smiller8
6/22/2006
Jun 22, 2006
Good news! I called the sleep lab and they had a cancellation, so I will be having my sleep study this coming Monday, June 26! Isn't that just great. God is good!. I am so relieved.
Keep praying for me.6/21/2006
Jun 21, 2006
Happy 1st day of summer to all. I keep thinking that next time this year I won't have to worry about finding clothes to fit that are cool. There will be a new me.
Today I called SleepCare to see if they had any opening sooner at another facility nearer to me. I was told that the first available appointment at that center was not until July 17. So, I thanked the lady(Gloria) and told her that I will keep my appointment for July 8 at the other facility and hung up. About a minute later she called and said that she had just checked and that there was a canellation and I could come in on June 26 if I wanted to. IF I WANTED TO === OF COURSE IT WANTED TO. I am so happy about this because this is my last pre-op test and I just want to be done with them. So that I can finally get a surgery date and submit to the insurance for approval. Pray for me that I don't have sleep apnea because if I do that is going to slow up the process further.
I received a call from my surgeons office today to inform me that the surgeon requires that any patient with a BMI of 50 or greater must have cardiac clearance before they can have surgery. This is good medically speaking and I am in agreement that this should be done. However, I think that it is horrible that they did not tell me this at my initial consultation when is was given the list of pre-op test that I needed to have. In fact the cardiologist was crossed off my list and I was told that since I did not have a history of heart problems it was not necessary for me to go to a cardiologist.
In my case I have already gone to see a cardiologist and had a stress and been given surgical clearance because my PCP required cardiac clearance before he would give me clearance. Fortunately, I have copies of all reports from my pre-op test so I just made a copy and dropped it off at the surgeons office. Thank God for my PCP. It could have taken up to 30 days at this point to get in to see a cardiologist as a new patient. I am so thankful that I had this done already. God is good!! :-)
6/20/2006
Jun 20, 2006
This is an account of my experience with trying to get the sleep study schedule today. Dr. Jayne(pulmonologist) referred me to the Bacarch Center for Sleep Disorders -- The first appt available is on Sept 5. Can you imagine. I was so upset !! I am just supposed to sit an wait for 2 1/2 months. Well, I called Dr. Jayne's office and asked if there is another sleep lab. They said yes SleepCare. I called SleepCare and was told that they were scheduling for the week of July 10th. That's more like it, huh. But they cannot tell me for sure whether or not they take my insurance. So, I call my insurance company's customer service line and ask if they can give me a list of approved providers for sleep study. The lady tells me that she can't find anything in my area within 30 miles. So, I ask what about beyond 30 miles. She says that I am welcome to go to the web site and search if I want as that is the same database that she is searching. I am very frustrated at this point, so I just say OK. I search on the web site and the closest provider is in PHIL that is not acceptable. I call back to the insurance company and get another lady she tells me that as can not find anything close to me but that my doctor has to have the sleep study pre-certified anyway. She says that I need to call them back and have them to call for a pre-cert and hopefully that will take care of my problem. HHMMM yes I am shaking my head also. But I do what she asks. Call Dr. Jayne's office again give them the info. They tell me they will call for the pre-cert. Dr. J's office calls me back about an hour later to tell me that after 30 minutes on hold they finally get someone at Healthnet who tells them that the only approved center that they can locate is in FLORIDA. The nurse tells me to get the provider# for SleepCare and call the insurance company with them and ask them to check for eligibility for SleepCare using the provider#. At this point I am just ready to cry!!
Doreen from Dr. Onopchenko's(surgeons) office called this morning to let me know that they were still waiting on copies of reports for several pre-op tests, so I had to go to Dr. O's office today to drop off copies of reports for the following: EKG, UGI, ABG,Chest X-ray & ultrasound. I had these tests done on May 12. Hard to believe that the hospital never forwarded the results to Dr. O. It was not a problem for me to take the copies over to Dr. O though. I have kept a file with a copy of all my test results. When I dropped off the reports Doreen said that all I now need is a copy of report from the sleep study and pulmonary clearance for Dr. Jayne. She asked if I had already had the sleep study and I told her no and then I told about the difficulty that I was having getting the study scheduled. She said that it was ridiculous for me to have to wait until Sept. She asked me to wait while she talked Kathy. Kathy got on the phone and spoke with someone from SleepCare and I was able to schedule an appointment for July 8 with them. The lady from SleepCare said that she would contact Dr. Jayne for the script and also contact my insurance company for approval and would let me know if there were any problems. I am praying that there will be no problems. That's how things stand right now.
I know that this is a long post but I just had to get it out of my system.
Please keep praying for me. Also, I just want to say that my prayers are with my friend Nicky. She had her surgery this morning. You are finally on the losers bench. I am anxious to know how you're doing.
6/16/2006
Jun 16, 2006
I went to the pulmonlogist last Wed and was tested for
asthma. Good news - I do not have asthma. I do however have allergies, which we are going to treat with medication and hopefully that will help me to breath easier.
I also went to my PCP on Wed and we talked about the results of my stress test and he gave me his consent to go ahead with the surgery. Now all that I have left is the sleep study. Someone from the sleep lab will be calling me this week to schedule the appointment. So, I am almost there with regards to the pre-op
testing. I am feeling good about that.
