thin4k
1-24-07 "Today is the first day of the rest of my Life!!" Kinda corny, but a good way to start. Actually, it was one day last week, but since this is my first entry - we will start today. At the beginning of last week I had pretty much scrapped my plans to have weight loss surgery. I have been on Social Security Disability for the past 2 1/2 years due to a multitude of health problems - so my current insurance, of course, is Medicare/Medi-Cal. Big surprise there!!! Anyway, due to the way these insurances tend to pay (not a real great excuse as far as I'm, concerned!!) every doctor I contacted in my area would not take me on because of it. My mother was in the medical billing field for many years so I can kind of understand the doctors reasoning, but I am at a critical point in my life and knowing this did not help my emotional situation at all. Needless to say I became extremely frustrated and just kind of gave up. I am a semi-caregiver for my mother and I have a 15 year old daughter as well. Traveling very far just did not seem an option and besides I did not know anyone to travel to. I had been on Obesityhelp.coms website before and I decided to go on it for some reason that evening. Maybe I hadn't given up as much as I thought. Anyway, I filled out some info - checked some sites and basically just looked around the site. The next day I received a call from DeDe with Lite Dimensions. She let me know that they would accept my insurance and would be VERY happy to help me. They are about 120 to 130 miles away, but I have decided that if this is meant to be (which I feel it is) I will find away to get there!!!!!!
Also, at the end of last week I found out from someone that there was actually a surgeon closer to my home that would accept my insurance. Due to my home situation I was pretty excited. Even though I was grateful and happy with Lite Dimensions I still needed to consider this other surgeon. Yesterday I was finally able to get ahold of someone and discovered that they had a program fee of $3000. Being on a limited income - this crushed me. I was almost in tears. I hadn't received the packet that DeDe with Lite Dimensions had told me she would send so I decided to call her. She had sent it (I received it in the mail yesterday afternoon) and by the end of the phone call she had me in the best spirits yet. I am soooooo grateful. I have DEFINITELY decided to stick with her. It has taken me a LONG time to decide to have this surgery and right now my emotions are at the surface. DeDe is the NICEST person. She was very patient, answered ALL of my questions and treated me as a human being. Three cheers for Lite Dimensions. They WILL be doing my surgery!!!!
2-2-07 Well it has been a busy time for me. I have talked to my doctor and got his ok on my surgery. He will do everything in his power to get me approved - which for him usually means it's going to happen - he is VERY persistent!! My brother has agreed to drive me to Fountain Valley where I will be having my surgery. He is a bus driver for the school district in his town so I am going to have to try to get my surgery date around the time (or after) the kids get out of school. Since I need to put some things together and I need to wait for an approval - this should not be a problem. I am SO excited about this that I can not hardly stand it. I'm not a patient person to begin with and once I decide to do something I want it to happen "yesterday"!!! LOL Oh well, this time I am going to have to be patient.
I talked to my dad the other day and let him know what I had decided to do. I was worried that he might be upset. While he is not "over the moon" about it - he is being supportive like my mom. I know that they are just worried for me, because after all it IS surgery and with that comes risks. They would rather I wasn't in that position, but they know that I have to do this for my physical health, as well as, my emotional. Well that is all for today. I will write more when I find out anything. I am going to start preparing for my surgery by trying to lose a few pounds and see if I can start a slow exercise program. I have Fibromyalgia and Rheumatoid Arthritis which makes it difficult to exercise. It says in the info I received from Lite Dimensions that you can start out by just walking say back and forth to your mail box. I think I can manage to do that. Even if you do that several times a day it will benefit you. So here's hoping I can make it.
2-6-07 Well....I have had some great things happen over the last few days. My sister and my brother-in-law have agreed to help me with the financial part of the surgery which is not covered by my insurance. This way I can get everything started right away. I am just so thankful - words cannot express how I feel right now. I am finally on a roll. I did find out that my secondary insurance will not cover the surgery so I have had to switch insurances ( I have a choice between two different HMO's). The one I had was based basically here in Kern County and Dr. LePort is not on their list of providers. So I switched to Health Net which is the other choice. They said it will take anywhere from 45 to 60 days to be effective, but that will actually work out just about right. In order for my brother to take me down there - he will need to wait until after school is out in June (he is a busdriver). So things seem to be falling into place. I couldn't be happier!!!!!!!!!
Yesterday I started a kind of a "diet". I know the things I'm going to be facing after I have my surgery so I decided to start trying to change my habits a little early. I thought this might make it a little easier to deal with when the time comes. So keep your fingers crossed!! I'm committed, but it will still be hard. I figure with my goal in my sight maybe it will be somewhat easier. Here's hoping!!!!
