Home Help

My mom and aunt will be flying out from CA to stay while I'm having my surgery and most of the week afterwards. I'm so happy! Since my husband works 2nd shift, it was going to be rough figuring out what to do with the kids while I'm in the hospital so this is a big relief. Of course now I need to redouble my efforts to get the house clean and caught up on all the laundry. Ack! On the bright side, staying busy will take my mind off being nervous.

Pre-Op Dr. Visit

Saw Dr. Greenbaum yesterday for my Pre-op visit. We went over what the plans are in case he cannot do the duodenal switch and we agreed to do a sleeve instead. He offered to do a distal RNY but I declined that, I do *not* want to lose my pyloric valve.  I know that's going to be my first question as soon as I get out of anesthesia - Was he able to do the full DS surgery? This chat was necessary since I may have extensive scar tissue right around where he needs to make the incision below the pylorus valve, no way to know for sure until he gets in there.  However, I do feel confidence that if he says it couldn't be done, it really couldn't be done.

We went out to eat Thai food for my 'Last Supper' but that was cut short when my 6 yr old got violently sick at the table.  Um, check please?? LOL

Today I start my liquid diet, I'm sipping strawberry protein shake as I type this. Dr. Greenbaum provides all the shakes for the 2 week liquid diet so at least I don't have to wonder what's acceptable and what's not.  I picked a mix of strawberry, chocolate and vanilla. I think later on I will use ice and crush it in the blender instead of using a blender bottle, the texture is slightly gluey but the taste isn't bad.

I have a date!!

Just got the call - approved and have a date for Feb. 13th!! I'm so excited and nervous - my hands are shaking.

Waiting is torture

So my request for pre-authorization for DS has been in my insurance company's hands for a week now. I'm pretty sure I have jumped through every hoop and it should be approved but I'm still so nervous about getting a denial at this late stage. I called them on Monday and was told it was a two week turnaround for approval. I called them again today and told them I was hoping to have my surgery done in mid-February and thus needed approval this week. I heard the person typing away on the other end and then she told me she had sent the notes over to the nurse practitioner and they would be calling my surgeon with a pre-auth number. I'm really really hoping this means they will get that call by tomorrow.

End of Year Update

Well, I really thought I would have had my DS surgery and be well on the road to recovery by now. Unfortunately that's not the case. I ended up having lung surgery in September. Thoracotomy with lung wedge resection. Fortunately nothing was cancerous. Still, the surgery was pretty hard on me and it was about 6 weeks before I starting feeling like myself again. Plus the pulmonologist wanted me to wait until December at least to have another surgery.

After recovery, I started to have some concerns about my surgeon. In my particular case, I had been told that I might not be able to get the full DS in the first surgery, due to my previous open gallbladder/T-tube placement and potential scar tissue. I decided to go for a consult with another surgeon, one who is known for doing lots of revisions. The new surgeon did not feel the scar tissue would be a problem and so I decided to proceed with him.  I didn't have to start completely over, but it did mean I had to get my records sent over, and the new surgeon wanted me to have a consult with a cardiologist. After that consult and nuclear stress test, and two more support group meeting attendances (required by my insurance), I am finally done with everything needed to be done pre-op. This has been a long time coming.