Argh?

This is starting to seem really impossible. All of it, really. I'm getting incredibly frustrated right now. I've been trying for a year now to get surgery requirements met, and it's just not working right now. My insurance keeps wanting more and more stuff from us. Now it's that they want me to have a general physician approve me for surgery in addition to everything else that we've done. That sounds a lot easier than it it. I haven't had a PCP for two years because I use the college health center. So now I finally got my mother to set up a first appointment with him in December (16 year olds aren't allowed to set up appointments for themselves at Dr. Holly's, apparently.) Got that done, went there, got told to come back a month later to discuss the possibilities. Now my mother is sort of falling through the cracks on this one. She's not motivated to help me or take me to appointments. Yes, she wants me to have the surgery and supports me in my decision to go through with it, but when it comes to doing something concrete, it just never really gets done. She refused to bring me to my last appointment, and she keeps putting off making me another one, with either my new PCP or my psychologist. Six months ago, I was 360 pounds. I got down to about 335 at one point near October, but now I'm back up to 370. I'm sixteen, 5'7" and my BMI is 57.9. It seems like I've been on every diet there is. Atkins, vegetarian, fruitarian, grapefruit (which was really hard, as I *hate* grapefruit,) restriction to 1500 cals a day, WW, everything. Nothing helps right now, and I guess I'm just sick of it. There are upsides to the wait, though. I'm not overlooking those. For example, in four days I'll be 17, and that will give my insurance one less reason to turn me down. By this point, I think I know/have printed out books worth of information and material on weight loss surgery. I know a lot more than I did a year ago, or even six months ago. I've realized how tired I am of failing to get to a healthy weight, and it motivates me more. I'm more firm in my decision than I ever was before. I am armed with statistics and facts and (having always been a person that prefers reason over emotion) that reassures me. It will also be a big help whenever I have to talk with Dr. Holly at my next appointment, as he told me that he would never approve it if he wasn't convinced that I knew what I was getting into. I've realized how lucky I am to have this opportunity. I understand what a godsend it is that Dr. Hahn is my doctor for surgery, since he's the best around here. So there are both ups and downs. I don't quite know what to make of all of this, as the frustration seems to beat the pants off the good stuff right now, but I also know that the frustration is temporary. It's going to work out, I know it will, but until then it's driving me a little batty!

I think they're making you jump through so many hoops because you're 16. Unfortunately if your parents do not support it, the docs will not do it until you're 18. But, keep the faith and I'll be praying for you and your family. Hugs, Tracy

Hello there! Good to see you. I hope your holidays were good. Are you ready for school to start back up? Me either... I will be in all Social Work classes now, but maybe we will see each other around. All of my classes will be in Galloway this semester - very handy. I'm still on MWF mornings, maybe we can do lunch sometime. I am sorry that you are still dealing with hassles on this. If you can't get Dr. Holly's approval, you might consider Dr. McMahon (sp?) in Nederland. He is my daughter's PCP and was supportive of surgery even when she was under 18. Her biggest hold up has been insurance, but she has recently gotten DARS to agree to pay for surgery for her. We are in the paperwork process at this point and she is working on her pre-op weight loss. It will be awhile, but she is on the road. Happy almost birthday, oh man, if my calculations are correct, school starts ON your birthday... bummer!