I am added some things to the beginning here just to remind myself of all that happened. I was planning on this surgery being in Jan to March. Then came the announcement that Cigna was buying out our insurance. I really freaked out. My husband's work has a trend of changing insurances often so I just knew that this announcement was going to bring too many changes. I called my husband's HR lady and she said yes it was being bought out but they were for once going to keep the same insurance. I let her know that I was hoping to have a surgery in the upcoming year. She said I am going to let you know though, all premiums and co pays are going up. Our premiums were going up about 60 bucks a month, copays for office from 15 to 30 dollars. Now here comes the shocker and almost heart attack. Our copay for the hospital would change from $250 to an outrageous $3000. So here we go, I have to some how get this approve right away. Called the Dr's office and all his team. They were wonderful in trying to get things moving. I seen them on this 7th of December, Friday. We got all the paperwork together and submitted by Tuesday, December 11th. Under the miracle powers of God, I was approved on Friday, December 14th, 2007. Surgery scheduled Sunday, December 23rd, 2007. Now I think that is as fast as it gets for insurance and doctors to rush anything. I am amazed still, and now I dont have to pay that outrageous copay. Thank you God Almighty. So here is the letter I wrote to the insurance for approval.----------------------------------------------------------------------------I am writing my own personal letter to you in regards to getting a real prompt approval for a gastric bypass surgery. I am a 40 year old female. I am 5 foot 1 inch and starting in at a weight of 357lbs. In the 6 months since I have starting this I have lost a total of 17lbs. I have done 5 months of nutrition, diet with Kelly Elliot, exercise assistance with Taralyn Jensen, and Psychological evaluations with Dr Kaplan, and I am told by Dr. Frank Chae that I am a fantastic candidate for this surgery. I am aware it is not the whole 6 months as of yet, but please listen to my story. First I am nervous about the whole buyout of Great-West with Cigna, but I am told everything should be the almost the same. I am the mother of two children, a son, who is 21 years old and a daughter, who is 12 years old. Although I only have two biological children, I am really responsible for many more lives than that. You see, my husband of 14 years, Manuel, and I have full custody of our niece, 10 years old, nephew, 16 years old, and our most precious gift, our 3 year old grandson. We also have a 15 year old daughter, who resides in Mexico. I am truly blessed with all these wonderful kids in my life. The sad reality of it all is that I am scared to death that I am not going to be able to see all of them grow up, get married, and have babies of their own. I am also the owner of my own daycare in which I take care of 8 (eight) different children, as I work 7 days a week and almost 24 hours a day. The hardest part is that I am so huge now that I can barely do anything with all of these precious children. I really feel that at this point, I am setting the worst example for all of these children and just may be putting them at risk in the future for being obese themselves. All of my ailments keep me from doing so much with them and for them anymore, that I mostly can only sit and watch them play, and order fast food or make simple quick meals for them because of my many problems.
My legs and feet hurt so bad, that I can barely make it through a store without wanting to collapse. My back is always hurting so bad. I am constantly out of breath, and have no desire or strength to play with the children anymore. I am tired all the time, and have to take a nap in the day just to make it. My own kids do almost everything for me. They clean, do the laundry, wash the dishes and even cook sometimes. They also help take care of the daycare kids too, as far as playing with them, make a bottle for them, because I can’t walk without hurting. When I stand up to do these things my feet hurt so bad I just want to cry, and when I do make it through standing up to do something, there is a part of my upper right thigh that just goes numb. The doctor’s say it’s my weight pressing on a nerve numbing that area. I have heal spurs in both feet caused by my weight, and causing so much pain every day. I have had injections of cortisone in both of my feet on two different occasions, but it only lasts temporary. With the shots I was able to exercise, now as of November those shots have worn off, and I know that I am going to gain back the weight I have fought so hard to loose thus far. I have started some water exercises again, but those leave me starving afterwards which of course will lead to more weight gain. The Orthopedic doctor says the only real help for me is to lose the weight. I also fell and my left leg hurts constantly. The doctor says I ripped the fat pad in my leg when I fell, which is causing my awful pain all the time. Doesn’t that sound nice, I didn’t even know a person could rip their own fat.
The doctor’s say that my BMI being as high as it is, is really increasing my chances of the co-morbidities of cancer and heart problems. This really scares the world out of me, because I have never smoked because I never wanted to get all the different cancers, and heart conditions that plague my whole family, on both my mother and father sides. Both of my brothers have heart conditions, one a heart attack at 18, the other had surgery at 20 for shortages in the electric currents to his heart. Thank God, I have not had those problems as of yet, and I would like to keep it that way by getting this weight off. My mother died of pancreatic cancer and congestive heart failure, and my father is currently dying of liver, colon, prostate cancers. You name a part of the body and someone of my family has had cancer in that part and died of it.
