Tuesday, September 29, 2009
248.5 lbs
I went to the hospital yesterday for my pre-op visit. I consulted with the anesthesiologist, they took blood and I completed lots of paperwork, but now when I go in I do not have to do anything. Just show up and have the surgery. I am trying very hard to follow the suggest items on my diet and walking 20-30 minutes a day. It seems to be paying off, I am down to 248.5 this morning. Lots of weight to go but I am glad I have started to journey.
Monday, September 28, 2009
250 lbs
Weighed this morning and I weighed 250 lbs. I have not weighed this since January. Since my high weight of 262.5, I have lost 12.5 lbs in 8 days. I am starting to walk also, will try about 30 per day. Going to do another walk on Saturday with the Tallgrass group. I am going this morning for my hospital pre-op visit and lab work. Only 7 days away from surgery. I am excited.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Diabetes Walk
Yesterday I went on a walk for the Diabetes Foundation with some other employees and residents of John's community, Tallgrass Creek. It was a 3 mile walk down by the Plaza on the Missouri side. Shelli picked me up at 7:15 and than we went to the community to pick up Tom and Judy and than on to the walk. We thought there was a 1.5 mile and than the 3 mile. Well we were wrong it was a 3 mile walk. Shelli and I walked over 2.5 miles and we cut off back to the park. Tom and Judy went about .5 mile and than turned back. They had only planned on doing 1 mile. We all had fun, got free t-shirts and other stuff.
Later in the day I started to read other blogs about the pre-op diet. It seems there are a million out there. Doctors what their own for their patients. I was concerned about the number of carbs I was getting each day, because the diet needs to be low fat, sugar and carbs. The drink I have has 14 carbs each x 2 or 28 in my protein drinks. The Healthy Choice steamers have between 25-45 carbs so I was afraid that was to much. But I was still loosing weight. The doctor had suggested Lean Cuisine or Weight Watchers meals. The carbs in these were more than what I was eating, so I decided I was fine. Just don't want anything to hinder the surgery and my recovery. I was eating sherbert but it had 45 in 1/2 cut so I cut it out. Will do the pop sickles instead.
Later in the day I started to read other blogs about the pre-op diet. It seems there are a million out there. Doctors what their own for their patients. I was concerned about the number of carbs I was getting each day, because the diet needs to be low fat, sugar and carbs. The drink I have has 14 carbs each x 2 or 28 in my protein drinks. The Healthy Choice steamers have between 25-45 carbs so I was afraid that was to much. But I was still loosing weight. The doctor had suggested Lean Cuisine or Weight Watchers meals. The carbs in these were more than what I was eating, so I decided I was fine. Just don't want anything to hinder the surgery and my recovery. I was eating sherbert but it had 45 in 1/2 cut so I cut it out. Will do the pop sickles instead.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Weight
I have got to decide when I want to weight during the day and go by that weight. We all know if you weight in the morning you weight less and more later in the day. As Most, I think I will go with the morning weight. First thing in the morning after I get up. That is when I will weight the least and that will make me happy.
Today's weight 255 lbs.
Today's weight 255 lbs.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Pre-op Doctor Visit
Today I went to the doctor for my pre-op visit to learn what will happen the day of my surgery. My appointment was at 10:00. About 9:00 I received a call from the hospital to schedule my pre-op visit with them for Monday at 9:30. I am on a roll of getting things done for the surgery. I went to my doctor appointment and everything went great. I have to be at the hospital at 6:00 am on Monday, October 5th for my surgery at 7:30. The doctor explained why I was on the liquid diet to shrink the liver. When you are overweight you liver gets really big due to all the fat and other waste the liver filters. So I have to be on a liquid diet so that the liver will shrink and nothing is stored in the liver. The liver needs to be small because the liver lays on top of the stomach so it has to be moved during the surgery. If they can't move the liver they can't do the surgery and I want nothing to stand in the way of my surgery. While I was at the doctor, I met a lady that had her surgery 5 weeks ago and she was there for her first fill. I also talked with a lady that had her surgery 8 days ago and was having her staples taken out. They both said their surgery went great and they were feeling good. They were only down 4-5 days after the surgery and feeling really good after a week.
The doctor checked out my hernia and said that it was not a hernia but he would check during the surgery to make sure. He said it was the soft tissue around the ab muscle that was being pushed up by all my fat. He said after I lose my weight if it is still an issue, it can be corrected with cosmetic surgery. We will see how it goes.
