I have been REALLY bad at taking my vitamins. That will have to stop now that I'm going to a malabsorption method of WLS, the Duodenal Switch. I will lose 8feet of my 10ft of small intestine and so I will be at risk of vitamin and mineral deficiency.
Today I buckled down and bought all the recommended bariatric Vit&Min:
Multi with extra ADEK - 1 dose
Iron + C - 18mg
B-50 complex
Calcium Citrate - 1800-2400mg (although I REALLY love milk products, so I might be okay on the lower end of this one).
The calcium and Iron need to be taken at different times from one another, so I'll have to put that in the rotation.
I also bought some protein chicken soup from Celebrate. I struggled with my VSG in 2012 in getting enough protein daily in my liquids and soft phase. I want to try and eat more protein laden foods and lay off the puddings and jello pops.
Other than that, I'm on an eating approx. every 2 hours.
7am - coffee & premier protein shake
9am - decaf coffee and premier protein
11am - 1c cottage cheese
1pm - 1c fat free milk & package of oatmeal or cream of wheat
3pm - 1c cottage cheese
5:30/6pm - minced beef stew or broth with mushy peas
8pm - skyr and fatfree/no sugar jello
This is my "pre-full-liquids" liquids week. I'm trying to wean myself off of caffeine right now, so down to a single shot in the morning from my 3-4 shots a day.
Next week (Oct 31) I will be full liquids and there will be no more cottage cheese and beef mince at night.
I've weighed in at 248 for the last three days... I'm hoping to see some good news on the scale tomorrow morning to get some motivation back into this. I watched a portion of the surgery again last night and I know that I need to buckle down and get this done. I thought that I could lose 20lbs by the 7th, but I think I will be lucky to see 10lbs.
12 days to go to surgery!
Thursday, October 26, 2017
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Time away from the office
is it normal that I'm almost as excited to have time off from work as I am to have this surgery!
Monday, October 23, 2017
Duodenal Switch - Pre-surgery doctors appointment
Today was the pre-surgery appointment. I'm SO excited.
Weighed in at 249.6lbs
Got my front on and side pictures done.
He went over what they were going to do, ensured that I didn't have any questions. Made sure I understood how important my vitamins are from here forward and that I would very likely have "loose stool" especially if I eat fatty foods.
Check, check and check. I need to have at least one night in after surgery, because of the bowel changes, you have to stay in to make sure there is no leakage.
There will be no revision to my sleeve at all - it is "too risky", however he did say that most of the VSG to DS patients say that they notice a decrease in the amount of food that they eat.
I was originally told I would start my pre-op diet 2 weeks out, and so I was prepped to start tomorrow. They said I could do one week if I wanted, but I'm already primed to start now, so might as well. Any weight I lose on this side of the surgery will help me get to my goal on the other side faster and better. I might have a cheat meal this coming weekend, but if I'm doing really good... I might not!
Paid my $10.5K, all set for surgery on the 7th.
2 weeks!!!!
Weighed in at 249.6lbs
Got my front on and side pictures done.
He went over what they were going to do, ensured that I didn't have any questions. Made sure I understood how important my vitamins are from here forward and that I would very likely have "loose stool" especially if I eat fatty foods.
Check, check and check. I need to have at least one night in after surgery, because of the bowel changes, you have to stay in to make sure there is no leakage.
There will be no revision to my sleeve at all - it is "too risky", however he did say that most of the VSG to DS patients say that they notice a decrease in the amount of food that they eat.
I was originally told I would start my pre-op diet 2 weeks out, and so I was prepped to start tomorrow. They said I could do one week if I wanted, but I'm already primed to start now, so might as well. Any weight I lose on this side of the surgery will help me get to my goal on the other side faster and better. I might have a cheat meal this coming weekend, but if I'm doing really good... I might not!
Paid my $10.5K, all set for surgery on the 7th.
2 weeks!!!!
Thursday, October 12, 2017
Monday, October 9, 2017
Prepping!
Such a great feeling knowing that this is all scheduled!
I have my pre-op set for the 23rd, and my diet starts on the 24th. 2 weeks away!
I'm a secret WLS person, so I have been (again) prepping my coworkers with the details about hiatal hernia surgery and that I will be on a controlled diet afterwards and the dr. wants me to lose 50lbs.
I want to shoot for 70-80lbs. To the layperson that will look like 50. Ha!
As I was typing this the notification for my surgery cost and instructions came through. YAY!
Surgery will cost me $10,500 for my portion of the DS, the hospital will contact me for the portion of fees/anesthesia that my insurance is not covering. Plus all the other BS about if there are other things I will have to pay for them if they are out of network, first born, left arm etc. etc.
Pre-Op Liquid Diet:
1,200 Calories a day
High Protein, low carb, low fat, low salt
+1 multivitamin/day
4-5 Meal replacement drinks (160*5=800 calories)
Plus:
Sugary free gelatin, popsicles
Skim milk
Water (w/ crystal light or similar 0 calories waters)
Broth and tomato soups (low salt), Reduced fat cream soups
Fat free pudding
Greek yogurt (no fruit), cottage cheese (no fruit)
Cream of wheat (with skim milk)
Avoid caffeinated, carbonates, and sugary beverages.
No alcohol, No smoking (easy... I don't do either of these).
The only part that will be hard for me will be the coffee wean. I love me some caffeine.
