irritated

Well, called the surgeon's office this morning. I was told I need to call the scheduler at Kaiser. So.... I call her, she is in the weight management department. Left a message, she just called back. Turns out I am NOT approved for surgery. I am approved to go see the surgeon. WTF????????? I just saw him 3 weeks ago. Now I have to talk to the head nurse of the weight management department on a phone consult Friday morning.

Unbelievable......

This was the first line form the letter I recieved:

Kaiser Permanente has authorized the service(s) that have been requested by your health care provider. Your authorization has been sent to the provider listed below. Please call this provider to make an appointment.

All that jsut for a consult???? Which, by the way, THEY set up for me 3 weeks ago.

He TOLD me he was going to suggest I have the surgery soon to help cure this painful medical condition.

I HATE insurance. Grrrrrrrrr

Later...

Good News....

Got a letter from the insurance company today. They have authorized my surgery!!!! I have been waiting and waiting for a call. I did not expect to get a letter. I need to call the surgeons office tomorrow to book my date. I also am going to call the insurance company and make sure they are not going to require the 6 weeks of classes. Really, there is no reason.... one of the things they do in the class is go over the different surgeries available. I don't need that, since I don't have any choice on surgery. Also..... can they really teach me anything that I don't already know after living the life for 2 1/2 years???

I am so happy.

Will post tomorrow after I talk to the surgeons office.

Later...

So far so OK

Well.... I went to the surgeon on Wednesday. We talked about the different surgeries available. He told me he doesn't think I should get another band (had no intention on doing that!), He said with the GP a sleeve is out, since the smaller stomach would never empty. A duodenal switch is also out, since that also has a sleeve like stomach. The only surgery that is left as an option is a bypass. Duh.... big surprise, since that's what I went in to talk to him about!!!!

He said he can't guarantee that the bypass is even going to help with the stomach emptying issue. In theory it should, since when they re-route your intestines to your stomach they do all the work. They should be what pulls the food out of my poor defective stomach.

He was sure to tell me 3-4 times that he could not guarantee it would solve anything. I told him the same 3-4 times I am willing to take that chance. After all, it can't make the problem too much worse!!!

He told me he is going to go ahead and put a request in to the insurance company for me. He warned me that most likely nothing will happen quickly. He reminded me the insurance company is a big entity and he is just a small cog in the wheel. He also told me they are going to make me take the 6 week pre surgery class. I know if I was having this done for weight loss I would have to take the class, but this is more for medical reasons. Besides, I lived the life for 2 1/2 years. I am pretty sure there is very little to nothing I can learn from a class. Not to mention, I would never deliberately scare someone, but I'm pretty sure they lump all the surgical candidates together, regardless of their chosen procedure. I'm sure hearing of my problems would scare the heck out of anyone contemplating a band.

I have a knee replacement surgery scheduled for july 19. Not sure what to do. The surgeon told me not to cancel anything yet. Most likely I will still be waiting for insurance approval at that time and go through with the knee. It's all so confusing.......

Guess that's it for now. Later...

Moving (hopefully) in the right direction.

Well, had my upper GI and upper endoscopy. No suprises in either of those. The endo doctor told me she would "Call Dr Chae" (the one who removed my band), and call me that week. No call. At the end of the week I sent her this email:

****************************************************************

I was just wondering if you ever got in touch with Dr Chae and what our next step is.

I have been using the Mirilax as you suggested, and it is not making any difference to the pain and discomfort.

*****************************************************************

These are our next few messages (the next week):

To: Julie
Subject: (No subject)

I have sent a message to weight management to see if you could get a follow up appointment with Dr. Chae
_________

To: ELIZABETH SOFIAN-CONLAN, MD
Subject: RE:(No subject)

Sorry to be a pain, but just wondering if you specifically suggested that I need surgery or have just requested I see Dr Chae again?

_______________

To:
Julie
From:
ELIZABETH SOFIAN-CONLAN, MD

Received:
05/02/2011 2:22 PM

I am going to try to get an appointment for you to speak with him in the office and talk about surgery at that time


*****************************************************************

Wish she had been a bit more clear. Did she tell them I needed surgery? Did she just ask for a referral to see him as a follow up to the last surgery???


Anyway. Was giving up hope when I did not hear from the insurance company. But, finally they called. I talked to the nurse at weight management. She asked lots of questions. She asked if I had had this pain since the band removal. She was quite taken aback when I told her I had it since November!!!!!

I also told her I had not been eating or drinking (it's hard to do that when you know what is coming) She was very insitent that I at least drink enough to be able to urinate 4-5 times a day. She also told me I should get in to see Dr Chae ASAP. I called and have an appointment for this Wednesday at noon. I truly do not know where things are going to go from there. Dr Chae and I had discussed the fact that a bypass is the only thing that "cures" gastroparesis the first time I saw him. He also told me that physically he would be able to do a bypass in 3-4 months. So.... not sure how this is going to go with the insurance company. Hoping Dr Sofian has already advised them this is something I need for medical reasons, and they will OK it.

Think good thoughts for me and I will post on Wednesday when things are (hopefully) clearer.

Later...