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Yesterday was my review day, and I just couldn't wait for a phone call so I called the clinic and spoke with Mary-Ellen.  She was so nice.  I told her that I really didn't want to be a bother and she assured me that I was not being a bother, that I saved her a phone call and that I should feel free to call them at any time.  So that really put me at ease.

Apparently I was a little confused as to what the "review" was.  I thought the team all sat together, discussed whether or not you've met all of the pre-qualifications and then set you up with a surgery date.  I was correct only about the first part.  After they decide that you are good to go, they then let the insurance lady know so she can inform OHIP, and they let Janice know so she can schedule the surgery.

I'm glad I called though because I found out that the dietician was wanting more info from me and that would have held up my surgery.  I had emailed her back in January with my food journal, and she gave me some tips and instructions at that time.  I didn't realize that she wanted me to email her back.  So when Mary-Ellen told me that it all hinged on that email, I immediately set to work to find 2 weeks worth of my food journal and put it all together into a word doc that I could email to the dietician. 

The good news...no the GREAT news is that the dietician emailed me back today to say she received the email, that she could see the effort I was putting into preparation (gave up diet coke and everything!) and that she was going to let the rest of the team know that I have completed everything with her and it is all good to go!  Woo Hoo.

I received a phone call from Lindsey (the insurance lady) who told me that she has done her part and that Janice will be contacting me shortly with a date!  I can hardly believe it! 

Mary-Ellen told me that Janice was booking into April, and that there were few people ahead of me...so maybe early April?  That's not a bad time.  Roads will be good for travel. She also told me that I would be offered a date and that if it didn't work with my schedule, then I can take the next available date.  I laughed out loud at that and told Mary-Ellen that I am ready to go whenever and will arrange my schedule to fit the surgery date!  LOL

I will have to go down 2 weeks prior for a pre-op appt during which I will get the instructions for my liquid diet.  And the dietician told me that the post-op diet and vitamins, etc will all be explained thoroughly to me.  So maybe I am finally getting somewhere!?

I am quite excited now.  One of the goals I had set for myself was to be under 200 lbs by the time I reach my bday in July.  I was afraid that I may not reach that goal as the surgery was not yet booked.  But with the pre-op liquid diet and the surgery hopefully being in April...maybe I can still reach that goal.  And if not, that's okay....there are lots of goals I have set for myself!

Today is also my 15th anniversary of marriage to my beautiful and loving husband. 

I have received 2 bills from SMDC for my consult appt but just put them aside thinking they were just an FYI as the cost is covered by OHIP.  Then I received a call from the SMDC business office asking me about payment.  I explained the OHIP thing to the woman on the phone, but she didn't quite get it.  She thought that perhaps I was supposed to pay it and then be reimbursed by OHIP.  I explained that it didn't work like that and OHIP was  provincial health insurance and not personal.  I told her that I had gone over all of this with Lindsey during my consult appt and she asked that I call Lindsey and explain the situation to her.  So yesterday I did that.  I turned out that, for some reason, my pre-registration information was never put into the computer system.  That means it defaulted to bill me instead of an insurance company.  So I then had to call the pre-registration department and I gave them my health card number and the approval number that was listed on my approval letter, along with my address and phone number, and the address and phone number of the OOC office for the MOHLTC.  So hopefully that will be all straightened out now.

While I was on the phone anyway, I decided to ask to speak to someone in scheduling to see if my surgery date had been set yet.  I left a voicemail for someone named Janice but didn't hear back from her all day.  I didn't want to call again because I don't want to end up being one of those people that makes staff cringe when they hear your name, but I soooo wanted to know what was going on.  So finally at the end of the day I called back.  This time the lady on the phone told me that it should be Barb that I talk to because she is usually involved with the review.  However Barb was gone for the day.  So I left a number where I could be reached.

Just before I left work my phone rang and it was Jenny from SMDC.  She told me that my case wasn't actually reviewed on Feb 3 like I thought it would be.  She said there were so many files they couldn't get through them all and so my file is up for review next Wednesday (Feb 17).  Ugh...  That made me sad.  But oh well. 

I asked her how long it would be before I heard back and she said that it could be a week, depending on how busy they were.  However she said that I could call there Wednesday afternoon and ask about it.  I asked her if that would be a problem and she said that it wouldn't.  So I don't know what to do.  Like I said, I don't want to be a pain in their keesters, but I am going nuts with the waiting.  (I am not a patient person  LOL!)  I think by the time next Wednesday rolls around I will be too anxious not to call.  I guess we'll see.  Maybe I can keep myself busy so that they days will fly by and then I won't have to think about it.

So now I wait some more.....