u/misstums

Hello all,

I have UHC (god forbid), and I'm kind of in a rocky spot. I am getting a laporoscopic hysterectomy (58571) for abnormal uterine bleeding (code N93.9).

I noticed that there was no pre-authorization in my UHC portal, and after some investigation, learned that this code does not require a pre-auth. I asked my doctor to submit a voluntary pre-determination so that I had a document stating coverage, but was told it goes against UHC policy to do a predetermination.

The woman who works in the insurance department at the clinic stated that based on the code, my insurance should find it medically necessary, but it will be reviewed post-op. I CANNOT be saddled with a 60k bill. What do I do?

I called the insurance dept at the clinic a few weeks ago, and they said that my insurance had approved the procedure and my only cost should be my remaining out of pocket. However, after doing a bit of digging, this surgery did not require a pre-authorization, and according to Google, UHC will review the paperwork AFTER the surgery with no guarantees that this will be approved.

If I'm understanding what this means, I could be liable for tens of thousands of dollars.

Google told me I could request a voluntary predetermination. Did anyone run into this same thing? Should I request the voluntary predetermination? I thought that there was a pre-auth, so I wasn't worried, but now I'm scared.

EDITED TO ADD - THE MOST UP TO DATE INFORMATION:

I just talked to the insurance representative at the clinic I'm going through and she gave me the code for the surgery (laporoscopic hysterectomy), the diagnosis code, and the reference number that they gave her when she submitted the information and this is what they told her:

Due to the diagnosis code, a pre-auth is NOT required. Additionally, they will NOT do a voluntary pre-determination (per UHC policy, not the clinic's decision). She said that my diagnosis code is one that my insurance company does consider medically necessary, but it will be a post-op review.

So I guess im going to call the insurance and just confirm that information. Im not really sure what I'm supposed to do if they dont require a pre-auth and refuse to do a predetermination.

To be fair, I do walk my dog for about 60 minutes a day, but its usually super low impact cuz she likes to take her time to sniff around.

But today i went to the gym and did resistance training for the first time. I'm on week 12, almost 13, and I've been consistently losing the whole time. The last 2 weeks I've noticed an uptick in hunger, and instead of moving up to 7.5mg, I thought I'd give exercise a go to give me a little more flexibility with food.

I tracked my exercises and reps and weights and felt like a total gym bro... till I looked in the mirror lol.

I don't hate my body, it does everything I need it to. But it's weird not recognizing yourself. I think I must have some level of body dysmorphia because I still feel like I'm a size 6, but I very much am not.

Ive been tracking measurements and am losing inches in my bust, waist, and stomach, so I'm getting there, but man is it humbling taking pictures. I took my first picture today (wish I would have taken one 12 weeks ago lol).

Sorry for the ramble, im excited about my progress and the gym was fun but I still feel disappointed for letting it get so far.

Hey all!

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I'm 3 months in and 30lbs down. I've been working hard to make sustainable changes, but damn am I burnt out from thinking all the time about calories and protein and fiber and tracking activity.

I'm still doing it, and 3 months is way longer than Ive ever made it before. And obviously I'm doing well because I have been losing an average of 1% of my body weight per week (a little more in the first few weeks from water weight and inflammation). But I'm starting to feel a little tired of always being "on." I'm starting to think THIS is why I maintained a high body weight. My food noise hasn't been replaced because I'm still thinking about food - just in a different way.

For those who have been doing this a long time, maybe who went through an early stage burnout... does it get easier and more natural?

But also yay, 30lbs down!

I crossed my legs during a meeting today comfortably! Like I didnt have to force them to stay crossed, they just sat like that!

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What are some of your most recent NSVs?

I can't wait to get this damn hysterectomy. This morning I started my period at work, which never happens it almost ALWAYS starts in the early morning hours, but I was sitting in a meeting and thought I'd run to check. I bled through my underwear AND jeans!

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I just lost 30lbs and this is my first time wearing these jeans in a really long time and I bled through them after having been at work for less than 2 hours. Get this stupid uterus out of me already!

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2 months and 21 days to go.

Hello,

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Surgeon told me not to inject my medication for one week prior to surgery (no problem whatsoever). I plan to do one injection on August 26th, miss my dose on September 2nd, surgery on September 8th. My next dose would technically be on September 9th, but I'm worried about gas pain. With tirz, I generally have a lot of gas buildup due to slow digestion (obviously). With a surgery, i will already have gas buildup from them pumping gas into my abdomen, then add on that digestive gas, I'm actually quite nervous. If I were to ALSO miss my Sept 9th dose and just start again on the 16th, would I need to reduce my dose? It's only 2 missed shots, and I'm only planning to be on 5mg (unless I need to move to 7.5mg between now and then, but 5mg is working like a charm and has minimal negative side effects aside from FARTING CONSTANTLY).

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Does anyone have any experience with this? I could ask my doctor on telehealth but tbh I don't trust them to have anything more than generic answers I can find on google.

Hello all!

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I just rescheduled my surgery because my FMLA doesnt kick in until September.

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My mom just informed me that she'll fly in for a few days to help me to the hospital and post-op (to my grateful chagrin, she drives me bonkers but I'm thankful for the help because I have animals and no partner or close friends in the area).

