Once the decision was made to do it, I wanted to just do it THAT DAY. Well, that day was in October and here were are in February, so I think you can see how that went. Every insurance is different and dictates part of the requirements (mostly around nutritional counseling/documented attempts at weight loss). The other requirements are up to your Surgeon. My insurance in October required 6 consecutive months of nutritional counseling so I saw their Nutritionist in Oct, Nov and Dec. By a stroke of sheer luck my Company changed insurances and as of January my new insurance requires zero months. So, check! Done!
They also required the following of me and there is more possible if you're older or in poorer health generally:
- Sleep study to either rule-out or diagnose sleep apnea.
- Upper endoscopy to look at your digestive structures and to take a biopsy.
- Attend one post-op support group to see and hear from real patients
- Psychological evaluation
- Final meeting with Surgeon
- EKG
- Chest xRay
- Bloodwork and urine testing
- Final medical clearance with Primary Care Doc
Phew! I'm tired just trying to remember all of what I had to do let alone actually doing it. Each one involved a different degree of suck-age. Let's discuss each one:
Sleep Study
The sleep study was pretty awful. This was hands down the worst part. It was for an entire night in a sleep lab and required electrodes to be stuck all over my body, head and face as well as two tubes to be shoved into my nose. Sleep tight! The test came back saying I have sleep apnea and I then found out I had to do another all night study but this time with electrodes and a sleep apnea mask. Joy. I guess I passed with flying colors and was given an Rx for a CPAP machine and a mask. I wouldn't even buy them since the hope is that the surgery resolves any apnea issues and I am asymptomatic but it's required that I bring my mask to surgery. Boo. It's so not a hot look, guys.
Endoscopy
This was more involved but not that bad. I had to take a day off work to have it done. It's done out-patient and you're knocked out so you don't feel a thing. Aside from the time required and the fact that you have to have someone come escort you home, this was easy. Expensive, but easy.
Post-Op Support Group
I was looking forward to this but the one I went to was lame. I think it's because it was right before Christmas and potentially not all that well attended. As anyone who has participated in any group like this (and if you're having this surgery you're likely not a stranger to WW) you know that one vocal annoying person can dominate the entire group. And boy did we have that person. She had the same procedure I will and was just full of complaints and attitude. Not fun. She did though ask me how old I was and when I told her she told me she thought I was 20 and said that losing weight will make me look even younger. After that, she was my BFF.
Psychological Evaluation
Again, an easy one. Talked for a bit, signed off on me being OK to have the surgery and done. Another check mark. You want to know something funny, I did the psych eval, the support group and my first sleep study all on the same night. I told you I want to get this party started.
That brings us to today. Today I had my final pre-op appointment with my Surgeon (another day off from work.....) It was easy, he answered any last questions and is very confident we'll have a great surgical outcome. Then we talked about living wills, health care proxy and I had to sign the consent forms. Oh man, that made it feel real all right. My BP readings were off the chart today from the anxiety.
From there I went to pre-admissions testing where I had an EKG, a chest xray and had blood and urine samples taken. It was a full day.
Later this week I have my final clearance with my PCP and then, and only then, can the Surgeon's office put in for official approval for insurance. So while I have a date, nothing is set in stone until that happens. Fingers crossed.
No comments:
Post a Comment