Question about packet

Hey guys, I got my packet today from Dr Jones today and I have been trying to fill it out. I think I got it all covered except for the diet stuff. I checked 17 of the diets and added about 4 more on the other category. Ok first do I need to write something about all of them? There are only 7 spots. Also, what am I supposed to put in the results area? For example I put Jenny Craig 1999 weight lost 15 lbs and in the results I put that I went and lost 15 lbs fairly fast and then stalled. It was very expensive so I quit due to poor results. Is there something else I should put? Thanks to you old pros! I appreciate the help and encouragement. Christine

Christine, if you can get the paperwork you had done for Jenny Craig and the doctors checks of monitored diet program that will help a lot..... Lisa B

Christine, Here I was thinking it was going to be a question about green tomatoes! LOL!!! All Dr. Jones group really is looking for is what you tried and did you gain/lose. An approximate time that you were on it will help too...not so much with Dr. Jones group, but with your insurance approval. Mine went more like: Metabolife 6/2002-12/2002 Lost 5 lb, went off of it then gained 20 lbs I don't think they are looking for a reason why you quit such as it getting too expensive, just did you lose? how much did you lose? did you regain? Make sure you make a copy of that paper to include in with your insurance packet. They are looking to see if you have tried anything else first. They must have changed their paperwork since I did mine if there is only 7 spots. I would include the last most recent 7 on that paper. Knowing me, I would also type up an attachment to include any others. I would only go back 5 years though since my insurance companies only require that you had been obese for that length of time. Hope this helps.... Sherri btw...4 of my 8 plants already had baby tomatoes on them. Where are you located? We may have to do some veggie swapping! LOL!

Ewww! I have had my mater plants planted for a couple of weeks and I still don't have any green ones. I live off stop 11 and Madison, so whoever gets ripe ones can donate to the other! hehehe sounds like that might be you. No fried green tomato ideas I dont like em, so thats on fat I dont have to worry about. Thanks for the help on the paper thingy. In the past five years I have done WW at least 3 times, LA Weight Loss, Atkins, Carbohydrate Addicts, Slim Fast and so on. The only thing is I dont know the dates, how long on and how much lost. I never stick to it more than 3-4 months at the mosts and I have never lost more than 20 pounds on anything, ever! So do I just guesstimate? I went to LA for the longest maybe 4 months (I paid up front for 2 years!) and lost about 20 lbs and for the last 6 weeks or so just kept losing and gaining the same 4 pounds. Geez am I the only one who does this? I'm really starting to feel bad. I really have been trying to lose weight all my life but like I said I just can never stick to it and when I quit I gain twice what I lost. Maybe they wont think I tried hard enough? My Dr has been keeping track for about a year or so and yelling at me. He had to sign a release for me to do LS and he knew I was doing atkins and lost 20 lbs now whether he charted it, who knows. I will call LA and at least get a copy of my records from them. Anyway thanks again. Oh bother Christine

Shoot! If we all could have made it with Weigh****chers, Atkins, or any of those other cure-alls, think any of us would have needed WLS?? Christine, we all have that in common! We tried to do those diets and we all failed at them. Were 'we' the failure? Nope! The diets were! I would bet that each of us had tried at least 5 diets in the 5 years prior to surgery. Maybe all 5 times was Metabalife. Maybe each time was something different. Remember the cabbage soup diet?? Guilty! What it shows the doctor & insurance is that we are willing to try and put forth the effort. It DOES NOT look negative on you, ok?? Now...yes, put forth your best guesstimate on all the diet attempts. No one is going to say 'prove it'. If you believe you were going to WW in 2004...maybe durring the summer for 3-4 months, then put June 2004-Sept. 2004. Guestimate the results too. Only God knows for sure how much I gained and loss with each attempt. Hmmm...I work at Harding & Kentucky. Maybe we can meet for lunch sometime. If it's after I get some ripe tomatoes, I'll bring ya some. Sherri

Whew! Thanks Sherri, I guess none of us have done very well losing weight, but I thought maybe they might think that I should have stuck to something longer or tried harder. Well heck if I could have done it I certainly would have. I mean I dont exactly think this is the easy way out. Sometimes I wish everyone had to walk in a morbidly obese persons shoes for a week or so and then I think they wound sing a different tune. Thanks again for cheering me up, now you have swung me around to mad....they had better approve me or or or well or well they just had better. Lunch would be great I go to school everday until 4pm but I am off on Fridays. I might take the summer off but I am not sure yet, I am waiting to go to Moms Doctor (He is named Jones too) and see what happens with her. Ok I off to bed Christine

Christine, Remember sweetie that everyone on here HAS walked in the morbid obesity person's shoes. No one here is going to critisize your for not being successful with a diet. Through out all of this, I've only had 1 encounter with someone who was negative against obese people and that was the doctor on the MPlan appeal committee. Thin as a board and just could not understand why anyone would ever "allow themselves to get so overweight". Can you say ******!?! Anyway, just gotta shrug it off and find a different solution. For me, it was switching insurance companies (yeah Anthem!). As thorough as you are trying to be with all the paperwork, I'm sure you'll fly through the approval process. And if they DARE to deny you , then we'll do what we can to help you appeal. We'll all help you through any battles you may need to go through..k? There's alot of Dr. Jones, huh? Almost as common as a name as Johnson... Sherri

Thanks again Sweetie! Yep Johnson is a common name. I didnt know how common until I got married ( 2 yrs ago), I went to the pharmacy at wishard hospital and they were looking up something for me and said I was 25th in a long list of Christine Johnson in their computer! Thats crazy. I guess we are right up there with the Smiths and Jones. Hugs Christine

Sherri is wright the Dr didnt need all the info but what you had tried in the past.. I added sheets to send to the insurance I had gone to Dr Piatek for 18 months spent over 4ooo.oo and I sent weekly weight results...comments etc.. I also wrote a letter to the insurance company explaining all the comorbites I had and how they were affecting my quality of life and how weight reduction could improve the next 50 years I have here on earth!!! Best of luck!! (I also had a friend who works for my insurance co.- that helped too.. ) Linda

Thanks for all of the help gals. When I crawl out from under this cloud I will start working on a letter Linda. Now Im just worried because filling out all this stuff makes me look back and see what a failure I have been, and brings up lots of emotions Geez. Anyway just ignore me while I whine. I have Medicare and I hear that they approve it easily but, I was thinking last night about what I would do it they wouldnt do the surgery, I just dont know. My sister weighs 400 lbs and can barely walk, everytime I see her it just kills me, she is dying slowly and painfully. I'm afraid that I am right behind, as a matter of fact I know I am. Ok I'll stop it now and behave. Thank you gals for all of your help, support and encouragement. It is truly appreciated. Christine