6/9/2006
Jun 09, 2006
I have a lot to report in this post. On 6/5/06 i went to my second support group meeting. I took my godsister with me so that she could get a better grasp of this whole process. She was very impressed and so was I . There were at least 50 people in attendance. It was great because I was able to talk to people who were at various stages in the journey. Some of the post-ops brought along before pictures. The transformation in these people is truly amazing. Each reports that they feel better and are in better health since having WLS. There was one gentleman who was having some complications and had to have and additional surgery. He said that he just wanted to point out to those who were considering surgery that there can be problems along the way, yet he was still pleased with his decision to have the surgery. I felt that it was very good of him to speak on these things because we need to consider all the facts as we are contemplating having WLS. I left the support group meeting feeling good about my decision to go ahead with surgery. I talked to quite a few people and got phone numbers and email addresses for a few people who have recently had surgery and have the same doctor.
On Tues, 6/06/06 I had my stress test. This was not as bad as I thought it would be, although I was there for 4 hours. I had to walk on the treadmill at minimal speed while they adminstered a drug to speed my heart rate over a period of four minutes. They also took a lot of pictures of my heart at different intervals. The worst part was that I had to drink a lot of water throughout the whole process. I mean a whole lot of water. It took about 20 minutes for the camera to rotate around my body taking pictures of my heart and I had to do this 4 times. I was really glad to have this over with.
Today I went back to the cardiologist to get the results of the stress test. Everything was fine. They said that all my heart functions were good. So I now have cardiac clearance. Whoo Hoo!!!
Next week I will go back to my PCP and let him know that the cardiologist has cleared me. Hopefully, he will be satisfied and give me clearance at that time. I will also see the pulmonologist next week to do some more testing and get my sleep study scheduled.
I am getting somewhat excited now as I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. :-) :-) !!!
Until next time keep me in your prayers.
5/30/2006
May 30, 2006
Hello to all who may be reading this. First, I had a really nice time at our Memorial Day cook out with my family and friends. It was welcome diversion from my whole WLS saga. I hope that you all had a good weekend as well.
I had my appointment with the cardiologist last Wed. he confirms that I do have a heart murmur. But says that it is nothing to be overly concerned about. I will have to have a stress test before he is able to give cardiac clearance. He wants to be sure that my heart is healthy enough to endure surgery. I'm not sure when I will be having this test yet.
On Thursday I had an echocaridogram. That went okay as far as I know. Today I went to see the pulmonologist. He is sending me for a sleep study. I will also have another visit with him for further testing on June 14. I have a history of asthma, but have not had any real problems with it since early childhood.
That's all for now. A happy journey to all.
5/22/2006
May 22, 2006
Well I was able to get and appointment with a cardiologist for Wednesday, May 23. I am so glad. It took some doing. I called doctors offices all morning long. I got a list of doctors on my insurance companies website and started calling. Some of the doctors didn't take my insurance any more. Those that I was able to contact were scheduling appointments well into July. So I am grateful that I was able to get this appointment for this week. Please keep praying for me. :-)
5/19/2006
May 19, 2006
Yesterday I had the pulmonary function tests done. That went okay.
Today I went to my PCP to talk to him about getting the surgery and to ask him for a release. He didn't seem too happy with my decision to have gastric bypass vs. lap band but of course said it was my choice and that he thinks that I have made a good decision regarding what is best for my health.
However, he did not give my a release for surgery. He said that my EKG doesn't look quite normal and that he thinks that I have a heart murmur. So he wants me to see a cardiologist before he will give me the release. So here I go off to see another doctor. I wasn't able to make an appointment today because it was too late by the time I got home and on the computer to find a doctor that accepts my insurance. So I'll have to make some phone calls Monday to schedule an appointment. I just hope that I don't have to wait too too long to see a cardiologist.
5/15/2006
May 15, 2006
Hi all, I an still working on my pre-op testing. I was able to accomplish a lot this past Friday. I had the following tests completed. Abdominal sonogram, Chest X-ray, EKG, Upper GI and Arterial Blood Gas Test.
I have two appointments this week. I have to see my PCP and I will have the pulmonary function test. I'm making progress. Keep me in your prayers!
5/10/2006
May 10, 2006
Well, I had my psych evaluation yesterday--not bad. I didn't know what to expect. It was just a conversation between me and the therapist. I quess that I am cleared; he wished me good luck with my surgery.
This morning I went and got my blood work done. Then at 10:30 I had my first nutritional consulation. That went pretty well. The office is in the same suite as my surgeons office and they work closely together. Everyone was very helpful and eager to answer all of my questions. We talked about what I can do before surgery to prepare my body for a better recovery. I need to start taking a multivitamin and calcium. I also need to get back into the routine of going to curves 3 times per week. This will be a bit of a challenge. I haven't worked out at curves since late Feb 2006. I will just have to do it.
On Friday I have an appointment to get the gall bladder ultrasound, UGI, echocardiogram, EKG, and Chest X-Ray. That just leaves the pulmonary function test and a visit to my PCP. I am well on my way but very impatient to have all of this testing done!! So I am praying for patience.
