Apparently I missed a call from my doctor's office yesterday. I remember seeing the missed call number and thinking it may be something important, but after that it totally slipped my mind. Today on my way to a meeting that I wasn't too excited about going to, something reminded me to check my voice mail, and sure enough, it was the nurse calling to schedule my surgery! Wow! That was fast! So we scheduled my procedure for Tuesday, May 26th. I honestly am shocked with how fast all of this is happening, but the good news about that is there is less time to be nervous! I plan to post updates as much as I can along the way. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support.
Have a blessed Wednesday.
"Once you choose hope, anything's possible." Christopher Reeve
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
I'm approved!!!!!!!!!!
After a looooong seven month wait, I finally received the news I had been waiting for today. My surgery has been approved by my insurance!!!
I vividly remember last year on Mother's Day weekend, I was talking to my mother about my struggles with my weight and mentioned that I wondered if I could have 'weight loss surgery'. If you're from Kansas City, I'm sure you've heard the "Less of You, More of Life...Weight Loss Surgical Center" jingle. Well, after hearing that commercial for a million times, I finally allowed myself to wonder if it was a possibility.
I have been on the heavier side all of my life, but once I quit playing golf in college my weight ballooned. I have fluctuated quite a bit over the past ten years, and even lost quite a bit of weight for a while, but I was not doing it in a healthy way and that caught up to me. Despite being diagnosed with hypothyroidism a few years ago and being treated for that as well as some vitamin deficiencies, and despite spending a lot of time in the gym over the past million years I have been unable to shed significant weight. As you can imagine, this has caused a lot of stress for me over the past few years. However, when I first entertained the thought of surgery, I also felt like I was failing myself or 'giving up' on myself. I have the mentality that to lose weight properly you need to spend hours a week in the gym and 'eat right'. Well, that just wasn't working, so after talking to my mom and looking into my insurance requirements to cover the surgery, I began the quest.
Over the past seven months I have met with an exercise physiologist and dietitian each week, met with the surgeon, and even a psychiatrist to meet the requirements. Supposedly the paperwork was submitted last Monday (the 20th), but I asked them again yesterday to fax it instead of mail it, and was told they did. This morning , I called the insurance company to verify they had received the fax yesterday and she initially told me she didn't have a record of my authorization, but then she put me on hold......after she came back on the line, she told me my file was sent directly to the medical clinician who had approved my claim 10 minutes before I called. I literally started crying on the phone and told the woman that the news she just gave me made my life....not my day, but my life.
I can't begin to express how excited I am and what an answer to prayer this is. I had just expressed my frustration to my mom yesterday afternoon and she even replied that now she knew how to specifically pray for me....well, those specific prayers worked. God is good all the time! I have learned so much about myself through this journey, and now I am excited to start a new, different journey.
The process now is that I have to wait for the doctor to send me the 'official' letter, then I schedule the pre-op class in which I get more detailed information about the two-week liquid diet before surgery and that is when I will get to schedule the actual surgery. The things I am not looking forward to so much, but will gladly suffer through to reach the end result, are the two-week liquid diet that is mandatory before the surgery to prep my body, and the wait until I am able to schedule the surgery.
I also got some really exciting news today regarding my job and the program I run, but I'll talk about that in another post soon.
By the way, I noticed today that my blog is seriously lacking in pictures....I'll work on that!
Have a blessed day!!
I vividly remember last year on Mother's Day weekend, I was talking to my mother about my struggles with my weight and mentioned that I wondered if I could have 'weight loss surgery'. If you're from Kansas City, I'm sure you've heard the "Less of You, More of Life...Weight Loss Surgical Center" jingle. Well, after hearing that commercial for a million times, I finally allowed myself to wonder if it was a possibility.
I have been on the heavier side all of my life, but once I quit playing golf in college my weight ballooned. I have fluctuated quite a bit over the past ten years, and even lost quite a bit of weight for a while, but I was not doing it in a healthy way and that caught up to me. Despite being diagnosed with hypothyroidism a few years ago and being treated for that as well as some vitamin deficiencies, and despite spending a lot of time in the gym over the past million years I have been unable to shed significant weight. As you can imagine, this has caused a lot of stress for me over the past few years. However, when I first entertained the thought of surgery, I also felt like I was failing myself or 'giving up' on myself. I have the mentality that to lose weight properly you need to spend hours a week in the gym and 'eat right'. Well, that just wasn't working, so after talking to my mom and looking into my insurance requirements to cover the surgery, I began the quest.