I found some really interesting bone broth at the Whole Foods that I'm excited to try. Turkey, Sage & Rosemary, and Chicken and Ginger. YUM!
I have my pre-op set for the 23rd, and my diet starts on the 24th. 2 weeks away!
I'm a secret WLS person, so I have been (again) prepping my coworkers with the details about hiatal hernia surgery and that I will be on a controlled diet afterwards and the dr. wants me to lose 50lbs.
I want to shoot for 70-80lbs. To the layperson that will look like 50. Ha!
As I was typing this the notification for my surgery cost and instructions came through. YAY!
Surgery will cost me $10,500 for my portion of the DS, the hospital will contact me for the portion of fees/anesthesia that my insurance is not covering. Plus all the other BS about if there are other things I will have to pay for them if they are out of network, first born, left arm etc. etc.
Pre-Op Liquid Diet:
1,200 Calories a day
High Protein, low carb, low fat, low salt
+1 multivitamin/day
4-5 Meal replacement drinks (160*5=800 calories)
Plus:
Sugary free gelatin, popsicles
Skim milk
Water (w/ crystal light or similar 0 calories waters)
Broth and tomato soups (low salt), Reduced fat cream soups
Fat free pudding
Greek yogurt (no fruit), cottage cheese (no fruit)
Cream of wheat (with skim milk)
Avoid caffeinated, carbonates, and sugary beverages.
No alcohol, No smoking (easy... I don't do either of these).
The only part that will be hard for me will be the coffee wean. I love me some caffeine.
Friday, October 6, 2017
Surgery Date!
The only problem is that there will be an overnight stay needed, which will not be covered by insurance, but that's fine. I will end up paying about 10 - 14K out of pocket. Better than 40K.
November 7th is the date.
I had the option of Oct 31st, but my husband is traveling that week, so that won't work, but I REALLY would have loved to have had surgery on Halloween!! haha!
Regardless. I am so excited for the surgery. Hernia repair is needed - I had a piece of hard boiled egg get stuck in my esophagus a couple weeks ago and I can feel it moving more and more.
Very Pleased to finally be on track.
Pre-Op diet will start on Oct 23. PERFECT. No candy for me at all!
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Insurance Shenanigans
First of all, my insurance should pay for the hiatal hernia portion of my surgery. That is covered, however, as of yesterday - it was denied because they didn't think that the code provided by my surgeon was "specific" enough.
FFS.
So I had to get the insurance co, the billing dept from my dr, and me on a three way conference call. The billing dept confirmed that the coding is correct and all submitted documents were received. Then insurance co. decided they would resubmit that code and see why it was rejected, as the code is correct and the denial gave no specific reasoning for the rejection. So the wait continues, as the insurance co attempts to weasel out a real reason from the "denial dept".
I'm going to go ahead and assume that they just flat out deny all claims the first time, for no reason other than to see who really needs the surgery. Which (as a Canadian living in the US makes me SICK).
In 2012, after my first surgery with the hiatal hernia (insurance approved) repair and VSG (self pay) , I had a year long fight with the insurance to pay the portion for their portion of the bill for the hernia repair. They denied the claim after first approving it because.... they claimed that the reason for the hernia repair was obesity, and they don't cover weight loss surgery. *BOGGLE*
I had to basically had to start a month long calling campaign and then threaten to sue them over the cost of the hernia repair. They finally acquiesced.
The hoop jumping required by insurance is brutal.
I am a smart, organized individual and they make it very difficult. I am fully aware that they will very likely pull the same shenanigans this time - starting with denying my right to have my hiatal hernia repaired.
So, I will document it all carefully, and then spend the next year post surgery fighting with them, but I won't play nice from the start. I'll just go straight to the jugular.
The worst part of me, is that this is just taking a lot longer to get done than I was hoping. I was really hoping that I would have a surgery date now, and I would be able to start planning my life around that.
But... I guess I can count on this...
FFS.
So I had to get the insurance co, the billing dept from my dr, and me on a three way conference call. The billing dept confirmed that the coding is correct and all submitted documents were received. Then insurance co. decided they would resubmit that code and see why it was rejected, as the code is correct and the denial gave no specific reasoning for the rejection. So the wait continues, as the insurance co attempts to weasel out a real reason from the "denial dept".
I'm going to go ahead and assume that they just flat out deny all claims the first time, for no reason other than to see who really needs the surgery. Which (as a Canadian living in the US makes me SICK).
In 2012, after my first surgery with the hiatal hernia (insurance approved) repair and VSG (self pay) , I had a year long fight with the insurance to pay the portion for their portion of the bill for the hernia repair. They denied the claim after first approving it because.... they claimed that the reason for the hernia repair was obesity, and they don't cover weight loss surgery. *BOGGLE*
I had to basically had to start a month long calling campaign and then threaten to sue them over the cost of the hernia repair. They finally acquiesced.
The hoop jumping required by insurance is brutal.
I am a smart, organized individual and they make it very difficult. I am fully aware that they will very likely pull the same shenanigans this time - starting with denying my right to have my hiatal hernia repaired.
So, I will document it all carefully, and then spend the next year post surgery fighting with them, but I won't play nice from the start. I'll just go straight to the jugular.
The worst part of me, is that this is just taking a lot longer to get done than I was hoping. I was really hoping that I would have a surgery date now, and I would be able to start planning my life around that.
But... I guess I can count on this...
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