Got my Cardiac Clearance!!

Still awaiting insurance approval though...

Maybe today?

Still waiting...

My insurance approval is taking FOREVER!!!!!

And I feel like a putz for bothering the surgeon's office AGAIN, but I had to call to make sure that they had even put it through.  I am so anxious even though I know I met all the qualifications.  It's just that I need to hear they will over it at this point to feel like this is going to happen.  The office worker explained that they are probably prioritizing those with closer surgery dates, but it will hopefully come soon.

I scheduled my home sleep study for Feb 11th.  That will be my last step towards getting celarance!  Getting there slowly but surely.

And....

But my diet didn't.  I did OK the first day or two.  I ate a bit more than I should, but kept off the sweets.  Day 3 was harder - I cheated a bit more.  Day 4 was a disaster!  I didn't even feel well last night I had eaten so much crap!  I took way too much insulin and consumed way too many calories!  FINALLY back at work today (I hate snow days!) and am better able to get back on track because the temptations aren't here.  I didn't even want to weigh myself this morning.  

Surprisingly though, someone at work told me I looked like I was losing weight today.  I guess I didn't kill myself too much.  The shoveling of 24" of snow sure had my muscles hurting, so maybe that helped some.

I lost some more weight!

Which is probably why I'm starving today!!!  My tummy is like the evil plant in Little Shop of Horrors!

Thankfully I'm not home today - that would be hard for me.  At work I have many less options for food.  I'm about to go down to the cafeteria to see what kind of soup they have.  They make some good soup down there...

So the scale this morning was 1 lb down from yesterday!  I'll take it!  My belly button is disappearing underneath the fat that is sinking down over it.  That's how I know I'm losing even without the scale...

If I lose 3 more lbs I fall below the 35 BMI mark.  I'm glad this is happening after all my NUT visits and all - I wouldn't want it to affect my surgery approval.

Stress Test and Echo

Yesterday was my stress test and echocardiogram.

First was the stress test, which was tiring!  I am not an exerciser (at least at this point).  I have been in the past, but it's been a while.  

I made it 7 min 18 sec.  My cardiologist told me that the average is 6-8 minutes.  I am so OK with being average!  I probably would have pushed myself harder if I knew I was that close to breaking the "average", but I didn't know until I was done.  She said that she had enough information at that point anyway.  That incline was tough!

Next was the echo.

I am very blessed that she will just call me with the results and I don't need a follow up appointment.  I will only require a follow-up if there is a problem on the echo.  

So assuming no issues, that should be it for my cardiac clearance!

One less hurdle to cross on my way to the new me!

I also woke up super, duper early this morning to have my bloodwork drawn for the endoscopy.  I didn't trust waiting until Saturday - since they are calling for a LOT of snow.  Baby steps...I will get there.

Last Visit with Nutritionist!!!

So yesterday I had my LAST visit with the nutritionist!  We went over the post-OP diet - which is daunting to say the least.  I am going to absolutely love eating real food again by the time I'm there.

So worth it for the weight loss though!

I also found out that after following her eating directions - I have lost a measly ...

Seriously?????  This is why I get frustrated.  That is not a lot of weight considering all the yumminess I passed up.  *Sigh*  Just keep plugging I guess.

On a positive note, when I told my husband, he was shocked too.  He said he would have guess I had lost about 15 lbs because I looked so much thinner.  I think he was just buttering me up.

There is also no liquid pre-OP diet I have heard others mention.  Except the day before - the day before surgery I will be on full liquids.  Makes sense though, who would want to cut my stomach open and view my last meal??

Later I go for my echo and stress test - that has me a little nervous...

Today's Update

So I need a new PCP.  I am so done with that office.  They won't write the letter.  They are rude and nasty in there.  And here's the thing - I'm not unreasonable (most of the time).  I can ALMOST understand their point of view.  But their point of view is skewed because they didn't listen to what I actually requested.

It should never have taken 9 days for me to find all this out.  9 days, 3 phone calls, 1 office visit, and a $10 co-pay.  Such a waste of my time.  I can't deal with incompetence.  I can't deal with lazy.

I called the surgeon's office and they reassured me that I don't need their letter since my endo wrote one already.  Whew!  I was scared there for a minute!

So my nutritionist told me that I didn't need to start any "diet", but if I wanted to I could replace one meal with a protein shake.  I am an all-or-nothing kind of girl, so I am replacing 2 meals with protein shakes right now.  And cutting down on my snacking - seriously cutting down.  It's been a week now and as of yesterday I had lost 1.4 lbs.  As of today, back to .4 lbs.  

Kinda depressing....

Little (I hope) bump in the road...

So I saw my GP last Tuesday to see about getting a letter of medical necessity.  I saw a nurse practicioner, who consulted with my GP, and wrote a general outline for the letter.  She was going to put it on the office manager's desk and told me it should be typed out in a day or two.  I left it go all last week.  On Monday I called my surgeon and asked if they had received all the info for insurance approval.  They had my psych eval letter, but that's all.  My endo hadn't sent her letter yet, and my GP hadn't sent the letter yet.  I called the GP and spoke to a woman on the phone who assured me it would be done that day.  I emailed my endo, who jumped right on it and sent it over.

Fast forward to today -

I called my surgeon's office again to check on the status of the letters.  They had the letter of medical necessity from my endo, but NOT from the GP.

So I called the GP again!  I left a message on the phone for them.  I received a call back about half an hour later from the office manager.  She informed me that she couldn't write my letter because I hadn't seen the doctor since 2004.  What?!?!?!

I clearly remember seeing the doctor in 2013.  Definitely not since then - I have't been sick - and since I see my endo regularly for the diabetes I have no need to go in to see him unless I am sick.

When I went over all this with her, she became rude and obnoxious!  I was flabbergasted!  She even went so far as to accuse me of asking her to lie on the letter!  What????  All I asked her to do is report the facts and write the letter.  It shouldn't have been that hard, considering it was already written out and approved by the GP.

We left it that she was meeting with the GP at 1:30 and would talk to him about it.  You would think I'd get a call back then, wouldn't you?  But no - apparently she has no time to call back the people she mistreats.

If I can't get the letter from my GP I'm going to lose my mind.  I know I have one from the endo already, but my surgeon advised me to get a letter from both just in case.

I will have to call back tomorrow - and possibly have it out with this lady.  Hopefully I won't need to talk to the doctor to get this straightened out.  And hopefully I can get insurance approval without the letter anyway.