Question:
Anyone who has dealth with vocational rehabilitation...

I have finally managed to get an appointment with a man from vocational rehabilition Sept. 24. On the telephone he told me to bring histories of my weight loss attempts and diets and pills etc., that I have tried. He also wants me to bring things like my driver's license, birth certificate, high school diploma, and so on. As far as the medical history goes, I don't know of any way to get ahold of such information, or even if it is documented anywhere. I can't get ahold of this man, so I wanted to turn here and see if anyone knows if I should just write down what I've tried, or if there is some source I can go to to get such information. Also, any other information about vocational rehab would be great. I don't want to blow this appointment, as I've been trying for this surgery for 6 years now. He is completely ignorant on the surgery or what they can do to help me, and I don't think the state of WV has ever covered anything like this. Anything that anyone can tell me would be great.    — joshbowski (posted on September 13, 2002)

September 12, 2002
Hi Joshua. What I did is wrote down every diet attempt I've ever tried since grade school along with dates, weight lost, weight regained, when it was regained, etc and my surgeon's office said that would work fine. I almost went with Vocational Rehab until I found out Florida Medicaid does cover this surgery. Good luck to you!
   — thumpiez

September 13, 2002
Joshua, I used Voc Rehab for my surgery. Originally, I had wanted to get the Banding procedure done, but they wouldn't do it because the banding was so new. I had my RNY Gastric Bypass on July 25, 2002. All I can tell you is to write down all your diet attpemts, with dates and weight losses and gains, all your medical problems and medicines you are on. They will not help you if your not working. And keep all correspondance with them. They messed up my contract. To start with, they said they would make sure my tummy tuck was included in my contract. When they sent it to me to sign, they stated in my contract that my bypass was the only surgery they would cover. They constantly contradicted themselves with me. I have been waiting for two years for help and I just signed the contract anyway just so I could have the surgery before they changed their minds. You have to stay on them to do anything for you. Hope you have good luck and a healthy recovery. Andrea
   — Andrea S.