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I don't visit OH much (obviously!) but my 4 year surgiversary is upon me! I am SO happy I did make that decision and have the roux-n-y bypass four years ago. I wonder what my life would have been like if I had done it years earlier?
The pros remain:
I do not stand out; I look like a "normal" person.
I am not morbidly obese and so should be eligible for kidney transplant when that need arrives.
Moving my body is SO much easier! Sit ups are easy compared to pre-surgery.
Although I get tired from the kidney disease, it is not nearly as bad as pre-op.

So I wish us all a wonderful next four years!

Still kickin it! Probably eating more sugar than I should! Sweets are the bain of my existance! LOL! Weight hangs around 145. Don't know how much my kidneys weigh (PKD). According to nephrologist, they could weigh up to 20 pounds each.  I don't think they are that big. I definitely feel them & they are larger than normal, but I will just say 5 pounds for my "cysters".

The only real dietary issue I have from the bypass is having my blood sugar drop low. This is usually preceeded by a poor dietary decision on my part - something sugary.  Ice cream is the WORST culprit, so I try to avoid that like the flu.

I will have to find a current photo to post. I am 40 and flabby, but at least I will hopefully be around to see some grandbabies!

I turned 39 on March 14. YAE!  I know a lot of women freak out about their age, but with my family history and my personal health history I am HAPPY and GRATEFUL for every birthday I get to see!  :0D  It is truly a miracle from God! 
Bless me Indeed, Lord!  Bless me indeed!!
My weight is holding steady.  I need to eat more protein, but have never been a big meat eater.  I should probably just drink at least 1 protein shake a day for safely.   Taking my vitamins; watching my labwork.  Looking forward to warmer weather as I have been cold since surgery almost 2 years ago! LOL! 
We just moved to a house that has a pool, so I will be getting some exersize there; luckily it has a heater or it would be August before I ventured in!

This is the post I sent out via email exactly 7 years ago today announcing the birth of my son.  My last baby.  Several people deleted the email without reading it, thinking it was a political post!  Today my last baby is 7 and in 1 month my oldest will be going to college.  My 2nd oldest will also be  a Freshman, although in high school, and my 3rd daughter will be going into 4th grade.  Today my weight was 332.2; the lowest I have seen since age 12.  
I have truly been blessed and if anyone thinks this comes from anything other than the Lord then they definitely do not know my life history.
Today is the officially celebrated birthday of our country and my son.  It is definitely a day of celebration for us all no matter where we are in our journey.  A time to celebrate that we have even been given life, to do with it what we will.  What is honorable and what is detestable.  Good decisions and bad.  Freedom.  Free will.  Most of us use our freedom and free will to advance our own needs, wants, and desires.  Yes, me too.  I know a couple of people who are truly selfless.  Who would do ANYthing for you.  At ANY time of day.  Just call.  Those people are few and far between, but they do make me think.  What are we using our freedom and free will for?  Just to get more stuff?  You know the old saying, "you can't take it with you".  This is totally true.  
It would be nice if we all (yes me too!) would invest more of our freedom in other people. 
After all, the only thing you CAN take with you is people. 

Now I am 1+ year out.  My wt this am was 134.  I have to go strictly by the scale and not listen to people.  At home I have family telling me "don't eat that, you'll back slide, you'll hurt yourself, etc..."  at work I have people telling me I am too small & look anorexic.  So since the doc says 134 is the median wt range for me I go STRICTLY by the number.  When I find the number in the morning hits 139 140 I know I need to cool it.  Usually this means a liquid fast.  I do this to ground myself; to remind myself of the AMAZING gift of WLS that God allowed me to receive.  It also reminds me that I really am not "hungry"; I just want to eat/graze.  It gives me a fresh start.  It allows me to reboot my thought process before I get up to 240 again.  I consider myself truly blessed to have been given this opportunity and I do not take it lightly.  Do I have saggy skin?  Oh yeah!  But am I almost 40? Yeah!  So I would expect that!  Can I move better now?  Yes.  Can I go to the mall without being stared at for being MOB?  Yes.  I actually don't like to go out a lot; mostly a homebody.  But I just feel so much better !  The first time I felt a hip bone I had no idea what it was; I felt something weird on my side and was like "what IS that?!"  then...  "Oh, it's ME!"  LOL!!!   It's been a LOT of fun this weight loss journey.  ...and it is definitely a journey.  The loss part is just the beginning; the exciting honeymoon phase.  The maintaining is the learning part; learning to deal with cravings/head hunger; other people/jealousy.  I would do it all again.  Definitely!

OK, so here I am almost 9 months out.  I am about 5' 5".  Started @ 240 & down to 142-146 @ this time depending on hormones, how much I work etc... (water weight fluctuations likely due to my kidney issues.)  
I would say the RNY gastric bypass was the best decision I have made.  Even with the insurance company giving me shit after the fact, it is still worth it.  
I can breathe, I don't hurt, I don't piss myself every time I sneeze (I have saved the cost of the surgery in maxi pads alone! LOL!)  My blood pressure has been controllable.  I can move.  I can go out in public without feeling like a circus freak.  I can shop in normal stores & wear what I want.  I even dropped a shoe size! 
Dr. Sonanstine ROCKS & I plan on posting some serious kudos about that practice when I hit one year.  Hopefully by then I will know what I want to say about Humana also!  
Regardless of Humana, I have had NO complaints about Dr. Sonnanstine.  It has gone
better than I could have hoped for. 

