Brina
10-01-06 - I am currently 34 years old 5' 7" and 278.7 lbs. I have been up and down in weight all of my life. When I was born the doctor told my parents I would grow to be a petite young woman. Wow was he wrong or what? My real weight problem began in 1990 when I got married (I don't blame the marriage but boy would it be nice to be able to) I was 5' 9" and 147 lbs. It was not long after that I started really gaining weight fast and it began to become a serious issue and affect my life. I have been interested in bariatric surgery for years now but have been a little leary of the whole idea. Recently I have come to the conclusion that I can not go on any longer like this. I am uncomfortable in my body and unhappy with who I have become. After hundreds of diets, and failures, I have decided to take the steps to making my life better. So on 9/13/06 I attended my first seminar which led to my first P.A. appointment on 9/28/06. I recieved my information packet and spoke to the insurance clerk who is currently looking into my insurance and it's policy on the procedure. Ok, enough being chatty on my part. I will post more as it happens. I hope my fears of being turned down for the procedure are not realized.
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10-2-06 - I recieved a call today from Dr. Coirin's insurance clerk. She said that my insurance does cover the surgery "if I qualify". I need to start my process and have the psychiatric evaluation done. I have to admit that it worries me to have this eval done. I have had a rough past and hope that he does not consider me unstable or anything like that. I guess I will see. I called Dr. Morgan and set an appt. for Friday 10-06-06.
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10-06-06 - My appt. went great!!!! Dr. Morgan was very nice and he didn't dredge up my past as I feared would happen. I was honest and felt very comfertable with him. He gave me the thumbs up and will send in his eval. to Dr. Coirin by Wed. next week. I am unsure where to go from here. I have taken it upon myself (for other reasons) to get an abdominal ultrasound and upper GI. Those are schedule for the next 2 Mondays. Hope all is well.
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10-07-06 - Ok. I am having a bit of a rough day today. I have been working alot of OT this week and don't see an end to it in the near future. I have been working so much lately that I have neglected my normal visits with my nieces and nephews, whom are my life. I have 5 nieces ages < 1yr to 15 and 4 nephews ages 5 to 10. My husband (Steve) and I have tried for years to have children and have failed miserably. We have been tested and been told that we are both ok we just don't work together, whatever that means. I have had problems with my cycles since I started to really put on the weight 16 years ago. There is the small part of me that hopes that, if I get to have the surgery, I may finally have a chance at starting a family. I am a realist though and believe that the surgery will probably not help my cause. I have put alot of thought into it lately and have put myself in a blue mood because of it. More later......
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10-12-06 - Ok, so I have had a pretty nice week so far. Yesterday I called Dr. Coirin's office to see what my next step will be and schedule my 4 hr class. Sandy, the insurance clerk, was extremely helpful, as usual, and she told me she would get a date for my class and call me back. She called me within 15 minutes and said she did not have an exact date for the class yet but...... MY INSURANCE APPROVED THE SURGERY.... OMG I am shocked. She applied for approval on the 3rd of October and had just got the call between our calls. That is like only 8 days, not excluding weekends. I am floored and excited and scared. I can not have the surgery until January because we are in the process of hiring a new tech at work and she needs training. I do not want to be out a few weeks and have her overwhelmed or anything. Anyway, I am sooooo nervous now and I don't know what to do with myself. Until Later..... Peace out!!!!
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10-26-06 - Ok it has been a while since I posted last. Update... My insurance told me that if I did not have the surgery in 2006 I may have to go through the process again and have a chance of not being approved the second time around. So I am set for December 29, 2006 which is a Friday. I will probably be in the hospital on New years eve which blows but it is worth it. I am concerned about being on my 2 week crash diet on Christmas day though. I do alot of cooking and baking at the holiday time so this will be a trial for me. I am stoked and have been making my list of what to take to the hospital and so on. I am extremely nervous too though. On a side note if anyone reads this in the beginning of their process I suggest you read Weight loss surgery for dummies it has alot of answers that I had not been able to get answered before. Peace out peeps!!!!
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12-02-06 - OMG It has been a bit of time since my last post. All is well so far. I am excited and nervous about my up and coming surgery. I feel like no matter how many questions I get answered that I still want to know more. My boss went over my Dec/Jan Schedule yesterday with me and it was a hoot. I am scheduled for surgery on DEC 29th @ 7am which means I will be at Memorial @ 5 am. Well I was basically scheduled to get off work 30 min before I am to arrive for surgery. Needless to say I requested that she go ahead and take me off the day before my surgery as well. I am so lucky to have such a good boss, she has really been helpful and compassionate through all this. I am going to be updating my page soon so I can have a pretty one like all the others. I want to keep track of things too. Ok enough idle chit chat. gotta splittttt. Peace Out
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12-26-06 - Ok, so it has been even longer between posts this time. I guess it has been a hectic few weeks for everyone around here so I know I am not alone in the gapped updates. Today is Tuesday the 26th and I am 59 hours away from my surgery. I do not think I have ever been this nervous in my life. My Hubby says that I have been nervous, like I am now, with all 4 of my past surgeries. I do not remember it but I will take his word. I feel like vomitting every time I think about it. I have spent so much time focusing on the nervous side of this that I have not been considering how much this is gonna change my life. I am going to finally be able to do all the things I have refrained from doing these past 16 years. I have a big list of things that I will add later to keep me on my toes for future purposes. I am listing below my measurements until I get a new page up and running.
As of 12/26/06
Weight - 278.3
Height - 5’8”
Body Fat % - 41.0%
Neck - 16”
Chest - 54”
Above Elbow - 10”
Below Elbow - 12”
Waist - 53”
Hips - 54”
Thigh - 27.5”
Self Esteem - 0.0%
