Izan's Story to Insurance, beware its a long one - ThinnerTimes

izanmanyzanz · 01-08-2008, 08:19 PM

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!!!!

crzymom04 · 01-09-2008, 08:19 AM

what a wonderful story, good luck to you on your journey

izanmanyzanz · 01-09-2008, 09:21 AM

thanks so much crystal, and i wish you all the luck on your journey as well. Have you had your surgery yet?

izanmanyzanz · 01-13-2008, 01:20 PM

Well I Have Decided That That I Am Going To Keep My Own Experiences On This Thread. It Will Be Sort Of Mixed Up I Think For A Few, But I Will Get It All Straight.
I Was Approved For Surgery On 12/14/07 And Did Pre-ops On The 21st Of December. Everything Seems To Be Going As Planned. No Problems. Just Nervous And Scared As This Is My First Surgery Ever. Dr Chae Is Very Reassuring To Both Me And My Daughter And His Team Is Doing The Same. Surgery Is Scheduled For The 23rd Of December At 7:30 Am. Since I Am Coming In From Pueblo We Had To Leave At 4:00 Am. Got At Skyridge At About 5:45, Nervous Wanted To Throw My Guts Up But My Kids, Husband And Sis In Law Calmed Me Down.
As We Waited For Me To Be Taken Back, My Sis In Law Got On Computer Provided For Families In Surgery, And Showed Me Lots Of Jokes And Stuff. Was Good To Laugh, And Shake Off The Nerves.
About 6:15 They Took Me Back For Weight, (340lbs), Use The Restroom Again, And Start The Iv's. I Have Rolling Veins So This Took About 20 Minutes, And Two Sticks. Started On Meds And Anti Nausea Meds. About 6:45 Family Was Able To Come In With Me. Then All The Different Members Of The Surgery Team Started Coming In, Introducing Themselves And Explaining Everything That Was Going To Be Happening. Dr Chae Came In At 7:15 And Said Things Were Fixing To Get Started. I Told Him And The Rest Of The Team Just To Make Sure I Woke Up. They Were Are Very Nice And Reassuring To Me And My Family. I Then Said Goodbye To My Husband And Daughter, And 2 Nieces And Sis In Law. I Didn't Cry, But Really Wanted To. I Started To Shake Some And Surg Nurse Said To Relax That It Will All Be Over Soon. I Moved Myself From Bed To Operating Table, Was Getting Teary Eyed, And Anastesia Dr Said Here We Go. Gonna Give You Something To Relax In Iv, I Said Ok And Nurse Was Rubbing My Head.
That's All She Wrote. Next Thing I Remember Was Waking Up In Recovery, It Was About 11:00 Am If I Remember Correct. The Nurses Were Telling Me To Wake Up And Try To Move A Little As Oxygen Was Dropping To Low. They Did A Couple Of Asthmas Treatments, Even Though I Don't Have Asthma. They Said It Was For Me To Breathe In Deeper And Stronger To Raise My Oxygen Levels. I Was In And Out For The Next Hour Or So. They Were Waiting For A Bed To Become Available. About 12pm Or So They Let My Husband And Daughter Come Into Recovery To See Me. I Don't Remember What I Said To Them, They Stayed For A Couple Of Minutes. I Believe I Got To A Room About 2pm. It Wasn't Where I Was Suppose To Be, As At Skyridge Medical, Gb Patients Are Suppose To Be In The Suites, But They Were All Full, Oh Well , What's A Girl Gonna Do. I Got Into Bed And Settled For About 15 Minutes, Before They Were Wheeling Me Out, To Change The Bed To A Bariatric Bed. Damn, You Think They Could Have Done That Before I Got There---duh!!!! Finally My Family Got To Room About 3pm. Really Tired Now After The Bed Changes. The Nurse On Floor, Carol, Is Fabulous. She Didn't Have Alot Of Experience With Gb Patients, But The Best Nurse, Very Caring And A Real Joy To Have Her Helping Me. About 5pm they come in and say that Dr Chae has a special chair for his bariatric patients to use. Well, since I was not in the room I should have been in, this was an extreme challenge for the staff. They had to move out one chair and move my bed around to get the chair even in the room. Finally they help me up to try and get in this thing. Boy, nothing is ever made for us shorties. I practically had to jump up in the thing, the nurses cant get the feet things down, and Carol the nurse ends up putting a hole in the wall. I was trying so hard not to laugh with her, but it was hilarious. I now have 4 people in the room trying to figure out this chair. I finally tell them I really don't like the chair as it was very uncomfortable. I would rather sit on the little sofa bed that is in the room. So out goes this huge bariatric chair and in comes the smaller one. I sat and walked around for at least an hour then off to bed. Now As Far As Night Nurse Not As Friendly, And Even Though I Was Far Far From A Demanding Patient She Seems Angry That I Was There. I Felt As Though She Didn't Check Me As Well Either, As The Next Morning Would Tell. I Started Telling Her About 9pm That I Had A Splitting Headache. Since I Have A History Of Serious Migraines I Didn't Want It To Get To That Point. I Asked Her For Something Several Times Through The Night To No Avail. I Kept Hitting My Pain Button Hoping For Relief For My Headache, Not For Pain For The Surgery. Just Was Not Working, Started To Feel Like Puking. Told the nurse I was going to be sick and finally she came in with something for my stomach to get out of my throat. I always get so nauseas with migraines. Nurse Came In For Vitals About 5am And I Was Freezing. I Am Never That Cold, So This Was New To Me. I Just Happened To Look At My Iv In My Hand And Almost Passed Out. My Hand Looked Like An Elephant Foot. It Was About Triple In Size, Due To My Iv Infiltrating My Vien. So The Whole Night When I Thought I Was Getting Pain Meds And Wondering Why They Were Not Helping, That Was Why. So In Comes A Special Iv Nurse To Do A New One Because Of My Viens Moving So Much. This Takes About 35 Minutes As She Can't Seem To Get It In Anywhere. Some Special Iv Nurse Huh!!! Finally She Gets It In, But The Area Was Less Than Ideal For Me. Right In The Bend Of My Wrist. Damn That Hurts Like Hell.