My food today was a big issue. I ran out of my small bottles of water that I use for my protein drinks so I only had broth and water before I went to the doctor. After the doctor visit, my stomach was rumbling. I made the mistake of going to Wal Mart when I was hungry and I bought and ate food I should not have had. I go chicken from the deli and it was really good but the rest of the day I had to drink broth. Hope to do better tomorrow.
The protein drinks that I am using is from a company my son is a partner in. It is Viacore Nutrition and they have a time released protein drink that have 24 g of protein in a serving and that is more than the drinks have that the doctors sells. It comes in vanilla, strawberry and chocolate and I have all 3 flavors. As Ray, my son, told me, no matter how good it is, after a while you want a change so you need a variety of flavors. They are that bad. I will have to drink them also after the surgery while my stomach is healing from the lap-band being sewn in place around my stomach.
At the doctor today I weighted 258.4. My scales at home have always weighted about 3-4 lbs light so I am going to go with my scales. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
The doctor checked out my hernia and said that it was not a hernia but he would check during the surgery to make sure. He said it was the soft tissue around the ab muscle that was being pushed up by all my fat. He said after I lose my weight if it is still an issue, it can be corrected with cosmetic surgery. We will see how it goes.
My food today was a big issue. I ran out of my small bottles of water that I use for my protein drinks so I only had broth and water before I went to the doctor. After the doctor visit, my stomach was rumbling. I made the mistake of going to Wal Mart when I was hungry and I bought and ate food I should not have had. I go chicken from the deli and it was really good but the rest of the day I had to drink broth. Hope to do better tomorrow.
The protein drinks that I am using is from a company my son is a partner in. It is Viacore Nutrition and they have a time released protein drink that have 24 g of protein in a serving and that is more than the drinks have that the doctors sells. It comes in vanilla, strawberry and chocolate and I have all 3 flavors. As Ray, my son, told me, no matter how good it is, after a while you want a change so you need a variety of flavors. They are that bad. I will have to drink them also after the surgery while my stomach is healing from the lap-band being sewn in place around my stomach.
At the doctor today I weighted 258.4. My scales at home have always weighted about 3-4 lbs light so I am going to go with my scales. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Hospital
I called the hospital today to set up my pre-0p visit for lab test and such and the doctor had not scheduled my surgery with the hospital. I called the doctor and yes, they had forgotten. Now the hospital has the information and order but they need a day to process. Will call again tomorrow to schedule all my hospital stuff. Is this ever going to happen?
LOST 6 LBS
Started the pre-op diet on Sunday and I have lost 6 lbs. It is a start. The liquid diet is OK, it is hardest at night. Trying different combination of the different items I can eat to see what keeps the hunger away the best. Beef broth is not bad if it is really hot.
Monday, September 21, 2009
September 21, 2009
Well this is the second day of my liquid diet. Yesterday I did pretty good, I only cheated once with a bag of 100 calorie chocolate covered pretzels. For me that is good. I had 2 protein drinks, lots of beef broth, jello, sorbet and Popsicles. They were all so yummy and also 4 liters of water, I was in the bathroom alot. John would follow me around with my drink, he would say " a dieter without her water is not a dieter". He is very supportive.
You will see attached pictures of my family, this is the true reason I am having the surgery. I love them all very much and want to be around to enjoy them alot longer. My husband, John, sons Ray and Chris, my mom, Jodean and Ray's wife Lacie and my darling grandson Cannon. All for now, have to go warm up some delicious beef broth.
You will see attached pictures of my family, this is the true reason I am having the surgery. I love them all very much and want to be around to enjoy them alot longer. My husband, John, sons Ray and Chris, my mom, Jodean and Ray's wife Lacie and my darling grandson Cannon. All for now, have to go warm up some delicious beef broth.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
First Day of My New Life
Well this is my first blog so it will be a learning process. My sister, Vicky, told me to keep a diary of my Lap-Band surgery process so this is what I am going to do.
In January, 2009 I decided to have Lap-Band surgery to help me lose weight. I have a friend, Shelli Giardino, who was also wanting to have the surgery and she had investigated the process, doctors and what our insurance would pay. She works with my husband, John at Tallgrass Creek.
