dont want to leave my kids this soon. Now Im crying again. I know they want to make sure this is a TOOL to lose weight and believe me I do understand that. I dont intend to go back to eating what I eat now either in amount or kind of foods. I will drink broth as long as they tell me to. Ill eat baby food (yuck) as long as they tell me too. Ill walk as long as they tell me too. Ill do anything they tell me to just so long as they do this before I have some major problems with my diabetes.

Robert, I know you've posted several concerns about getting started with this surgery. I am lucky enough that my insurance which I pay over $600 a month for at my company has paid for everything except the rx copays, surgery and dr's office copays, and the nutrionist. I figured that I could swing this with flexspending accounts through work. So far, everything has worked as plan. You've gotta slow down a bit though. Attend Dr V's seminar, get your questions answered, have your appointment, make sure you qualify and then move forward. It's easier said then done, but I was in the same boat. I decided to dealy until 2006 because of personal cir****tances namely money and paid time off from work. I probably could have had the surgery in 2005, but I refused to attend all the manditory things until I knew I was preapproved. I know some things about dr V from one of his patients. First, he just opened his own practice, so things aren't too slow moving. Second, he just opened his first practice, he's gotta get in billable hours. I am also in the know that they are making staff improvements. The two things I do know also, is that he doesn't required the 12 month nutrionist program that dr B requires, and that the psych person he uses is rather quick and will tell you the outcome instead of waiting for results. I had my surgery with dr b because I found a coworker who used him and she cannot stop speaking volumes about them. I was pleased. I know your in a situation with your insurance so dr b isn't an option. You also realize this surgery isn't a cureall for your diabetes? I still am having high blood pressure readings and I'm 3 weeks post op. These things take time. I was facing having spinal surgery because I was having such bad back pain and the dr was at the last medical resort before surgery. This jumpstarted me to get moving with surgery. I am not and will not have back surgery unless i'm about to become paralyzed, this is exactly what I told the back dr. Now, I go back to him in May for my follow up and I cannot wait to show him the new me. I will not require vicodin for pain or muscle relaxers. I just remembered one other thing, I was always tired, I figure I had some type of apenia even though I was never tested. I know dr V requires a sleep study, but with your diabetes your a definite canditate. My mom died in 2003 and the diabetes ravaged her body for 10 long years. It was not well controlled and it's something she didn't take seriously. I never want to die like that. As long as I have the strength to battle my weight for the rest of my life, I most likely will not have diabetes to battle. I applaud your determination. My proactive plan before surgery was to get a flu shot, make sure I took extra care and not be around sick people, to use alot of hand santizer, and to avoid too many social situations. I had my surgery during flu season 2/22 and these measures helped. Once you get your approval you are going to feel so different about everything. Keep It Up!!!! Email if you have any questions. I cannot disclouse how I"m in the know about dr V because I don't want to voilate anyone's privacy. Jennifer

I would have gladly drove 187 miles to get my surgery covered. Instead I drove 17 miles and paid over $30,000 out of pocket. Come on Robert, Be happy, and don't rush things , before you know it, your date will be here. Good Luck