The Beginning.

Hopefully I’m doing this whole blog thing “right”!

I told you that I am 5’4” tall and fluffy. Let me go a little further. I have always been fluffy. I do not remember a time in life where that was not the case.

This brings us to the subject that prompted me to start this blog…the ongoing life struggle to lose weight.

I have been considering WLS (weight loss surgery) for a couple of years now. I have pretty much always known that bypass is NOT the way for me. I do not like the idea of a permanent "re-wiring" of my innards. In Aug 2008, I was surfing the 'net and found an ad for True Results. The website was talking about a different option for WLS. Lap-Band. They were running a special...I don't remember all the exact wording, but basically the initial visit was free. I thought, "Why the hell not?" I mean what is the worst thing they would tell me..."you're overweight." OMG! Let's just call it like it is. Bring out the big guns...the f-word! Yep, let's just put it out there. I'm fat. Not just fat...but obese. Morbidly obese. Super morbidly obese. I'm not 500lbs...but at 5'4", it doesn't take 500lbs to hit the SMO category. I cried the first time the doctor wrote that on my medical chart...but I digress.

I scheduled a visit for about 2 weeks later. On the appointed day, I took my little one to day care, and drove 3 hours to visit their clinic. I filled out the paperwork they had and then they called me back. They took my height, weight and blood pressure. It then took all of 5 minutes for them to tell me that they could do surgery in 2 weeks. HOLY CRAP. All we needed was to see about payment. My insurance at the time would not cover this. They told me it would cost between $15 and $20K. HOLY CRAP. I don't know about you, but I do not have that kind of money. I knew that getting credit to pay for it was not an option.

I left the office dejected.

I went back to work and life. I was bummed out majorly...but I was there. I kept reading about WLS and thinking about it. I was researching and trying to come up with any and all options out there that would allow me to have this surgery. Seems like with every job I had, the insurance included an exclusion clause for this.

I changed jobs a couple of years ago. There were several insurance options available. Naturally I chose the WRONG one. This one had the typical exclusion stating that WLS was not covered under ANY circumstances. I got mailed a copy (Oct 2009) of the coverage/exclusion for the other plan we were allowed to choose. HOLY CRAP…WLS was excluded EXCEPT when deemed medically necessary by the claims administrator. I started jumping up and down in my kitchen as I read it. I finally had a shot. I plotted and planned a course of action. But, I was just going to have to do several “waits”.

The Middle will be up next.

-Frog