Bariatric Surgery Journey - Nutritionst Appt #5

 

The Journey Continues...

Today was Nutritionist appointment #5. I have to go to six appointments with the nutritionist and one psych evaluation. This is getting VERY REAL!!! Psych eval is scheduled for one week from today and then they pass me off to the surgical team. EEEK! Now, let me slow down a bit and give the full story.

 

Baby Steps!

Okay, now that I've taken a couple of deep breaths, let's review my "To-Do List" from last visit.

 

So, what's the plan from here?

• Get through Christmas without going overboard - CHECK
  
• Work on my goals - up my water intake, continue to back off my Diet Coke addiction, and no drinking water with my meals - CHECK (still working on the drinking with meals part)
  
• Next month I will have my fifth appointment with my nutritionist - CHECK
• Psych evaluation in mid-January
  
• February should be my sixth nutritionist appointment
• Then my surgeon and team will approve me and submit my information to my insurance for coverage. 
• Get my surgery date!!!
  
• Do pre-op physical with my general doc
• 1-2 week liquids only diet leading up to the actual surgery date. 

 

 

 

This means, I'm getting there. It's exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time. I know I'll be fine and I know this is the best decision for my current health. I'm going into it with both eyes wide open and my family is fully informed on what to expect. I think it's the unknown timeline that is throwing me for the biggest loop. But I won't get that until the surgical team meets.

Today's Appointment

I was pumped to hear that I had lost 3 pounds. It doesn't sound big, but I LOST WEIGHT over the Christmas season! That's no small feat when you have about 2-3 dozen of 6-8 different cookies staring you down every time you walk into your kitchen. I did finally put them in a big tote - out of sight, out of mind. 

My nutritionist was impressed with the loss over a tough month, plus really pushing to meet my goals for the month. We did schedule my 6th visit with her for the first week of February, but she said that since my psych evaluation is next Friday, she assumes the surgical team will review my case on January 18th and then send me a letter in my patient portal with the next steps, like:

• my surgical date, 
• when to start my liquid diet (which I need to do 2 weeks prior to surgery), 
• instructions to get complete my pre-op appointment done within 30 days of my surgical date
• and any other requirements before surgery 

 

Next Steps!

I went back and reread my insurance's requirements for surgery and while I thought it said I had to work with the surgical team for six months prior to insurance approval, what it really says is that I have to have worked with a medically supervised weight loss program for six months or more. Since I was working with my weight loss doc prior to the surgical referral, I'm wayyyyy over the six month mark.

Therefore, I can check that off the list of steps and now only have to meet the surgeon's requirements to be eligible for surgery. They require the visits with the nutritionist and psych eval, so I'm working on those steps. But I already know both of my insurances cover the surgery, so I'm pretty much just in a holding pattern until the surgical team reviews my chart.

You can bet your bottom dollar that I will be refreshing my poor patient portal ALLLLLL day on the 18th! Have I mentioned I absolutely suck at having patience??? It truly is going quickly now, so I need to focus on the things I can control in the meantime. 

It seems hurry up and wait is the name of the game here.