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Question:

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How long does the surgery take? Getting a hysterectomy and salpingectomy and removing the cervix laproscopically via robot. My "call-time" (pretending this is a performance because I am a musician lol) is 5:30am, surgery to take place 7am. When can I expect to leave?

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When my mom drops me off, can I kick her out of the room (lovingly)? I don't want her privy to my private medical information. They won't require her in the room, will they?

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Can I ask the medical team to not share any intimate or personal details with her? Will they respect that? I know I sound silly, but this is a sensitive surgery for me and honestly if I could just be alone for recovery, that would be much preferred.

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Does anyone have a timeline of recommendations on how to prepare? I'm feeling overwhelmed.

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Also still want to cry that insurance approved this as medically necessary without a battle.

The scariest hurdle of my surgery is officially jumped over... insurance approved my surgery and considers it medically necessary.

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I want to cry from both fear and relief. I only have about $600 left of my out of pocket maximum... that's insane.

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But now I'm scared that it's real. I'm 30, and I've literally never wanted kids, but now that I'm facing reality, it isn't that I'm second guessing it, but I guess maybe I'm mourning the version of myself in some alternate universe that would have wanted kids. I'm scared to have surgery. I'm scared that I may go through menopause even though we're keeping the ovaries.

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There's so much I can't know or predict.

Hello all! I am wondering about something.

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For context, I'm a bit of a loner. My closest friends live 2.5 hours away. One works third shift, 70 hours in one week. The other is a mother of an 18 month old kid.

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My family lives 6+ hours away and besides my mom and sister, I have a minimal relationship with them.

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I was wondering what the likelihood of recovery would be on my own. I recovered from a tonsillectomy on my own. There was a one day period while recovering that I got the most god awful headache I've ever had in my life, but I stopped taking the opioids and it cleared up within 30ish hours. Beyond that, I was up and moving almost like normal same day. I 10000000% recognize it's a completely different surgery, but if I prepare well, can I recover on my own if I have someone bring me home from the hospital?

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I have a dog and 3 cats. My biggest worry is taking the dog out for walks for 2 reasons: I'm on the second floor of the apartment, so I'll have to traverse the stairs 4+ times a day (we usually go every 2 hours because she's incontinent, but with recovery, I feel that I'll have to utilize puppy pads occasionally), and she does pull LIGHTLY if she sees other dogs (shes a very good girl and is easily called off).

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I'm also worried about having to squat to scoop the litterboxes.

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Any and all experiences and advice is welcome!

Update: I will ask my mom if she would be able to help if I fly her out for a few days/up to a week. She is starting a new job at the end of the month, though, so a week off might not be feasible. Before I ask, I have to confirm insurance coverage and I think I may push my surgery to early September just because im not eligible for FMLA until early September.

For the dog: I will not walk her - that was a big fat resounding no from all LOL I will have my mom help for however long she can, then ask my downstairs neighbor if she can walk her 2x a day, and I will sit in the green space outside my apartment with my dog on her 30ft lead. She will be lacking enough exercise, but it won't be forever.

For the cat boxes: I will move them to an accessible counter so that I can scoop them without bending.

I plan to meal prep a 2 week supply in reusable dishes so that (hopefully) my garbage stays minimal, but if necessary, I will take it out before it exceeds my lifting restriction and/or ask my neighbor to take it out.

I am open to continued input!! You're all very helpful.

I've seen the graphic for when to move up a dose, but I'm curious what you'd do in this situation:

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I've been at 5mg for 6 weeks now, I think. It's still doing well with helping me recognize when I'm feeling full, but the last 2 days specifically, the food noise and desire to overeat has come back. I am still losing weight.

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Would you stay on 5mg for one more week to see how it goes or bump up the dose? I've got the vial warming up a bit now before I inject, so quick answers would be appreciated!

(By warming up i mean I let it sit out for 5 min so the injection isn't as cold)

I stuck with 5mg!

That's not a sentence I'd ever hear myself say. LOL.

I'm genuinely SO GRATEFUL for this medication, please don't get me wrong. But I want to have one singular day where I eat just a little too much.

I cooked myself 9 vegan chicky nuggies. I took tiny bites out of all of them to let them cool down and ate 2 full nuggets and I'm so full that I can't eat anymore.

I can't be at more than 1,200 calories today (didn't count, I'm a lazy bitch today and I don't care because sustainable weight loss and lifestyle changes sometimes mean having a soul day). I'm on day 5 after my 5th shot of 5mg. It's working crazy good for me, but DAMMIT I JUST WANT TO EAT MY NUGS AND READ A BOOK TODAY.

Has anyone gone to thedacare for the weight loss clinic?

I am looking for a program that can mostly help me with my diet. I'm already on a GLP-1, but I need help creating a sustainable diet plan that will give me adequate protein and nutrients that my body is chronically low in (ie. Iron, B12, Vit D) which causes additional health issues.

I'd love to hear about the thedacare clinic or any registered dieticians in the area you'd recommend!

