Worried About Everything

I guess I should start with a short backstory.

I am 31 years old and weigh approximately 315lbs. I suffer from excruciating chronic pain and am declared disabled by the government. This means I have government insurance - Medicare and Medicaid.

I was referred to possibly get a panniculectomy by my OBGYN. A year ago I was scheduled to have a full hystorectomy, but when they began operating they found that my insides were too scarred up from endometriosis (stage 4) that my doctor didn't feel comfortable cutting me more than she had to, so she left my cervix in. I got cellulitis after that surgery because the incision was "hip to hip" and it was very hard for me to keep clean and dry. I was in a hospital for 17 days on a battery of extremely powerful antibiotics.
I am now having complications due to the endometriosis, and we have decided the best course of action is to take my cervix out. To avoid another infection crisis, my OBGYN has referred me to the general surgeon - who has assisted on my last few endometriosis ablations - to consult on having him do a panniculectomy at the same time that I have my cervix out.

It took me a little while to get my head around this surgery - honestly reading some of the stories here really helped cement my resolve to actually agree to go to take the referral. In the back of my mind I have a deep anxiety about being left as a mangled, blocky mess - especially as the surgeon that will be doing this is ((AS FAR AS I KNOW)) not actually a plastic surgeon. I guess I need to withold judgement until my actual appointment (which they haven't called to make yet).

At any rate... I just really wanted to make a post and get something started here so I had a place to write my thoughts during this process. Right now my concerns are that I'm going to have trouble getting the ok from my insurance. I don't know if I can deal with the gynocological issues I'm having long enough to wrote months of journals or whatever junk they make some people do. I'm hoping since I have a previous record of the complications they'll just agree to it.

My.surgeon consultation is set for April 10th with Dr. James R. Lowe.

I'm really hoping that he will be able to provide the help and procedure that I need done. As I mentioned before, I have Medicare + Medicaid. I'm not really in a financial place where I will be able to save back a little money each month with the intent of putting it toward this surgery. My husband and I live on $1,100 a month, and we just barely make ends meet,.

I guess that's all for now!

I had my consultation with the general surgeon a few days ago. I am kind of unsettled, as he mentioned that he spoke with the surgeon that would be performing another procedure at the same time (removing my cervix) and she had expressed some apprehension about doing ANY surgery, as I have stage 4 Endometriosis and make very aggressive scar tissue and adhesions inside anywhere I am cut.

I am still on the fence about going forward with the panniculectomy, but I know in the back of my mind the best thing for me would be to just go ahead and do it while I still can. The "worst case" scenarios that were laid out to me were that they would get in there and perhapse accidentally nick my bladder or intestines, causing me to need to wear a catheter or colostomy bag while it healed. That doesn't seem so bad to me.