Over the past seven months I have met with an exercise physiologist and dietitian each week, met with the surgeon, and even a psychiatrist to meet the requirements. Supposedly the paperwork was submitted last Monday (the 20th), but I asked them again yesterday to fax it instead of mail it, and was told they did. This morning , I called the insurance company to verify they had received the fax yesterday and she initially told me she didn't have a record of my authorization, but then she put me on hold......after she came back on the line, she told me my file was sent directly to the medical clinician who had approved my claim 10 minutes before I called. I literally started crying on the phone and told the woman that the news she just gave me made my life....not my day, but my life.
I can't begin to express how excited I am and what an answer to prayer this is. I had just expressed my frustration to my mom yesterday afternoon and she even replied that now she knew how to specifically pray for me....well, those specific prayers worked. God is good all the time! I have learned so much about myself through this journey, and now I am excited to start a new, different journey.
The process now is that I have to wait for the doctor to send me the 'official' letter, then I schedule the pre-op class in which I get more detailed information about the two-week liquid diet before surgery and that is when I will get to schedule the actual surgery. The things I am not looking forward to so much, but will gladly suffer through to reach the end result, are the two-week liquid diet that is mandatory before the surgery to prep my body, and the wait until I am able to schedule the surgery.
I also got some really exciting news today regarding my job and the program I run, but I'll talk about that in another post soon.
By the way, I noticed today that my blog is seriously lacking in pictures....I'll work on that!
Have a blessed day!!
Monday, April 27, 2009
Spring is FINALLY here!
After months and months of wondering if spring was ever going to get here, I can safely say - it has arrived....with a vengeance! Once the daffodils and tulips bloomed, the fountains were turned back on, and the leaves started growing on trees I had hope that there would indeed be a spring in Kansas City this year....however, it was not until I could not watch TV Saturday night because Brian Busby and Katie Horner interrupted all the shows to 'warn' us of impending tornadoes that I knew it was official - Welcome, Spring - oh, how I have longed for you!
I did yard work Saturday morning, including mowing my back yard which probably hadn't been mowed in 2 years. It took forever! Half of the yard is thick, the other half has no grass. Luckily someone left an old-fashioned push mower in the garage, so I was able to use it to hack through a lot of the growth and then use my modern day mower (thank you to whoever invented them) to finish it off. A couple of weeks ago I put down fertilizer and some grass seed, so I was pretty excited to notice some new growth starting in the places where the previous tenant decided not to rake the leaves, thus leaving huge patches of dead grass/weeds. Fun times!
In other news, I am no longer a fan of doctor's offices and insurance companies. I mean, who is, really? I received an email last Monday from the doctor's office that my pre-authorization information had been sent to the insurance company. I checked my online account every day last week (sometimes twice a day) to see if the authorization had been received and assigned a number, and it never showed up. This morning I called Coventry and after speaking to three different departments, they swear they have not received anything. So, I emailed the doctor's office and asked them to please fax it again. Ugh!!!! I would like to point out to America that I have a full-time job already, and I do not enjoy spending part of my day making sure other people have done their job! Ok, I'm over my tantrum. Here's hoping I hear something this week.....
More updates will come soon (I'm supposed to be working - you know, the full-time job thing?!?!)
Quote for today: "Day, n. A period of twenty-four hours, mostly misspent. Ambrose Bierce"
I did yard work Saturday morning, including mowing my back yard which probably hadn't been mowed in 2 years. It took forever! Half of the yard is thick, the other half has no grass. Luckily someone left an old-fashioned push mower in the garage, so I was able to use it to hack through a lot of the growth and then use my modern day mower (thank you to whoever invented them) to finish it off. A couple of weeks ago I put down fertilizer and some grass seed, so I was pretty excited to notice some new growth starting in the places where the previous tenant decided not to rake the leaves, thus leaving huge patches of dead grass/weeds. Fun times!
In other news, I am no longer a fan of doctor's offices and insurance companies. I mean, who is, really? I received an email last Monday from the doctor's office that my pre-authorization information had been sent to the insurance company. I checked my online account every day last week (sometimes twice a day) to see if the authorization had been received and assigned a number, and it never showed up. This morning I called Coventry and after speaking to three different departments, they swear they have not received anything. So, I emailed the doctor's office and asked them to please fax it again. Ugh!!!! I would like to point out to America that I have a full-time job already, and I do not enjoy spending part of my day making sure other people have done their job! Ok, I'm over my tantrum. Here's hoping I hear something this week.....
