My letter to the insurance company

To whom it may concern:

I am a 35 year old female. At my highest weight I was 700 lbs. I suffered from congestive heart failure, pulmonary edema, and severe obstructive sleep apnea.
I was put on medications and a high protein low carb diet and managed to lose weight down to 564 lbs.

For years I had struggled to find a way to have Gastric bypass surgery. Then finally I succeeded.
I found an experienced doctor who was more than willing to help me. At the time of surgery I weighed 564 lbs. The surgery was a success.
I was on my way to a new life, within the first 3 months I lost 106 lbs. I was ecstatic and feeling better than I had in years.
I was very compliant to my new lifestyle, after the first year I had lost 176 lbs bringing me down to 388 lbs. The more weight I lost the more excess skin I had.

Which brings me to the last 2 or so years of my life. I got down to my lowest weight of 285 lbs. Making it a total of 420 lbs lost from my
highest weight. I've regained about 50 lbs or so which disappoints me, but it is within reason. The more weight I lost
the more excess skin hung from my body. The main issue I have at the moment is the 25 to 30 lbs if not more of excess skin that hangs
from my waist. As you can probably imagine this does affect my every day life. From my endurance to perform normal every day tasks:
sitting for too long, standing, walking, bathing, dressing, pretty much anything you can think of. It takes a toll on my back and causes
me pain 95% of my day.

I have tried alternate methods of treatment for this back pain issue. I have done physical therapy for 2 months with no success.
I have tried cortisone shots in my back with no success. I have been going to pain management for several months and have to take
pain killers on a daily basis in order to function. I attempted going to the gym but sometimes the pain that I feel in my back due
to pinched nerves, arthritis and bulging discs is too much for me to bare. Hygiene is also an issue, I am a very clean person, I do bathe
daily but the summer months can be very difficult due to rashes under my pannus. I get ulcerations, skin tears and it is very painful. For these reasons
surgery is very important to my health and well being.

Please take all the above into consideration when making your decision for my approval. It would not only improve my quality of life but also
help me lose additional weight that I need to lose to meet my personal goal. I inserted a picture of myself in this letter to give you some idea of what I'm dealing with.

Thank you in advance
Sincerely


Rachel Perez