I can't wait to be me again!!!! - Laguna Niguel, CA

Hello fellow sleevers and soon to be sleevers :-)
Here's my story so I've been slim most of my life until I got the depo shot in the late 90s. Let me tell you I gained around 40lbs between Apr and Dec of that year (1997) and about 10lbs each year since. I was trying everything to get the weight off but looking back I did everything wrong. I've never had a large appetite but what I've discovered in the past couple years is what I'm eating I don't burn off. But now at 300lbs everything hurts when it comes to moving! My lower back started giving me problems last year and the sciatic issues was worse than childbirth. My knees and ankles hurt after 15 min of walking it's so awful to feel this way but it is what it is right? I'm 5'7 and 39 (I will be 40 next May) so I don't plan on being like this at 40...life will begin for me at 40.

I finally met my deductible in June so I made the choice to have WLS originally it was gastric bypass but after talking to a friend from high school who recently had the gastric sleeve done so I switched! I have to add I have a 2yr old and no family nearby but I do have a few friends for support. I have attended the 2hr seminar that is required by my Dr and I've had my consultation which started off totally on the wrong foot and put me in a terrible mood for the rest of the day. As soon as the PA came in the first thing she says is let's discuss your over eating! Ha ha I won't go into details how that conversation continued after but let's just say she changed her tune! Next I had my psych eval that went well surprisingly except he's holding my psych eval until my $25 co-pay is received. This I found out just last week...what a butt he is...especially since he couldn't process the payment over the phone and I had to mail it to him. I was only irritated because I was waiting for him to submit the claim and I could make the payment online through my insurance website and they would mail him a check...I know I'm being silly. But the fact that he held my psych eval for such a small amount (it's not like I wasn't going to pay just hadn't had a chance to get a money order) is ridiculous and holding up the pre-authorization from my insurance company. I requested my medical records in Sept the last of them came through last week with my urging of course. Now I'm waiting on a call to schedule a pre-surgery class which should be Monday.

So I called the Dr's office today to see if they have finally received all my medical records for the past 60 mths and YES they received them all! So it was submitted last week she didn't know the date but told me to call my insurance in a week to make sure they received the request. So because I've had so many issues with obtaining the medical records I decided to call today. I was told that I could submit for the pre-authorization and they would contact the Dr's office for the medical records and psych eval if I had the Diag code and procedure code. Of course I don't have that but at least I have movement towards hopefully a surgery date!

I was approved today and my surgery date is set for 12/10/13! I haven't been this excited about something in years!