pennyt

As a juvenile probation officer, I see so many kids who have parents who don't know (and lots who don't care) what the children are doing. It's amazing to hear the stories that these juveniles tell. Yesterday, I spent the entire day with one of my clients who has a problem following school rules. I sat right beside him in his classes observing. I told him that I have no problem coming to the school if the teachers contact me, but I guess he just didn't believe me. He should have believed.

May 13th is the best day in May, IMO. That's my little boy's birthday! He's not so little anymore, since he's a foot taller than I am, and he'll be 21 on his birthday. My surgery date is May 21st, at St. Francis Hospital in Beech Grove, IN, which is the same hospital where my son was born.

I've got the basic option of BC/BC, and it took less than three weeks for approval once the doctor's office sent everything in to them. There was no requirement for a 6 month supervised diet. I did need to have a BMI over 40 (which I had to gain to get), or else co-morbidities. When I went in for my seminar and surgical consult, the person running the seminar said that FEP BC is the easiest to get approved. I had to have a psych eval, which only cost $20 for the co-pay. You'll need to call BC to get the name of a provider for the psych eval so that they pay. When I phoned, I told the customer service rep why I was going, and she approved 16 visits right then and there, in case I wanted to continue to go if any issues were found during the evaluation. From my experience with FEP BC, surgeries have a $100 co-pay, as well as a $100 copay for the facility. I'm concerned that there might be a difference in how the actual band is covered under in-patient and out-patient surgery. I plan to call BC to ask on Monday.

Has anyone tried Miralax for constipation after banding? It's OTC now, and just needs to be mixed with a liquid. I always use orange juice since I can still feel the texture of the powder, even if it is fully dissolved in the liquid. With OJ, I can just pretend it's the pulp. It's just a mind over matter thing. the powder is fully dissolved. It can't be seen. I just know it's in there. I don't get that same feeling when I mix anything else, just the miralax.

I know someone who has Borderline Personality Disorder which is a very hard mental condition to treat, who got approved for the surgery. She's also an alcoholic. If she can get through the psych test, you should have no problems. Just be honest, and talk to the doctor about how you plan to work on the issues surrounding your emotional eating. How will you take care of your emotional needs now that food will not be an option? What supports (friends and family) do you have to help you when you need emotional support? Good luck.

I've had several colonoscopies, and I'm sure your doctor intends for you to drink the whole bottle. It's very salty tasting, and I had problems getting it down the first few times until I found easier ways to drink it. Here's the best ways that I've found: 1) Put the bottle in the freezer for a couple hours beforehand so that it is really really cold. You can hold your nose and take a long swig, and then have a strongly flavored chaser ready so that you can quickly take a drink to cover the taste. 2) If you've got the lemony flavored phospho-soda, try mixing it with "Simply Lemon" lemonade to help in drinking. The lemonade mixes well with the flavor of the phospho-soda, and makes it almost tolerable.

I had an appt at the St. Francis (IN) Bariatric Center last week, and have the all day seminar next week where I'll speak to a dietician, an internal med doctor, meet the surgeon, and find out all about the surgery. I'm at 39.6 BMI, so I've decided try to gain 4 pounds before the seminar on Monday, so that I'll be right at a 40 BMI. For those of you with Federal Employee Blue Cross Basic Option, how hard was it to get approved? How long was the approval process? What was required for approval? Any info is much appreciated! I'd love to be able to have surgery on spring break in March since I was already planning on being off work.