More updates will come soon (I'm supposed to be working - you know, the full-time job thing?!?!)
Quote for today: "Day, n. A period of twenty-four hours, mostly misspent. Ambrose Bierce"
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Long Break.....and finally some news
I never intend to have such long breaks between posts, but I guess life just gets in the way. Here are some recent updates:
- I finished all of my 'pre-approval' stuff for my surgery, and my claim *should* be in the hands of the insurance company by now. I say should because I have not been able to get in touch with the Dr's assistant for the past week. I'm very hopeful, but VERY nervous at this point. I really want/need this surgery (depending on what lens you look at it through). I will post more about what the surgery actually is and give details when I find out if I have been approved.
- I went home for Easter, and had SO much fun! (I know that was a week ago, bear with me!) I flew in Thursday night and spent the evening with my parents. It was so good to have some time with just the three of us. Friday morning received a much needed hair cut and color. (I was developing some seriously scary roots!). Friday afternoon my mom, dad, brother, and I all headed down to Hillsboro to see my Aunt Tena and Uncle Steve, and my cousin Courtney, her husband Cody, and their amazingly adorable son Brayden. We had such a good time! We talked and visited and talked some more, ate an amazing supper of home-raised steaks, and took pictures in the bluebonnets. Note: I am not posting any of these pictures, because I do not have any of them. That is what happens when you give someone else the film and/or camera card! HINT HINT PEOPLE!!!! After an eventful Friday, I got up Saturday and went with my Aunt Sharon to Plano to Sadie's church Easter Egg Hunt. Let's just say it was FREEZING!!! We had a good time, though. Sadie wasn't too into the egg hunt, but we saw (not petted - saw) the animals in the petting zoo, she jumped in the bounce house, and went down the huge slide, and basically enjoyed the attention of all the adults! From there we went to lunch then back home to make eggs for Sunday, and hung out and visited, then finished the evening with my parents and Uncle Andy joining us for dinner. Then on Sunday, we had church, everyone over for lunch at my parents, watched Sadie hunt eggs in the house because it was pouring down rain, and loved on Andrew. All in all, it was an amazing weekend, and I didn't even mind too much the delayed flight on the way back to Kansas City.
- Work update: I finally found out this week that I do in fact have a job for next school year. I have talked about the uncertainty before, but the stress of it was really weighing on me, so I'm glad to have a definitive answer. However....it is not exactly the job I have right now. I'll post more about it later because it is a full post in itself.
I'm actually writing this from work on Sunday evening, so I'm going to wrap this up and get some more work done before I head back home to find something to make for dinner!
God Bless.
- I finished all of my 'pre-approval' stuff for my surgery, and my claim *should* be in the hands of the insurance company by now. I say should because I have not been able to get in touch with the Dr's assistant for the past week. I'm very hopeful, but VERY nervous at this point. I really want/need this surgery (depending on what lens you look at it through). I will post more about what the surgery actually is and give details when I find out if I have been approved.
- I went home for Easter, and had SO much fun! (I know that was a week ago, bear with me!) I flew in Thursday night and spent the evening with my parents. It was so good to have some time with just the three of us. Friday morning received a much needed hair cut and color. (I was developing some seriously scary roots!). Friday afternoon my mom, dad, brother, and I all headed down to Hillsboro to see my Aunt Tena and Uncle Steve, and my cousin Courtney, her husband Cody, and their amazingly adorable son Brayden. We had such a good time! We talked and visited and talked some more, ate an amazing supper of home-raised steaks, and took pictures in the bluebonnets. Note: I am not posting any of these pictures, because I do not have any of them. That is what happens when you give someone else the film and/or camera card! HINT HINT PEOPLE!!!! After an eventful Friday, I got up Saturday and went with my Aunt Sharon to Plano to Sadie's church Easter Egg Hunt. Let's just say it was FREEZING!!! We had a good time, though. Sadie wasn't too into the egg hunt, but we saw (not petted - saw) the animals in the petting zoo, she jumped in the bounce house, and went down the huge slide, and basically enjoyed the attention of all the adults! From there we went to lunch then back home to make eggs for Sunday, and hung out and visited, then finished the evening with my parents and Uncle Andy joining us for dinner. Then on Sunday, we had church, everyone over for lunch at my parents, watched Sadie hunt eggs in the house because it was pouring down rain, and loved on Andrew. All in all, it was an amazing weekend, and I didn't even mind too much the delayed flight on the way back to Kansas City.
