so frustrated!

Wow-the psych evaluation has been the worst for me too! First i had to wait ages (one guy even said he was too busy to make and appt.) then more than a month to send in the evaluation. Now evaluation lost in a pile.....Im glad im not just having some kind of Murphy's law bad luck. Maybe it will move out of the pile eventually. tina

My experience was totally different, although after Blue Cross Blue Shield informed me I had to go on a diet for 12 months and have it monitored by my physician, I decided to pay cash.  I have been over weight since I turned 6, they could go back through my records and see that, yet I still needed the special diet for a year.  I was pissed.  So I set up the appt. with Dr. Tersigni for Nov. 5th, my neighbor who is a clinical social worker, retired, did my psych eval on her couch at her house and I had my surgery Dec. 14th.  I could not, and I am assuming you are having insurance pay for it, wait for that long.  I had made up my mind and that was that.  Yes, it cost me 10,900 cash but my god is it worth it.  I will get to enjoy my husband, my nephews and life for so much longer.  You see, my family has a horrible history, medically speaking.  My dad, at 49, had 7 bypasses on his heart, he has type two diabetes, my mothers father passed away at 61 from a massive heart attack.  I saw this surgery as the best last hope for longevity, and i was not willing to give up one more year for another diet. 

DT, I really don't think you made the wrong decision because I went to the seminar with friends and I have seen first hand how the process moves along at different speeds for everyone. Some people take extra tests because they have different health factors, some people struggle more with insurance approval, and I had to go back to the nutritionist and PT numerous times because I was'nt dieting and exercising enough. I attend A LOT of support groups with people from OHSU and Legacy. Insurance seems to be the biggest prolonged wait followed by swamped hospital staffs at both places. Last week, peope in one group were discussing that Legacy is taking a lot longer to send people through surgery lately. One insurance group in particular has  an extremely long wait list. One top surgeon left last year to return to his family in Canada. Another top surgeon's wife was/is pregnant and due in December (last month). I read someone's post that was scheduled for surgery with this doctor pending his wife not going into labor before her scheduled c-section. (Talk about biting your nails LOL). That leaves one top bariatric surgeon for Legacy for a while. So Legacy is just as backed up as OHSU. The reality is the process takes more than 4 months on average from what I've seen- more like 6-8 months. I just wanted to let you know because sometimes I second guess myself a lot with this whole process too. I thought a bit of information might help. Even though patience is a virtue, losing weight is gonna rock for both of us! Good Luck in all your endeavors. Peace, Love & Hugz, ~***Heather***~

Thanks Heather for the information-ill just try and be more patient! Tina