[ Originally Posted October 5, 2000 ]
Well, I was going to wait until I received the official results of my sleep study before I posted here, but apparently the Dr. is taking his sweet time getting those results to me! After the sleep study (for which I was able to sleep about 2 hours and toss & turn for 6) the Dr. came in and told me that I probably had “moderate to severe” sleep apnea. That was just from the 5 or so minutes he had analyzed so far. He said he would go over my results and send them out some time this week.
It turns out I was wrong about why I need to have the sleep apnea diagnosed before surgery. I thought that I needed to have it diagnosed so that I could have the cpap machine during surgery so I could breathe. I was very mistaken.
Apparently during surgery, they give you some kind of muscle relaxant that temporarily paralyzes your diaphragm. Your breathing is done for you via ventilator. I guess it makes sense, because if your diaphragm were to move during surgery, it would be very hard to operate.
The 2 reasons I need to be diagnosed are these: first, to add to the list of diagnosed co-morbidities to get the insurance company to agree that the surgery is necessary. Second, because I will defnitely be sleeping on my back during recovery, and good sleep is very important to recovery. Thus I will defnitely need the cpap machine then!
Right now I am in the frustrating wait for approval from my insurance company. Due to mistakes/incompetence I am in my 7th week of waiting. And I know, fairly certainly, that my answer will be a denial. So I have a good plan for appeal, but I have to wait to be denied first. That means I will probably be fighting this until the first of the year and wind up having my surgery some time after that.
I was really hoping, since my surgeon sent the letter of medical necessity in to my insurance company on August 16th, that I would actually have had the operation by now! Or at least I would be in the fighting stage. I really never dreamed that it would take 7 weeks (and counting) to get an initial answer from the insurance company.
It’s easy to get a little bit discouraged, but I had something happen yesterday that helped me get my excitement back about this surgery! I had to go in for a dental procedure yesterday, and they gave me a prescription for extra-strength vicoden for the pain.
I came home and took the vicoden, and low and behold – EVERY ache and pain associated with my super-morbid-obesity was GONE! I fixed an extravagent dinner, cleaned it up and did tons of housework for hours with no pain whatsoever! I never even had to stop and rest! It was a miracle, and it was so energizing to be pain-free!
It made me realize how I would feel once I’ve had the surgery and have all this weight off my frame. I am soooo looking forward to feeling that way all the time. It has helped me to get excited about the surgery again and to make me be as patient as I need to be – and as assertive as I need to be with the insurance company!
Today I took no vicoden because I didn’t need any for my mouth and I sure feel the difference; back pain, hip pain, knee pain, etc. It’s a difference like night and day.
Well, I guess I will post more when I learn my official sleep study results or when I have more news of some kind to report.
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