Yesterday I had an appt with my gyn. We had to do a transvaginal ultrasound and a pap. I have so much sexual trauma spanning decades that I can't even talk about in therapy (thanks Reddit for letting me be comfortable enough to share this anonymously with thousands of strangers). My doctor was able to surmise the problem during our initial intake and graciously prescribed me diazepam and oxycodone to take before those appointments. Unfortunately neither had any effect on me at all and it was such a horrible appointment.

Halfway through the ultrasound, panic completely overcame me and I wasn't able to breathe. The poor girl doing my ultrasound was trying to ask me what was wrong and I couldn't say anything or look anywhere or do anything besides try to breathe again. When the doctor came in to do the pap, she asked if I wanted to do it another time, and I just remember saying, "All I want is a hysterectomy. Whatever we need to do right now to get that done is what I want to do."

I'm so grateful she did whatever she had to do so incredibly quick, it couldn't have been longer than a minute. She's fully on board with an elective hysterectomy but unfortunately said we had to do these things to rule out cancer pre surgery (since she is not a doctor who specializes in cancer), and as a way to make it so insurance knows we performed all necessary tests.

She did say she was going to recommend me for surgery, and I'm grateful. I guess I don't need anything from this post, I still just feel sad and overwhelmed from yesterday and have no one to vent to, and I keep tearing up at work, but I work in a very male dominated industry and feel like I don't have a good enough reason to take time off work this week to emotionally regulate, and I can't tell my frat boy male boss that I had a traumatic dr appt and I need to go home to cry about it.

But, onwards we go toward a hysterectomy and never needing pap smears ever again.

Today is my dog's first full day home alone.

The first week I had her, we did daily doggy daycare while crate training on weekends and evenings.

The second week, we did half a day at doggy daycare and half a day at home (medicated - traz and gaba), with additional crate training on weekends.

This week, we are doing full days at home (medicated).

I woke up at 4:30am, gave her her meds, took her on a 1.5 mile walk, gave her food to her in the form of a lick mat, and gave her a bone to chew on for about 20 minutes.

20 minutes before I left, I put her in the crate to wind down and I brought all my stuff out to the car and put my shoes outside the door.

Then I rested in my room (because omg 4:30 is so early) quietly while she rested.

Then I left.

She slept for the first hour or so, then got up and dug a bit, but self soothed. Shes been up and down since, but no overt or overwhelming signs of anxiety.

I'm so anxious watching her. 😭😂

I still can't believe this medication. 20.8lbs down in 54 days. Only 4.3lbs to go until I have less than 100lbs to lose. Only 24.3lbs to go before I'm under 200lbs (a weight I haven't been since 2017/18).

I keep waiting for it to stop working. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. For something to go wrong.

Yesterday I took my dog for a walk and my sweatpants felt just a little bit too loose. Yesterday I had a Snapchat filter on my face that showed super angular cheekbones. When I took the filter off, I realized - those were just my cheekbones. It didn't accentuate them at all.

Today I'm feeling grateful and proud.

I hope you all have a good Sunday.

Hello! I am a relatively new DM. I've run a couple of one shots and played in a couple of one shots. For my friend's birthday, all she asked for was to play DND. She was a player in a super last minute/majorly improvised one shot I ran and she wants to do it again (although this time I'd like to actually be somewhat prepared - last time everyone had one six-sided die and our characters were planned out on sticky notes LOL).

This will be, by far, the biggest table I've ever run. There will be six players plus myself. I am looking for a well-organized one shot module that is user friendly for all levels of experience (2 players have never even been exposed to DND, 3 are beginners who have been exposed to Critical Role and played a few one shots, one grew up playing DND, then there's me).

Bonus points if it has (a) map(s). Don't know if that's a thing that modules have (newbie here). I'm looking for something that will easily immerse new players (particularly those who dont actually want to play but its their wife's birthday so he's being a good sport lol) but will also have the fun mechanics and shenanigans that more experienced players can enjoy.

Ideally for a level 5 party. I'm good with 5E and 5.5E. I personally enjoy the more magical and fantastical stories but I know some in the group probs want something that isn't totally focused on RP/story heavy.

THANKS SO MUCH!!!

My doggo with separation anxiety was able to stay home alone in her crate for 4 hours while I was at work!!!!!!!!!!

We did half a day at daycare to tire her out, she took her trazadone and gabapenting at 10am, I picked her up at 11:40, and left my house at about 12:15 after allowing her to get situated and calm in the crate.

She had to do some very minor self soothing when she heard noises and got startled, but after an hour she was completely zonked out.

We will continue to do half day doggy daycare this week. I may consider lowering her medication dose by half a tab of trazadone every other day. I want her to be able to stay home without sedation. But dear lord this is the most amazing success. I am feeling so hopeful and relieved.

We will of course continue working on unmedicated crate training in the evenings (when the med is mostly worn off) and on weekends. Unmedicated, she remains calm for 40-50 minutes. We're getting there. But i cannot express to you the stress and anxiety I've felt having to fork over as much cash as I have been to daycare and worrying about her first time at home for more than a couple hours. What a success story.

Thank you all for your wonderful advice and support as I navigate this very new-to-me situation. I am filled with gratitude for this community.