There is a clinic in Overland Park, KS, The Maley Surgical Clinic that does the surgery and they are on our insurance plan so I contacted them for information. The present seminars on the process almost every Saturday so I went to one of the seminars to see about the surgery. They have two doctors, Dr. Maley and Dr. Hitchcock. Maley is the main doctor but it would be 3-4 months to get into him so I made an appointment with Dr. Hitchcock. After the appointment, they contacted my insurance to see what they required to pay for the surgery.
Insurance required:
1. 6 month doctor supervised weight loss program
2. Psych evaluation
3. Nutritionist evaluation
4. BMI of 40( 100 lbs over ideal weight)
5. Co-morbidity factors. (high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea things like this)
In January I started my 6 month doctor supervised weight loss program with my general doctor (GP), Dr. Wendi Bissett. What is so strange about this requirement is that weight loss is not required, they just want to see if you will stick with anything for 6 months. With my GP, I established that I have a BMI of over 40, I am borderline Diabetic, I had sleep studies done and I have Sleep apnea, my cholesterol is high, I have acid reflux and all of the medical issued are considered co-morbidity factors so I qualified there. I had my psych evaluation and also my nutrition evaluation so by the end of summer, August, I had all my requirements met.
Now the hard part started, getting insurance to approve the surgery. First we gathered all the doctor notes from all the doctors to be submitted to insurance because the doctor required a letter from the insurance saying that the surgery was medically necessary and it was a covered procedure. I required the doctors notes from my GP and was told that it could take up to 30 days to process the request so I went to the Medical Records department and gave them a sad face and Dr. Hitchcock office had them the next day. The nutritionist sent her notes over as well as the psych doctor. The nutritionist and the psych doctor were choices from Dr. Hitchcock's office so I thought their notes would not be a problem, I was worried about the notes from my GP. Everything was gathered and late in the day faxed, 30 pages, to the fax number insurance said to send them to for pre-authorization of a surgery. The next morning when the insurance person got back into the office, all 30 pages had been faxed back to her to say that they do not pre-authorize out patient surgery. This was a real problem because the doctor would not do the surgery without the letter. The insurance person said she was also told this but they would always go ahead and send the letter. Well my insurance would not do so, so she asked me to call them. I got the same answer she got. They would not send a letter for out patient surgery and lap-band surgery is done out patient. I argued with the insurance for 3-4 days and got nothing. At this point to have the surgery, I would have to pay for the surgery upfront $20,000 and take my chances with insurance paying for it, I could not do this so we had to have the surgery approved as an inpatient procedure. Stupid, instead of giving a letter, it would cost them more money to do the surgery in a hospital and stay one night. Well we got it approved by the doctor to it the surgery in patient at a hospital and sent the information in once again to the insurance but to their pre-approved outsourced company for the letter. I checked almost everyday to see that they had received the information and to see if had been assigned for review. Finally after 7 days it was assigned and reviewed and DENIED. It was denied because the psych doctor had not put in his final notes that I was a good candidate for the surgery and that I was released to have the surgery. This really made me mad because this was a doctor that had been doing these evaluations for my doctor for a long time. We had to get corrected notes which took 3 days and than it had to be reviewed again. Now it was the Labor Day holiday so everything came to a halt due to everyone being on vacation for I had to wait a few more days. Finally during the first week of September I received the letter approving the surgery and it has been scheduled for October 5, 2009.
Most of my family and friends are happy I am getting the surgery done but my older son, Ray, is not to excited. Not sure if it is because he is worried about his mom having surgery or if he thinks I should just be able to lose the weight, but either way I know he loves me and is just worried.
I had to get a big list of vitamins to take before and after the surgery and also started my 2 week pre-operative low fat, low calorie diet. This is needed to shrink the liver that stores fat and toxins. The diet is very exciting. Mostly liquid and one low fat, low calorie meal. Today I started this diet in earnest. I can have protein drinks, jello, broth, tea, coffee, one meal a day and 2 cups of sherbet a day. I am going to cut out the diet soda at this time because after the surgery, I cannot drink soda of any kind so might as well start now.
My weight today is 262.5 lbs and this is the most I have ever weighed. I hope to get down to about 150-170 after the surgery and I know I will make it. Lap-band is only a tool, not a quick fix. All for today.
In January, 2009 I decided to have Lap-Band surgery to help me lose weight. I have a friend, Shelli Giardino, who was also wanting to have the surgery and she had investigated the process, doctors and what our insurance would pay. She works with my husband, John at Tallgrass Creek.