Well I Will Continue Some More Later, Getting Tired.

bellalucca · 01-13-2008, 04:42 PM

Hello Izan...I have read your story twice! I have tears in my eyes...Merry Christmas to you girlfriend and way to go. Some of your symptoms (ie my upper left thigh is just now starting to be "unnumb") I have also. May God bless you Izan...you are my hero as far as I am concerned...hang in there! Thanks so much for sharing!

izanmanyzanz · 01-13-2008, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bellalucca

Hello Izan...I have read your story twice! I have tears in my eyes...Merry Christmas to you girlfriend and way to go. Some of your symptoms (ie my upper left thigh is just now starting to be "unnumb") I have also. May God bless you Izan...you are my hero as far as I am concerned...hang in there! Thanks so much for sharing!

Thank you so much, I have read some of your posts as well and wish you all the luck as well. I just decided that it was time to try and keep track of everything that has happened to me personally, and that way I can possibly help a few others in their journeys. Thanks again, and I hope to hear from you soon.

izanmanyzanz · 01-14-2008, 08:20 AM

After the whole IV crap and got settled, my nurse Carol came on duty. She was so wonderful. I asked her for something for my headache and she came in within 15min with something. Its amazing between having a caring nurse and one that is just there doing a job. About an hour later she came took out the catheter. Thank God. I hated that thing. Some time later I was able to get up and go to the restroom and walk around some. That was nice. Well the rest of day consisted of me just up and down, and resting when I could. I did have a problem with my drain, or actually it was the incision, as I started leaking every where. I broke down crying, not sure if I had did something wrong. Really scared. Carol calmed me down and let me know it just happens sometimes. She cleaned me all up and sat with me a few minutes. That really helped, as all my family had gone yesterday back to Pueblo and there was no one with me. I have to say I was surprised that I really had no pain today, just a little discomfort, and that was more from the drain than anything. It's now Christmas Eve and missing my family alot. But due to the insurance all changing, we knew it was going to be like this. Now it's time for the night nurse and aide. God I wishing it would be someone new. I got my wish, but this was one of those prayers you wish had went unanswered. Although the nurse was very nice and apoligized every second I saw her, for what I don't know, she smelt the cigarettes, bad breath something awful, and it took everything I had not to upchuck. Thank goodness I didn't see her much through the night, except later she came in smelly like salsa on top of everything else and I just had to cover my head. The person I did see through most of the night was the aide. I am sorry dear God, but how this woman ever passed any classes is beyond my comprehension. She had to have a bag of rocks in her head. The absolute worst aide I have ever encountered in my life. Somebody needed to give her a few cents to make a penny. If I needed the restroom, she would come in 10 minutes later after of course it is half way running down my leg. She would not even help me up, and seemed to struggle just to hand me the control to bed. Excuse me lady for pissing on your night, no pun intended. When I would be finished in restroom, she tangled up all my damn wires, pulled on my drain numerous times, and then my legs would be shaking so bad that I could not lift them on my own. Did she help? Hell no!!!. Took me about 20 minutes just to get back in bed, and she left the room. Thank God I never fell. I press the call button, tell her I need my leggings hooked back up, she