Then lets talk about clothes, or should a say tents. I have been wearing the same kind of black stretchy pants for the past 22 long years. I don’t wear any thing else, no shorts, skirts, dresses, Capri’s, just plain black stretchy pants. I wear t-shirts all the time, because nothing else will fit me. Sometimes I won’t even get out of my nightgown, or should I say moo-moo, because I am so tired. I can not tell you how embarrassed I am of myself and what I have become. I remember when I was 16 years old, 180 lbs and said that I would never let myself get over 200 lbs. Then when I was 25 years old, and 275 lbs and swore I would never get over 300 lbs. Now, here I am writing this very personal letter to you, at 40 years old and 340 lbs. God please help me, insurance please help me, I can’t get any bigger or I am going to die for sure. I don’t want anyone else to raise my children, I want to do it myself. I want to show them I can make a change and take care of them for once.
I have been heavy for as long as I can remember. I remember kids used to make fun of me at 7 years old, because I already was getting breasts. Little did they understand that it was just fat. I have tried many diets and pills, and exercise programs as you will see from the enclosed form I have prepared. A few were through a doctors care, but usually just ones I have tried on my own. I know that gastric bypass will take a lot of work on my own part. I want to embark on a new future. I do have the will power to make this succeed. I need to have my life back and my children need me for many more years to come. My children deserve to be dependent on me for a change and not me dependent on them for everything. Then I know you have heard all the usual complaints of all the morbidly obese people. I have chronic migraines, on average, 6 per month. They sometimes leave me completely unable to do anything for anyone, at least once a month. The doctors say that some of the headaches are coming from sleep apnea, which I have had a sleep study done, and I am currently on a CPAP machine, which scares my grandson to death at nights. I now have high blood pressure that I take medication for. It now seems as though I take enough pills to make up for a meal a day. This all can be alleviated with the help of gastric bypass surgery. Then there is leaking urine all the time, and the smell that comes from that, how gross!! How about the not being able to reach places that need to be reached daily for personal hygiene. I am so tired of pulling the muscles in my chest and arms just trying to wipe my behind. You might not know this but when you pull those muscles, sometimes afterward it feels as though you are have a heart attack. You have pain in your chest and down your arm. Then you have to stop and think, Oh No, it is not a heart attack, you just wiped your own butt. It is pretty sad, that I almost have to become a contortionist just to do daily activities, like take a shower, shave my legs and armpits, clip my toenails, and yea clean my behind. Putting on socks and shoes is next to impossible unless they are just slide-ons or my daughter does it for me. I also have had problems with infertility, and my menstrual cycles for very many years. My body just aches all the time, without any known reasons. I can’t go anywhere without people looking at me and making rude remarks to me, laughing behind my back or even to my face as they say something. If I go somewhere with my kids, I have to look around first to make sure there is a place to sit down right away. I also have to make sure that where ever I do decide to sit, that it will hold me. I also have extremely large hips, or saddlebags to give you a visual, and most chairs, I can’t fit in at all, especially if they have arms on them. If I go to the movies with my kids, I have to get there early, and my kids have to run up the stairs first to find a seat that the arm rest will go up on so I can share a seat with one of them. It makes me so depressed that they have to do these things for me, just so that I can try to be a part of their lives. I also have to take medicine for depression. This surgery will change all that, by allowing me to have a life again. I am ready, and willing for the change. I have read everything there is regarding this surgery and I am well aware of the risks. I am to the point in my life where I am begging for your help and approval. I am willing to make all changes that are necessary to live a new life. With your approval, not only will this be helping me, but also all the other wonderful children who look to me for guidance and love. I will be able to show them I can make a change and become more mobile, eat right, and exercise. The best return of all will be their futures, because they too, will become more mobile and active, and learn to eat correctly, and we all can work at living healthy lives. Please I am begging you to approve me for this surgery. Please help me to take care of myself and my children!!! Please don’t let me die of being super morbidly obese. Thank You very much for your time in reading my letter. My doctor’s and I are anxiously awaiting your response.
I guess that was enough, because my insurance approved me in less than 72 hours, at the end of the year when everyone was trying to get approved for all kinds of surgeries. The person that headed my case for review with the insurance said I had the a very good file with loads of information. I thank GOD and Dr Chae everyday for giving me my life back!!!!
