Monday, October 25, 2010

The LB Story Part Three

On October 8th, True Results submits our paperwork to our insurance. Expecting a month or two before they would send an actual approval TR called and let us know they sent it and would call when there was an approval. TWO HOURS LATER they call and said we have approval from our insurance.
Now the ball is rolling high speed.
The next week we get busy getting his X Ray, Blood work and my cardiac clearance. The blood work came back for me and TR required me to get a PCP clearance because my sugars were high. They said without clearnnace I probably wouldn’t get to have lapband, without controlled sugars, wounds do not heal well…..I got sad.
I went to my PCP and she flat out told me she would not clear me, and then told me to go to overeaters anonymous.
She told me horror stories she has heard about. She told me that my lapband doc probably didn’t give me the correct blood tests. So instead of approving me, she ordered more testing, upped my metformin, and told me to come back in two months.
So what do I do??? I called my old PCP who is basically a pill pusher and who I knew would approve me….I talk to his nurse, she said the doc does like lapband and I should make an appointment.
I decided to wait and talk with the surgeon before trying to get around my current PCP decision.
Isn’t the point of the lapband is to get healthy and get rid of diabetes?
arg the pain of it all.
I got worried about getting approved, but I have always been ok with Jason getting it even if I didn’t….but still wanted to talk to the surgeon first.
I had to go in on Oct 18 for an echo stress test to see my mitral valve prolapse, and come to find out they cleared me because they didn’t even see MVP. Woohoo!
Next up Surgeon consult.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

The LB Story Part Two

We go to Jason's lapband consultation. They take us back into the room, we watch a dvd about what lapband was and then we talked to a consultant.
As the consultant asked Jason to voice any questions, he had mentioned how I was on the fence so I can wait and talk with my gyno. True Results checks our insurance benefits....and with the crazy things insurances have people to do get lapband....psychologist reviews dietitian consults, 6 months of other dietary treatments..... our insurance only required a 40 bmi and over the age of 18.
Trying to convince me to jump on the bandwagon.....The consultant said that most of my causes of infertility could probably be chalked up to my weight. And she also said the running joke is that the lap band is nicknamed "fertility band" because it helps get women healthy enough to be able to conceive. She gave the personal story of her sister who had lapband, got pregnant within a few months, and then had the baby, all the time still losing weight and having a healthy baby...
I was still not 100% comfortable, so instead of Jason going ahead with the medical consult; we rescheduled both of us (me "just in case") for after my gyno procedure that way I could talk with him.
I go to my Gynos appointment on September 13th. Have the Sonohystogram. And then has the consult with the Gyno with his findings. He explains to me that my ovaries look like super chocolate chip cookies, between the eggs that are in there and the fibroids......The doc said I am in the beginning stages of polycystic ovaries. He says best thing to do is control my diabetes, and lose weight. I then ask him about lapband. He was all for it. He wasn't going to suggest clomid till after I lose a little weight.
Two days after the gyno appointment, we have our lapband medical appoitmtent. I tell them that I want lapband, everyone is excited.
Our insurance doesn’t require any testing from us, but True Results does. We have a breathing test done, and I pass. Jason doesn’t so TR asks him to go get a breathing treatment, and with that, blood work and XRays. From me, they want the blood work, cardiac clearance and that’s it. (The cardiac clearance is because I have been diagnosed with Mitral Valve Prolapse as a kid, which will require antibiotics)
In the next few weeks, Jason has two sleep studies, finds out he has slight sleep apnea, and if he loses weight it should go away (His Cpap machine will only be with him until a few weeks after the surgery)

Saturday, October 23, 2010

is it mine...or does yours do it too?

We live in an apartment. It is a handicap apartment. We have the very fashionable metal bars in our bathroom.
Instead of taking the time to put the toilet paper on the tp holder my husband utilizes the hand rails as the tp holder.
BUT that's not the worst of it....
When the roll is just about gone my husband will deem it unusable and grabs another roll. So at any given time we will have two or three rolls out at one time.
Dumb.
I end up being the person to use up the last sheets on the discarded roll.......
*sigh*

The LB Story Part One

August 2010
I made the declaration here on my blog that I wanted to lose 30 pounds during my 30th year.
Mid-month, Jason's coworker had lapband surgery.
Almost end of the month I see my gyno, had a follow up pap smear due to an abnormal one. Gyno said that i needed to come back to his office for a sonohystogram to check for possible infertility causes. September appointment is set.
About the same time as my gyno appointment, Jason sees a billboard for lapband.....he sets his consultation.
Jason had discussed with me his feelings about lapband, and he left the offer on the table whether or not I felt that it would be a good choice for me.
I have several friends that have had some kind of gastric surgery to lose weight. So the idea wasn't foreign to me. I just never thought I would be in a spot where either I could afford it, or if we had the kind of insurance that would cover it.
Because Jason's appointment for his consultation was before my gyno appt…I was unsure how to make a choice on whether or not I wanted to pursue the idea of lapband. My reasons for wanting to talk to my gyno first were....
1) Gyno told me that he would want to do the sonohystogram then talk to me about putting me on clomid.
2) How would he feel about lapband and me carrying a baby in the future?

30 in 30 September/October update

1. Lose "30" pounds. (3.5/30)
2. Get my diabetes under control (0/12
)
3. Visit my grandmother at least twice a month (0/24)
4. Read three books for leisure (0/3)
5. Complete three bible studies (0/3)
6. Complete 30 sewing projects (1/30)
7. Learn 3 new crafts (0/3)
8. Complete 30 new scrapbook pages (0/30)
9. Do 30 random acts of kindness (30/30) - helped a family out for the whole month of September, and it looks as if it will continue on for months, also is continually helping a single teenage mom, plus other small random acts...
14. Plan a Christmas gift exchange for Jason's side of the family
15. Have a "sister night" with Veida and Shayda three times (0/3)
16. Learn to make homemade pie crust
17. Learn to make yeast rolls
18. Blog twice a week (2/104)
19. Make caramel apples
19. Get a pair of glasses
20. Go to a pumpkin patch
21. Shop on Black Friday
22. Start a new tradition for Thanksgiving and Christmas (0/2)
23. Have two date nights a month (2/12)
24. Activate and use Etsy Account
25. Raise $10,000 for church in fundraisers ($330/$10,000)
26. Seriously track fertility each month so I can have a child (0/12)
27. Plan a birthday party for Jason, Aaron and Alyssa (1/3)
28. Make/eat breakfast at least 5 times a week (6/260)
29. Pray for 15 mins a day (8/365)
30. Make a weekly budget with Jason and stick to it (0/52)


bolded is being worked on
red is not going to happen
strike out is finished