sprat
It's not quite the beginning of my journey but it's my first time telling the story.
My sister had gastric by-pass surgery 7 years ago on August 10. I remember the date because it was the same day that DH and I were inseminated with our beautiful daughter. Mom didn't know what to do! She had been giving me my shots for 16 days and now we were going to add the insemination process to it. We were in Evansville, IN and my sister was having her gbp in Louisville, KY. Of course, Mom went to be with my sister. I even went.
My sister has had great success with weight loss. She's lost over 200 lbs and has kept if off for 6 yrs! She has had some problems though with vomiting and malnutrition. I'm hoping the changes in the procedure have eliminated a lot of those problems. There have been several significant changes in it since Gini had her surgery.
I entered the program in Evansville in the fall of 2003. Every time I would get close to meeting the requirements of my insurance, something would change. I would get so close then the rug would be pulled out from under me.
It got so ridiculous that my DH and I decided to investigate the lapband and pay for it out of our pockets. During this time, DH's company was bought out by another company. We got new insurance in January of this year. I was still interested in the lapband but decided to give the new insurance company a shot.
When we called about weight loss surgery, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that our insurance company actually encourages the procedures. Of course I was ecstatic but DH didn't want me to get my hopes up again.
We found out the programs and drs in Evansville wouldn't be covered. We were referred to Carmel Surgical Specialists by our insurance because they require a center of excellence. I didn't know what that meant exactly until I met with Dr. Diaz in March.
During that visit, I took copies of all my "stuff" from Evansville. Dr. Diaz said it looked like I had completed all the necessary requirements for surgery but that he would recommend gastric by-pass over a lapband. He was very thorough in his reasoning explaining that I wouldn't see the results I was wanting with the lapband.
It wasn't a big problem changing my mind back to gbp.
When my papers were submitted to my insurance company, I received a letter requesting my psych evaluation be updated. After that was complete, I was approved!
Now my surgery is scheduled for October 26 and I'm nervous and scared and excited and thrilled! I honestly can't believe it's finally going to happen.
