On Monday afternoon I attended the last group session. It was almost two hours in length, and the person overseeing the session went over nutrition in the days leading up to surgery and nutrition in the days, weeks and first two months after surgery. The importance of multi-vitamins, calcium supplements, vitamin B12 supplements and possibly iron supplements (I’m anemic, so I know I’ll continue to need those) was also stressed. We concluded the session with wishing each other good luck (one woman’s surgery date is November 13th (five days before mine — so envious! Grrr!) and the other woman’s surgery date is December 7th), exchanging email addresses and signing a paper promising to follow up with a group session after surgery.
On my way out from the session I spoke with the receptionist about the whole insurance approval process, and she said that my insurance company wouldn’t receive the pre-auth until Tuesday morning, since the program director had to wait until I completed the last session. When I called Capital BlueCross this afternoon, the woman I spoke with, Kelly, said that the pre-auth had been received, and had been forwarded to the nurse care department for a final review. She assured me that it should be approved with no problem, particularly since I attended a center of excellence and followed their strict requirements. Also, if my pre-auth would be rejected, it would usually be rejected from the offset — not over 24 hours later, when it had been forwarded to whatever department it is that goes over all the jargon outlined in bariatric surgery pre-auth forms and puts the final seal of approval on things. She suggested I call back Friday morning to find out the status, and believe me, I will!
Speaking of phone calls, my surgeon called this evening to let me know that I’ll be the first patient of the day on November 18th — I’ll be taken in for surgery at 9:00am, though I’ll need to arrive around 7:00am for pre-surgery prep. Sounds good to me! I’d hate to come later in the day and possibly have my surgery delayed due to a prior surgery taking longer than expected.
This time next week I’ll be chugging protein shakes for sustenance. My last real meal will be on Tuesday (November 10th) night, and if finances/babysitting arrangements all line up, my husband will be taking me out to Red Lobster for my last supper. I had their crab & shrimp fondue last spring, and it was SO amazing. Seven months later and I’m still thinking about it, so yes, I’m going to enjoy it!
Fourteen days seems like a long time to wait, but I have a lot of home and work things to get in order between now and the evening of November 17th, so I know that time will speed up soon enough!
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