The surgery went well.  I had some pain the day of and the day after, but it has been low ever since.  Working on getting my liquids in.  I can not believe I am not hungry!  What a miracle!

Well, my surg is TOMORROW!!!  AHHHHHH!  I hope this is not a mistake! :0D  These 2 weeks have flown by.  I really hope I recover well as I don't want to be out of commission the whole summer.  That would be awful for the kids.  

Lately my left knee has been hurting  a lot; stairs have been awful.  It used to be my right knee so I guess the are trading places for a while!  

One lady this weekend said she couldn't believe I was doing this and why didn't I just change the way I eat, etc...   Yeah, that's worked great for me so far.  I didn't go into it with her.  I don't think they realize all the stuff we have to prove (like our diet histories) before WLS.  

Tonight we start farming out the kiddos to different places.  Dr. S says I can probably come home Friday.  That would be really awesome!  

I hope I feel a ton better in a year.  I hope my knees, hips, and back feel better.  I really hope my creatinine goes down; even a tenth of a point would be awesome!  

We are going to Great Wolf Lodge December 19th.  It would be nice to have more energy to get up all those waterslides!

Here's wishing me the best and praying for no complications and model recovery !!

Well, my surg is scheduled for MAY 30 !!!
Less than 2 weeks away which is probably a good thing.  My hubby is nervous and that makes me nervous! LOL!

I first saw Dr. S for my consult on March 23.  I thought insurance was going to be a big hassle, but the office staff must know what they are doing because it seemed to get approved fast.  

The irritating thing was that the Humana reps were telling me that it was listed as 'not covered', but I was actually already approved when they were telling me that.  It was approved based on medical necessity.

So anyway, the next 2 weeks will be busy.  I work Sat and Sun nights as a nurse, so on Mondays I sleep.  Next week I have a follow up CT scan of my abdomen (I had colon cancer in Oct 2005 taken care of with surgery ONLY - Praise Jesus!)

Then my mom and I are having a garage sale on May 26.  Hubby is taking me on a riverboat cruise sometime next week also, I think Tuesday.  

I'm glad I will be busy because if I dwell on it I get nervous and want to puke! LOL!

Insurance issues continued:

 

 

Here is how things have gone the last 24 hours!

 

 

As you know, yesterday I called Humana to see if insurance had been filed.  They told me “NO” (which was incorrect.)  They then told me that bariatric surgery was NOT covered.  I knew they were wrong because I had already spoken to the author of our company’s certificate back in March; plus a few nurses I know of have had it done.  So “E” from Humana says she will have their supervisor check into it and call me back.  “B” from Humana (the supervisor) has someone call me back last night and still says it is not a covered benefit.  At this point I still plan to fight it once it gets submitted and denied.

 

 

Apparently @ 8:30 this AM Kristine had called me @ home.  Our phones were messed up, so she left a message on my cell phone.

 

 

Before calling her back, I called our insurance person, “H.D.”  We chatted; she confirmed it was covered, said she would call Humana and they would call me back. 

 

 

Then I call Sonnanstine’s office.  I talk to Taryn AND Kristine.  Turns out

 

I AM ALREADY APPROVED. 

 

 

Sooo……..

 

#1. I OWE KRISTINE A BIG HUGE APOLOGY for my venting out my frustration & thinking it had never been filed;  Kristine has been working her butt off with the irritating ins people….and

 

 

#2. Humana reps are really scaring me because ………

 

 

At 13:00PM I get ANOTHER call from “A” at Humana again telling me that “B” has confirmed that bariatric surgery is NOT a covered benefit under my plan.  I told her that I already had been approved, had an approval #, and had spoken to the author of TriHealth’s insurance plans who said it is covered.  She just said “oh, ok”.   WTH?

 

 

So at this point I am waiting for details from Taryn and hoping that Kristine is right and Humana is just ……annoying???  Deceptive??? (Seriously though, I could not do Kristine’s job; I would go postal……)

 

 

So now @ 16:00 I am talking on the phone to Humana again.  They are saying just because I got a pre-authorization does NOT mean it is covered.  (I’m sorry, but that makes NO sense to me whatsoever; why bother with pre-authorizations?)   I have been told that the front-end workers say no to everything.  If insurance says “not covered”, it can still be approved upon medical review (and I guess that is what happened.) 

 

 

So I am finished talking to the front-end workers @ Humana and just waiting to get a copy of the approval letter from Taryn or Kristine so I can ask off of work!!!  

BTW...The sleep study results were OK; Dr. Maynard said I slept better there than I do @ home. 
Likely!  With 4 kiddos running around, deep sleep is an elusive dream........