- Work update: I finally found out this week that I do in fact have a job for next school year. I have talked about the uncertainty before, but the stress of it was really weighing on me, so I'm glad to have a definitive answer. However....it is not exactly the job I have right now. I'll post more about it later because it is a full post in itself.
I'm actually writing this from work on Sunday evening, so I'm going to wrap this up and get some more work done before I head back home to find something to make for dinner!
God Bless.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Taking it Day by Day
It has been brought to my attention that I have not updated my blog in a few weeks. I didn't update because I don't always want to have something negative to say. So, I'll start out on a positive note: I had an amazing time in Las Vegas with my dad! We watched basketball for four days, ate some yummy food, played cards, saw a comedy show with surprise guest George Wallace, stayed in a ridiculously nice suite, and enjoyed our time together. I even snuck in a few hours at the pool (thanks to the NCAA scheduling committee there were longer breaks between sessions this year!). Since I have been back, I have been working like crazy and trying to keep myself from going clinically insane with this weather - I mean, seriously, I'm beginning to think God left his calendar on January and doesn't realize it is already APRIL!! I know he has a lot going on an everything, but can we get some spring time weather for seven consecutive days, PLEASE!!!)
I originally wrote the following post in the middle of Feb. I'm really not sure why I didn't publish it at the time. I ended the original post with the verse Proverbs 16:9 - "The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." That is the one phrase I have held tight to in the past few months.
As an update (before you read the following, depressing post!), things are starting to look better. I feel confident that I will have a job next year; we should know something concrete in the next week or so. However, in that time of uncertainty, I started looking for other jobs as a fall back plan, but....the jobs I found really excited me and would be like promotions for me. I don't say actual promotions, because for all you corporate people, it is not moving up in my same department or division even; the moves would still be at the university, but in completely different capacities. This really excites me, but either way, I am confident the the new year will bring new challenges - and if you know me, you know I thrive on challenges!!! And in other news - I have my last meeting with the doctors this coming Wednesday, and the all the paperwork is submitted to insurance. If you think about it, please pray for me during these next couple of weeks. I can't imagine what my life will be like without this surgery, and as much as I don't like to put all my eggs in one basket, that's almost what I'm doing. That and the job thing....fun times.
Original (unpublished) post:
As mentioned before and as evidenced by everyone who knows me, I'm a planner. I plan for everything and even carry a notebook with me at all times that contains plans, lists, thoughts, pre-plans, etc. I go through two to three notebooks a year, all full of plans. They can be as simple as the errands I am going to run during the weekend, or the tasks I need to complete at home, or as complex as the major-headache-of-a-data-project and journal article I'm working on at work right now.
One of the hardest things about being a Christian for me is to give my plans to God. I want so badly to have control over the plans that I make, not just the list of errands I'm going to run, but the major events in my life as well. God has made it perfectly clear to me that he does not need my help planning out my life, but for some reason, I keep doing it anyway!
I have always known exactly what I wanted to do with my life, and when I wanted to do it. If something dramatic changed, the next door was almost immediately opened for me. I think I have gotten rather spoiled to that way of life. I knew I wanted to go to college and play golf. I wasn't good enough to get a scholarship, but I was able to walk on at OSU. I know it was expensive, and wondered if we would be able to afford it, but I got some academic money that helped out. I knew I wanted to study business and breezed through my courses. I knew I wanted to work with people, and I really wanted to work in athletics, so I found a great graduate program at OU (yuck). Unfortunately, the week before the deadline (somewhere in March of my senior year) they closed the program completely. That left me without any plans of what to do after college. I really didn't want to leave all of my friends at OSU and my safety blanket in Stillwater, so I found a great graduate program there. It ended up being exactly what I wanted to do and a great mix of training for my future career. When I finished that program, I knew I wanted to move somewhere 'different' and be independent (of sorts). I found a job at KU that I really didn't think I was qualified for, but applied and got the job. It was by far the best job I could have gotten out of graduate school because it gave me experiences that I could not have gotten anywhere else. I quickly outgrew that job and knew I wanted something with a lot more responsibility.
That's when I found my current job. My supervisor at the time told me he didn't think I was qualified and not really what they were looking for, but I liked the description and applied anyway. After the first interview I was very confident that I could do this job, and I wanted it so bad. After the third interview, I was convinced it was the job for me. I have been here for almost four years now. Which brings me to the here and now......
