You Take The Good. You Take The Bad...

You take them both and there you have... the fact of life. The facts of life.

Okay, so it's obvious I watched way too much tv in my day. For those of you who were actually out 'playing' outside while I was watching Knight Rider and reruns of Gomer Pyle... that was the lyrics to the theme song for The Facts of Life. Sadly, I didn't even have to Google that.

Anyhow, we (as the title suggests) got some good news and bad today. Good for my wife as she was approved through her insurance pretty much full stop. She just has to provide some records and a letter of necessity from her doctor. Done deal.

Me, on the other hand, come bearing a sadder tale. Unfortunately, my insurance outright denied the request. Actually, it wasn't so much the insurance company as the company I work for that designated our policy to not include any and all bariatric-related work. WTF? Out of respect for my employer, I'll keep my comments to myself regarding this topic alone... for now.

Anyhow, I'm hit with a few options here. 1) I move over to my wife's insurance which wouldn't happen until January - 8 months from now and hope they cover me then or 2) self pay.

Obviously, utilizing the insurance would be the most cost effective route. However, there will be about 6 months where I will be holding 2 insurance coverages since my current one I won't be able to cancel until June. So, the question is whether my wife's insurance will even cover me if they see my primary is still active. If not, I will have to wait until June (one year from now) for that to lapse. Then I would be back to square one where I need to re-apply with the new insurance. Given that, I'm worried then about the carrier saying, "Hey now... you just got on and you're already asking for a $25,000 surgery? What's up with that? Is this the reason you jumped over to our service in the first place?" I know how these insurance people can be. Of course, they're job is to get out of paying as much as they can and I don't put this past them. Pardon me for being cynical in this regard. Nevertheless, at this point I could potentially be back to square one again a year and a half later.

So, I'm now at the point where I'm thinking it's worth $500/month to just get it done and not deal with all of that nonsense. But I'm just one of those 'get it done now and get it done right' kind of guys. Trust me, the monthly payment will be no easy task. But I'm at the point now where I feel money is something that comes and goes - my life is not.

Thoughts? Do I hold out for the insurance or go for it?

Obesity Adds to Global Warming - WTF?

Wow, some people have way too much time and money on their hands if they're funding research like this.

This article gets the F#@ktard of the Week award in my book.

Obesity adds to global warming, study finds
Humans getting heavier, requiring more fuel to move us and our food

May. 16, 200 - GENEVA - Obesity contributes to global warming, too.

Obese and overweight people require more fuel to transport them and the food they eat, and the problem will worsen as the population literally swells in size, a team at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine says.

This adds to food shortages and higher energy prices, the school's researchers Phil Edwards and Ian Roberts wrote in the journal Lancet on Friday.
Full Story...

The Catch-22 of Insurance

I forgot about one thing that really irked me about the seminar.

We were given a sheet that listed standard prerequisites that each insurance carrier required before approving WLS. Some, of course, much longer than others. Although an annoyance, most of it I can understand but one:

Almost all said you have to be greater than 40 BMI (body mass index - which basically means how fat you are). If not, you had to have 2 of a long list of what they call 'co-morbidities'. That is basically a nice, medical term for 'shit that will kill you'.

Now, WHY in the world would you required someone to ALREADY have a fatal disease before approving a surgery that would most likely prevent said fatal disease from happening in the first place. Based on this rule, many people will have to wait around until they have a heart attack before they can get approved for a surgery that would most likely prevent a heart attack from even happening. That's some F-d up logic right there.

What? I'm Normal? Nah...

Out of all the information that was presented in the seminar last night, one statistic keeps popping up in my head...

0.5%

That's the percentage of people who actually lose their goal weight and manage to keep it off long term (without surgery).

So, when Joe Blow tells you to just 'eat good and exercise and you'll lose the weight' tell him, that the odds are really not in our favor. Contrary to popular belief we just happen to be 'normal'. Go figure.

On a side note: I've been called a lot of things in life, but 'normal' has never been one of them.

Went to Seminar - 1st Step Down

So, my wife and I made it to the seminar on WLS this evening at Celebration Health Hospital in Celebration, FL. Man, there was a lot more people there than I thought might be. It really put things into perspective for me. Considering they hold this seminar once a week, every week, for what seemed to be almost 100 people to be in attendance really made me understand that I am not alone. Many, many people share the same issues I do. I mean, I knew that previously, but to see this really brought the picture in much more clearly.

Firstly, I learned a lot about the types of surgery and the pros and cons of each. Sure there's lots to think about, but I think the permanent solution, RNY is the one for me. Of course, I'd need to discuss/confirm that with a doctor, but I'm a 'get it done right the first time' kind of guy. My wife, however, while thinking of the future possibilities of having children is considering the band. Makes sense but, again, need to discuss with a doc.

The doctor speaking, Dr. Keith Kim MD, seemed highly knowledgeable on the subject, seemed very caring and had a good sense of humor too.

So, we filled out some paperwork to get the ball rolling at least in finding out what the insurance would cover (if at all) with both of us. Now starts the waiting game.

Going to a Seminar

In doing some research (which my wife is great at), we found a seminar that is held once a week locally at Celebration Hospital, Celebration, FL. We're planning on going next week to soak up whatever info we can.

Why?

I'm 439lbs. I have been greatly overweight for as long as I can remember, and even further. Just about everyone in my family going up the line is heavy. As I mentioned, I've tried everything including nutritionists, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig to the standard 'eat right and exercise'. I even had a personally trainer for close to a year. That produced great results - I lost almost 100 pounds that way. But alas, it came back when attempting to get back to 'normal life'. There's only so much dry chicken breasts and steamed broccoli one can take. So, I've hovered around 400lbs for the last several years.

As I mentioned, I've always been of the mindset that surgery was the 'easy way out'. My mother decided (against my advisement no less) to go for WLS (weight loss surgery). 4 years later, her life has taken a dramatic turn for the better in numerous aspects. I was relatively skeptical of the option and still remain mildly so.

But now I look at it this way, something has to be done. I want to live - for myself, my wife, my family and (maybe someday) my children. Time for a change - and it's becoming obvious that I can't do it on my own.

Starting the Journey...

Well, we started a journey this week - my wife and I. We've made the decision to seek out weight loss surgery options. It's, of course, exciting yet scary at the same time.

So, I want to preface this with a few things...

Both my wife and I have been overweight all our lives. Personally, I'm not going to sit here and blame 'social issues' or 'psychological mishap' as the cause of my obesity. Some things in life just seem so hard to reach no matter how hard you try. Given that, I'm sure some of you reading this might be saying to yourself, "well, damn, if they would just get off their ass, eat right and exercise, they wouldn't need surgery." To that, I can only say one thing... you right. To an extent. To this point, I've thought the same thing. But after years and years of trying everything under the sun with minimal to moderate results but then seeing those results go out the window, it's kind of a kick in the balls, really. By the way, I should also state I'm going to be terribly open on this blog (whether you like it or not :))

I'm not going to go into details now as to what we've tried - maybe later. I'd probably be preaching to the choir anyway, right? Suffice, for now, to say that I've been through it all as many have.

Which brings another point. I can't count the number of times I've heard from people, "it's just a matter of eating right and exercising." Holy crap, you're a friggin' genius! Why didn't I think of that? What planet do you think I just came from? While you're at it, why don't you go tell Ray Charles that there' a stripper standing right in front of him...

Anyhow, as I said, we're beginning the journey to find a solution. Stay tuned...