Today I started my biggest part of the journey towards a new healthier happier me.
My name is Lauralee and I am 36 years old. Let me tell you the story of how I came to be where I am today.
I was born to extremely abusive parents and 4 years ago I got away from the abuse. There was every type of abuse that I had went through my whole life. My self-esteem and self-worth was the worst and lowest point that I think I could ever be. My parents had starved me a big portion of the time and then force me to eat when it was getting to the point of something physically going to happen to me. So my weight was a total yo yo from an early age. It put a grounding of a very crazy eating habit. I would go through periods of my life as I got older when I wouldn't want to eat because I was afraid that it would be taken away from me and then there was times that I would eat like crazy because I was afraid I wasn't sure when the next time I would be able to eat. After I got away from my family my eating began to become more unstable. I would eat junk stuff just because I was allowed to. I wasn't having someone stand over me saying I couldn't have potato chips or soda. I'm not really a sweet type of person. More I guess carbs and soda. So it has been very crazy with me. My all time high for weight is 370 and I'm creeping more and more up towards that level again. I've been on so many different types of diets and really truly felt that I would be this way my whole life. That I didn't deserve to be a better/healthier person. I entered into therapy almost immediately after I left my family. I have been with the same therapist every since. I have grown so much throughout these past almost 4 years and it is totally amazing how I have changed my outlook on life. It went from not wanting to live and not carring about taking care of myself to knowing and wanting to live. Knowing that I deserve to live and be healthy as well as wanting to. This whole year I have been thinking about WLS and thought there would never be a way that my insurance wouldn't cover it. I went to my psychiatrist to get my medication for my anxiety/panic disorder and she told me she is the one that does the psych eval for the gastric bypass surgery. That was back in March. So I did tons of research and looking all over the place to see what type of information I could find. I did a search and found something in Scottsdale Arizona. I thought hmmmmm wonder if there is something in Tucson Arizona. So I did a search and found 2 places. The first place there was something that I didn't feel to comfy with. Not that there is anything wrong with it, just something I didn't feel jumped at me. Then I found the Bariatric Program at the Foothills that goes through St. Joseph's Hospital and the surgeon is Dr. Monte Schwartz. Something jumped out at me. I don't know what. So I thought lets call them and see if my insurance covers it. They said that they did and then said let me call you right back. They called back and gave me some information and then said lets schedule an appt with you. I had no clue or wasn't even really thinking of scheduling an appt with them when I called, but something told me right then and there that it was the right decision for me. So I said ok and they said they could get me in April 24, 2006. My mouth almost hit the floor. That was only about 1 1/2 to 2 weeks away. I was so shocked. They told me what information that they needed and so I went with it. Made an appt with my PCP and went in there and he was a total jerk. Wouldn't give me a referral and was ready to give up. So I got a new PCP and got in right away. He was 100% for the surgery and I got a referral to go see the surgeon. Which now brings me to today.
I take the long bus ride to the appt and decide to get there even more earlier than they wanted me to. They was happy because they called to see if I could come in early. I gave them all the paper work that they sent me that I had filled out. Went to the bathroom since there was a waterfall in the background making me wanna go pee. LOL Walked out, went back to the waiting room and omg these chairs/couches were like made for a King or Queen. They were so big and huge. I loved it. I could fit in there and not feel like I was being closed in. I didn't get to enjoy it that long because they came out and called my name. LOL Like there was anyone else there so it had to be me. They weighed me and did my BMI. Then took me to a room and took my BP. Of course had to get a different cuff because the one was to small. It wasn't high, but a little higher than I would want it to be. 137/87 They said ok he will be in a moment. He came in and was so nice. Explained about the surgery, drawing pictures, telling me how long I would be in the hospital, the healing time, the pro's and con's, the complications that could happen. Then he wanted to look at my stomach. He was shaking it and pushing it and I felt like a bowl full of jello and wanted to say that, but I didn't. I tried not to laugh when he was doing it. I tend to laugh when I get nervous. He then listened to my lungs and heart. Then told me the RN would come in and explain what would be needed to be done for my insurance. I read about the RN on the web site and it really helps me a lot because she had the surgery done herself. She also goes to the support group to help everyone there. So this is what needs to be done for my insurance to cover it. She was soooooooo nice.
- Documentation of six consecutive months of physician supervised weight loss program, which must include monthly weigh-ins, nutritional analysis, education and at least monthly clinical enounters with a health professional documented by a physcian who does not perform weight loss surgery, within the past year.
- Program components must include dietary therapy and increased physical activity, behavioral therapy to reinforce dietary therapy and increaded physical activity.
- Agreement of the primary care physician to provide follow-up care after bariatric surgery.
- A pre-procedure psychological evaluation by a provider not affiliated with the bariatric surgery provider including a psychological screening study (e.g. MMPI), with records from a licensed, participating behavorial health provider indicating that the member is an appropriate candidate and likely to benfeit from the procedure.
- A pre-procedure pulmonary and cardiac evaluation by providers not affiliated with the bariatric surgery provider, and approved or chosen by MCP.
- A documented five percent weight loss from baseline as a result of the above program.
That's it. The RN told me that the weight loss that I will have to do over the next 6 months is only 15 lbs and she feels that I can do it, but doesn't think that I would do much more than that. She gave me the phone number to her other work as well as her email and told me to contact her if I have any questions or concerns. She told me not to let the next 6 months get me down and give up. That 6 months out of my life ain't really that much. I agreed 100% with that. She told me to tell my PCP that I need to be on a calorie diet because I can't do like Weight Watchers or Jenny Craig or even drug based therapy to be considered the weight loss program. She told me that they would most likely have me on the table in November.
She asked if it was ok to give me a hug and said that I don't need to worry about anything because their office would help me get through this. So I am all excited about the beginning of this journey. As I get updates and stuff I will post it here. I am also going to get a before picture and post it here as well, then will do an after picture. I'm so excited that the surgery will be in my birthday month and my birthday in 2007 I am possibly gonna be down or close to my ideal weight goal. So welcome to my journey and thanks for supporting me through this.
Lauralee's Story
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