I have no plans! It is driving me crazy! There is currently no funding for my program for next year, so my job status is completely up in the air. I can not look for a new position right now because I am waiting to have surgery and can not change insurance until June; if I wait too long to look for a position, there probably won't be any; my current university is in a hiring freeze; I just signed a new lease and love my house, and I'm not sure I want to move to Texas, although that is always an option.....so I have NO PLANS! It is driving me crazy. That, on top of my life situation, has me stressed.
I do my best to remember that God has this all planned out, even when I don't. I pray Proverbs 16:9 - "The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps."
I originally wrote the following post in the middle of Feb. I'm really not sure why I didn't publish it at the time. I ended the original post with the verse Proverbs 16:9 - "The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." That is the one phrase I have held tight to in the past few months.
As an update (before you read the following, depressing post!), things are starting to look better. I feel confident that I will have a job next year; we should know something concrete in the next week or so. However, in that time of uncertainty, I started looking for other jobs as a fall back plan, but....the jobs I found really excited me and would be like promotions for me. I don't say actual promotions, because for all you corporate people, it is not moving up in my same department or division even; the moves would still be at the university, but in completely different capacities. This really excites me, but either way, I am confident the the new year will bring new challenges - and if you know me, you know I thrive on challenges!!! And in other news - I have my last meeting with the doctors this coming Wednesday, and the all the paperwork is submitted to insurance. If you think about it, please pray for me during these next couple of weeks. I can't imagine what my life will be like without this surgery, and as much as I don't like to put all my eggs in one basket, that's almost what I'm doing. That and the job thing....fun times.
Original (unpublished) post:
As mentioned before and as evidenced by everyone who knows me, I'm a planner. I plan for everything and even carry a notebook with me at all times that contains plans, lists, thoughts, pre-plans, etc. I go through two to three notebooks a year, all full of plans. They can be as simple as the errands I am going to run during the weekend, or the tasks I need to complete at home, or as complex as the major-headache-of-a-data-project and journal article I'm working on at work right now.
One of the hardest things about being a Christian for me is to give my plans to God. I want so badly to have control over the plans that I make, not just the list of errands I'm going to run, but the major events in my life as well. God has made it perfectly clear to me that he does not need my help planning out my life, but for some reason, I keep doing it anyway!
I have always known exactly what I wanted to do with my life, and when I wanted to do it. If something dramatic changed, the next door was almost immediately opened for me. I think I have gotten rather spoiled to that way of life. I knew I wanted to go to college and play golf. I wasn't good enough to get a scholarship, but I was able to walk on at OSU. I know it was expensive, and wondered if we would be able to afford it, but I got some academic money that helped out. I knew I wanted to study business and breezed through my courses. I knew I wanted to work with people, and I really wanted to work in athletics, so I found a great graduate program at OU (yuck). Unfortunately, the week before the deadline (somewhere in March of my senior year) they closed the program completely. That left me without any plans of what to do after college. I really didn't want to leave all of my friends at OSU and my safety blanket in Stillwater, so I found a great graduate program there. It ended up being exactly what I wanted to do and a great mix of training for my future career. When I finished that program, I knew I wanted to move somewhere 'different' and be independent (of sorts). I found a job at KU that I really didn't think I was qualified for, but applied and got the job. It was by far the best job I could have gotten out of graduate school because it gave me experiences that I could not have gotten anywhere else. I quickly outgrew that job and knew I wanted something with a lot more responsibility.
That's when I found my current job. My supervisor at the time told me he didn't think I was qualified and not really what they were looking for, but I liked the description and applied anyway. After the first interview I was very confident that I could do this job, and I wanted it so bad. After the third interview, I was convinced it was the job for me. I have been here for almost four years now. Which brings me to the here and now......
I have no plans! It is driving me crazy! There is currently no funding for my program for next year, so my job status is completely up in the air. I can not look for a new position right now because I am waiting to have surgery and can not change insurance until June; if I wait too long to look for a position, there probably won't be any; my current university is in a hiring freeze; I just signed a new lease and love my house, and I'm not sure I want to move to Texas, although that is always an option.....so I have NO PLANS! It is driving me crazy. That, on top of my life situation, has me stressed.
I do my best to remember that God has this all planned out, even when I don't. I pray Proverbs 16:9 - "The heart of a man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps."
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