September 2006
My appointment went well. I was crossing my fingers in hopes that Dr. O’Malley would have been approved and I would be all set to move on. No such luck, apparently Medicare said while doing the walk through that it would take anywhere from 1-2 months before the hospital would hear back from them. Here it is September so it’s been one month, and now I just play a waiting game. I am now wondering if given the chance to have the surgery during the holidays. Will I be better off to wait until after the holidays? I have 2 small children, and what fun would Mommy be if she were laid up in bed on Christmas. I guess when the time comes I will know more...
August 2006
Listen; hear that, it’s me screaming… I am down another 3lbs and Kathy says to me well Chasity I am passing you along, you are ready, so I am all excited and BOOM, she looks at my insurance companies and says "Wait a min...." You have Medicare and Bluecross Blueshild. I go yeah and... Well right now Medicare won’t approve anyone for Dr. O’Malley until he gets his Certificate of Excellence through them... AHHH SHIT! Aug. 30 they are doing a walk through and if all goes well and they pass Dr. O then she will send me on through, however if something where to not go through and I need to use BC-BS they are now making you go through 6 months of nutrition classes b4 they approve you. SO she recommends me calling and making 3 more appointments. She says it’s easier to cancel those appointments than to find out later that Medicare won’t pay and have to start all over with BC-BS. So with some luck Dr. O will be approved right off the bat and I will get a call for an appt to meet with him. But as it is right now I have scheduled my 3 other appointments with the nutritionist. UGH... But I am thinking if it’s meant to be delayed then it will be, if not then I will get right in... No reason to get upset over something that is out of my hands, or even out of Dr. O'Malley's hands. SO now my next nutrition appointments (which I hope will be cancelled) are Sept. 26 @1:00, Oct 30 @1:00, and Dec. 1 @10:30. Dec. it will have been a year since my first group visit with Dr. O'Malley. Just goes to show if you want the best it takes time...
July 2006
My appt was right on time, no problems at all… It was a good visit... One more to go, YAY....
June 2006
Sorry I haven’t updated in a while but nothing new has happened till now... On Friday June 2nd I had a nutrition appt, or should I say I was supposed to have an appt. My husband works 3rd shift, so he took the night off so he was well rested to drive me the 2 hrs it takes for me to get to these appointments and I arranged a babysitter for my 4 yr old and now I have a newborn who is a week old in my foster home so he made the trip with my hubby and myself, well we are pushing it trying to make sure we are there in time for my 3:00 appt. so I was all excited b/c we made it there with plenty of time to spare, we actually hung out in the truck, I fed the baby, changed his diaper played with him just to pass the time. So I go up around quarter till, walk in and the receptionist says: "Chasity?" to which I reply "yes"… she goes on to tell me that my appt was for 2:00 not 3:00 and that Kathy was backed up with appointments so there was no way of squeezing me in... I AM PISSED OFF, this is the 2nd time they have told me 1 time and it was put in the computer a different time. The first time at least I was a half hr. early… So now here I am $40.00 in gas wasted, 4 hrs out of my day wasted, and a day off for my hubby wasted, needless to say I called to bitch, and the lady I talked to told me if it made me feel any better that this has been happening a lot lately-hell no it doesn’t help-! So then she goes on to tell me, Well Ma’am as if you don’t already have reason enough to be upset, but now I cant fit you in till Aug. for a make up appt. BOY that just added fuel to my fire, and being the happy go lucky person I am I just said this really does upset me, however I understand there isn’t much you can do about it. She said that they had it on record that I had agreed to switch my July appt to a different time, and then it was “assumed” that b/c whoever called and switch that one with me should have switch this June appt at the same time. Now they see where it wasn’t, so yet again another month added on.. THANKS TO THE SCHEDULING DEPARTMENT FOR KATHY THE NUTRITIONIST! They hide in an office downstairs so it’s not like you can even complain about it when you’re right there in the waiting room, which is why I had to go and call them and do it over the phone. So my advise to anyone else seeing Kathy, please make sure you call n confirm when your appt is. Just to be safe. My next appt is July 11th at 3:00, and I can assure you I will be calling before I go to make sure that is the right time... Until then…
