I'm On My Way!

^{Me with Cory Everson, 6-time Ms Olympia.}

^{The picture at the left is of me with Cory Everson in 1989.  This was taken when I attended the week long Muscle & Fitness Magazine 's Bodybuilding & Fitness Training Camp for women.}


  





Very exciting news: the surgeon’s office called on Thursday with my surgery date!  It is scheduled for 8:00AM on Monday, March 4^th – only two weeks away!   

I have been fortunate in having everything move quickly and without any problems.  I’ve read about some people who run into so many roadblocks that more than a year passes between their first introductory seminar and their surgery. 

I was very curious about how long the pre-op process took for others, so I’ll share my schedule here.  Please be aware that everything moved very quickly for me; do not take this as a typical time frame.  Some insurance companies require several more medical tests and many require that prospective WLS patients spend 3 or 6 months on a doctor supervised diet prior to being approved.

• 10/24/12:  Initial introduction to weight loss surgery seminar
• 12/04/12:  Personal meeting/appointment with my surgeon
• 01/29/13*:  Fulfilled the last of my insurance requirements 
• psych evaluation, appointment with nutritionist, and group nutritional seminar
• 02/04/13:  Pre-authorization claim paperwork sent to insurance
• 02/07/13:  Surgery pre-authorized by insurance company
• 02/14/13:  Received surgery date of 03/04/13

*01/29/13 was my 20^th wedding anniversary.  DH and I spent it together at the two-hour group nutritional seminar.  That’s true love.

I have a lot to do in the next two weeks!

• Attend a half day of pre-op testing and prep that includes another nutrition class.
• Attend a final pre-op appointment with my surgeon.
• Wrap up tasks at work to prepare for my leave of absence.
• Get my shop ready to put in vacation mode.
• Buy items that I need/want for my hospital stay and after (more on those later).
• Rearrange the furniture so that I can relax in a recliner where the animals can’t get to me.  (I really don’t want to have a 40 pound dog jumping on my stomach while I’m healing!!)
• Shrink my liver by consuming as little fat and sugar as possible (more on that later, too⁾

<sup>These next two weeks are going to fly.

Sandra</sup>