There is a clinic in Overland Park, KS, The Maley Surgical Clinic that does the surgery and they are on our insurance plan so I contacted them for information. The present seminars on the process almost every Saturday so I went to one of the seminars to see about the surgery. They have two doctors, Dr. Maley and Dr. Hitchcock. Maley is the main doctor but it would be 3-4 months to get into him so I made an appointment with Dr. Hitchcock. After the appointment, they contacted my insurance to see what they required to pay for the surgery.
Insurance required:
1. 6 month doctor supervised weight loss program
2. Psych evaluation
3. Nutritionist evaluation
4. BMI of 40( 100 lbs over ideal weight)
5. Co-morbidity factors. (high blood pressure, diabetes, sleep apnea things like this)
In January I started my 6 month doctor supervised weight loss program with my general doctor (GP), Dr. Wendi Bissett. What is so strange about this requirement is that weight loss is not required, they just want to see if you will stick with anything for 6 months. With my GP, I established that I have a BMI of over 40, I am borderline Diabetic, I had sleep studies done and I have Sleep apnea, my cholesterol is high, I have acid reflux and all of the medical issued are considered co-morbidity factors so I qualified there. I had my psych evaluation and also my nutrition evaluation so by the end of summer, August, I had all my requirements met.
Now the hard part started, getting insurance to approve the surgery. First we gathered all the doctor notes from all the doctors to be submitted to insurance because the doctor required a letter from the insurance saying that the surgery was medically necessary and it was a covered procedure. I required the doctors notes from my GP and was told that it could take up to 30 days to process the request so I went to the Medical Records department and gave them a sad face and Dr. Hitchcock office had them the next day. The nutritionist sent her notes over as well as the psych doctor. The nutritionist and the psych doctor were choices from Dr. Hitchcock's office so I thought their notes would not be a problem, I was worried about the notes from my GP. Everything was gathered and late in the day faxed, 30 pages, to the fax number insurance said to send them to for pre-authorization of a surgery. The next morning when the insurance person got back into the office, all 30 pages had been faxed back to her to say that they do not pre-authorize out patient surgery. This was a real problem because the doctor would not do the surgery without the letter. The insurance person said she was also told this but they would always go ahead and send the letter. Well my insurance would not do so, so she asked me to call them. I got the same answer she got. They would not send a letter for out patient surgery and lap-band surgery is done out patient. I argued with the insurance for 3-4 days and got nothing. At this point to have the surgery, I would have to pay for the surgery upfront $20,000 and take my chances with insurance paying for it, I could not do this so we had to have the surgery approved as an inpatient procedure. Stupid, instead of giving a letter, it would cost them more money to do the surgery in a hospital and stay one night. Well we got it approved by the doctor to it the surgery in patient at a hospital and sent the information in once again to the insurance but to their pre-approved outsourced company for the letter. I checked almost everyday to see that they had received the information and to see if had been assigned for review. Finally after 7 days it was assigned and reviewed and DENIED. It was denied because the psych doctor had not put in his final notes that I was a good candidate for the surgery and that I was released to have the surgery. This really made me mad because this was a doctor that had been doing these evaluations for my doctor for a long time. We had to get corrected notes which took 3 days and than it had to be reviewed again. Now it was the Labor Day holiday so everything came to a halt due to everyone being on vacation for I had to wait a few more days. Finally during the first week of September I received the letter approving the surgery and it has been scheduled for October 5, 2009.
Most of my family and friends are happy I am getting the surgery done but my older son, Ray, is not to excited. Not sure if it is because he is worried about his mom having surgery or if he thinks I should just be able to lose the weight, but either way I know he loves me and is just worried.
I had to get a big list of vitamins to take before and after the surgery and also started my 2 week pre-operative low fat, low calorie diet. This is needed to shrink the liver that stores fat and toxins. The diet is very exciting. Mostly liquid and one low fat, low calorie meal. Today I started this diet in earnest. I can have protein drinks, jello, broth, tea, coffee, one meal a day and 2 cups of sherbet a day. I am going to cut out the diet soda at this time because after the surgery, I cannot drink soda of any kind so might as well start now.
My weight today is 262.5 lbs and this is the most I have ever weighed. I hope to get down to about 150-170 after the surgery and I know I will make it. Lap-band is only a tool, not a quick fix. All for today.
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