Is anyone else here from the Cookeville area?

Tammy... I too live in Cookeville, and would love to see you come to the meetings at the hospital..Jane Ellen, who is on the radio, leads the meetings. You will love her. I am not sure just how much longer she will lead them, as she will soon be having a baby..Hope she stays with us..As for the surgery......I had an RNY June 30, 2004. Weighed in at 288 on surgery day, have lost 149lbs, now weighing 139. My doctor, who is in Clarksville was happy with the weight loss back in March. At that time I still weighed around 155, this weight was her goal for me..Mine is around 135. I will soon be there.. It's been a long journey but will worth it..As for insurance (I have Tenn-Care Select) I had no problems at all. Was approved two weeks after my consult. and then had surgery two weeks later.. My husband and I are now trying to get his surgery done before his Tenn-Care is cancelled, which, from what I am hearing on the news will be some time in Aug. I have also been approved for my Tummy tuck to be done in June... for me...... Well, if you would like to e-mail me please do. and check out my profile. It may help in some small way. Karen RNY6-30-288/139/135goal

CONGRATULATIONS Karen!!!!! I am sooooo happy for you! I only pray that someday I can be sitting in your seat too lol. Well, I go to my seminar tonight at Centennial, so maybe I will know more after that. I know I qualify for this surgery, if only my insurance will see it that way too. Please pray for me because I really need this surgery. I will keep your husband in my prayers. I know this Tenn Care thing is crazy. Because of Tenn Care reform, I may lose my job. I currently work as a case manager at a Mental Health agency in Cookeville that serves Tenn Care patients. We were told yesterday that some of us may lose our jobs depending on how many of our clients lose their Tenn Care insurance... So, if that happens, I don't know what I will do then. I am trying to stay positive. If I got laid off, sure I could collect unemployment which would at least be something and would give me the time off to have surgery w/o worrying about rushing back to work, BUT (there is always a BUT, lol), I cannot afford COBRA which means I would NOT have ANY insurance at all!!!! So, I need to get approved and have the surgery yesterday!!! LOL Get my point? ::sigh:: Oh well, God's will right? Thats what I have to keep telling myself. If I am supposed to have this surgery, then somehow everything will fall into place. Well, speaking of work, I better get going for now and get ready for work. I will post more later after I attend the seminar tonight. And I am planning to start coming to the support group at the hospital. Can't wait to meet y'all! Please keep in touch. Feel free to email me anythime. Bye for now. Tammy

Hi Tammy, I am also from Cookeville and I had RNY on Jan 5 2005 I have lost 63 lbs. so far and have had no problems. Dr. Olsen did my surgery and he is wonderful. I have United Health Care for insurance so I can't helpl you out there. I also have been attending the support groups at Cookeville and they are very helpful and informational. We would love to see you there. If you have any questions just email, I love to share my experience with others just haven't had time to update my profile though.

Hello Pamela!!! CONGRATULATIONS on your weight loss!!!!! I went to the seminar at Centennial Medical Center on Tuesday, 4/26/05 and Dr. Dyer was the speaker. It was a great seminar and Centennial sounds like a great hospital to have WLS. Anyways, I found out yesterday that there is probably no way around the exclusion in my insurance policy so I don't know what I am going to do. I am planning to come to the support group at the Cookeville Medical Center because I have no plans on giving up on having the WLS, I'm just not sure how to go about this or what to do next. Is the support group next Wednesday 5/4 or is it the following Wednesday, 5/11? I look forward to meeting you. Take care and keep loosing! Tammy

Hello Tammy, I am in the cookeville area also and have the same insurance you have. My husband's employer funds the insurance.... what exactly did they tell you that you needed to do if they DID fund the insurance?? I need to have this surgery... and It is not getting any easier day by day.... I would love to hear from you... feel free to email me via obesity help and I will send you my contact information... Marie

Hello Marie!!! Thanks for responding to my post. Everyone has been so wonderful on here. Have you gone to a WLS seminar yet? Because what they told me at Centennial was to submit the packet of information they gave me and that they would submit it to my insurance for pre-determination. They said if it was denied due to the exclusion that their financial people would talk with the insurance people. They said if it was a self-funded plan, that they would advocate for me on my behalf with my employer's HR dept. They said that sometimes with a letter of medical necessity, an employer will go ahead and override the exclusion on a case by case basis because they can go ahead and authorize the payment. With a fully insured plan (like what I have), the employer pays a premium to the ins co. and therefore have to strictly abide by the ins co.'s rules. They told me to call my HR dept to find out if my plan was self-funded first. So it's good you already know that information. So what I would do if I was you would be to go to a seminar (you have to attend a seminar at Centennial first) and then submit the info and let them advocate for you. I will email you and maybe we can work on this together. You are not alone and two heads are better than one! Keep the faith. Tammy