comes in hooks them up and forgets to turn on machine. I am truly blessed not to have gotten any blood clots, because my leggings were never on the entire night. Here comes the morning. I can't wait till she is gone, gone gone!!!!!!!! Merry Christmas. The morning is here and here is a new nurse. I can't remember her name, but very professional and is great, as well as the new aide. Hopefully I get to go home for sure. It is starting to snow, I hope my son and daughter are going to make it okay with the snow. I want to go home. My kids left Pueblo about 10:30 am but didn't get to Skyridge till almost 1pm. My IV came out about 12pm. Got a second shot to prevent blood clots. I did alot of walking around to try and pass the time till the kids got here, the snow was awful. I am glad they made it okay. Dr Chae came in about 1:30pm and is letting me go. YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Said he would have let me leave yesterday, but since I live in Pueblo and not Denver, wanted to make sure everything was real good with me. God he is such a great surgeon. Nurse came in and wanted to give me some pain meds before leaving. I didn't want to take them but she said trust me on this one. So I took the meds. Boy oh Boy am I glad I trusted her. Riding in a Blazer on snow pack and bumps was not a pretty picture. Sure wish I had known about the pillow over the stomach then. Oh well, what are you gonna do? Suck it up and put on my big girl pants. About 5:30 pm made it to HOME SWEET HOME!!!!! And to think I was going to try and drive myself home. HAHA, talk about scary!! I would have killed myself for sure. Don't do it, anyone!!! I was really tired, spent about an hour with the family, after all it was Christmas. Then went to bed, hubbby helped me in and that was all she wrote. Slept all night till 9 am on the 26th. Gosh that felt so good.

Godsblessedme · 01-14-2008, 08:29 AM

beautiful! and wow u lost alot of weight already looks like ur doing super with your tool! keep up the good work

izanmanyzanz · 01-14-2008, 02:01 PM

thanks Deborah, you are doing a great job yourself. Keep up the good work!!!

izanmanyzanz · 01-16-2008, 03:56 PM

Well, its the morning of the 26th and although I am not feeling any pain from the surgery, the drain is driving me nuts. I am very nauseas today so decided to take med for it. I did start passing the gas last night, and that felt a lot better.
I drank water throughout the day but only got in 20ozs. ate a little jello, but didn't feel like much of anything else. I tried my 1% milk, but got real gasey and nauseas.
Well, I guess those blood thinners are doing overtime as now I have started my monthly a week early. I was really hoping to avoid that for at least another week or so. I should of just had a hysterectomy while I was in there dang it. Not really, just feel like crap!!!

It is now the 27th and husband slept on mattress on floor so not to accidently hurt. what a sweetheart. I slept pretty good. I feel a little stronger today. I tried milk again and well lets just say, me and milk are not going to be friends at all right now. I feel as though I am going to explode after drinking it, and like it gets stuck in my chest. Sip and Sipped throughout the day, still not getting enough in. Took multi vitamin, and med for gerd. Still can't get the others in yet.

Today is day 5 after surgery, still getting a little stonger. Drove for the first time today, as it is so necessary. I have'nt had any pain meds, so I think I am okay. I finally got in half of my thyroid meds, mitamin, and gerd med. drinking a little more. I am about sick of broth though. Jello too. I can not stand the popsicles. My drain is doing good, getting lighter in color. I can't wait till this SOB is out. I guess if that is the worst of it, then I can handle it though.