April 2006
Hello All, Well I went to my 2nd nutrition appointment and it went so much better this time around. *I have cooled off and I can really understand as well as appreciate the fact that I need these appointments to be a success in years to come.* So anyways back to my appointment- I gained 2 lbs, and that typically is a NO-NO and would result in an additional nutrition appointment however I had just quit smoking prior to my March appointment and she figured I would have had a gain. (She was happy to see it was only 2 lbs.) So now my goal for this month is to lose 3-4 lbs. and she encouraged me to try a soy burger, umm-- we shall see about that! *smiles* She STRESSED the fact that I need to SIP my drinks, and chew- chew- chew my food now to make it almost habit by the time I have surgery. So I figured out a little trick on the sipping, I take my glass and fill it to the top with ice, so much so that my nose touches it if I tip it back to drink normally or as they say gulp it. This makes so I have to sip. Working rather well so far... now the food, chewing is an issue with me, has been my entire life, I don’t know if maybe my brother and sister used to steal my food or what, (HA-HA) but it seems to be like a race, when I have my food I rarely take time to enjoy it, I shovel it in, and then I am done. Now I have to pace myself, so I watch my 4 yr old son, and I am trying to take as long as he does when it comes to eating. I have yet to be able to do this, but I try with every meal, and I am sure I will get it down. Also I have switched to smaller plates and spoons, I haven’t found the smaller forks yet but when I do I will use those too... It does help; you can only fit so much on your plate, and only so much on the spoon. My second appointment lasted maybe 30 minutes if that and I was out the door.
March Update
** I went to my appointments, and came home disappointed! I have the go ahead from the shrink, so that was super! But now onto Nutrition, I was not happy with these people. I get there at 1 b/c that was the time I was told my appt was, and when a half hr. went by and I asked why no one had come out to see me yet, I was told I wasn’t scheduled until 1:30, NO- but anyways, OK.. Deep breath it will be alright, well at 2:15 I get called into the office, mind you I have a 3:30 appt. with Dr. Kevin Coffee, and so I was a little worried about the time. So we get in the room, talk about nutrition, blah blah blah, anyone with a weight problem can tell you what foods we should eat, how much, all of the no fat no sugar, we know ok! SO I am thinking ok no problem just listen to it again, (this is the same speech she gave at the group meeting) but we come to the end and she says you need to make 3 more appointments 30 days apart, b/c now we need to get the "basic" info for aftercare and start putting it into play prior to surgery. Ok I understand and can appreciate this to a point, but DAMN IT! Another 3 months added before I can have surgery, I am a little pissed! I know this stuff, I have done my research, and I understand why I am fat. I know I need to exercise, I know portion control, and I know I should eat no fat, low sugar, I know THIS! But I need 3 more appointments to ensure the fact that I know this! OYE! -Not in such a good mood- I know this is all for my own good, and I see where this is needed, in a way... but DAMN! Will write more when I cool off a bit and adjust to the fact that I was hoping for a May surgery and now I have to add 3 more months...**
March 2006
Feb 28, 2006
Well this month I have been working on "Getting Ready" for my new start in life. Anyone who knows Dr. O, you know he WILL NOT do the surgery if you smoke. SO I am now a NON smoker! I still struggle every day with NON-SMOKER and cravings... But I am a that is pretty cool to be able to say. Tomorrow I go see Dr. Kevin Coffee for my psychological appointment and also I have my nutrition appointment, so I am pretty nervous and a smoke would come in handy right now, but I need to be strong even though it’s so hard! Well its 9 p.m. and I need to get some sleep so I will be well rested for tomorrow... If I can sleep that is...
