I'm soooo irratated!!!! -- Please help me!!!!! :(

Okay,, so after staying on the phone with St V for the past hour, being hung up by their phone system 14 times. Finally I got my letter faxed to me for my psych eval. Seems like alot more $$ and time going down the drain. Did you guys have to do stuff based off the psych eval??? It says. I have to have 5 individual counseling sesssion focusing on the managment of stress and anxiety. (HELLO WLS will fix my anxiety,, I only get anxious because I'm afraid I'm hoing to die because I'm overweight...) Attend 3 support groups at St. Vincent's Carmel (again,, I live 1 and half hours away... Ugghgghh) Attend a Dietary Counseling Class - 1 time meeting focused on helping clients develop a realistic understanding of the life style changs associated with surgery (isn't this mandatory so you know how to eat before and after WLS surgery) So are they saying I really am crazy... and that's why I have to do all this work just to have surgery,, can I still put in my approval for insurance??? Sorry,, I'm just a little ticked off by all this stuff that has to be done, and all the questions, I feel I still have unanswered... I was easier to get my breast reduction then this surgery... Geezzz...

I know your not the only one that has or 'will' have to do their 'reccommendations'. Reference my posting "APPROVED OR DENIED". Hvae you ever had counceling before or have you seen a physc before? If so, I would think you should be able to submit a letter of reccommendation on your behalf.(?) As I say, don't THEY know you best?? Do you have to do all these 'reccommendations' through St. V's? I have 2 weeks to wait to get my eval back.............can't wait to see what it says! It will be very interesting! Good Luck! Jl

Hey Heather, Yeah, the whole WLS approval process can be very stressfull and extremely frustrating. But hang in there sweetie. I, personally, did NOT have to have individual therapy sessions - mostly I think because I'm (or was) in individual counseling. As for the support group therapy - that's standard. I had to attend two before I could have surgery. I also live an hour and a half away from my surgeon and my center only offered the support group meetings once per month. Dietary counseling is also a standarded. So - no your are not crazy. It's the bariatric center covering both their butts and your butt, to make sure you understand the full concequences of what you are about to enter by having surgery. Just go with the flow of the situtation and everything will work it's self out and you'll end up in the better end of the deal by having all your bases covered. Good Luck ! Jodi

I am 16 months out and I still have questions I still get frustrated and still feel the need for support.. I would go NUTS if it wasnt for all the wonderful friends I have met here on OH. Cover your butt.. get ALL the education you can.. live each day to the fullest. I don't regret for a moment what I have done I just wish I had known more BEFORE I had the surgery so I could have taken better advantage of the honeymoon period.. Now I am almost back to normal and actually have to watch what I eat and how I eat it ... almost normal where I have to actually work off some inches with exercise... But thank GOD and WLS it is NOW possible to loose and stay that way IF I WANT to keep working at it... It has been almost 25 years since I was in a size 16... I aint ever goin back!!! Do y our program.. it will go faster than you think.. I know people who go to speedway support group (sponsered by ST V) one day St V's the next .. they get their groups in real fast by visting multi meetings... Dr Weird must like you to bring you back... once I told him I worked for Revenue he passed me quick!! Linda

Hey there Heather...I know it seems frustrating now and completely stupid to have to go thru these hoops but trust me it is a good thing. There are so many changes ahead for you and they are just making it a better and a more knowledgable path for you. I personally think too many are approved right away that need more understanding and don't find out until they are way out from surgery. The more you know and the better handle you get on this the more successful you will be. Just kind of think of it like you are 16 and your Mom is telling you you have to do something you don't want to in order to get what you really want. She really did know best and they too are only trying to help you be the best candidate you can be for this surgery. Hang in there and in the long run you will be so much better! HUGS! Marianne

I have to play devil's advocate here a little ... my mother wen through St. V's for her surgery and had to go thru similar requirements. My mother is the type that does not hear people when they tell her something is wrong and thinks that "well, these people don't know me so they don't know what they are talking about". Sometimes, it takes an outsider looking in to be able to tell us when something with ourselves (be it emotionally, physically, spirtually) is not going well. I wish that she would have taken things more seriously when they were suggesting to her that she may have a rough time with surgery afterwards due to being an emotional eater (1), and needing to be on some type of mood stabilizer (2). She did the requirements because she had to in order to get the surgery thru them; however, after surgery, she quit doing a lot of things (like taking her mood stabilizing medication which I can personally say she should have been on it the entire 28 years I've been on this earth), and she doesn't do her after-surgery regime (vitamins, food intake, types of food, exercise, water). She is hard-headed, does things that put her at risk and have ended her in the hospital several times, complains that no one cares and the best one "why aren't you having the same problem", and then keeps doing the same things. So, I guess what I'm trying to suggest is that go into the process with an open-mind and take this as an opportunity to work on the WHOLE YOU and not just the person on the outside that everyone else sees. Good luck to you.