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POSTED UNDER Gastric Sleeve Surgery REVIEWS

Trying to Save my Life - Bellaire, TX

ORIGINAL POST

Greetings. Like many of you I am currently going...

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Black Velvet
$5,000
Greetings. Like many of you I am currently going through the process for WLS by having the Sleeve Gastrectomy. However it has been an extremely lengthy and emotional process and I'm still fighting to get to the finish point.

As a child I was tall and thin, then I became a preteen and got boobs. Then I started getting thicker! In high school I weighted about 170 (I'm 5'7) and I was fine with that. Once I graduated and got on birth control well it was no going back. Over the years I was slowly climbing that weight latter. In my 20's I stayed around 250. I was still unaware or believed that I was over weight and at some point I just stopped weighting myself all together. I mean why worry about it? I was young, confident and always had a boyfriend. Nothing was wrong with me, I was this advocate for plus size women.

Fast forward to January 2014. I was done with school (Culinary Grad) I was promoted to a Director with my own account, moved to a new city, new house, about to get married life is good. I went in to see my doctor to talk about fertility and he asked me about my weight. I asked; Uh, what's wrong with it? Your 279 pounds and borderline diabetic. And that's when the tears started flowing. He then asked me if I had ever considered Weight Loss Surgery and I said no I didn't think that I would qualify. After leaving the doctors office I went into a bit of depression and was terrified. My grandmother passed in Dec 2010 of Congestive Heart Failure and Diabetes. A couple of days later I started the process.

So step 1: I went to the seminar.
Step 2 pick a surgeon. Paper work was sent to my insurance provider and that's when I found out that the hospital did not have the Blue Certification needed for them to cover it.
Back to step 2: find a surgeon who has the certification. Found one, who by the way is an hour away in another city.
Step 3: consultation with new surgeon and blood work. (End of January)
Step 4: Psych Consult (2/25)
Step 5: Nutrition Consult (2/28)
Step 6: EGD with surgeon, but then I received a lovely call stating that I was required to do 6 months of Weight Management with a dietitian and a Cardiac Consult.
Step 7 & 6 months later: EGD which is when I found out that I had a hernia (8/15) Step 8: Cardiac Consult (9/12)
Pause, Now let's go back to Step 6 weight management for a second. Because my last two appointments were in the same month I had to reschedule another appointment with the dietitian and get a letter on why I missed a month.
Step 9: Today I received a call from the cardiologist stating that my Stress Test came back abnormal and get this. My appoint to see the doctor isn't till Friday. So I have to wait 4 days the hear my results.

I'm Completely on edge at this point but I can't get down. God is in control. I hope that my story tonight has possibly has helped someone who is going through the same hurdles as I am. Nothing worth having is easy, right?

Black Velvet's provider

Brad E. Snyder, MD

Bariatric Surgeon, Board Certified in General Surgery

Replies (8)

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October 1, 2014
Hi Black Velvet, I am still in the process as well. My goal is for the end of the year. I have to complete my stress test and then I will be complete. You are almost there hang in there.
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October 1, 2014
Hang in there Black Velvet....I too am going through the process....I'm on 3rd months of the 6 months supervised required weight loss management...I still have to get medical clearance and blood work done....after that I think my information will be ready to submit to BCBS around the last of January 2015.....I have my finger crossed that I will have my surgery in February....wishing you much success in your journey.....
October 1, 2014
Welcome and thanks for sharing with us!

Hang in there, you can do it. Things crop up, but you can deal with them and your day will certainly come. :-) We'll all be here cheering you on.

You may want to check out the Gastric Sleeve Forum. There are hundreds of sleevers in there, supporting each other. We also have a number of guides that will help with preparation. I've put links to them below:

Gastric Sleeve Guide
Nutritional Guide
Food Survival Guide

Good luck and please do keep us updated with your progress!
October 2, 2014
your right, nothing worth having is easy. I am having my surgery next week on the 9th. I am 65 years old. I started with information class on the 3rd of may. so mine has gone pretty fast.
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October 3, 2014
I have also had a lot of the hurry up and then wait game. I hurried and got all my appointments done and was scheduled for surgery and the day before I was supposed to go in I find out there is a committee I need to get approval from. It took me another month to get the appointment with the committee. I was told I would have the answer that day. Wrong...I left the committee and was told I would hear the next day...wrong again...time passed and I could never get ahold of anyone and then they went on vacation. My surgeon said he had a new date and that they would speak to the committee so just come to the hospital. As I was getting ready to leave my Dr. (family Dr. called) don't go to the hospital your thyroid test came back at 42. I just fell apart and after I stopped crying started to do research on what a TSH value of 42 meant. It was crazy as I had no symptoms and I asked for another blood test. I was so depressed and just cried every day. The next test came back as 9 and it should be around 4.8. My Dr. told me to be sure to take my Synthroid before I even got out of bed and stay there for 30 min. I did and took another blood test 9 days later. It was down to 7 and finally after a month down to the wonderful 4.3 number that got me approved. So, I excitedly called the surgeons office and was told he was on vacation for a month and I should call back then. I cried again and was so frustrated and angry. I waited until the day he was due back and called at 8:30AM. They said they would get back to me. I waited and waited and finally after a few days (I kept calling) they called and booked a date. No, not this week or the week after or even the week after...but, finally on October 26th I should be SLEEVED! It is so stressful to be so ready and to have all this happen. However, I am grateful because where I live now (in Israel) it is covered fully. I grew up in Canada and although the medical system is super amazing there, they do not cover this kind of surgery. So, I would not have been able to have it at all was I still living there. I started my process at the end of May 2014 so, overall I guess 5 1/2 months is not so terrible. I am nervous about the operation but, want it so badly I just can't wait. Let's hope I don't have to wait any longer than my scheduled date! Or maybe someone will cancel and they promised they would put me in..Yah sure they will!! I know this will change my life and I am glad to have found this forum. Thanks for listening/reading my story.