Dr Garrison :)

Holy crap I'm so happy and excited and feel like the weight of the world has been taken off me.... and I have yet to even submit my papers LOL

So I was stressing out over a bunch of things and called Dr Garrison's office today to ask some questions about my blood work, LDL, and what not...
Lesli was so sweet and so much help!

She explained to me that it is ok that I was weighed in twice in June and twice in Aug and didn't get weighed in during July, She said the 5 week gap will be just fine. She also said that the up and downs with my weight are fine and that they cannot tell me no because of a gain and lose.... Then she told me that I already have 3 comorbiditors (spelling? I am so bad at spelling) anyways, I feel so much better. I also asked her about peer to peer if I'm not aproved. She told he that he almost always get them over turned on peer to peer but it doesn't come to that very often. She said that most of the time it is a matter of him saying listen we are both drs here and we both know what we are looking at...

I feel so much better. I kept telling my husband that since I have Cigna and St. Clare's said that they are the second worst to deal with I'm prob never going to get this done... Now I feel like I really have a great chance of Cigna approving me next month!!! HOLY COW!!!!

I'm so excited, Sorry, i just had to share...

For those of you needing a great dr and great dr's office Dr Garrison is wonderful and his staff is so outstanding I honestly cannot say enough great stuff abou tthem. Infact I was told today that I should keep calling with any and all questions because they really wish more people would, they are there to help... Blowing smoke or not (I really felt like they meant it and weren't just blowing smoke) It was so nice to have someone on my side, who is really nice and really helpfull telling me what I need and why I need it and how everything goes :)

Phewww... OK... so long story really short.... This is an AAAA++++++++ Plus dr and staff :)

Dr. Garrison is pretty cool & his staff is excellent.    I had Cigna also and although it took a bit of work, the insurance went through and everything worked out just fine!

Good Luck with your surgery!

Vicki

thanks :)
I just looked at your pictures... OMG YOU LOOK OUTSTANDING!!!
Great job!!! I hope that I can work my tool as great as you have!

Thanks!

I'm sure you will do great also!  The folks on here are very helpful if you have questions so don't hesitate to ask - someone will respond  :-)

I am working with Dr. Garrison and his staff right now. They have been great. I had Cigna and had to do the 6 month also. What a pain! I now have BC/BS.  I only have the Psch eval to do and am having trouble scheduling it. It turns out that the doctor that does it at St. Claire's is only there twice a month from like 11-5. Anyone else have trouble with that? Right now I can't get an appt. for like 6 weeks. I wanted to try to have my surgery scheduled for before the holidays since I'm off then. I work in education. I'm waiting to hear if I can do the Psch eval somewhere else.

That is crazy about the psch eval... I called and they got me in the following week and my friend called two days after me and got in the same day as me! That being said I did talk to Garrison's office the other day and they had yet to get my papers from the psch and the nut...
I am going to call them first thing tomorrow to make sure they have them. Tomorrow is my last of the 6months with my PCP... I'm going to her with all my own crap to be sent in too and waiting there until she sends everything to Garrison this way I know that all I'm waiting on is Garrison's office to send it to Cigna, I'm really hoping that I knowby the end of this week if they are going to give me a hard time or not!!! AHHH...

Good luck!!!

(I'm sure you did, but did you call the "callone" thing that St. Clares has? That is how I booked mine :) I did the nut at 11 and the shrink at 12:30... they are both long trust me... I didn't leave till after 2!!!!!

 

 Unless you have a particular history that dictates a Psychiatrist, a Psychologist will be accepted (watch the wording when looking)

 

I suggest contacting Michael L. Sakowitz, Ph.D. is a psychologist (NJ 35SI00148700) and member of ObesityHelp's Mental Health Board. He’s located in Wayne NJ. No matter where you are, I highly recommended going. Here is a great article about him.

 

http://www.laparosurgery.com/pdf/SakowitzArticle.pdf

 

 

I used Doctor Grant. He was located in Florham Park, but  I am unsure if he moved. I think his number is (was) 732 583 7226.

 

 

Here are more possible Doctors:

 

 

See: http://www.laparosurgery.com/psychiatric-evaluation.shtml

 

http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/NJ/3855631/In-need-of-pyschiatrist-Help/

 

 

Psychiatrists          

http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/NJ/a,list/type,35/

Psychologists         http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/NJ/a,list/type,2/

In case you need - Nutritionists:            http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/NJ/a,list/type,1/

 

 

Thanks for the support. I used "callone" I did the nutrition thing and just waiting to do the psych thing. Also waiting to hear back from Dr. Garrison's office about possibly doing the eval somewhere else. Was your psych eval with Dr. Maurano (sp?)?

I hope your stuff goes quickly through Cigna!

I am on board with Dr Garrison's office as well.  I also have Cigna as my husband is a teacher.  I had a few problems with Dr Garrison's office in the beginning because they had a staff member that was not on the ball, they have sinced replaced her with Leslie.  She is great!  My delays were really just getting my PCP 6 month visits documented correctly.  My Dr sent a book instead of the questionnaire that Dr Garrison's office asked to have completed.  The orginal staff member sent my paperwork in to Cigna with out my 6mo being completed (why she did that I will never know) and it was declined.  The problem when I had everything completed and re-submitted was that Cigna had to send it to appeals.  What a bunch of hoops to jump through!  But all is done and my surgery date is 10/28.  It would have been 9/25 but I am in a production of Ragtime and the show ends 10/24 so I opted to have it that week.  I am really excited and hope we can stay in contact for each other's support. 

Barbi

Good Luck with the surgery Barbi. I will keep in touch and let you know as soon as my surgery is scheduled. Just waiting on that darn Psych eval. I was hoping to have the surgery the week before Christmas since I am off for 2 weeks at that time then I would have off a total of 3 weeks to get the eating in along with the recovery. People think I'm nuts to do it before the holidays but the way I see it is that I've had plenty of time to enjoy the foods of the holidays and I'm ready to go through the holidays the healthy way. :)

Fran